Show written for this paper JAMES D CAMERON copyrighted by bv frank G carpenter 1896 washington january 1896 qc s 7 came eron r 0 n has announced his in of retiring permanently from the united states sen a ate t e this will take another famous name from the rolls of that tha t body the camerons have been prominent in congressional matters for the past fifty years simon cameron was first elected to the senate in 1845 when james buchanan was called into folks c cabinet abinet buchanan had a senatorial candidate of his own and as the story goes when he was appointed secretary of state he came to 0 o simon cameron and said mr cameron the president has tendered me the position ot of secretary of state what had I 1 better do about it why do you ask me was the reply when you have already made up your mind to accept it but I 1 am anxious to know who will succeed me as senator said mr buchanan Buc banan 1 I dont like to leave the senate until I 1 know 1 I rather think that simon cameron will was the reply simon cameron did succeed buchanan and I 1 have heard that the two were never very close friends after that simon cameron served zd his term in the senate he was again reelected re elected for the six years beginning 1857 and served throughout buchanann Bucha nans administration after he left the senate he became lin coans secretary of war then minister to russia and then again united states senator which position he had until 1877 when he resigned in favor of his son senator james donald cameron has held the position from tuat time to this and when his present term closes he will have been in the senate twenty years he has I 1 understand several times thought of le te tiring but has continued his senatorial career in order to show the people that he is something more than the son of his father and that he has an intellect intellectual nal force and power of his own when he first entered the senate he was spoken of as simon camerons son and his enemies said that he could not be elected reelected re after he was again returned to the senate they prophesied that he would surely go out when simon cameron died and they were not satisfied to give him the credit of being one of the best political managers in the united states until he showed it by his last election in 1891 it is hard to see where senator camerons force lies there is nothing of the slap you on the back hail fellow wellmet well met politician about him he is very reserved and he has as a rule it seems courted frowns rather than smiles he has hag mapped out his own lines and followed them and has been a success both as a financier and politician he made a fortune independently of his father and he is said to be one of the shrewdest business men in the united states he began his business life very young after graduating at Priece fon he went into a bank at middleton Mid eleton pa as clerk rose to be cashier and finally became president he then got possession of the northern central road and managed it for many years including inc including ludin the pe period ot of the late war this road was cut a number of times by the confederates but senator cameron rapidly repaired all damages and made it of great value to uncle sam in carrying our government troops it may be that he got his acquaintance with general grant through his position as president of f this road but however that was he and general grant became great friends and during grants presidency hei he chose mr cameron as his secretary of war this appointment was supposed to have been made at the instance of mr camerons father it was not general gener a I 1 grant seldom asked advice as to his appointments point ments and the nomination of mr cameron to the war department was a surprise to every one in the senate it was presented when simon cameron was in one of the committee rooms and was promptly confirmed the old senator did not want his dpn to accept it and the first knowledge senator came ron had of his bis appointment was a telegram from his father announcing his confirmation and advising him to decline to serve mr cameron however thought differently he concluded that he would ike the position of cabi riet tiet minister and he held the office until the close of the grant administration during this time his friendship with general grant became still stronger an aej J he remained one of grants closest friends up to the time of the generals death the movement for grants election to a third term was largely engineered by mr cameron john A logan and ros coe Conkling they were the leaders who held the famous together at chicago just now when president cleveland is a possible third term candidate the inside history of this movement is of especial interest according to senator cameron the plan to nominate grant tor for a third term was not based on the desires of the grant forces to secure office or power it was upon much higher grounds and was in tact fact a patriotic movement which had it succeeded would have tended to the breaking up of the solid south and to an entire change in the history of this country I 1 had a talk with senator cameron some days ago concerning this matter lie he told me that grant was athirst averse to having his name proposed to the convention ven tion but that he afterward left the matter in the hands of his friends said he the south was favorably inclined to grant the southerners appreciated his generosity at they had read with pride the story of his trip around the world and his reception everywhere by the great men of all nations they looked upon him as a great national hero and anen upon his return from the tour he made a journey through the southern states he was received with enthusiasm everywhere we felt that it he was the candidate he would divide the democratic party in the south and that the parties there would be reformed on national lines it was this belief that united the at chicago it was the feeling that the war was over that the day had come when all sectionalism should be obliterated ate dand and that grant was the only candidate by which this end could be attained was there any time during that convention ven tion senator 12 1 I asked when general grant could have been nominated yes I 1 think so was the reply 1 had certain events occurred just five minutes sooner nothing could have prevented it what those things were I 1 do not wish to say as the men most closely connected with them are still living and it would not be fair to them how about blaines chances of nomination senator you were at the cincinnati convention of 1876 where he came so near getting the nomination that afterward erward alt went to hayes M blaine would have been the choice of 0 that convention said senator cameron had his friends trusted the penn sylvania delegation when we met in state convention the unit rule was adopted and the delegation was instructed to vote for Hart hartranft when we got to Cin cinatti however through the influence of mr mcpherson and blaines friends this instruction was set aside and the different delegates were permitted to vote as they pleased blame blaine had a majority of the members of the delegation and had this not been done the vote of the state as a whole would have gone to him after the first few ballots As it was however the unit rule was set aside and the friends of blaine rather offensively gave the pennsylvania delegation to understand that they could nominate their candidate without its aid this angered some of the delegates and it was on this account that in announcing the change of vote I 1 gave out the number of the hayes votes first the announcement was made at a time when it required only a hair to turn the tide in the favor of blaine or hayes A rush followed the announcement and hayes became the candidate there were more blaine delegates than hayes in our delegation and hadi had I 1 announced the blaine votes first I 1 have not much doubt but that the rush would have been for him and he would have been the candidate have you ever had any ambition to be president Senat senator cr i A asked no was the reply 1 I have not it is a great office but the duties are arduous and the responsibilities are great senator cameron you have been in the senate nearly twenty years you have had a good chance to judge of its efficiency do you think congress is a good medium of legislation do the people get what they want out of it 1 I think so replied senator cameron it is a little slow perhaps but it gets there after a time congress is better than people suppose it to be some of the best work done by the body does not get into the newspapers the business of congress is not done on the floor of the house and senate but in the committee rooms we are more and more nearing the day when the best of 4 cur ur government work must be done by business brains bardins by thinking rather than by speechmaking the great men of congress in the eyes of the people are those who can ably discuss points of order who can spend hours in telling why a bill should be brought in through the right wing of the capitol rather than through the left wing and not as to the value of the bill itself the question of the day are practical questions and they require thought rather than speeches we want to know how our commerce may be increased and how our financial and material condition may be bettered rather than to show how loud the american eagle screams or to boast of the vast extent of country covered by his pinions speaking of american commerce senator what do you think would be the best way to increase it 1 I javor favor the french system replied senator cameron 1 I would have the government pay a bounty both for the building and the running of american vessels so much a ton for their construction and so much a mile for every ton transported all vessels so favored would have to be built in america and manned by american seamen they would be subject to the control 61 the navy in time of war and they would be built after such plans that they would woula be of great assistance to our naval forces but would this plan largely increase our shipping 12 I 1 certainly it would was the reply it would cause the investment 0 ol 01 millions of dollars worth of capital in american ships our ships so favored could underbid the ships af 40 great britain and other countries as to our carrying trade and the result would be a fleet of american merchant ships equal to that possessed by any nation of the world such ships would furnish cheaper transportation for all parts of the country ships would be built on the pacific coast to engage in trade with asia there would be cotton ships built on the gulf of mexico and the millions of dollars which we pay in freight charges to the english would go into the pockets of the american people how much do we pay england in freight charges I 1 asked 1 I think the amount is nearly 2 a year do the english pay much in subsidies to their ships yes england was paying some time ago nearly a year in bounties to its merchant marine italy pays abduct a year france has been paying more than a year to french snips ships sailing under the french flag and according to figures which I 1 made when I 1 investigated the subject not long ago age the nations of europe pay the enormous sum of every year in subsidies to their shipping 11 speaking of the navy senator it was through your bill that the first fast cruisers were built yes replied senator Carri eron 1 I introduced that bill during the first term of president cleveland I 1 saw that the only way to get the people to take an interest in the navy was to show them we could have the fastest and the best warships in the world we are you know naturally very proud we want the fastest horses the fastest yachts and the biggest things of all kinds in the world I 1 was talking one day with mr cramp the owner of the ship saip yards at Philadelphia and I 1 asked him ii if he could build a faster cruiser than any yet constructed ted he replied that he could he said he had just built for jay gould ot new york and mr harkness of cleveland the two fastest steam yachts ot of the world these were the atalanta ant and the peerless he had done this because gould and harkness were willing to pay for them and he said that if our government would offer the proper inducements du cements he could make warships which would anything afloat the fastest warship then was the esmeralda it had been built in england tor for the spaniards and it could make eighteen knots an hour I 1 asked him if he could beat this he replied that he could and that he would contract to maaz make a ship which would goat go at least twenty knots an hour mr whitney was then secretary of the navy the matter was presented to him and a bill was gotten up with the advice of the navy department through which the first fast cruisers were built the naval authorities thought that twenty knots an hour v asan impossibility and they made the minimum only nineteen knots and gave the builders a bonus of from one to two hundred thousand dollars for each knot above this Thel first cruiser built made twenty and one half knots an hour we have today the fastest warships warship of the world and we can build as good ships as any other nation will not the navy be steadily increased from now on I 1 asked yes replied senator cameron 1 I think so I 1 believe that we will at once begin to spend a large amount of money for a navy and coast defenses the beope e sei see the necessity of them and they will not be content with their present means of prot protection cdon do yo you think we will have war not now and it may not be for a long time in the future we are a people ot of independent spirit and are quick io to resent injuries with this increase of the navy and the increase in our military forces this spirit will grow and out of it through some little thing may come ohe one of the great wars of the future anis is however only conjecture I 1 do not believe in borrowing trouble still I 1 think we ought to be prepared for trouble if it should come upon us unawares what do you think of our relations with south america will we ever control the south american trade 1 I think we ought to replied senator cameron we ought to do the larget largest part of the business of this continent then you believe in the monroe doctrine most assuredly I 1 do was the reply that doctrine sprang up with our independence pen dence and it should be sacred to us the nation of europe which has property on this continent at that time should be permitted to hold it but there should be no further concessions of 0 territory do you believe senator Sena torin in the increase of our boundaries not at present replied senator cameron 1 I dont think it would be wise our country is not yet one tenth developed few ot of us realize how big the country is we could support a population from ten to twenty times the size of that which we have now the united states has some odthe of the richest lands of tle tie ti e globe and our people will grow in wealth and power as time goes on I 1 do not believe in spread eagle ism but I 1 am wonderfully impressed with them the of the united states state s and of 0 tha American people there is nothing ati to compare with them on the lace face of the globe and we are only at the be gunning ol of our prosperity I 1 dont mean to ay that there will not l le he e a temporary fifi financial ancial trouble such as we are having am these will come and go but them and with them the nation fill move onward with giant strides tT vl caa cuta |