image of fancy letter W.

CHAPTER V.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR

image of fancy letter W.
image of fancy letter W. image of Roger and Huntington Wolcott in 1853
Roger Wolcott in 1893.
Photograph by Chickering.
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THE death of his father in 1891 left Mr. Wolcott free to take up again such public duties or office as might be offered him. In the spring of 1892 the active members of the Republican Club of Massachusetts and those who were of a sympathetic mind came to the conclusion that it was time that the principles for which they stood should be more actively felt in the State Republican party; they therefore began work looking towards the nomination, of a young man for the office of governor or lieutenant-governor. The name suggested was that of Roger Wolcott.


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There were many considerations in his favor. He had had experience in the Boston common council and the legislature, and had shown himself to be conscientious, fairminded, courteous, and wise: he was a man of high social position and of fine and attractive presence; he had in his Republican Club speech grasped the situation and expressed the feelings of the people.

On the other hand, there were evident limitations. Eight years before, when the Republican party was in danger of defeat, Mr. Wolcott had forsaken its banner and had voted for the first Democratic President since the war. He was therefore obnoxious to some influential politicians, and they had good reason to think that he would hurt the ticket among the rank and file of Republicans. Others felt that, being of high social position and a Harvard man, living on the Back Bay, he was not one of


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the people. The people, they thought, had no Interest in a young man who was so nice In his political principles and so aristocratic in bearing.

As the Republican Convention approached, all agreed that the nomination for governor should be given to William H. Halle, then lieutenant-governor. The struggle was to be upon the nomination for lieutenant-governor. The names of four candidates were presented, and on the first ballot there was no election. The issue was now clear between the two elements then existing In the state party, and on the second ballot Mr. Wolcott was nominated by a vote of 499 to 473, with two scattering votes.

It was a presidential campaign. Mr. Harrison had been renominated, and the Democrats had brought again to the front their leader, Mr, Cleveland. Governor


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William E. Russell,, deservedly popular throughout the State, was running for his third term.

For the first time the people of Massachusetts had an opportunity to see and hear Mr. Wolcott As he stood before them, they recognized his simplicity and sincerity. His presence betokened a Massachusetts man of the finest type; he was tall and straight; his head was well set, his face open and frank; in his jet black hair was a touch of silver. Even before he opened his mouth, he had gained the interest and sympathy of the audience. His voice was clear and, as it rose, ringing. He wasted no time in telling funny stories; in this he showed his respect for the people's intelligence and serious-mindedness. If in the first few words he spoke lightly or bandied a word with the previous speaker or an opponent who had made a


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speech in town the night before, it was always with a purpose, to lead up to his main thought; and when he was once off, he held to his subject and treated It earnestly and seriously. He kindled as he went on, broke forth into more rhetorical phrases; led the people back to the salient thought; appealed to their higher motives, to patriotism or religion; and sat down.

No one saw in him a great orator, a merely amusing speaker, a narrow party advocate, or an over-keen debater. He rose to heights of eloquence at times, he had a sense of humor, and could be quick at repartee; when, occasion called he sent back to his opponent as good as he gave, but always with courtesy and a full appreciation of the position of the other. He never took unfair advantage to misquote, misinterpret, or ascribe ulterior motives to his opponent. Sometimes


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he was so considerate of the other point of view as to seem to weaken his own position; but that very temper gained for him the confidence of his hearers. If, as was the case in this campaign, his votes on some questions in the legislature were criticised, he met the issue frankly, stated his position, and relying on his record, let the people judge for themselves as to his motives and the wisdom of his course.

He spoke, and the people recognized that he spoke simply as a citizen, a patriot, to whom high privileges had been given and upon whom certain public duties had been laid; he was a man among men, interested in men, women, and children, always glad to meet them and appreciative of their loyalty to him.

The great power of Roger Wolcott with the people of Massachusetts was in the fact that in all places and under all circum-


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stances he rang true. There was something In the transparency of his character and the simplicity of his nature which revealed this. The farmer and the mill-hand, hearing him for the first time, felt it; then-watching him knew it. He trusted the people, and the people trusted him.

This was the impression that he made in his first campaign, as he spoke from town to city throughout the Common wealth.

In the national election the Democrats won, and Mr. Cleveland was elected. In the state, Mr. Russell's popularity made him again governor, but with that exception the Republican ticket, with Mr. Wolcott as lieutenant-governor, was elected.

Mr. Wolcott now found himself in a rather delicate position. As lieutenant­governor he was at the head of the State Republican party, with, however, a Democrat as governor. Some partisans would


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have liked to have him make party capital out of the position and appeal to the populace by hampering the governor and putting him when possible into difficult situations. On the other hand, Mr. Wolcott, suspected by some Republicans of being an independent at heart, was by policy and principle bound to stand by the party when an issue should arise, and to run the risk of being called a partisan by his independent supporters. Whenever, and it was usually the case, he could support the governor's policy or nominations, he did so. Whenever by rare exceptions he could not, he said so frankly, and gave his reasons.

There was but one issue of importance between himself and the governor, and that arose at the first meeting of the council.

The unusual situation of a governor of one party and a council of the other raised


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the question of the right of the governor to appoint all committees of the council. An amendment to the existing rule was offered that all committees be appointed by the governor " unless the council shall otherwise order." Before the vote was taken, the governor read a protest against the amendment as infringing upon the rights and prerogatives of the governor. The lieutenant-governor followed with a statement, which he asked to have placed upon record, showing that the council was defining its inherent right, and was following the precedent of all legislative bodies in determining the method of the appointment of committees. He lifted the subject to a high plane, and although the papers of each party tried to make an issue, his judicial treatment of the question had withdrawn it from partisan discussion. In this action at the very beginning of his

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administration, the people realized that in the lieutenant-governor they had a man of force and independent, habits of thought.

As the summer of 1893 approached, the question arose as to who should lead the Republican party at the next election. Governor Russell had notified his party that he would retire at the end of his term. The Republicans now saw their opportunity to regain the State, A man must be selected as the candidate for governor who was well known throughout the Commonwealth, who had had wide experience, who would unite all the elements of the party, and who by temperament and ability could put up a hard and close fight Several candidates were in the field. Mr, Wolcott's friends were divided; many of them hoped that the tradition of promotion would be followed and that he would be selected; others felt that he should not


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stand; even those near him did not yet realize his strength with the people. He was, however, still young; the whole State did not know him well, and his was not the campaign-fighting temperament.

The Hon. Frederic T, Greenhalge, of Lowell, who had served in Congress from 1889 to 1891 with credit and had shown himself a man of independent temper and a good fighter, was brought forward as the best man for the emergency, Mr. Wol-cott's name was not presented to the convention as a candidate for the nomination for governor. After the nomination of Mr. Greenhalge, Mr. Wolcott was nominated unanimously and by acclamation as the candidate for lieutenant-governor.

His speech to the convention upon the acceptance of his nomination expresses clearly the issues before the country and his attitude toward them.


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"We pledge again?" he said, "our allegiance to those principles from which the Republican party has never wavered in its support We believe in an honest and stable currency. We believe in and demand a dollar that shall not be the poorest or the cheapest dollar in the world, but the best dollar in the world. We believe in a tariff policy which, while it protects the American laboring man, fosters and encourages American industries. We believe in a free ballot and an honest count everywhere throughout our country. We believe in equal privileges under our law, and equal protection under the law of all our citizens, whatever be their creed, their color, or their birth. We believe in honest enforcement of the civil service law, with sincerity and without hypocrisy. We believe that the merit system should be still further extended. These are some of


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the faiths that have made us and held us Republicans. Into this campaign we go forth determined to win success for every name from the highest to the lowest."

The result of the election was a victory for the Republicans: Mr, Greenhalge received a vote of 192,613 and Mr. Wolcott of 194,243.

The two following years of 1894 and 1895, during which Mr. Wolcott fulfilled the duties of his office, were uneventful. He cordially supported the governor, was conscientious and wise in his work as a member of the council, and relieved the governor of much arduous labor by representing the Commonwealth in his stead at many public functions.

There was one incident which enabled Mr. Wolcott to reveal his true American spirit.

There swept at this time over New


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England one of those tides of suspicion of the Roman Catholic Church which occasionally rise among Protestant peoples. Mr. Wolcott, in approving the appointment of a certain Roman Catholic as a supervisor of schools, aroused the hostility of the organization which represented this movement and which claimed to represent a large number of voters, - the American Protective Association, popularly called the A. P. A. When, therefore, the time came for his re-election, his position upon the religious question was demanded; and in a speech at Holyoke in October, 1895, he gave no uncertain answer when he said: -

"It seems to me that no greater injury can be done to the American people than in attempting to bring into our elections the bitter feelings of race and religious animosity.


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"And I believe that whoever undertakes to do that - and I care not who began it, on which side It springs - I believe that whoever does that does an injury to the Commonwealth which I suppose he professes to love and does love.

"To draw the line on religious grounds 1 believe to be a crime against the broad conception of the United States of America, and the broad and generous Republican party, I have known, as all of you have, too many loyal, faithful friends - those who served in the army have had comrades as brave, as devoted to the flag as any one, - men born perhaps across the sea, under different allegiance, under a different religion, who, when they found them­selves here, assimilated Into the life of the nation, showed themselves to have the same quality of citizenship which we boast of in our own citizens. . . .


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"I appeal to the people of Massachusetts to hold her true to that principle of equal rights and obligations which I believe to be embodied In the Constitution of the United States of America, and In that careful statement In. the Constitution of Massachusetts, - equal rights to all, no matter what their religious opinion may be, so long as you recognize in them the spirit of loyalty to the nation and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

There was a decrease of some thousands in his vote at the next election, though whether it was due to this or to other conditions is uncertain. Frank as he was In meeting this un-American spirit on one side, he was equally frank when he spoke as follows to the students of Holy Cross College, many of whom were of foreign parentage: -

"You will agree with me, I am sure, when


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I say that the name of American gains nothing by having any other word coupled with it by a hyphen; that we all, whose destinies, whose lives, whose very selves are to-day bound up with the destiny of America, that we need not call ourselves British-Americans, nor German-Americans, nor Scandinavian-Americans, nor Irish-Americans ; that the one name 'American' alone is enough to rally to this flag all loyal and generous spirits."

The position of lieutenant-governor is not an easy one for a man of force and confidence in his own abilities. He has certain definite duties which are easily performed, though his responsibilities as chairman of the committee on pardons rest heavily upon a man of sensitive conscience, In the eye of the public, however, he is the man who, second to the governor, represents the Commonwealth at


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such public functions as the governor cannot attend.

It is hard, under such circumstances, for a man to show that he has individuality or force. When, as was the case with Mr, Greenhalge, the governor is a man of marked force, decision, energy, and eloquence, the situation is peculiarly difficult.

Fortunately, Mr. Wolcott had such strong personality, such qualities of mind and wide interests, as enabled him to make a position for himself apart from his office. The light official duties gave him time and freedom. He was an intelligent student of American history, a man of culture and ideas, and a speaker of such reputation as always to command an audience. Invitations, therefore, came to him from all parts of the State, and from cities at a distance. In accepting them, he found himself driven to a closer study of certain


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features of the history of Massachusetts and her people, he obtained a stronger grasp on many subjects, wider experience, and more poise in public speaking. Through mingling with all kinds of people, he stimulated his social touch, and dropped some of the academic manner which was natural to him, though he never lost that unconscious reserve which commanded the respect of others. There was an added ease and freedom of manner, a token of self-confidence, which gave force to his general bearing. His frame was larger and more stately, though no less graceful. A broader acquaintance with men developed his knowledge of character, and served him In many practical ways a few years later. He had the ambition of every healthy-minded man to make him­self felt; he thus took advantage of these opportunities to press home his own deep

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convictions on points of citizenship, patriotism, and religion.

When, therefore, he gave the oration at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the town of Manchester, there stood before the audience a man who was to them a representative New Englander, whose character revealed some of the elements that he was depicting.

The oration is characteristic in thought and style. It traced the story of the town in relation to the local and national life from its beginning to the present day. There breathe such vitality and such sympathy with the scenes of history and the character of Massachusetts, as to justify the following ample quotation: -

"John Winthrop was born in the memorable year of the Spanish Armada. Even before his time the supremacy of the world had left the Mediterranean, and was trav-


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ellng westward. Since then, the destiny of the English-speaking race has marched apace, and though in some far future time God may raise up another race to the leadership of mankind, it seems now probable that for centuries the history of the world will be what the men of our race shall make it. . . .

"How little have the physical features of your town changed since the days of its first settlement! . . . As of old, the cool, salt breath of the ocean Is wafted inland to meet the hot, resinous fragrance of the pine forests, which still clothe the rocky ridges to which the shore slopes upward. The magnolia and dogwood still throw out their blossom-laden branches over the bayberry and ferns beneath. On the surface of peaceful pool or sluggish brook the pond-lily opens its exquisite chalice, and, with the falling dusk of evening, folds


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again its petals, while the whip-poor-will hurriedly reiterates his monotonous plaint from the neighboring thicket

"Otter and beaver, it is true, have sought refuge in Canadian brooks, and bear and wolf are no longer a menace to the farmer's flocks. But the little sandpiper tip-toes just in advance of the rippling wave, and perhaps wonders, as he did two hundred and fifty years ago, at the weird music of the singing beach. In autumn, the wild fowl pierce with their wedge-shaped flight the regions of the upper air, or circle downward to some wood-fringed lake to rest on their southward journey. When the storms of winter rage, and the sea mingles its driven spray with the rack of the lowering clouds, the sea-gulls wheel and eddy with the gusts of the tempest, and their complaining cries, accordant with the moaning of the gale, seem fit


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requiem to the drowned on Normals Woe, In her long struggle with man, Nature gives way but slowly, and contests every foot of vantage ground she is forced to yield. . .

"In these towns of old Essex the sea-captain has been a familiar and venerated figure from the earliest days. In time of war, the deck of the privateer knew the sturdy tread of the men of Essex, as did the fishing-smack and merchantman in time of peace. Hardy and vigorous, they knew the dangers of the deep, and feared them not. Fearless, they faced disaster and death; nor were they appalled even by that mysterious tragedy of the sea, the total disappearance from the ken of man of some vessel which had left port, well-manned and tight, with the sunshine bright upon its straining canvas, the waves laughing in its wake, and the following breeze


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freighted with the prayers of women and the god-speed of men.

"No record, however brief, of these coastwise towns of New England can fail to lay weighty emphasis upon the controlling influence which the neighboring sea exerted upon the lives and characters of their inhabitants. They smacked of the salt as does the breeze that blows over seaweed-covered rocks at low tide. Our Manchester settler heard but little news from the outer world, and read few books. He knew well his Bible, which he read with a stern but exalted faith; he may have had access to the grim theology of Michael Wiggles worth's ' Day of Doom,' or the glowing visions of Johnson's 'Wonder-working Providence,' and from these he may have turned to the more pleasant allegory of Bunyan's ' Pilgrim's Progress.' Let us hope that the golden light from


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the Delectable Mountains illumined his life of excessive hardship and privation, . . .

"In the long and dubious struggle that was now ushered in, amphibious old Essex played well her part. On land her blood tinged many a battle-field, but It was on the sea that her fame was won. The splendid seamanship, the cool courage, the intelligence, fertile in expedient to meet any peril-these were the qualities shown by her sons wherever American privateer and English war-vessel grappled upon the deep. . . .

"The social and economic problems, which now confound us with their complexity and difficulty, must find their just solution at our hands. The savage strife which, through their mutual fault, too often breaks out between the employer and the employed must cease. The rights


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of both must be more clearly defined by law, and enforced by the collective sense of the community. . . .

"How best to reduce to their minimum the colossal evils of intemperance and of other vices demands the wisest legislation, carried into effective operation by officers of the law whose absolute integrity must be assured by whatever safeguards of organization and discipline experience and vigilance can devise. Constant warfare must be waged against those influences of squalor, ignorance, and vice which breed crime, and constant effort exerted to make its punishment such as to give opportunity for reformation. That poverty which, through lack of energy and efficiency, ever tends to produce pauperism must be so touched by the hand of charity as to be stimulated to self-respect and industry, . . .

"The standard of decency and comfort


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in the lives and homes of our tolling people must not be lowered. The amazing power of assimilation which American civilization has displayed must not be overtaxed. When entire families of those alien in speech, in habit, and in thought are content to kennel within the bare walls of reeking tenement or contractor's shanty, and to live upon what our own people discard, wholly untouched by the influences which produce the American citizen, they constitute a menace to the community. The rills of immigration which, properly distributed, serve to irrigate and fructify our broad territory, must not be permitted to become a flood that shall swamp the land or sweep it bare of the accumulated soil of centuries. . . .

"We must be exacting, and yet just in our judgments of those who hold public office. Corruption, dishonesty, and cow-


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ardice should be sternly dealt with; but gross Injustice is often wrought by embittered partisan abuse and the reckless imputation of unworthy motives for acts of which the error at most may be one of judgment only.

"A living and active faith in the great truths of religion is a force for righteousness in a nation,, and this faith is not likely to wane in vitality so long as it conforms itself more and more closely to the teachings and life of Christ.

"Public education must be ever broadened in its aims and improved in its methods and results. Forever free from sectarianism, our schools must make luminous to the eye of the young the page of American history, so that even the child of the most recent immigrant may early learn that he has become a citizen of no mean country. . .


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"In this high service let there be a generous emulation among the sister States.

Shall our own dear State give backward step from the forefront where she has ever proudly stood in all the long years since your own. town had. its birth? O stern and mighty cliffs that guard the shores of Massachusetts Bay, and hurl back unshaken the surges of the Atlantic! O waving forests that clothe the hills and clasp in their embrace the embosomed lakes! O broad and fair domain of the old Bay State, stretching from beautiful Berkshire past peaceful village and prosperous city to the glistening sands of Barnstable, and on to historic Nantucket, nursed on ocean's breast! - thy breed of men has never failed, thee yet. May they continue to spring from thy loins as we have known them in the past, sturdy, virtuous, and heroic. So for all time may


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the prayer go up, not in cringing terror nor pusillanimous supplication, but in the full, strong voice of manly self-reliance, ' God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.'"

Whether in some distant city on Fore­fathers' Day, or at the dinner of a press club, or a newsboys' association, at a school graduation, or a cattle show, or a board of trade, he always had some appropriate thought in mind, or some practical truth to press home. For instance, to the Good Citizens' Club he said: -

"Public spirit is almost the first of civic virtues. Apathy and indifference to the common weal are almost crimes. Here in America no citizen can wash his hands of his country. He must either make it better, or he will probably make it worse. In religion, in education, and in charity - In one or all of these beneficent agencies


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- he can do much to extend their scope and to strengthen their influence.

"In politics his duty is plain and urgent. The man who habitually neglects to vote is a shirk and a renegade. Here it is unhappily not true that we have reached our best either in men or in methods. I care little what a man's opinions may be, if he has formed them intelligently and advances them honorably. Rancorous and unfair vituperation of political opponents, I believe, always wins sympathy and, consequently, votes for the individual or party so attacked. If in all political contentions we remember that we are first Americans and only secondarily Republicans or Democrats, we shall not be in danger of sinking patriotism in partisanship."

At Lexington he appealed to local sentiment : -

"The lesson cannot be repeated too


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often that it Is not the mere congregation of population,, it is not abundant prosperity, that makes a nation, a city, or a town truly great, There are spots here and there throughout the world where the mind is inspired, where the heart is made to beat with a quicker pulse before the eye is inspired with a vision of a noble population or new wealth. I think a lesson that we of this present generation must strive to repeat is this lesson of patriotism - of the loyalty, heroism, hardships endured, and the results achieved by the men who perpetuated the foundations of this nation."

At the Lincoln Republican Club he treated of the relations of the State to corporations: -

"I think that the legislation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, so far as regards the control of these corporations,


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will be found to be progressively in one direction; that is, that without imposing on them such shackles as shall discourage the investment of capital for an honest and reasonable return, and drive that capital to seek investment beyond our Common­wealth, the legislation of Massachusetts is progressively in the direction of exacting from these corporations a full and abundant equivalent for the great rights and privileges that are accorded them."

At a Republican club dinner he said: -

"The only permanent safeguard for the honesty of our legislators is the character of the men whom the several constituencies select. To that let us all, of whatever party, pledge ourselves."

In speaking at the New England Society in Philadelphia on Forefathers' Day, 1897, he said: -

"It is a poor and careless optimism


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which would close its eye to evils In our body politic and in society,, which those sturdy men of the earlier time would have cut out, though the surgery might be grim and pitiless. It is a weak and impotent cynicism, which had no place In their conception of public duty, that seeing those evils would succumb to their dominance in indifference or despair, As in the past, so in the future, ma,y the Republic never lack in her sons something of the indomitable spirit of the Puritan, his fidelity to conscience and to duty, his faith In God and in man, his stern righteousness and downright: honesty - for of such qualities are made up brave manhood and loyal citizenship."

In the midsummer there was pitched a great tent on Boston Common for the convention of the Christian Endeavor Society, Some ten thousand people gathered


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within and outside its curtains to hear the opening address of the lieutenant-governor of the Common wealth. The air was electric with religious and patriotic emotion. The strangers were captured first by the bearing of Mr. Wolcott as he stood to speak; then as he kindled in response, arid spoke with fervor, directness, and power, the whole audience arose and cheered to the echo.

"Christian Endeavor ! I know of no two words in the English language that are more freighted with deep significance. The spirit of the religion of Jesus Christ, the spirit which finds its truest expression in the mandate, 'Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you,' that divine spirit, inspired and put into active operation by the noble endeavor and earnest effort of men: I know of no title that you could have chosen that could be more heavily weighted with blessing and divine inspiration than those two words."

The speech made a profound impression on the multitude; the secret of the power was not so much, however, in the speech as in the revelation of the man, a high official, and, at the same time, so simple, so direct, so transfigured with the spirit of Christian service.

Now and again we catch the refrain that was his constant inspiration, the memory of his brother Huntington.

Memorial Day was to him full of sacred associations. As he spoke at the Wolcott Post on that day, in 1895, he said; -

"Historians have drawn attention to the surprising youth of most of those brave and far-seeing men who were the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Youth saw more clearly and dared more than age. In like manner, as we


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read the story of the heroes of '61, we are amazed to note how many of them had lived long lives of achievement, of suffering, and of responsibility before they were twenty-five. In that fierce fire of experience the dross was burned away: boys became men, and men became heroes. . . . Such was he whose name your Post bears. It was no mere love of adventure, no boyish impulse which claimed his young life. It was rather that deliberate, firm resolve which, from century to century, has taken possession of men of the Anglo-Saxon race, and has led them to say,'This thing is worth fighting for, and by God's blessing we will win it;' and when they have said this, whether at Runnymede, or Marston Moor, or Bunker Hill, or Gettysburg, they are irresistible. He had counted the cost and was ready to pay it. And so he died at a little over nineteen years,

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high-minded, pure, and fearless, a sacrifice to country and humanity."

On the 5th of March, 1896., Governor Greenhalge died, and, on the next day, the lieutenant-governor, having formally announced his death to the legislature, assumed the duties of governor. It is an interesting coincidence that, just a century before, in the year 1796, Oliver Wolcott, then lieutenant-governor of Connecticut, announced to President Washington that, in consequence of the death of Governor Samuel Huntington, he had entered upon the duties of the office of governor.

Mr. Wolcott's association with Governor Greenhalge had been so close and harmonious that it was easy for him to take up the details of administration. One bill before the legislature, giving the Massachusetts Pipe Line Company power to make and distribute gas, had attracted


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much public notice. Attention was called by a part of the press to the fact, that extraordinary and unsafe powers were to be granted by the State. Nevertheless, the bill passed the legislature. It promised cheaper gas, and was supported by strong influence. In returning it with his veto, the acting governor pointed out the remarkable privileges granted, the injustice of the provisions of the bill towards towns, cities, and citizens, and the lack of power on the part of the State to enforce the promises of the promoters. He said: -

"Experience has demonstrated that unrestricted competition by public-service corporations, although the temporary results may make cheaper prices to the public, seldom accomplishes any permanent good. The public must eventually pay the bills.


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"I can see no permanent advantage to the community In arming this company with a club, by which it may strike down those already in the field. Temporarily It may cheapen prices; indeed, it must do so, or promise to do so, that it may strike them down; but the history of such competition demonstrates that It Is the public that suffers. . . .

"In my opinion, it is not justice to vested rights, nor sound business policy, nor for the interests of the public, to authorize the discriminations which this bill proposes to establish, especially without assurance by actual demonstration or sufficient guarantee that the public benefit which could alone justify them must ensue."

He suggested certain changes which would make the bill safe and just. His veto was sustained, his suggestions were


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adopted, and the bill was passed and signed.

The people again recognized in Mr, Wolcott a wise and just official, alert to protect their rights.

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