Background
William was born on May 7, 1848 in Madison County, Kentucky, United States. His father, William Stone, was a Virginian by birth, and his mother, Mildred Phelps, a Kentuckian.
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William was born on May 7, 1848 in Madison County, Kentucky, United States. His father, William Stone, was a Virginian by birth, and his mother, Mildred Phelps, a Kentuckian.
He attended a rural school until he was fifteen years of age, then went to stay with a married sister at Columbia, Missouri, where he attended the state university for three years and in 1867 entered the law office of his brother-in-law, Squire Turner.
Stone was admitted to the bar in 1869, and two years later settled at Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri. From 1872 to 1874 he was prosecuting attorney of Vernon County.
In 1892 he was elected governor of Missouri. Problems connected with the panic of 1893 absorbed the greater part of his attention as governor. He successfully managed the financial difficulties of the state and when strikes and other industrial disturbances occurred he was able to handle the situation without resort to military force.
Upon retiring from the governorship in 1897 he practised law in St. Louis, but kept a dominant influence in political affairs, and in 1903 was chosen to succeed George G. Vest in the United States Senate. Now far more conservative, he served here continuously until his death.
When the state was rocked (1902 - 03) by the "boodling" exposures of Joseph W. Folk, the name "Gum-Shoe Bill" was awarded to Stone by foes, and even accepted by friends, for his adroitness in avoiding charges of political corruption.
He was an ardent admirer and a follower of the principles of William Jennings Bryan. In the United States Senate, Stone, as a faithful partisan, voted for the railroad rate regulation laws of 1906, filibustered against the Aldrich-Vreeland currency bill in 1908, and opposed the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill in 1909.
During Wilson's administration he became the ranking member of the Finance Committee, and in the critical year of 1914 succeeded to the chairmanship of the important committee on Foreign Relations. In this position he successfully steered to ratification the Bryan peace and arbitration treaties. He received a storm of criticism early in 1917 as one of the "little group of willful men" who blocked President Wilson's Armed Ship Bill.
Nevertheless, as the war went on he gave wholeheartedly his thought and energy to the success of the American forces. He became deeply depressed by the reverses of the Allies early in 1918, and this emotional strain no doubt hastened his end. Stone was looked upon as being a man's man, and a good mixer. Although he was an able and successful lawyer, he failed to accumulate wealth.
Stone died in Washington on April 14, 1918.
William Joel Stone served as the 28th Governor of Missouri. He was involved in disagreements with the Wilson administration concerning European policy before the U. S. entry into World War I. He was one of the six U. S. Senators who voted against the United States declaration of war against Germany on April 4, 1917
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He was not a church member, but he stood high in several fraternal orders.
He was a moderate reformer, he opposed corruption in big business and was instrumental in exposing several fraudulent railroad claims to lands in the Northwest.
Besides all but holding the state Democratic party in the hollow of his hand for twenty-five years, he was prominent in the national councils of the party, being a member of the National Committee from 1896 to 1904, and its vice-chairman during the last four years of that period.
Quotations: In the crisis of March-April 1917 Senator James A. Reed warned Stone: "It is the decree of fate, war will be declared. A vote against it will mean your political ruin. You are old and you have no property. " Stone, with deep feeling, replied: "I know what it means to me. I know this war is coming. I know the people are aflame with battle. But would you have me consider my personal welfare in a case that involves the lives of millions of men? I cannot vote to send our boys into this conflict".
On April 2, 1874, he married Sarah Louise Winston, by whom he had three children.
