The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-05
JOS. B. FORAKER, OF OHIO
tcopyrixhs 1907 by E. W. Newman,


 was made for public iife--made ito move aserbly.' Not so polished an orator as Hurd, he. surpassed him on the stump; nor so accomplished man as Garfield, he was more a favorite with the masses. 1t was character that stood him in good stead. His reputa- tfon penetrated the remotest precincts and everywhere he was known as one who never held to the scabbard when once he had drawn the sword.
 As meets rock a thousand waves, so
 Misfail met Lochlin.
 It was the days of reconstruction, a time of political frenzy that has its counterpart in the present economic frenzy. when nothing is patriotic that is not extravagant, nothing respectable that is not unconstitutional. nothing excellent that is not novel-where the leaders of both political parties are bidding in the auction for the approval of the mob and offering to pay cash on the spot in the mintage of economic faliacy and the currency of political heresay.
 Fora1ker was bloody -shirter of the most ensanguined here. He was out ragged when Andy Johnson went &C., quitted He was for reconstruction and re-reeonstruction and re-re-construc- tion. He wanted treason made odious and traitors punished. He believed in Ben Wade. Thad Stevens, Oliver P Morton and John A. Logan. The Lib eral Republican movement of 1872 he abominated as next thing to treason the Democratic victory of 1873, when old Bilf Allen was elected Governor. he held to he a reinstatement from heaven. His heart sank within him when the returns of the election of 1874 revealed a Democratic majority of about three score in the Forty-fourtn Congress He believed that all was lost. and honor too, when Samuel :! / Tilden was elected President in 1878. That tribunal of s tor made way with honor and honesty part of the game In the shuttle they gave and the deal they made the following February.
 By 1883 Foraker was the most bril- liant man and attractive politician in Ohio, and the Republicans nominated him for Governor. His Democratic competitor. was George Hoadley of the Cincinnati bar, an original Democrat, who had become a Republican because of his hostility to slavery and was now returned to the party of his youth and early manhood. The race attracted national attention. Hoadley had never been so able; Foraker never so elo- quent. Ohio was in a blaze, off year that it was. AS I now recollect, the temperance question was a big side Issue. However. it was, Hoadley was esected--the third Democrat chosen Governor of Ohio since the war, and the knightliest man Ohio has yet pro duced went down.
 But 1t was the fall of Antaeus and he sprang up more formidable than ever, and two years later, he succeeded Hoadley as Governor. who was then taken out of Democratic national cal culation for President as old Bill" Allen had been ten years earlier when he was defeated for reelection by R. B. Hayes. The defeat of Allen made Tilden the nominee. and the de- feat of Hoadley made Cleveland tho nominee in 1884. Foraker was re- elected. While he was Governor. MT. Cleveland purposed returning certain flags captured in battle to the South ern States. Foraker challenged him on that proposition, and for some weeks there was a political brain cyclone in Grand Army circles. The result was that Mir. Cleveland receded. Foraker was actuated by sentiment, pure senti- ment, and as evidence that malice had not part In 1t. he was the first man of the North to spring to the aid of Charleston when that town was visited by the disastrous earthquake of 1886.
 Foraker was 43 years old when he was nominated for Governor for the fourth time, in 1889. James E. Camp bell was his Democratic competitor. It was an off year, and the Harrison ad- ministration was far from popular. Campbell, next to Foraker, was the best stumper in the State. and when the returns came in the Rupert of Ohio nd thought and many people hoped, he was done for. Like Blaine, whom he so much resembles in temperament and especially audacity, Foraker has con siderable capacity for making bitter enemies as well as great capacity for making devoted friends.
 But Foraker was not done for The next we heard ofahim he was more dar- ing than ever. and etnered the lists against John Sherman in a contest for United States Senator. He was de- feated; but every man ih Ohio knew that he would have been elected if the Legislature had been independent enough to select it's first choice. It was the closest shave John Sherman had had in Ohio since he got the Senatorsnlp from a Legislature that wanted to give 1t to Robert c. Schenck. At the suc- ceeding election for Senator, Foraker was chosen to succeed Calvin S. Brice.
 Meantime a new prophet had arisen in that Israel--Mark Hanna-a War wick, a President maker. Trained to business, he brought to his new voca- tion a superior intellect, a forcefuI individuality. and a capacity for or ganization rarely equaled He entered upon the work with enthusiasm and before the adversary got ready for ac- tion he had secured enough pledges to