Charles James Folger was an American lawyer and politician. He was U. S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1881 until his death.
Background
Charles James Folger son of Thomas Folger, was born on the island of Nantucket, from which, at the age of twelve, he removed with his parents to Geneva, New York. His ancestors for generations had been New England whalers, tracing their origin to John Folger who came over from Norfolk, England, in 1635.
Education
Folger attended Geneva (now Hobart) College, from which he was graduated with the highest honors of his class in 1836.
He took up the study of law at Canandaigua, was admitted to the bar in Albany in 1839, and started practise in Lyons, Wayne County. After a year he returned to Geneva where he maintained his home throughout the remainder of his life.
Career
Folger assumed his first important public office at the age of twenty-six, when, in 1844, he was appointed judge of the court of common pleas of Ontario County, and soon after was made master and examiner in chancery.
From 1851 to 1855 he served as county judge.
In 1861 he was elected to the state Senate and was reelected three times, serving until 1869, and acting for four years as president pro tempore, and, throughout the period, as chairman of the judiciary committee. In the latter capacity he was noted for his conservative course and his stanch resistance to any modification of the law of marriage and divorce (Geneva Courier, Sept. 10, 1884), and to important reforms in criminal procedure (Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, I, 137).
Throughout these years Folger was one of the keenest critics of unsound legislation. ‘‘Whenever a bill was read a third time he watched it as a cat watches a mouse, ” wrote a contemporary (Ibid. , p. 101). He consistently opposed the “accursed mildew of town, bonding” (Geneva Courier, Sept. 10, 1884), and was an uncompromising foe to stockjobbers.
He attracted special attention during these years by his hostility to Governor Reuben E. Fenton of his own party and by his prominence in the legislative contest of 1868 between Vanderbilt and the New York Central and Gould and the Erie.
His most valued service to his state was rendered in the field of constitutional reform and interpretation. In the state convention of 1867 he was chairman of the judiciary committee, and to his efforts are attributed material changes in the judicial system.
He was the foremost public sponsor of the proposed constitution, which was rejected by the people in 1869. He was elected an associate judge of the state court of appeals in 1870.
The fact that he had been the choice of both the Republican and Democratic tickets in that election led to charges of a corrupt Tammany alliance (N. Y. Times, May 17, 18, 1870).
On the death of Chief Justice Church in 1880, Folger was designated by Governor Corneli to fill the unexpired term of that office.
In November of that year he was reelected to the bench of the court of appeals, which he left shortly to take up his duties in the cabinet of President Arthur. In his term on the bench Folger rendered frequent opinions which revealed a valuable grasp of questions of constitutional law (see, for example, People ex rel. Lee vs. Chautauqua County, 43 N. Y. , io; People vs. Bull, 46 N. Y. , 57).
In 1869 he resigned from the state Senate to accept an appointment from President Grant as United States assistant treasurer in New York City, in which capacity he served for one year. Although he first refused the office of attorney-general in Garfield's cabinet, he finally accepted the treasury portfolio under President Arthur in 1881.
In 1882, through the joint efforts of President Arthur and Colliding, Folger was given the Republican nomination for governor, despite the stiff fight which Governor Cornell made for renomination in aii administration-packed convention (N. Y. Times, Sept. 22, 23, 1882; Harper’s Weekly, Sept. 30, Oct. 21, 1882).
His Democratic opponent was Grover Cleveland, who polled almost 200, 000 votes more than Folger, the largest majority which had ever been scored in a contested election.
While originally a Democrat, Folger passed into the Republican fold over the Free-Soil bridge in 1854. During this later period of his life Folger assumed a more active role in national politics. He was a prominent candidate for the United States senatorial nomination in 1867, but finally withdrew in favor of Conkling. In the following year he was active at the Republican National Convention at Chicago in demonstrating to other state delegations that New York was not solid for Reuben E. Fenton for Vice-President (N. Y. Times, May 20, 1868).
Personality
Folger was a man of distinguished personal appearance, gentle in bearing, modest and even diffident, but withal an impressive speaker and conscientious in the execution of his public duties. His correspondence discloses the saving grace of a rich sense of humor.