Reformist Mayor Takes Over
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE PLAIN DEALER . SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 1998 5-D OUR CENTURY 1912 AT A GLANCE Clevelanders mourn thousands lost in wreck of Titanic Clevelanders and newspaper readers around the world were Reformist mesmerized. “People Take to Boats As Liner Goes Down in Sea; Passen- gers are afloat in open ocean with three vessels hurrying to as- sistance after ship hits iceberg,” was The Plain Dealer headline on Sunday, May 15. mayor By Monday morning, the story filled all of Page One and many inside pages. “1,500 PERISH WHEN TITANIC GOES TO BOTTOM,” was the headline describing “the greatest catastro- phe in maritime history.” The story continued to fill page after page throughout the takes over week: Dispatches told of anguished crowds blocking streets around New York newspapers, waiting for the extra editions that came out with every bulletin. Some people stood in sun- Small in stature, Baker shine and pouring rain for two days, hoping for some news. Then came the heart-rending stories transmitted by wireless demanded big changes from the steamer Carpathia as it rushed back to New York with survivors. pointments “Women in Evening Gowns Lowered Into Lifeboats as Steam- By Fred McGunagle strictly on merit, ship Sinks,” said one headline. Of Ohioans aboard, 11 were re- which cost him He was 5 foot 6, 125 pounds. support from fel- ported lost, nine of them men; 24 Ohioans were saved, of whom But from the neck up, Newton 22 were women or children. low Democrats; D. Baker was Cleveland’s big- Republicans Readers shook their heads in awe. Eighty-six years later, the gest mayor. story still mesmerizes their great-grandchildren. helped re-elect And, as he freely acknowl- him in 1913. edged, he stood on the shoulders · of former Mayor Tom L. John- The high point On Feb. 22, Cleveland’s Johnny Kilbane defeated Abe Attell son. of the political re- in a 20-round Baker’s administration as form movement in fight in Los mayor from 1912 to 1916 was a Ohio was the Con- Angeles, win- model of honesty and efficiency. stitutional Con- ning the He led the statewide battle that vention of 1912. world feath- gave cities home rule and Cleve- The 1851 Ohio erweight land the first city charter in Constitution champion- Ohio. His terms as mayor coin- called for a vote ship, which cided with the high point of every 20 years on he would hold what historians would call the whether to hold for 11 years. Progressive Era. another constitu- A crowd esti- He was a brilliant orator. In tional convention. mated at national politics, his speech at In 1911, reformers 100,000 the 1912 Democratic National campaigned for a greeted him Convention was pivotal in the “yes” vote under on his return. nomination of Woodrow Wilson. the leadership of PLAIN DEALER FILE Kilbane He rebuffed efforts to draft him Homer Bigelow, a PD FILE was elected as Wilson’s vice president, but Cincinnati Con- Newton D. Baker: brilliant orator, reformer, honest and efficient mayor. Fighter Johnny Kilbane about 1912, and clerk of when Baker’s second term gregational minis- in 1951. Cleveland ended, Wilson named him secre- ter who declared Municipal tary of war, putting him in himself a disciple of Tom L. Meanwhile, Baker’s efforts would not spend four years in a Court in 1951 charge of U.S. troops during Johnson. weren’t limited to Cleveland and job where “propriety forbids and served World War I. Ohio. He was elected a delegate one speaking his mind.” until his death in 1957. As mayor, Baker not only At the time, the legislature to the 1912 Democratic National Back in Ohio, 42 amendments achieved Johnson’s dream of a controlled what cities could and Convention, pledged to Wood- proposed by the state Constitu- · 3-cent streetcar fare, but got could not do. As the first presi- row Wilson; the state party bela- tional Convention went before The Naps players liked George Stovall, the first baseman who tickets down to two for 5 cents. dent of the Ohio Municipal tedly adopted a unit rule bind- Ohio voters; 34 passed, includ- had become playing manager during the 1911 season. They He expanded Muny Light and League, Baker led city officials ing all delegates to vote for Gov. ing home rule. Those rejected didn’t like Harry Davis, who became manager when Stovall was brought rates down to 3 cents seeking “home rule.” They suc- Judson Harmon, a “favorite included women’s suffrage, traded to St. Louis early in 1912. per kilowatt-hour. When dance ceeded in winning a vote for a son.” which lost in rural areas and “Shoeless Joe” Jackson batted .395, shortstop Ray Chapman halls were charging 5 cents for a among city dwellers who feared hit .321 after being brought up in August and Vean Gregg won three-minute dance, he opened women would vote for Prohibi- 20 games. But the team slumped and, in August, Davis was re- municipal halls that charged 3 tion. placed by center fielder Joe Birmingham. The team finished cents for five minutes. fifth, 30Ö games out of first. He even arranged for a Park Also defeated were regulation · Department boat to fish in the of outdoor advertising, legaliza- lake and sell its catch for 3 cents The city’s growth and a three-way presidential race led to a The thrifty Baker kept a tion of voting machines, aboli- record voter registration of 93,686. Woodrow Wilson became a pound. U.S. Rep. Robert Bulk- tion of capital punishment and the first Democrat to carry Ohio since before the Civil War, de- ley introduced a bill in Congress repeal of a dead-letter provision feating Republican President William H. Taft and former Presi- for a 3-cent coin, saying it would shoeshine kit in his office limiting the right to vote to dent Theodore Roosevelt, who tried a comeback with the Bull be useful in Cleveland. whites. The last had been made Moose Party. Baker’s support of municipali- so he could shine his meaningless by the 13th Cleveland’s population now was more than 600,000, but three- zation led to a debate with the Amendment to the U.S. Consti- quarters of adults were ineligible to vote because they were president of the Illuminating tution, but prejudice died hard women or noncitizens. Co., held in the auditorium of own shoes. in rural counties. the Chamber of Commerce. · Baker declared: “I am in the In November, Clevelanders house of have. I appeal on behalf elected a 15-member commis- Ohio proficiency tests aren’t an invention of the 1990s. Here sion, all Reform supporters, to are two questions from the Boxwell-Patterson examination ad- of the house of want — for jus- ministered to all eighth-graders in 1912: tice.” draft a city charter. On July 1, I “Seventeen barrels of sugar weigh 2T, 6cwt., 34lb., 8 oz. The thrifty Baker kept a shoe- 1913, Cleveland citizens passed What is the weight of one barrel?” shine kit in his office so he could convention and electing a mix of Baker’s speech at the conven- a plan that, in essence, still gov- I “How often should baths be taken and when should the wa- shine his own shoes. He built a reform-minded Democrats and tion not only persuaded the con- erns the city. ter be warm and when cold?” new city hall without graft or Republicans as delegates. vention to overturn the state Hoyt Landon Warner summed (Answers below) scandal and for half the cost of The convention submitted party’s action, but touched off a up the vote — and the triumph · the similar county courthouse. amendments establishing the wild half-hour demonstration of reform in Ohio — in “Progres- Yet, over conservatives’ pro- rights of voters to initiate legis- for Wilson that set the stage for sivism in Ohio, 1897-1917.” He On April 29, the government gave Cleveland something to re- tests, he persuaded City Council lation through petitions and re- wrote: “It was the triumph of member the Maine by: It was a 6,700-pound section of a mast his nomination. William Jen- to contribute $10,000 to the new peal legislation through referen- nings Bryan, no mean orator Tom Johnson transmitted from the battleship, which exploded in Havana harbor in 1898. Municipal Symphony Orchestra. dums. It called for women’s himself, was so impressed by through his disciples, especially It is now mounted on a rock in Washington Park as a Spanish- He returned a season pass suffrage, direct election of U.S. Newton Baker, that had pro- American War memorial. sent to him by the Naps. He ap- senators, election of delegates to Baker’s eloquence that he led a duced the victory.” · pointed the first woman Cabinet party conventions, strict Civil movement to nominate Baker member, Health Director Service laws, a minimum wage for vice president. Baker de- McGunagle is a Cleveland The 500-foot-long Seeandbee could hold 1,500 passengers on Mildred Chadsey. He made ap- and the right to sue the state. murred on the grounds that he free-lance writer. its four decks, making it the largest and most costly inland steamer. Beginning in 1913, it operated regularly between Cleveland and Buffalo (the C and B of its name). It ran until 1942, when it was acquired by the Navy and turned into the USS Wolverine, an aircraft carrier training ship. · LOOKING AT A YEAR New in 1912: Workers’ compensation, Cleveland Municipal Court, the West Side Market, the Cleveland branch of the NAACP, Weinberger Drugs (later Gray’s, now part of Rite Aid Jan.