Speech of Hon. Thomas R. Marshall, Governor of Indiana, Accepting the Democratic Nomination for Vice President of the United States: Together with the
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Inaugural Address of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.
Thomas Riley Marshall was born on March 14, 1854 at North Manchester, Ind. His father, Daniel M. Marshall, was an old-fashioned country doctor, himself of Hoosier birth, but the son of a Virginia couple who had emigrated to Indiana when the state was still frontier. Thomas' mother, Martha (Patterson) Marshall, and his mother's parents, were natives of Pennsylvania. When Thomas was about two years old, he was taken by his parents to Illinois, remaining there long enough to acquire a distinct recollection of having attended the Freeport debate between Lincoln and Douglas. Soon the Marshall family went on to Kansas, but, finding the political situation there too tense for comfort, they moved again, first to La Grange, Mo. , and later, back to Indiana.
Education
After attending the public schools, young Marshall entered Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind. , and was graduated in 1873 with Phi Beta Kappa honors. During his college years he made up his mind to study law, and, taking the advice of some lawyer friends, he read law in the office of Judge Walter Olds of Ft. Wayne.
Career
Marshall was admitted to the bar on his twenty-first birthday at Columbia City, Ind. , where he practised continuously for more than a third of a century, acquiring both a comfortable living and an enviable degree of contentment. Until well after his fortieth birthday he remained a bachelor, but on October 2, 1895, Lois I. Kimsey of Angola, Ind. , became his wife a most felicitous marriage. As a typical "prominent citizen, " Marshall was a member of the Presbyterian Church, taught a Sunday-school class, served on the local school board, and became a thirty-third degree Mason. Like his father before him, Marshall was always a Democrat, and he served his party well. To his way of thinking, the fundamental principle of the Democratic creed was the right of every man to "his chance in life, unhampered and unaided by legislative enactment". For many years his interest in politics did not seem to extend to a desire to hold office; but once when he was importuned to run for Congress and refused on the ground that he "might be elected, " he hinted that he would like to be governor. At length, in 1908, this nomination came to him, as he insisted, "through the inability of the leading candidates to obtain a majority of the votes of the convention". During this campaign the Republicans came out for county option on the licensing of saloons, and indeed actually put a county-option law on the statute books. The Democrats favored township option, a system by which cities would have the chance to vote their preference apart from the strongly dry rural population. The antisaloon forces promptly denounced the Democratic stand as "wet, " but in spite of this opposition Marshall won after a vigorous campaign, although the electoral vote of the state went to Taft. Not until 1911, however, were there enough Democrats in the legislature to make possible the enactment of a township-option law. Once, in 1913, his remarks on the subject of inheritances aroused much criticism in conservative circles, but ordinarily what he had to say was well received. During his second term, when the President was for much of the time absent from the country or ill, Marshall often acted as ceremonial head of the nation, welcoming royal visitors to the United States, and discharging with democratic simplicity many other unwonted duties. Had he countenanced the idea, it is probable that he might have been declared president during the time that the stricken Wilson was incapable of carrying the full responsibilities of his office. After leaving office in 1921, Marshall returned to Indiana, making his home in Indianapolis. He died four years later on March 14, 1854 , in Washington, D. C. , while on a business trip to the Capital.
Achievements
Governor of Indiana, US Vice President. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 27th Governor of Indiana from January 1909 until January 1913 and 28th US Vice President under President Woodrow Wilson for two consecutive terms from March 1913 until March 1921. He is remembered for his often-repeated phrase, "What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar. "
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Views
Marshall believed that prohibition could be effective only when local sentiment was behind it, and that the substitution of township for county option was "of immense advantage to temperance". As governor for four years, Marshall also pushed to enactment an extensive program of labor and social legislation; and he attempted to secure in an unusual way the adoption of a much needed new constitution for the state. The "Tom Marshall Constitution, " so-called because Marshall was credited with having written it himself, failed to materialize because of hostile action by the state supreme court. While Marshall believed this judicial veto to be a "clear usurpation of authority, " he yielded to it gracefully lest the respect properly due the court by the people should be diminished. It was Marshall's record as governor that led to the presentation of his name to the Democratic national convention of 1912 as Indiana's favorite son for president. When the nomination went to Wilson, Marshall was given second place with little opposition. His election followed, and four years later he was renominated and reelected the first vice-president in nearly a century to succeed himself. As vice-president, Marshall was of greater consequence in the government than most of his predecessors. He made it his business to master the rules of the Senate, over which he presided with grace and tact. While scrupulously careful not to exceed his constitutional and legal powers, he exerted his personal influence most effectively on behalf of many administration measures. Nor did he deem it improper to speak his mind occasionally on public matters.
Quotations:
"Democrats, like poets are born, not made. "
Personality
Marshall was perhaps the most popular vice-president that the country ever had. His clear blue-gray eyes, his plentiful iron-gray hair, his genial smile, and his well-groomed appearance marked him out as a man of note, in spite of his instinctive modesty and his none too impressive physique. "Lovable, generous, kindly, keenly observant and always tolerant, " he was above all else possessed of a never-failing sense of humor. Once during a tiresome debate in the Senate on the needs of the country, he let drop his most frequently quoted remark: "What this country needs is a really good five cent cigar. " A devoted admirer of the original constitution, he paid his respects to some of the later changes by the observation that "it's got so it is as easy to amend the Constitution of the United States as it used to be to draw a cork". Late in life he put much of his quaint humor and homely philosophy into a book of Recollections, "in the hope, " so his foreword declared, "that the Tired Business Man, the Unsuccessful Golfer and the Lonely Husband whose wife is out reforming the world may find therein a half hour's surcease from sorrow. " It may be that Marshall's love of fun led some undiscerning people to set too low an estimate on his ability. In about 1880 he met and began to court Kate Hooper, and the two became engaged to marry. However, she died of an illness in 1882, one day before they were to be married. Her death was a major emotional blow to Marshall, and it led him to become an alcoholic. In 1895 he met Lois Kimsey who was working as a clerk in her father's law firm. and Despite their eighteen-year age difference, they fell in love and married that October. By that time his alcoholism had begun to interfere with his busy life prior to his marriage. His wife helped him to overcome his drinking problem and give up liquor after she locked him in their home for two weeks to undergo a treatment regimen.
