REMINISCENCES OF THE MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE OF 1871.

BY LEWIS M. MILLER.*

I.-Personal and Introductory.

One bright winter morning in January, 1871, found me on a Michigan Central train on my way to Lansing. At Jackson I intended to take an afternoon train on the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw railroad, that being then my most direct way of reaching the capital city. I had just received from Henry N. Lawrence of Branch county, engrossing and enrolling clerk of the house of representatives, the appointment of assistant, and I was on my way to assume the duties of that office.

A severe storm of sleet a few days before had covered each bush and tree with a crystal coating that flashed back every sunbeam, intensifying the brightness and beauty of the day. Nature seemed to sympathize with the brightness which had unexpectedly come into my life. The appointment which I have received, it is true, was but a humble one, yet it had come to me in a manner peculiarly gratifying. In 1869 Mr. Lawrence and I had been rivals for the position of assistant enrolling clerk, but, on account of his superior age and experience, he had secured the prize. When he was elected enrolling clerk, two years later, he remembered his youthful competitor. A specimen of my handwriting having met the requirements of his fastidious taste, he made me his assistant.

The fact that this preferment came to me without political wire-pulling, and as a recognition of especial fitness, was a source of satisfaction far beyond what the humble office could have brought. But there was still another source of gratification. I had been released from an unpleasant situation. When the appointment came, I was teaching a district school in the township of Ray, Macomb county, at the very spot where, a score of years before, I had first opened my eyes upon this world. Judging from appearances, the old schoolhouse must have been my predecessor in the neighborhood by another score of years. At any rate, it had struggled so long against the elements of destruction and decay that its usefulness as a shelter to the young ideas that were shooting under my supervision was nearly past. Ridgeboards had dissolved partnership; shingles had parted company with roofboards; and roofboards had been divorced from rafters. Snowbanks often accumulated in the garret during the night, to melt in the daytime, under the genial heat from a huge box stove filled with beech and maple wood blazing merrily. Here, there, and often elsewhere, little streams of water would ooze through the *Lewis Montgomery Miller was born near "Freeman's Mills" in the township of Ray, Macomb county, Michigan, March 3, 1849. His parents were both born in Massachusetts, but came to Macomb county in territorial times and were married at Mt. Clemens in 1844. He was educated in the district schools of Macomb and Oakland counties and in the high school at Mt. Clemens, but more particularly by a continuous and persistent course of reading and investigation in favorite lines of study. He taught district schools in Macomb and St. Clair counties and also taught in the high school at Big Rapids. He has at different times been engaged in editorial work in Mt. Clemens, Big Rapids, Grand Rapids, Detroit, and Lansing. He studied law in the office of Hubbard & Crocker at Mt. Clemens, and was admitted to the bar November 14, 1871, in the Macomb county circuit court, after an examination in open court before Judge William T. Mitchell. He was elected circuit court commissioner of Macomb county in 1872. The only other elective offices he has held are justice of the peace and police justice in Muskegon and member of the board of education in Lansing. Mr. Miller, however, is best known to the people of Michigan through his connection with the legislature and his work as compiler of the general statutes. In the house of representatives he was assistant enrolling clerk in 1871-3; corresponding clerk in 1874; and chief clerk in 1893-1902. In the senate he held the office of secretary in 1885-1890. During the democratic administration of 1891-2 he held no official connection with either house, but was one of the regular legislative press correspondents. The legislature of 1895 elected him compiler of the general statutes, and as such he prepared and annotated the Compiled Laws of 1897. He resides at Lansing.

ceiling and descend upon the head, trickle down the neck, or ricochet across the nose of some urchin absorbed in earnest study, or in the still more earnest pretense of it, to be followed by a whoop worthy of a juvenile Apache practicing for the future warpath.

The storm of sleet which had so adorned the face of nature, seemingly for my benefit, had seriously interfered with the rural mail delivery of those days, which depended for its efficiency upon the frequency with which the neighbors went to "town," the village of Romeo some seven miles distant. I had had no news from the outside for several days. One evening after the close of school, as I sat by the ramshackle stove, waiting for the fire to burn down to a condition safe to leave, and wishing that something might happen to transport me to more pleasant surroundings, I heard a carriage driven up to the door. A young man had been sent from Mt. Clemens to notify me of my appointment and to take me back with him. The school board released me from my contract. I reached Mt. Clemens about midnight and the next morning was on my way to Lansing.

No wonder that the face of nature looked bright. I was entering upon my life's work, although I did not then fully realize it. As I now look back through the vista of 30 years, I recognize one of the many demonstrations in human experience, that

God has his plan
For every man.

II. The State and its Governor.

A brief sketch of the material conditions and the civil organization of the State at this time will aid in the understanding of the work of the legislature of 1871, and will also be useful as a basis of future comparisons. Michigan had increased in population very rapidly during the last two decades. The federal census of 1850 showed but 397,965 inhabitants, while that of 1860 showed 751,110 and that of 1870, 1,184,059. Running back by decades, Michigan had 212,267 inhabitants in 1840; 31,639 in 1830; 8,896 in 1820; 4,762 in 1810; and 551 in 1800.

The assessed valuation of the real and personal property in the State in 1870 was $272,816,927, while the true value of the same was estimated at $731,467,701. The total of taxation was $5,949,487, and that of municipal indebtedness was $4,306,169. There were 5,088,957 acres of improved farm lands, and 4,182,558 acres of unimproved, The value of farms was $398,096,746; of farm implements and machinery, $13,556,863; of live stock, $49,727,919. The value of the various products of the State for the year ending June 1, 1870, was as follows: Of farms, $82,171,561; of orchards, $3,537,278; of flouring mills, $19,013,816; of lumber, lath, and shingles, $33,356,986; of foundries and machine shops, $5,688,846; of tanneries, $2,557,043; of fisheries, $569,623; of cheese factories, $219,288; of woolen factories, $1,138,172; of peppermint oil, $66,873; of coal mines, $64,200; of salt, $1,148,761; of iron mines, $2,721,965; of one rolling mill, $690,500; of copper mines, $3,986,866; of plaster, $131,400.

There were in the State then 2,220 church organizations, having 1,395 edifices; 5,419 public schools of all grades; 23 higher institutions of learning; 156 private schools; 26,241 libraries of all kinds with 2,188,048 volumes; 215 newspapers and periodicals; 1,027 post-offices; and 41 national banks, with a total capital stock of $5,385,000, and resources aggregating $13,245,700.46.

The railroads of the State were the Michigan Central; Detroit & Milwaukee; Michigan Southern; Chicago & Michigan Lake Shore; Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw; Ft. Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw; Grand River Valley; Grand Rapids & Indiana; Michigan Lake Shore; Michigan Air Line; Flint & Pere Marquette; Ionia & Lan

sing; Kalamazoo & South Haven; Peninsular; Detroit, Hillsdale & Indiana and the little Paw Paw road of four miles.

Michigan was represented in congress at this time by Senators Jacob M. Howard and Zachariah Chandler, and by six representatives. The supreme court was composed of James V. Campbell, Isaac P. Christiancy, Benjamin F. Graves, and Thomas M. Cooley. There were 16 judicial circuits. The senatorial districts numbered 32, as has always been the case under the present constitution. The last representative apportionment, made in 1865, had assigned the 100 representatives as follows: Bay, Gratiot, Houghton, Huron, Keweenaw, Montcalm, Muskegon, Ontonagon, Sanilac and Tuscola each one; Mason, Lake, Manistee, Grand Traverse, Lenlanau, Manitou, Antrim, Otsego, Crawford, Kalkaska, Missaukee, Wexford, Charlevoix, and Benzie together one; Mackinac, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Emmet, and Presque Isle together one; Marquette, Delta, Menominee, and Schoolcraft together one; Midland, Isabella, Iosco, and Alpena together one; Newaygo, Oceana, and Mecosta together one; Allegan, Barry, Cass, Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Lapeer, Livingston Ottawa, Saginaw, Shiawassee, and Van Buren each two; Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Genesee, Hillsdale, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Macomb, Monroe, St. Clair, and St. Joseph each three; Kent, Oakland, and Washtenaw each four; Lenawee five; and Wayne nine.

The senatorial districts were arranged as follows: 1st-Second, third, fourth, seventh, and tenth wards of Detroit and Greenfield, Hamtramck, and Grosse Pointe townships, Wayne county; 2d-First, fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth wards of Detroit; 3d-Brownstown, Canton, Dearborn, Ecorse, Huron, Livonia, Monguagon, Nankin, Plymouth, Redfield, Romulus, Springwells, Sumpter, Taylor, and Van Buren townships, Wayne county; 4th-Macomb; 5th-Oakland; 6th-Washtenaw; 7th-Monroe; 8th-Second and third wards of Adrian and Adrian, Franklin, Cambridge, Rome, Rollin, Woodstock, Hudson, Dover, Medina and Seneca townships, Lenawee county; 9th-First and fourth wards of Adrian and Madison, Fairfield, Odgen, Riga, Palmyra, Blissfield, Raisin, Ridgeway, Macon and Tecumseh townships, Lenawee county: 10th-Jackson; 11th-Calhoun; 12th-Hillsdale; 13th-Branch; 14th— St. Joseph; 15th-Cass; 16th-Berrien; 17th-Allegan; 18th-Van Buren; 19thKalamazoo; 20th-Barry and Eaton; 21st-Ingham and Clinton; 22d-Livingston and Shiawassee; 23d--Genesee; 24th-St. Clair; 25th-Lapeer, Sanilac and Huron; 26th-Saginaw, Midland, Gratiot, and Isabella; 27th-Tuscola, Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Iosco, Ogemaw, Roscommon, Crawford, Oscoda, Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, Presque Isle, and Cheboygan; 28th-Ionia and Montcalm; 29th-Kent; 30th-Ottawa, Muskegon, and Oceana; 31st-Newaygo, Mecosta, Mason, Manistee, Manitou, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Antrim, Emmet, Lake, Osceola, Wexford, Missaukee, Kalkaska, Charlevoix and Otsego; 32d-Mackinaw, Chippewa, Marquette, Schoolcraft, Delta, Houghton, Keweenaw, Menominee, Ontonagon and territory attached, and islands of Lake Superior, Green Bay, straits of Mackinac, and Ste. Marie river. The only State institutions established at this time were the university, agricultural college, normal school, reform school, asylum for the deaf, dumb, and blind, asylum for the insane at Kalamazoo, and State prison.

GOVERNOR BALDWIN.

Henry P. Baldwin, who had just entered upon his second term as governor, was a native of Rhode Island, of Puritan ancestry. Although he received but a common school education, and entered upon a mercantile career very early in life, he was one of those studious characters, who never deem their education finished. He was a lifelong student and his graduation came only with his death. He was a State senator in the notable war legislature of 1861-2, and took a prominent part in its

work, being chairman of the finance committee and of the select joint committee for the investigation of the State treasury and the conditions growing out of the embezzlement by State Treasurer McKinney. He had been elected governor in 1868 by a vote of 128,051 to 97,290 for his democratic opponent. In 1870 he received 100,176 votes to 83,391, a magnificent endorsement, for his majority was only 4,000 less than before, although there had been a falling off of 28,000 republican votes. Gov. Baldwin at this time was in the prime of life and mental vigor. He was spare and of rather frail physique, with hair touched by the frosts of time. He was of nervous temperament, restlessly active. When in earnest conversation, his words followed one another so rapidly that he seemed to have more to say than time to express it. He was not so constituted as to shake off care and be satisfied alone with the dignities and honors of his high office, but, impelled by the same wearing anxiety that was so characteristic of Lincoln, he strove to fulfill the utmost letter and spirit of his whole duty to the State, and he worked and thought early and late. A more conscientiously industrious and faithful public officer never served any State. He was a sincere Christian and a regular attendant upon divine service. He believed in transacting the business of his office with a formality and dignity consistent with its high character, not as a means of exalting himself, but as a duty he owed to the people who had entrusted their greatest honor to his keeping. He adhered to the practice of sending messages to the two houses by the hand of his private secretary, Frank G. Russell, who announced them and delivered them with much dignity. Such formality, however, had not been uniformly observed, for tradition asserts that Gov. Ransom's private secretary once appeared at the bar of the senate with the announcement: "Say, here's a message from the old man."

He brought his private carriage with him from Detroit, and an amusing incident is said to have occurred when his coachman was driving back to Detroit at the close of the session. He was obliged to adjust some part of the harness and drove to the side of the road, stopping just at dusk in front of Rev. John Levington's home in Brighton. Levington was then at the high tide of his crusade against free masonry and was expecting at any moment to be Morganized by the enraged fraternity. Hearing the noise of a carriage stopping in front of his house, he looked out of the window. Seeing a large, dark, closed conveyance, he yelled, "The masons are after me," and bolted through the back door and across the country, at a pace that, had he not wasted so much of his wind in his tirades against masonry, might have carried him into the next county.

Cultivated, refined, ever courteous, imbued with that true American asistocracy which distinguishes, but never separates, a high official from the common people, he was in all respects a model governor. While the people of the State of Michigan have sometimes approached the other extreme in the choice of a governor, they have never surpassed the magnificent standard set by Gov. Baldwin.

The other constitutional officers, associated with Gov. Baldwin and forming what may be called his cabinet, were Daniel Striker, secretary of state; William Humphrey, auditor general; Charles A. Edmonds, commissioner of the state land office; Victory P. Collier, state treasurer; Dwight May, attorney general; and Oramel Hosford, superintendent of public instruction.

III.-The Old Capitol.

The legislature of 1871 convened in the old capitol building, which had been in use ever since the location of the seat of government at Lansing in 1847. This building, which was first occupied by the legislature of 1848, was the first capitol erected by the State, that in Detroit having been built in territorial times. It was a large rectangular, two-story frame structure, located in the center of block 115,

fronting on Washington avenue. Its heavy framework was constructed of timbers felled within the limits of the "town of Michigan," afterwards named Lansing, which was laid out by the State as the site of its new capital. Much of that timber was black walnut. So massive and solid were the beams that, if they could have been utilized in the interior finish of the new capitol, there would have been no occasion for scraping imitation walnut off of cheap pine and renewing the cheat, as has recently been done. The original cost of the building was $18,541.73. In 1865, at an expense of $3,971.29, an extension of 16 feet had been made on the south end. This threw the cupola out of center and made the building resemble a man afflicted with the toothache in one jaw. The main entrance was on the east side, from Washington avenue. In the hall was a wide, quarter-circular stairway, winding from the east to the south as it ascended to the second story. On the first floor, at the foot of the stairs, was a door opening north into the supreme court room. A double door gave entrance south into representative hall. On the second floor, in front, were the executive offices. On the south was the senate chamber, and, on the west side, the state library. Just north of the latter was a small room afterward assigned to the commissioner of railroads, and opposite that, in front, was the office of the superintendent of public instruction. The other State officers occupied apartments in a flimsy brick building, which cost the State $15,562.00 and stood on the site of the present capitol. The legislature of 1853 had ordered its construction, and it had been enlarged ten years later at an expense of $6,482.00. This building may have been "fire-proof," as the legislature intended, but it certainly was not wind-proof, if we can believe its sometime occupants, who solemnly assert that it used to tremble under the rude assaults of the westerly blizzards that swept over the hill.

Every department that occupied the old capitol was greatly inconvenienced by lack of room. The extension of 1865 had given each legislative hall two small rooms on the south side, with a space between, back of the presiding officer's chair, for the filing of printed bills. As one of each pair of rooms had to be used as a folding and mailing room, only one committee room was left to each house. This was virtually monopolized by the judiciary committee and its clerk. This lack of room brought the members together more intimately and made them seem more like one largge family than they ever have seemed since the old capitol was abandoned. It is but one of the many instances of "out of the old house into the new"finer quarters at the expense of the tender companionship of home life.

Representative hall was heated by a large wood-furnace, whose smoking propensities sometimes caused sudden adjournments. The senate chamber was warmed by two large box stoves. Both halls were lighted by kerosene lamps. The numerous headaches and "that tired feeling" of which the statesmen had been wont to complain in former sessions-especially the representatives-had always been charged up to faulty ventilation. Many a scheme had been tried as a remedy, but only to be abandoned as some other was suggested. But now, great expectations had been aroused by the putting in of the Ruttan system. Foul air was to be banished and fresh air made as plentiful as in "God's own temples." More than that as one of the janitors solemnly assured a press correspondent at the opening of the session, the powerful draft of the ventilator in the hall was expected to put an end to all long-winded speeches. "When a fellow gets up and begins to 'hem' and 'haw' and cough," said the janitor, "as they always do before starting out with a speech as long as the Central railroad, the speaker will wink at me, and I will just give this 'ere cord a pull, and his wind is all gone in a jiffy." But, alas! for the "well laid plans of mice and men." Later in the session the janitor sorrowfully admitted that his hopes had not “ended in fruition.” He had tried the ventilator's pull on a certain loquacious member, but it had resulted in a dismal failure, and the speech