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OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest                    Volume 99 : Issue 89

Today's Topics:
  #1 ALFRED KELLY                         [leaann1@bellsouth.net]

------------------------------

X-Message: #1
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 02:17:10 -0800
From: leaann1@bellsouth.net
Subject: ALFRED KELLY


Historical Collections of Ohio
By Henry Howe LL.D.

ALFRED KELLY

Hon. Alfred Kelly,  son of Daniel Kelly was born in Middleton,  Conn.,
November 7,  1789.  When nine years of age his father removed with his
family to Lowville,  N.Y.  Alfred was educated at Fairfield Academy,
N.Y.,  and studied law with Jonas Platt,  a judge of the Supreme Court
of that State.  In 1810 he removed to Cleveland,  was admitted to the
bar and appointed prosecuting attorney on his twenty-first birthday  to
which office he was continuously appointed until 1821.  In 1814 Mr.
Kelly was elected to
the Ohio House of Representatives;  and was the youngest member of that
body,  which met at Chillicothe,  then the capital of the State. From a
very valuable and interesting sketch of "Reminiscences of Alfred
Kelly,"  by Judge Alfred Yaple,  who was his friend and a member of the
last Legislature in which he served,  we have made copious extracts
throughout this article.

"At an early day during one of the sessions,  he prepared and introduced
a proposition to reform the practice in our courts.  His proposition
looked to the lopping off of all the formalities and verbiage of the old
system of pleading and to simplify it.  This proposition was the
forerunner of our code,  which came some thirty years later. It also
provided for the abolishment of imprisonment for debt,  except in cases
of fraud.  This was the first time,  as I have heard him say,  such a
measure was ever seriously urged in any legislative body in the
civilized world."

"Dickens flaming pen had not then flashed light into the gloomy recesses
and revealed the sufferings and wretchedness within the walls of the
"Old Marshalsea,"  and aroused the English people to apply the plowshare
to turning over the ground upon which its foundations had stood.  Three
years after he introduced it in Ohio,  Kelly's bill was passed by the
Legislature of one of the states,  New York,  I think,  but not in Ohio
until about 1837 or 1839.  At the time he introduced it,  it was
considered so impractical and radical that it defeated his entire plan
of judicial reform. He introduced it,  as he said,  because he held that
property should be the basis of credit,  and property alone taken for
debt,  the person could not be sold,  and for debt,  personal liberty
should not be restrained.  This principle is now,  I believe,
incorporated in the constitution of every State,  and is upon the
Federal Statute book of the United States,  and has been enacted by the
Parliament of England."

"He was the master spirit,  whether in or out of the Legislature,  of
our canal policy.  He urged it as a necessary means of developing the
resources of the State,  and to the extent that he advocated and aided
it,  it was eminently a success.  Instead of three bushels of wheat
being required to purchase a bushel of salt,  one bushel of the former
would purchase three of the latter.  The same thing happened in the
prices of iron and all other imported heavy articles.  We got them no
longer by pack-saddle."

"When the system was finally decided upon,  it was generally supposed
that the contemplated works could not be completed within the lives of
any then living,  and certainly not within the limits of the estimated
cost.  He,  having been the prime mover in the undertaking,  having
framed the statutes authorizing and governing these works,  was made an
active canal commissioner,  the Legislature thus,  in effect,  saying:
'You claim that this work can be done with a given amount of money;  now
do it.'  He accepted the trust,  abandoned his profession,  sacrificed
his health by exposure to the wet and malaria of them valleys,  and
accomplished the work.  And the work was well done."

To make sure that everything was honestly done he personally inspected
the work,  living at one time in a cabin on the line of the canal with
his family.  He used a long iron rod with which he was accustomed to
probe the embankments to discover the tricks of contractors who were apt
to fell huge tree bodies,  cover then with earth,  and then draw pay,
therefore at so much a cubic yard.

Mr. Kelly had that peculiar quality of mind which could not only grasp
large enterprises in their entirety,  but at the same time direct the
perfecting of every detail without losing hold on the main purpose. Once
having undertaken any matter,  he assumed entire responsibility, and
with indomitable will and perseverance exacted implicit obedience to
orders from all under him.  His was the mind that projected the
methods,  his subordinates duties were to execute orders.  His opinions
and plans were formed after careful thought,  and when formed he was
sure he was right,  would brook no opposition,  and was therefore
impatient of criticism.  This sometimes caused him to be considered
despotic toward those in his employ,  but as long as his orders were
strictly obeyed he was an easy taskmaster.  An illustration of this is
given in the following anecdote;  A gentleman,  Mr. John J. Janney,  an
old citizen of Columbus,  as he informs us, calling at his house, saw
two men,  one on the roof apparently making some change in a chimney
top,  the other sitting on a stone on the ground.  Inquiring if Mr.
Kelly was in the house,  Mr. Janney was told that he might be found at a
certain designated point with some men who were at work in a ditch. Upon
reaching it,  Mr. Kelly was found at the bottom of the ditch laying
drain tile,  not the modern tile for they had not yet come into use,
but the flat paving tile;  two hired men were standing by looking on.
Mr. Kelly would not trust them to do the work even under his own
personal supervision,  but was as much besmeared with dirt and mud as
either of his hired laborers. Upon returning to the house Mr. Janney
found that the two men who had been engaged on the chimney were quietly
resting on the ground.  Being accosted with the salutation that they
seemed to be earning two dollars
and a half very easily,  one of them replied,  "That is so,  but we have
gone just as far as Mr. Kelly told us how to go,  and while we think we
know exactly what we ought to do next,  when you have worked for Mr.
Kelly as long as we have you will know better than to do anything which
he has not told you how to do.  He will be perfectly satisfied to have
us sit here all the afternoon and do nothing,  if he does not come back
and tell us what to do next. He is a capital man to work for if you know
how to obey his directions exactly,  but if you don't do that he will
not want you."

Another anecdote illustrates Mr. Kelly's character,  and shows how great
an interest he took in the property and business interests of the
State:  While on a tour of inspection,  the boat he was on came to a
lock;  Mr. Kelly got off the boat and while examining the  lock
discovered a lot of brush lodged against one of the gates;  he called up
the
division inspector,  a recent appointee who did not know Mr. Kelly by
sight,  and pointing to the brush said, "Why don't you remove that
brush, It is liable to cause damage if not removed."  The inspector
replied,  "Well I've been trying to get a man to go in there and take it
out,  but have not found one as yet."  Without another word Mr. Kelly,
clothes and all,  plunged into the canal and cleared out the brush.
Then dripping with muddy water,  he went up to the astonished inspector
and said,  "My name is Alfred Kelly;  some political influence secured
your appointment to this position,  but we shall have no further use for
your services.  I will send another man to fill your place immediately."

The Ohio canal was the great life work of Mr. Kelly,  and although a
public work,  Mr. Kelly gave so much of himself both to its origin and
construction,  was so devoted and untiring in its behalf,  surmounting
all difficulties,  and was with all so economical in its management that
when in 1835 the Ohio canal,  connecting the Ohio river with Lake erie,
was completed,  the actual cost did not exceed the estimate.

During the memorable financial crash from 1837 to 1841 he,  then living
at Columbus,  where he resided until his death,  was appointed fund
commissioner.  While holding this responsible position during that
critical period the State of Mississippi repudiated her debt.
Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  Illinois and perhaps other States,  had failed
to pay their interests on their bonds.  The State of New York and the
Government of the United States were in the New York market seeking in
vain to raise money.  The Ohio treasury had not enough money to pay her
January interest.  He was in New York endeavoring to raise money for
that purpose by the sale of bonds and prevent the disgrace of
bankruptcy.  In the midst of it,  resolutions were introduced and backed

by certain Solons in our Legislature,  to follow the example of
Mississippi and repudiate our debt;  and in Illinois the same disgrace
was being urged for adoption.  Communication was slow,  the mails being
carried by stage coach. Capitalists in New York,  in view of these
resolutions and the character of the times,  refused to lend the State
of Ohio a single dollar on its credit.  But at last and just in time to
save the State,  Kelly backed Ohio by giving his own individual notes
for it,  to an amount more than twice what he was then worth,  risking
the impoverishment of himself and his family;  but he raised the money
and paid the interest.  Some of these notes are now in possession of his
family,  or were at his death,  which occurred at the beginning of our
late war.

Through his financiering,  his system by this time having become known
and appreciated,  Ohio's bonds went up from fifty cents on the dollar to
much above par,  and have ever since remained there.  Those who bought
them at a low figure became,  and justly and fairly so,  enriched by the
investment. After saving the state's credit in New York by pledging
more than twice the aggregate of his own life accumulations,  and before
the marked advance in Ohio bonds,  he made an expose of the State
finances,  and foreshadowed the necessity for the adoption of a new
system of taxation.  These considerations led to his being sent again to
the State Senate.  There he introduced and carried through the tax law
of 1846,  the principle of which was,  saving a blunder,  which the
Supreme Court has held prevents the deduction of debts from credits,
incorporated
into our present constitution,  and which,  by letting the "blunder"
part of the constitution "slide",  is our present tax law,  passed in
1859.

Through t he influence of ex-governor Dennison,  the Kelly system has
been adopted for the District of Columbia,  and the fierce opposition
against its introduction there enables us to realize the difficulties
with which Kelly,  on its first introduction,  had to contend in Ohio.
Men who invest $100,000 in one kind of business,  and are free from
taxation,  will look with complacency upon the $100,000 of their
neighbors,  invested in real estate,  taxed to bear all the expenses of
government to protect both;  and will strenuously object to being
compelled to pay an equal share.  But after one year,  no one will
attempt or desire to return to the former partial and unjust system.

At the same session of 1846 the currency of the State was worthless.
The people were suffering from losses entailed by the Bank of
Gallipolis,  the new Bank of Circleville,  etc.  Kelly then introduced
and procured the passage of the State Bank and Independent Bank laws,
requiring them to redeem their issues,  dollar for dollar,  in gold,  at
the will of the holder,  without loss;  and made each branch of the
State Bank liable for the issues of every other branch.  This was the
banking system in force at the beginning of the late war,  and which was
superseded by our present national banking system;  the federal statutes
governing which were copied from Kelly's law.  Kelly's system was the
best the State ever had,  and as good as that ever possessed by any
State in the union.  This is proved by the fact that it was taken as the
model to frame the national system.

Any enterprise in which Mr. Kelly became interested was considered
almost certain of success;  so great was the confidence he inspired,
that when in 1847 the prospects of the Cleveland,  Columbus,  and
Cincinnati Railroad became so dark that it was almost determined to
abandon the attempt to construct the road,  its friends made a last
desperate rally,  and Mr. Richard Hilliard,  of Cleveland,  came to
Columbus to induce Mr. Kelly to take charge of its affairs.  Mr.
Hilliard represented the almost hopeless condition of the enterprise and
that unless he came to their rescue the venture would be likely to
fail.  Although the interview was prolonged until late in the night he
was compelled to retire with a negative answer.  But next morning Mr.
Kelly went to him and told him that he had reconsidered the matter,
that is was of such importance to the interests and welfare of the State
that he felt it his duty to accede to his propositions.  He accepted the
presidency of the road,  and from that moment its success was assured.
He entered upon the work with an energy and vim only exceeded by his
exertions in behalf of the Ohio canal.  With his own hands he dug the
first spadeful of dirt and laid the last rail.

In stature Mr. Kelly was between five feet seven and eight inches;  he
was compactly built,  neither broad nor slender;  his head was set
firmly,  his appearance being that of a man carved out of a block of
marble.  He neither affected popular manners nor sought popularity.  He
possessed emphatically, the "fortiter inre," with but little or none of
the "suaviter in modo."  His mind worked with the accuracy of the
geometric lathe,  and his action and conduct adhered strictly to the
line of his ideas.  This made him unpopular with all who sought,  from
personal interest or supposed better information,  to induce him to
depart from or vary plans or purposes he had formed;  to such he
listened with impatience,  and showed them but little respect,  but
adhered firmly to his purpose and moved straight to the object he had in
view.   This enabled him to construct the canals within the time and for
the sums estimated.  He would not vary the proper line of the work to
accommodate any local interests,  and this caused many people to feel
hardly toward him;  but feeling that he was right,  he was heedless of
their clamor and opposition.

"He despised cant and hypocrisy.  An incident related to me,  and
occurring before I knew him,  but which I'm certain occurred,  well
illustrates this.  One session when he was urging some measure in
caucus,  a member who was opposed to it,  but who could not answer
Kelly's arguments,  began to talk of obeying the dictates of his
conscience and all that.  Kelly settled his neck and head stiffly on his
shoulders,  buttoned his coat up to the throat,  and arose almost
choking with wrath.  Said he:  :Mr. Chairman,  when a mere politician
comes here,  and in place of good sense and sound argument begins,  by a
formal parade,  to set up his conscientious scruples and tender piety,
I set him down for a rascal right from the start, right from the start.
The scrupulous member subsided.

"Kelly tried in every way to get the Legislature to adopt his plan for
the semi-annual collection of taxes,  finally tacking it on the general
appropriation bill,  but he failed,  because the house voted it down.
When that vote was taken,  the end of the session and the time for
adjournment was at hand.  It was after midnight,  a night dark,,
blustering,  and stormy;  snow and rain commingled,  and falling thick
and fast.  Kelly listened with stern anxiety to the roll-call and the
responses of the members.  The "no" as uttered by many,  was not only
emphatic,  but delivered in a tone and manner as if intended for him to
hear and see that he was aimed at,  and indicated intentional insult to
him.  The result was announced,  the measure declared lost,  and Kelly
buttoned his coat up to his throat,  drew tightly around his neck his
fur collar,  adjusted his head squarely and firmly on his shoulder,  and
started for the door.  Feeling mortified at the disrespect shown him I
sought his side and expressed my regret for what had transpired.  "Oh'"
said he,  "I am used to it.  It don't trouble me.  These are honest
well-meaning men enough;  but I do wonder how many of them were ever
able to find their way from home to Columbus.  I hope they will find
their way back in safety,  and turn their attention to something they
know more about than legislation.  Sir,' said he,  'remember this;  I
would rather deal with fifty scoundrels than one fool;  the rascal knows
when you have him,  but the fool knows nothing."  And then,  with a
manner that spoke his assurance of the adoption of the law for the
semi-annual collection of taxes at no distant day,  in spite of the
action of that Legislature,  the old man disappeared in the darkness of
the street,  in that midnight storm,  his living voice to be heard no
more forever in the councils of the State."
After retiring from public life he gradually declined in vitality and
strength,  broken in health by his arduous labors in behalf of the
people of the State.  On December 2,  1859,  he passed away,  after
having lived a life of as great if not greater usefulness to his fellow
citizens of Ohio than that of any other one man the State has had.

--------------------------------

End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #89
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