The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-23

GukAHu oIONhs A4h
naIforefather Of the sixth preceding genera
ton, came from Essex county. England.tn
1894, and after a s~ojourn In Massachusetts
settled In Connecticut. John Shegman's
intermediate forefathers were born In the
western part OF the last STATE Inc
b~iographer points out that the sherman
family OF Essex county, England nIeoo
important contributions to the dnzensmP
Of the New World. The descendants OF
Samuel Sherman and Of his cousin 0
who migrated at the same time, incmoe
not only John Sherman and bis orotner'
Gen. William T. Sherman, but also roger
Sherman. George y. Hoar and Il. n. hoef
and william NJ. Evarts.
Ii was John Sherman's father, Charles
Robert Sherman, who in 1910 went forth
from Connecticut to seek q home IN ohio.
He settled in Lancaster, then the sea- OF
one Of the most intelligent communities
of the West. He became successivey
Major In the militia, collector OF INTERNAL
revenue, and one OF the four Judges OK the
Supreme Court OF Ohio. When he died
prematurely in 1929, John, che eighth hild
was but 0 years old. 1t was intended mas
the boy should ultimately enter Kenyon
College, and In preparation therefor NO
studied for eight years In private
At the age oil "a, however, wishing TO help
his mother, who had been left in straitened
circumstances he decided TO become q
surveyor. and secured employment as rod
man ON the work performed by the State
OF Ohio in rendering the Muskingum River
navigable from GAINESVILLE to its mout at
Marietta. Boy as be was, no rose rapidly
70 be a superintendent, but losing his place
through the accession OF a Democratic
Governor, he removed to Mansfield
began there the study OF aw. On his
tw~enty-frst birthday he was admitted 10
the bar of Ohio, and was engaged In the
practice OF law for ten years before entering
politics. At the age OF "a he notes hat he
had accumulated property worth $1,000
and wa a partner in a successful business
establishment at Mansfield. AT the n
Of ten years he had acquired whdt at that
time was regarded as q competence. AL
his life he was careful and fortunate In his
investments, and at his death he left a for
tune amounting 10 more than 81 900 600.
In 1858 Sherman opened a law once IN
Cleveland, and here a year later he was
elected to the Federal House OF representa-
tiyes. He used TO relate that during the
campaign he was informed by the chair
man OF a county committee that money
was very much needed, and in reply to an
inquiry touching the amount and the pro-
posed application thereof, he was told that
s25 was required to hire vehicles to brng
voters to the polls. This, be used to say
was the first and only time a political con-
tribution was requested OF him during his
service in the House Of Representatives.
So conspicuous a part did Sherman take
in the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-ffth Con-
crosses that on the assembling OF the Thirty
sixth Congress he received the larger num-
Der of Republican votes for Speaker. His
failure to attain the Speakership is COM
monty ascribed to the fact that he a
signed a paper indorsing the book written
by Hinton r. Helper and entitled The
Impending Crisis OF the South; How to
Meet It," Sherman would doubtless ave
been elected Speaker Of the HOUSE in the
Thirty-seventh Congress, but he preferred
to accept the seat in the Senate vacated
by the transfer Of Salmon P. Chase to the
Office Of Secretary Of the Treasury.
During the sixteen years which consti-
tuted the first period of Sherman's con-
nection with the Senate, as indeed after
ward, he was taxed with inconsistency. At
first he was criticised by the radical anti
slavery agitators. He was not among the
earlier champions Of emancipation during
the civil war. He was for a time opposed
TO granting the right of suffrage to the
! colored race. Yet in the end he became
an intense partisan and adhered to the
measures and policies Of his party with
answering tenacity. His present biog-
rapher, defending his change of attitude
during the Reconstruction period, reminds
us that in the years following the civil war
It was long believed that the restoration OF
the opposite party would mean the snnul-
ment of the results of the conflict. 1t il
at the same time conceded that Sherman's
views upon the tariff are the most salts
factory to one who, in a survey Of his life.
is anxious TO find a public man consistent in
his ideas. With regard to many other
subjects he on various occasions favored
policies widely different. Thus, as regards
taxation, he advocated an income tax in
the early '7Os and opposed it in 1894. He
deemed the issue Of ~greenbacka a temporary
measure when he first voted for them in
1852; later he said they would disappear
with the end Of the war. but at q subse-
quent time he came to believe In them as a
permanent pOrtaOu OF our currency, ana rc-
tanned that belief until the end of his life.
To the accusation that Sherman paid too
much difference to the power of public
opinion, and that his changes OF attitude
were not always free from apparent con-
sideration of political eXpediency, Mr..
Burton replies that his support Of policies
was often most persistent and ever obsti-
nate in cases where he incurred strong OPP
position and obloquy and was we'll aware
that he was going counter to the opinions
Of a majority OF his countrymen. Thus,
after his own State had voted by more than
5000 majority against negro suffrage,
he ~courageously advocated the Fifteenth
Amendment, although he had been reluctant
to favor IL at an earlier date. His argu-
ments for sound money and for financial
honor and credit were most earnest when
the sentiment of his own State and Of large
sections of the country was manifested most
forcibly for imitation or depreciation Of the
monetary standard.
John Sherman was not a candidate for
the Presidency in 1875, the Ohio delegation
to the Republican national convention OF
that year having been pledged to Gov.