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ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WCl R 4EJ, ENGLAND 8024413 DOTSON, D a v i d W e n d e i j. HENRY CABOT LODGE: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, 1887-1901 The University o f Oklahoma Ph.D. 1980 University Microfilms I nternetlonel300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 18 Bedford Row, London WClR 4EJ, England Copyright 1980 by Dotson, David Wendell All Rights Reserved THE UNIVSHSm OP OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE HENRY CABOT LODGE: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, 1887-1901 A DISSERTATION SUBIvffTIED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY DAVID VENDELL DOTSON Norman, Oklahoma 1980 HENRY CABOT LODGE: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY, 1887-1901 APPROVÉD BY L ///• Ü DISSERTATION COMMITTEE TABLE OF CONIH?rS I. Massachusetts in the Gilded Age; An Introduction 1 II. Early Memories ^ Harvard, and Political Reform, 1850-1875 20 III. The Fifth Avenue Conference and Politics as an Avocation, I876-I882 « ^1 IV. Congressional Ambitions and the Road to Party Regularity, I882-I886 69 V. I'bney, the Tariff, and the Lodge Bill, 1887-1390 111 VI. National Politics and the Senate, I89O-I893 1^3 VII. State and Nation During the Second Cleveland Administration, 1893-1897 169 VIII. Free Silver and the Election of I896 206 IX. Patronage, Bimetallism and the Tariff in the McKinley Years, 1897-1899 24l X. The Road to Ehpire, I888-I898 258 XI. The Spanish-American War and the Politics of Expansion, 1097-1899 300 XII. The Foreign Relations Committee and the End of An Era, 1899-1901 338 XIII. A Nineteenth Century Apprenticeship 375 XIV. Bibliographical Essay 382 Preface Until the 1960's, the daninant view of historians of the late nineteenth century was that the political figures of the age of McKinley were uniinaginative, dull, pompous, bungling, and corrupt. The political debate of the late nineteenth century was issueless v/ith the quarrel over the tariff an example of the tendency to avoid rather than to confront the central questions before the society. Ihere was an inclination on the part of historians to hurdle over the Gilded Age rather than examine it as a transition to the twentieth century. This negative view of the era has persisted in spite of the effort of a large number of studies in recent years. Politics in the state of Massachusetts in the last trfo decades of the nineteenth century was undergoing, if slcrwly, the same changes occurring in the rest of the nation. The tariff was of vital interest to the manufacturing communities of the state. The influx of foreign- b o m in the period changed the social homogeneity of the state, accelerated urbanization, and injected an ethnic dimension into the political relationship between town and city. This was reflected in controversies over the American Protective Association, prohibition, conpulsory public education, women's suffrage, and immigration restriction. In 1875j the political world into which Kenry Cabot Lodge appeared was a thoroughly nineteenth century setting. In Massachusetts, 11 there was still a tendency for the political substratum to defer to the leadership of Its betters. That attitude changed substantially In the first decade of the twentieth centuiy and Henry Cabot Lodge was caipelled to make a difficult transition from the political style of the nineteenth century to that of the twentieth century. Tfere than some of his friends. Lodge had a foot in each century. In 1901, Lodge found the style of donestlc politics novel and disconcerting. On the other hand, he made a smooth transition from the foreign policy of William McKinley to that of Theodore Roosevelt. This study contends that the last two decades of the nineteenth century was a critical transition period and that Henry Cabot Lodge's political career provides considerable Insight into the adjustments occurring In the Republican party In Massachusetts and In the nation. Ihe selection of William %Klnley in I896 over Thanas B. Reed signified an lnportant shift In the political center of gravity fran New England to the industrial Middle West. A host of people have assisted in this work. Miss Winifred A. Collins and the staff of the Itesachusetts Historical Society patiently and efficiently responded to innumerable requests for manuscript materials for months at a time. The staff of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress facilitated the task of surveying a large number of manuscript collections. Ihe entire staff of the Green [fountain College Llbra-ry aided with this project from Its beginning. Mrs. ?4argot McKinney and Mrs. Mldred Minton cheerfully processed an endless number of Interllbrary loan requests. Î4r. Douglas W. Durkee aided ^vlth proofreading. Mrs. Elaine Proctor and fte. r-ferjorle Reed provided Invaluable help In the ill foimidable task of typevrriting the manuscript. An incalculable debt is owed to nçr wife Linda, who bore the burden of coping with three small children during iry absence four simmers in succession. Finally, this biographical study would never have been more than a thought were it not for the aid of my father, Floyd. IMiappily, he never saw even the first page of it. CHAPTER I MASSACHUSETTS IN THE GILDED AGE: AN INTRODUCriQN As early as the 1830's, agriculture in Massachusetts began to decline as a major force in the economy of the state. Prom the eastern part of the state to the river valleys and hill country of the west, agriculture retreated to the most fertile soils. Competition fran more fertile western farms was too great for the marginal farms of the state. Abandonment and depopulation appeared in the early part of the nineteenth century, and continued throu^out the second half of the century except for those areas where farmers specialized in truck farming, fruit grooving, tobacco culture and dairying. The railroad was significant after 1840 in subjecting agriculture in the state to western competition.^ The agricultural press in the l840's described the tendency of New England farmers to encourage their sons to pursue trade and the professions rather than agriculture. A sense of declining status coupled ifith economic decline drove the population of the western hill conmunities of the state at an increasing rate either into manufacturing centers or west to more fertile agricultural lands. Villages such as Ashfield, Pelham and Warwick in the Connecticut River Valley showed steady population losses in the period I85O-I90O. In these upland towns, the older generation vras left behind as the young sought out better opportunities, with agricultural decay the result. Along the 2 river, where the soils were more fertile, tobacco and onions were grown with success and population actually increased after i860. In fact, the "new immigrants" of the iBBO’s and iBgO's sought out these areas and contributed to their growth. Labor intensive crops which donanded exertions greater than native labor was willing to provide attracted southern and eastern Europeans. In the eastern part of the state, there was a comparable development of urban pressure on fannlands,with only the more desirable soils remaining in agriculture. The principal crops in the Boston area were lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers grown under glass. Dairying and fruit culture became increasingly important as in the western sections, but the subsistence agriculture in com, turnips, beets, and livestock of the early years of the century waned.^ The fundamental changes in agriculture which began in the years before the Civil War were mirrored in the rise of manufacturing. The surplus labor vÆilch came from competition with western farms gravi­ tated to budding centers like Holyoke and Chicopee. At first, these relied upon local, native sources of labor, but in the boom years just before the Civil War, the shortage of labor necessitated the recruit­ ment of French Canadians. The Lymian Mills in the spring of 1B59 sent agents to Quebec to get all the hands possible, promising money wages which could be sent home or brought back to start small businesses.