Charles William Foster, Jr. was a U. S. Republican politician from Ohio. Foster, Jr. was the 35th Governor of Ohio, and later went on to serve as Secretary of the Treasury under Benjamin Harrison.
Background
Charles W. Foster, Jr. was born on April 12, 1828, outside of Tiffin, Ohio, the son of Charles W. Foster, Sr. , a Massachusetts Scotch-Irishman, who in 1826 followed Laura Crocker to Seneca County, Ohio, and married her that year.
From earliest infancy the boy lived in the atmosphere of his father’s business, a general store, kept for some time in one end of the log cabin which was the family dwelling.
Education
At the age of fourteen, Foster, Jr. was withdrawn from an academy at Norwalk after a scanty schooling, because his time was needed in the store, and four years later he became his father’s partner.
Career
Throughout life Foster, Jr. was primarily a businessman, expanding his enterprises until they included banking and the gas and oil industry, and amassing a fortune, much of which was lost during the financial stress of the nineties. He was active in recruiting for the Civil War, and expected to become colonel of a regiment, but on his parents’ plea remained at home. There his war service took the form of aid to soldiers’ families, through credit extended in the neighborhood.
Although an ardent Republican and interested in public affairs, Foster, Jr. was never a candidate for office until in 1870, when his friends persuaded him that no one else could carry his congressional district for the party. He was successful that year in this normally Democratic district, as well as in 1872, 1874, and 1876.
In 1878, however, in consequence of a gerrymander of the district Foster, Jr. was defeated. In Congress, as a member of the ways and means committee, he took a prominent part in exposing the frauds practised under the Sanborn contracts and the moiety law. He thus encountered the redoubtable "Ben" Butler, and won a national reputation by crossing swords in debate with this champion of the spoilsmen.
As a member of the subcommittee which investigated the Louisiana contested election of 1874, he joined in a report which brought consternation to the radicals by holding against the Republican faction in the state. Later Foster, Jr. was one of those who assured the Southern leaders that Hayes (who hailed from the same congressional district), if elected president, would withdraw the federal troops from the South.
In 1879 Foster, Jr. was nominated by the Republicans for governor as a sound-money candidate, to oppose Thomas Ewing. He turned his business experience to good account in the contest. He introduced the pre-election poll to forecast the result, sent workers into doubtful districts, and made the first large use of money in Ohio elections. The Democratic papers sought to discredit him as "a man who knew no higher occupation during the war than measuring calico. " In ridicule, they called him "Calico Charlie. "
His friends, however, turned the epithet to good account; the women wore calico gowns and the men neckties of the same material during the campaign, and he won the election by a majority of more than 17, 000. Two years later he won reelection by an increased majority.
As governor, Foster, Jr. continued to apply his ideas of business efficiency. He appointed bipartisan boards for managing public institutions, and advocated mine inspection, forest protection, and careful revision of the tax system. The liquor question, which had seemed too dangerous for any party, he had the courage to face. He sponsored the Pond Law for the taxation of saloons, and in the election of 1883 procured the submission of amendments to enable the voters to indicate their preference for prohibition or a license system. These amendments were rejected, and the entire Republican ticket was defeated, in consequence of which Foster’s leadership was for a time discredited.
In 1880 Foster, Jr. attended the Republican National Convention as a delegate-at-large, under instructions to support John Sherman for the presidential nomination. It was rumored that he neglected opportunities to promote Sherman's interests, hoping that if Blaine were nominated he himself might be named for the vice-presidency, or that, in case of Garfield’s nomination, he might be sent to the latter’s vacated seat in the Senate.
Sherman, who was losing a cabinet post with the retirement of Hayes, and who felt entitled to the senatorship if he failed of the presidential nomination, believed that on both counts Foster, Jr. was disloyal to him. Foster, Jr. explained his course and withdrew from the senatorial race, and the breach between the men was outwardly healed. Though he was talked of for a cabinet position under Garfield, a close friend, Foster, Jr. was persuaded to retain the governorship.
In February 1891, however, Harrison named him for the secretaryship of the treasury. In this position, he favored international bimetallism but not domestic free coinage. He believed in the Sherman Silver Purchase Act as a permanent policy, and pledged himself to maintain the parity of gold and silver. Although he was strongly criticized during his incumbency, and possibly unjustly so, it cannot be said that he rendered notable service while in this office.
Upon the expiration of Harrison’s term Foster, Jr. resumed his private life in Fostoria as a businessman, and so continued to the end of his days. Charles W. Foster, Jr. died on January 9, 1904, in Springfield, Ohio.
Achievements
Politics
Elected as a Republican to represent Ohio's 9th District in the United States House of Representatives, Charles William Foster, Jr. served from 1871 to 1879. Reelected three times, he participated in Treasury Department Reforms and opposed Radical Reconstruction. Foster, Jr. was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1878 and 1890. He was elected as Ohio's 35th Governor in 1879 and also served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880.
As Governor, Foster, Jr. served from 1880 to 1884 and supported the temperance movement favoring higher liquor taxes. He was unsuccessful as a candidate for reelection in 1883. Foster, Jr. was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison to the Presidential Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury on February 25, 1891, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Windom. Foster, Jr. served in that capacity until the end of the President's term in 1893.
Personality
Charles W. Foster, Jr. was a man of medium height, compact figure, genial face, and affable manners. Growing up in the "woods" with the "people, " he was always "Charlie" to everybody, even when governor.
Connections
In 1853 Charles W. Foster, Jr. married Ann M. Olmsted, daughter of Judge Jesse Olmsted, who bore him two daughters.