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Of the University of Minnesota THE POLITICS OF BUSINESS IN THE CAREER OF AN AMERICAN ARCHITECT: CASS GILBERT• 1878•1905 A THESIS SUBMITTEDTO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATESCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA By William Towner Morgan I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF Tl!E r\EQUT.R!:HENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOROF PHILOSOPHY June, 1972 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the past few years several people and institutions have been most helpful in the preparation of the following study. Special assistance has been given byt Mr. Edwtn H. Lundie, St. Paul architect; Dr. Edwin Kagin, Professor Emeritus, Macalester College, St. Paul; Mrs. Roger Kennedy, St. Paul• for leading me to the Clarence Johnston Papers; Mrs. Patricia Harpole, Librarian, Minnesota Historical Society, St, Paul; Miss Lucile Kane, Curator of Manuscripts, Minnesota Historical Society; Miss Maxine Clapp, Archivist, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Mr. w. F. Greer, Public Relations, Burlington Northern Railroad, for opening the company's library for my use; Mrs. c. L. Rast, Librarian, Burnham Library, Art Institute of Chicago; Wilson G. Duprey, Curator, Maps and Prints Room, Neu-York Historical Society, for use of the Cass Gilbert Collection; Mrs. Joel Headley, Librarian, St. Louis County Historical Society, Duluth; Joseph w. Zalusky, Historian and Curator, Hennepin County Historical Society, Minneapolis; The James J. Hill Library, St. Paul; Miss 'Margaret Chapman• Curator, The Florida Collection, University of South Florida, Tampa, for locating the will of James Knox Taylor; Mr. Robert Jones• Wooster. Ohio; Professor J. c. Levenson, Department of English• University of Virginia; and to the art and architecture libraries at the University of Minnesota. I wish to especially thank those who have given me close, personal assistance and encouragement: Mr. Fred R. Thibodeau, iii Assistant State Archivist, St, Paul, Minnesota, for hours of per­ sonal help in sorting through the Papers of the Board of Capitol Commissioners; Mrs. Eileen (Manning) Michels, for our many hours of conversation about architecture during the late nineteenth century; Cass Gilbert, Jr,, for sending me his personal recol­ lections of his father's life; and to my advisors, Professor Mary C, Turpie 1 Program in American Studies, University of Minn­ esota, and Professor Donald R, Torbert, Department of Art, Uni• versity of Minnesota, iv For Margaret Elizabeth Morgan and George Alan Morgan V CONTENTS Acknowledgments. ii-iii Introduction ••• 1-14 I. The Student as Artist, Apprenticeship Years. • 15-44 II. The Initiation of a Businessman •••••••• , 45-62 III. The Rewards of "Businessmanship" • • . • • • . , 63-104 IV. The Controversies Over the Selection of Stone and Artists For the Minnesota Capitol, .••• , 105-129 v. The Making of a National Reputation 130-160 VI. Conclusion ••.•••••••••••..••• 161-167 VII. Notes 168-213 VIII. Bibliography ••• , , , •••• , ••• , ••• 214-222 1 INTRODUCTION The period between the Civil War and the end of the nineteenth century has been described by many twentieth century historians as a time when business enterprise dominated all aspects of American culture. Thomas c. Cochran and William Miller, among others, argue that even from its inception, America has been settled "mainly l>y ( terprising immigrants seeking economic opportunities and economic freedom," and that this quest "has been most powerful in determining the nature of [American) culture. 111 Recognizing the thread of economic development from America's beginning has led many historians to interpret our history in economic terms solely, but as Cochran and Miller point out, these same historians fail to do justice to our cultural history by not making business itself the "kernel" of their discussions. In so doing, (The economic historians) have ignored the most dramatic story in our history, the story of business enterprise itself, the story of its institutions and their impact upon American society. 2 Not only have historians ignored the history of business enter­ prise, but various aspects of business have also yet to be studied, including the relation of business to religion, education, ethics, and the creative arts. Hopefully, the following essay will con­ tribute to a further understanding of American business between the closing decades of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth in at least two of these areas. By focusing upon 2 the business practices of a single American architect and his associates within their cultural milieu, this study may shed new light on the relation between business and ethics as well as between business and the creative arts in America. The accelerated growth of American industry following the Civil War reached phenomenal proportions by 1900. By 1893, New England alone was producing goods more valuable per capita than those of any country in the world. The manufacturing of timber, steel, crade oil, meat packing, and the extraction of gold, silver, coal, and iron exceeded all world competitors. America had more telephones, incandescent lighting, and electric traction, and more miles of telegraph wires than any other nation. Following the pattern of its pre-war leadership, America led the world in the manufacturing of hardware, machine tools, arms, and ammunition. 3 During the same period of manufacturing expansio~, the nation changed from a dominantly rural to an urban one. Between 1885 and 1913, the urban-rural economic balance had shifted so that agricultural valuations, accounting for a third of the national wealth in 1880, had moved to one-fourth by 1912. A quarter of the national population had lived in cities in 1880; by 1910 it was nearly one-half. Between 1880 and 1890, Chicago's population doubled; Minneapolis and St. Paul trebled; and Detroit, Milwaukee, and Cleveland grew by 60 to 70 per cent. 4 As a result of the rapid expansion of industry and the 3 simultaneous shift from a rural-centered society to an urban one, it is not surprising to discover how all-pervasive business enter­ prise had become by the late nineteenth century. In the words of one critic, ••• As time passed [Americans] spent their profits, wages, and commissions on goods announced for sale in newspapers supported by business advertisements and friendly to business objectives •••• s All aspects of American culture were touched by business: liter­ ature was issued by publishers engaged in business enterprise, amusements were staged for profit, colleges (often the servants of business) became devoted to science, and public architecture concerned itself with banks, insurance offices, hotels --all con­ structed for the service of commerce.6 So all-embracing was the influence of business enterprise that the financier, Richard Croker, when interviewed by Lincoln Steffens, stated: Ever heard that business is business? Well, so is politics business, and reporting --journalism, doctoring-- all professions, arts, sports --every­ thing is business.7 The ascendance of business enterprise following the Civil War reveals not only a period of accelerated economic growth and the incursion of business into all aspects of American culture, but also a time of general decline in the moral character of our cul­ ture as a result of the emphasis upon material growth. Because of the invention and use of the machinery of war and the continued growth in the manufacturing of machines for peaceful use, America entered a period when traditional standards of conduct no longer applied. As Cochran and Miller point out, the new business leaders 4 of the post-Civil War era established rules and procedures that set aside the moral standards of pre-war America. In place of the old canons [the post-war business leaders] imposed the rule of the jungle upon a willing people who worshipped at the altar of 'Progress.' Remorselessly they exploited precious resources. stripping imcomparable forests. leaving gaping holes in mountain sides to mark exhausted mines, dotting with abandoned derricks oil f:telds drained of petrolewn and natural gas. In reckless haste, they constructed railroads through the wilderness, and immense factories to supply the needs of millions yet unborn. They promoted many similar projects simply to mulct a nation of speculator~ for the private benefit of the 'Fittest.•H It was not surprising, then, that as business and industry grew, the moral character of American society suffered. Richard Hofstadter, pointing to the "remarkable burst of material develop­ ment" from 1865 to 1900, states that during the period when the "physical energies" of the American people had been mobilized• their "moral energies had lain relatively dormant," and that "certain moral facets of the American character had become all but invisible. 119 Citing the controversy over slavery. the war. and Reconstruction .:5 factors which exhausted the "moral and political capacities of the people," Hofstadter goes on to argue that the American people had bean relieved to "abandon crusades and reforms and to plunge instead into the rewarding tasks of material achieve­ ment. ulO Seeking a term to describe the 1865-1900 era. Cochran calls it an "age of corruption, 1111 a label applying to almost all aspects of American society, but stemming for the most part from the s untrammeled forces of business enterprise cited by Hofstadter, Let us look at three institutions within this 11age of corruption" that relate to the study below. As a specific example of corruption, Cochran, re-enforced by other historians including Matthew Josephson, excoriates the practices of the railroads in the late nineteenth century. The Union Pacific, for example, handed out $400 1 000 in graft between 1866 and 1872. The Central Pacific, between 1875 and 1885, dis­ tributed $500,000 annually to fight water competition, to win rich mail contracts, and "to riddle with restrictions and objec­ tions bills for river and harbor imp!'ovements. 1112 So powerful were the railroad lobbyists that by 1893 the United States Gov­ ernment had granted the railroad companies one-fourth of the whole area of Minnesota and Washington; one-fifth of Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, and Montana; one-seventh of Nebraska, one-eighth of California, and one-ninth of Louisiana.
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