Chapter V: Part 5

Statesman, orator, and financier, born in the West Indian island of Nevis, 11th of January, 1757. His father was a Scotch merchant, and his mother was the daughter of a French Huguenot. He was educated at King’s College, N. Y. When he was 18 years of age he surprised the people by his public speeches and pamphlets in favor of American independence. He was commissioned Captain of a Company of Artillery in March, 1776, and served with distinction at the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton, and was appointed Aid-de-camp and Private Secretary to General Washington in March, 1777, and gained his special favor and confidence in planning campaigns and devising means to support the army. In 1782 he was elected a member of the Continental Congress, and Washington expressed the opinion that no one excelled him in probity and sterling virtue. He was an active member of an anti-slavery party in New York, and offered a resolution in 1784, that every member of that society should liberate his own slaves. He was a delegate to the convention which met in Philadelphia in May, 1787, to form a Federal Constitution and to promote the Union of the States, and it appears was the principal author of the movement. Hamilton was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1789, at the time the nation was burdened with a heavy debt, almost destitute of credit, and on the verge of bankruptcy. The results of his financial policy were the restoration of public credit, protection to American industry, and a rapid revival of trade and commerce. He resigned his office to resume his practice of law, January 31, 1795. He declined the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States previously tendered him. Washington testified his great esteem for Hamilton by consulting him in the preparation of his Farewell Address, as well as in many other acts of his noble career.

In 1804, Aaron Burr, presenting himself as a candidate for Governor of New York, but Hamilton opposed his election expressing the opinion that “Burr was a dangerous man and unfit to be trusted with power.” The election of Gen. Lewis blasted the ambitious projects of Burr, who insolently demanded an explanation of Hamilton, and finally challenged him, Hamilton accepted the challenge, was mortally wounded at Weehawken, and died July 12, 1804. His death was profoundly lamented throughout the country.

NOTE.—His eldest son had been killed in a duel by a political adversary about 1802. Mr. Hamilton was the principal author of the Federalist, and the real father of our financial system. Immediately after adopting the constitution, he strongly advocated the establishment of a Mint, so that the New World would not be dependant on the Old for a circulating medium.

HON. JAMES PUTNAM KIMBALL,

PRESIDENT DIRECTOR OF ALL THE MINTS,

was born in Salem, Mass., April 26, 1836. After graduating at the High School of his native town in 1854, he entered the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University. In the summer of the following year he went to Germany, and matriculated at the University of Frederick Wilhelm, Berlin, in the Fall of the same year, and was graduated at the University of George Augusta, at Gottingen, in the Autumn of 1857, with the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. Upon his graduation he entered upon a practical course in Mining and Metallurgy, at the Mining School of Freiburg, in Saxony.

After making a tour of the Continent and England, he returned home and engaged as the Assistant of Prof. J. D. Whitney, now of Harvard University, in the State Geological Surveys of the States of Wisconsin and Illinois, embracing the Upper Mississippi lead region. He continued with Prof. Whitney during the survey, comprising the southeastern part of Iowa.

On the establishment of the New York State Agricultural College at Ovid, the foundation of which was subsequently merged with that of Cornell University, Dr. Kimball was appointed to the Chair of Professor of Chemistry and Economic Geology. Upon the appointment of the President of the college, Gen. Patrick, as Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Dr. Kimball became that officer’s Chief of Staff, with a commission from the President of the United States, as Assistant Adjutant-General of Volunteers, with the rank of Captain. This was in 1862. His first service in the field was with the Army of the Rappahannock, under Gen. McDowell. He took part in numerous engagements, notably, those of Groveton, Manassas, Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. General Patrick having been assigned to duty as Provost-Marshal of the Army of the Potomac, Capt. Kimball accompanied him, and served on the General Staff of that army under Generals McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, and Meade, successively.

When the army went into winter quarters, Capt. Kimball, whose health had become impaired, resigned from the army, and settled in New York. He resumed the practice of his profession as Mining Engineer and Metallurgist. Upon his marriage, in 1874, he accepted an honorary Professorship in Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa., removing from New York to one of the houses in the beautiful park and grounds of that institution, though retaining his office and business in New York City.

Dr. Kimball has been largely identified with the mineral development of Bedford County, Pa., and at the time of his appointment as Director of the Mints, was President of the Everett Iron Company, whose blast furnace, built in 1883-84, is one of the largest and finest in this country. As a scientist he is a contributor to various scientific journals at home and abroad, and among others the _American Journal of Science_, published at New Haven. Several of his papers have appeared in the proceedings of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, of which he has been Vice President. Dr. Kimball has traveled extensively in the United States, Mexico, and the West Indies, in prosecuting his professional practice, and as a man of scientific accomplishments and of affairs, bears a deservedly high reputation.

Dr. Kimball comes of Revolutionary stock. His paternal great-grandfather, William Russell, of Boston, was associated with the Sons of Liberty, and the leaders in public affairs in the times that tried men’s souls. He was present, disguised as an Indian, and assisted in the famous Tea Party in Boston harbor on the memorable 16th of December, 1773. Later, Mr. Russell was adjutant of the Massachusetts Artillery, raised for the defense of Boston, and which served in the Rhode Island campaign of 1777-78. Still later, while serving as Secretary to Commander John Manley, of the U. S. war vessel Jason, Russell was captured by the British frigate Surprise, and confined in Mill prison till June 24, 1782, when he was exchanged. But so sturdy a patriot could not rest unemployed, and twenty days after his liberation, found him again in the naval service. He was again made prisoner by the British, in November following, and consigned to the notorious British prison ship, Jersey, lying off New York.

An anecdote is related by Mr. James Kimball, father of the subject of this sketch, in a memoir on the Tea Party in Boston harbor furnished the Essex Institute Historical collections (1874), which illustrates the temper of Mr. Russell as a patriot. Returning to his home after the destruction of the tea, he took off his shoes, and carefully dusted them over the fire; he then took the tea canister and emptied its contents. Next morning he had printed on one side of the canister, “Coffee,” and on the other, “No Tea.” This was the brief decree of banishment promulgated by the Tea Destroyers, and the prohibited luxury disappeared from their tables.

HON. JOHN JAY KNOX.

Late Comptroller of the Currency, now President of the National Bank of the Republic, New York City, we are indebted to _The Financier, August, 1885_, for the following biographical sketch:

Hon. John Jay Knox was Comptroller or Deputy Comptroller of the National currency for seventeen years. He was born in Oneida county, New York, March 19, 1828. His ancestors were Scotch Irish, and came originally from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1759. He received his early education at the Augusta Academy and the Watertown Classical Institute, and was graduated from Hamilton College in the Class of 1849. Among those in college with him were Senator Hawley of Connecticut, and Chas. Dudley Warner. After leaving college he became teller in a bank at Vernon, of which his father was President, at a salary of $300 a year, where he remained from 1850 to 1852. He spent some time in the Burnet Bank at Syracuse, and was afterwards cashier of the Susquehanna Valley Bank at Binghampton. He and his brother, Henry M. Knox, established a banking house at St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1857, shortly before that State was admitted into the Union.

The first steamboat launched on the Red River of the North, establishing a most important communication for the business interests of Minnesota, was transported in the dead of winter across country on runners, from Sauk Rapids to Breckenridge, and Mr. Knox was one of the few who paid the expenses of the enterprise.

In the financial discussions which preceded the establishment of the National banks, Mr. Knox took a prominent part, and made many valuable suggestions on the currency question. He advocated a safe and convertible currency, the issue of a uniform series of circulating notes to all the banks, and the guarantee by the Government of circulation secured by its own bonds.

In 1862 he was introduced to Secretary Chase and the Hon. Hugh McCulloch, then Comptroller of the currency. The attention of the Secretary had previously been attracted to the financial articles of Mr. Knox, published in _Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine_.

He was shortly afterward appointed to a clerkship under Treasurer Spinner, and was subsequently transferred to the office of Mr. Chase, as disbursing clerk, at a salary of $2,000 a year. After three years in this position he became cashier of the Exchange National Bank at Norfolk, Va., but finding the southern climate uncongenial, after a year he returned to Washington. He was commissioned by Secretary McCulloch to examine the mint at San Francisco, and to select a site there for a new one. His report upon the Mint service of the Pacific Coast was printed in the Finance Report of 1866, with a complimentary notice by the Secretary. The site selected was purchased from Eugene Kelly of New York for $100,000.

He subsequently visited New Orleans and discovered a deficiency of $1,100,000 in the office of the Assistant Treasurer. He took possession of that office, and for some weeks acted as Assistant Treasurer of the United States.

The promotion of Mr. Knox to the office in which he was able to do himself the most credit, and perform those services to the country which are part and parcel of its financial progress, occurred in 1867. At this time a vacancy was brought about in the Deputy-Comptrollership of the Currency, and Secretary McCulloch appointed him to fill it. Until May 1, 1884, he remained as Deputy or head of the Bureau, his terms of office being as follows: Five years as Deputy-Comptroller, from 1867 to 1872; five years as Comptroller, from 1872 to 1877, appointed by General Grant; five years, second term as Comptroller, from 1877 to 1882, by President Hayes, on the recommendation of Secretary Sherman—the reappointment being made without his knowledge, before the expiration of the preceding term, and confirmed by the Senate without reference to any committee. He was again reappointed, by President Arthur, April 12, 1882.

In 1870 he made an elaborate report to Congress (Senate Mis. Doc., No. 132, XLI. Cong., 2d Sess.), including a codification of the Mint and Coinage laws, with important amendments, which was highly commended. The bill which accompanied the report comprised, within the compass of twelve pages of the Revised Statutes, every important provision contained in more than sixty different enactments upon the Mint and Coinage of the United States—the result of eighty years of legislation. This bill, with slight amendments, was subsequently passed, and is known as “The Coinage Act of 1873;” and the Senate Finance Committee, in recognition of his services, by an amendment, made the Comptroller of the Currency an _ex-officio_ member of the Assay Commission, which meets annually at the Mint in Philadelphia for the purpose of testing the weight and fineness of the coinage of the year.

Through his official reports, twelve in number, and his addresses on the currency question, Mr. Knox has indirectly exercised great influence in financial legislation, and he took an active, though quiet and unassuming part, in the great financial _coup d’etat_ of the resumption of specie payment.

In April, 1878, he accompanied Secretary Sherman and Attorney-General Devens to New York, and arranged a meeting between these two members of the Cabinet and the officers of ten of the principal banks of the city at the National Bank of Commerce, with the view of negotiating the sale of $50,000,000 of 4½ per cent. bonds, the avails of which were to be used for resumption purposes. The Presidents of the banks, who were present, gave Secretary Sherman no encouragement as to the purchase of the bonds at the rates proposed by him. Upon the return of the Secretary and Comptroller to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in the evening, they were met by August Belmont, who had a cable dispatch from the Rothschilds, authorizing a purchase of the whole amount at a premium of one and one-half per cent. for the account of the syndicate. Upon the following day the Secretary and the Comptroller returned to Washington, after an absence of three days, and the success of the negotiation was announced, much to the chagrin of some members of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, who were then bitterly opposing the scheme proposed by the Secretary for the resumption of specie payments. This negotiation was the first of a series of brilliant financial transactions preceding and following resumption on January 1, 1879.

Subsequently he arranged a conference, which was held in the Treasury at Washington, in the evening, between leading bank officials of New York and Secretaries Sherman and Evarts, which resulted in the admission of the Assistant Treasurer as a member of the clearing house, and the receipt by the banks of legal tender notes on a par with gold; and in 1881, by request of President Garfield, he attended a conference in New York between the leading financial men of the city and Secretary Windom and Attorney-General McVeagh, which resulted in the issue and successful negotiation of three and one-half per cent. bonds.

At the time of his resignation, Mr. Knox was the oldest officer in term of service in the department. One of the leading financial writers in the country, in noticing his retirement, in the _Nation_ said:

“The retirement of Mr. John Jay Knox from the office of Comptroller of the Currency is a loss to the public service of no common kind. The intelligence which he has brought to the complicated duties of his office has never been surpassed in any similar station, and has not been equalled in the particular station which he has so long filled. The National banking system owes much of its present carefulness in detail management to his mastery of all the facts and principles of sound finance. His annual reports embrace perhaps the most complete and satisfactory arrangement of information needful to the business-man, the student, and the legislator that has ever been furnished in this country on any economical subject. Mr. Knox resigns the Comptrollership to take the Presidency of the National Bank of the Republic of New York City.”

In a speech before the Merchants’ Club of Boston, in February, 1885, Mr. Knox alluded to the subjects of civil service reform and the coinage of silver in the following trenchant language:

“The platforms of both parties in the late campaign contained nothing but platitudes upon the silver question, which should have been the burning issue. The candidate of the Republicans seemed to avoid the issue in his letter of acceptance, rather than to express the sentiments of the best men in his party. The candidate of the Democrats said nothing. Yet I am told by good authority that Governor Cleveland is earnest in his desire to stop the coinage, and that nothing would please him more than to have a clause inserted in an appropriation bill which would repeal the law which was passed in the interest of silver miners when the whole production is not equal, according to Edward Atkinson, who is an authority upon such subjects, to the production of eggs by the hens of this country! If Governor Cleveland has the bottom and pluck to carry out these two reforms, his administration will be one of the most memorable in the annals of the country. It will elevate not only every branch of the civil service, but will greatly improve the character of the representatives sent to Congress from every State of the Union, and will serve to lift the depression which now burdens every industrial interest. It will require some intellect to work out these reforms. But it will require more bottom than brains, and if he has the grit to stand by his pledges, he will have the united support of all intelligent, upright, and honest men everywhere without distinction of party.”

Mr. Knox has written a valuable book, which is justly popular, entitled “United States Notes.” It is published by the Scribners, and republished in London, and is a history of the various issues of paper money by the Government, and is said by George Bancroft to be “a clear, thorough, able, accurate and impartial work on United States Notes.”

THE COINAGE ACT OF 1873.

The enactment of the Mint Law of 1873 marks an era in the Mint Service of the United States. Prior to this, the Director of the Mint at Philadelphia was the Director of all the Mints—the institution at Philadelphia being regarded as the “Mother Mint,” and the others, at San Francisco, New Orleans, etc., were called Branch Mints. Each branch had its Superintendent, reporting direct to Philadelphia. But the authors of the Act of 1873 regarded the Mint Service as so large and important a part of the Government, that it should be constituted a separate Bureau of the Treasury, with the Director located at Washington. One of the promoters of this Act was the Hon. John Jay Knox, late Comptroller of the Currency, and now President of the National Bank of the Republic, New York. The following sketch of the origin and history of the new law may prove of interest. It was originally published in Rhodes’ Journal of Banking, July, 1884. Referring to Mr. Knox, the author says:

“In 1870 he made an elaborate report to Congress (Senate Mis.
Doc. No. 132, XLI. Cong., 2d Sess.), including a codification
of the Mint and Coinage laws, with important amendments, which
was highly commended. The method adopted in this codification
was, first, to arrange in as concise a form as possible the
coinage laws then in existence, with such additional sections
and suggestions as seemed valuable. The proposed bill was
then printed upon paper having a wide margin, and transmitted
to the officers of the different Mints and Assay offices,
and to such other gentlemen as were known to be conversant
and intelligent upon the subject of the coinage, with the
request that the printed bill should be returned with such
notes as experience and education should dictate. In this way
the views of many gentlemen who were conversant with these
subjects were obtained, with but little inconvenience to such
correspondents. This correspondence was subsequently published
by order of Congress, in H. R. Ex. Doc. No. 307, XLI. Cong.,
2d Sess. Having received these suggestions, the bill, which
comprised within the compass of eight or ten pages of the
Revised Statutes every important provision contained in more
than sixty different enactments upon the Mint and Coinage of
the United States—the result of eighty years of legislation—was
prepared and submitted to Congress. This bill, with but slight
amendments, was subsequently passed, and was known as ‘The
Coinage Act of 1873;’ and the Senate Finance Committee, in
recognition of the services of the Comptroller of the Currency,
by an amendment, made that officer an _ex-officio_ member of
the Assay Commission, which meets annually at the Mint in
Philadelphia for the purpose of testing the weight and fineness
of the coinage of the year. Upon his suggestion the coinage of
the silver dollar was discontinued, and the paragraph in the
report upon this subject was as follows:

“The coinage of the silver dollar-piece, the history of which
is here given, is discontinued in the proposed bill. It is by
law the dollar unit; and, assuming the value of gold to be
fifteen and one-half times that of silver, being about the
mean ratio for the past six years, is worth in gold a premium
of about three per cent., its value being $1.03.12, and
intrinsically more than seven per cent. premium in our other
silver coins, its value thus being $1.07.42. The present laws
consequently authorize both a gold dollar unit and a silver
dollar unit, differing from each other in intrinsic value.
The present gold dollar-piece is made the dollar unit in the
proposed bill, and the silver piece is discontinued.”

The first Director of the Mint under this new law, was the Hon. Henry R. Linderman. The title of the chief officer at Philadelphia being changed to Superintendent—the first incumbent with that title was the Hon. James Pollock.

Biographical notices of these officers will be found in their appropriate place in this volume.

DIRECTORS OF THE MINT.

DAVID RITTENHOUSE, FIRST DIRECTOR OF THE MINT.

Entering the Cabinet, the portraits of the different Directors attract attention. That of David Rittenhouse is the copy of a painting by Charles Willson Peale. Mr. Rittenhouse was appointed by Washington, April 14, 1792, and remained in charge of the Mint until June, 1795, when his declining health compelled him to resign.

At an early age he indicated mechanical talent of a high order in the construction of a clock, and his studies from that time were principally mathematical. His genius soon attracted attention, and he was appointed by the colonial governor a surveyor, and in that capacity determined the famous Mason and Dixon line. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin as President of the American Philosophical Society. Mr. Barber, late Engraver of the Mint, executed a bronze medal of Dr. Rittenhouse. Possibly, excepting Duvivier’s head of Washington after Houdon, it cannot be surpassed in the Cabinet. The engraver had a very fine subject, and treated it in the highest style of art. On the obverse is “David Rittenhouse,” with date of birth and death. On the reverse, inscription, “He belonged to the whole human race.”—“Wm. Barber.” This beautiful memento is highly prized.

HENRY WILLIAM DESAUSSURE, SECOND DIRECTOR OF THE MINT.

The portrait of Henry William Desaussure, now in the cabinet, was painted by Samuel Du Bois, from a daguerreotype taken from a family picture. This Director was distinguished for his legal ability, as well as his strict integrity. He entered upon his duties with a protest, as he claimed no knowledge of the requirements of the position, having long been a practicing lawyer; but he was reassured by Alex. Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, and proved himself a fine officer for the short term of his service. He was appointed by Washington, July 8, 1795, but resigned in the following October. Washington not only expressed regret at losing so valuable an officer, but consulted him as to the selection of a successor.

ELIAS BOUDINOT, THIRD DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,

was appointed October 28, 1795, and remained in office eleven years. In the summer and autumn of 1797 and the two following years, and also of 1802 and 1803, the Mint was closed on account of the ravages of the yellow fever. Mr. Boudinot resigned in 1805, and devoted the remainder of his life to benevolent and literary pursuits. He died on the 24th of October, 1821, at the advanced age of eighty-two. The fine portrait of this venerable Director seen in the Cabinet was presented by a relative, and is a good copy of a painting by Waldo and Jewett.

ROBERT PATTERSON, LL.D., FOURTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,

was appointed by President Jefferson, January 17, 1806. He was a native of Ireland, distinguished for his acquirements and ability. He held the office of Director for an exceptionally long term of service. His portrait, which hangs in the Cabinet, is a copy of a fine original by Rembrandt Peale.

SAMUEL MOORE, M. D., FIFTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,

was appointed by President James Monroe, July 15, 1824. He was a native of New Jersey, and the son of a distinguished Revolutionary officer. He was one of the first graduates of the Penn University, in 1791, and was afterwards a tutor in that institution. During his directorship the Mint was removed to the present building. His portrait was painted from life by B. Samuel Du Bois, now in the Cabinet.

ROBERT MASKELL PATTERSON, M. D., SIXTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,

son of a former Director, was appointed by President Andrew Jackson, May 26, 1835. His term of office was marked by an entire revolution in the coinage, and the ready acceptance of those improvements which followed so rapidly upon the introduction of steam. Dr. Patterson possessed the advantage of foreign travel; and having become familiar with the discoveries which had been adopted in the French Mint, he inaugurated and perfected them, also introducing improvements, which are still in use, in the machinery of the Mint. His portrait is in the Cabinet.

GEORGE N. ECKERT, M. D., SEVENTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,

was appointed by President Fillmore, July 1, 1851. He served nearly two years, and, resigning, was followed by

THOMAS M. PETTIT, EIGHTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT,

who was appointed by President Pierce, April 4, 1853. He died a few weeks after his appointment. No portrait of him in the Cabinet. He was succeeded by

HON. JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, LL.D., NINTH DIRECTOR OF THE MINT.

Mr. Snowden, who was appointed by President Pierce, June 3, 1853, was formerly a member of the State Legislature, and served two terms as Speaker; was afterwards elected for two terms as State Treasurer. During his official term the building was made fire-proof, the large collection of minerals was added, and nickel was first coined.

Mr. Snowden has placed the numismatic world under many obligations, by directing the publication of two valuable quarto volumes,—one of them a description of the coins in the Cabinet, under the title of “The Mint Manual of Coins of all Nations,” the other “The Medallic Memorials of Washington,” being mainly a description of a special collection made by himself. In the preface to the former work he gives due credit to the literary labors of Mr. George Bull, then Curator, and also to a reprint of the account of the ancient collection, by Mr. Du Bois, who also furnished other valuable material. These books are valuable as authority, and by reason of the national character of the last mentioned.

JAMES POLLOCK, A.M., LL.D., TENTH DIRECTOR AND FIRST SUPERINTENDENT,

was appointed by Abraham Lincoln in 1861, and was re-appointed by President Grant to succeed Dr. Linderman in 1869 to 1873. Born in Pennsylvania in 1810; graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, in 1831, and commenced the practice of the law in 1833; he served in Congress three terms; was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1854, and in 1860 was a peace delegate to Washington from his State to counsel with representatives from different parts of the Union as to the possibility of amicably adjusting our unhappy national troubles. His portrait, by Winner, hangs in the eastern section of the Cabinet.[19]

HON. HENRY RICHARD LINDERMAN, M. D., DIRECTOR OF THE MINTS AND ASSAY OFFICES OF THE UNITED STATES,

was the eldest son of John Jordan Linderman, M. D., and Rachel Brodhead. He was born in Pike county, Pennsylvania, the 25th of December, 1825. The elder Dr. Linderman was one of the most noted physicians in northeastern Pennsylvania, and practiced medicine for nearly half a century in the valley of the Delaware, in this State, and New Jersey. He was a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York, where he had studied under the famous Dr. Valentine Mott. Dr. Linderman’s grandfather, Jacob von Linderman, came to this country during the disturbed period of the Austrian War of Succession, during the first half of the last century, and settled in Orange county, where he purchased a tract of land. The property is still in the possession of the family. Jacob von Linderman was the cadet of an ancient and honorable family of Saxony, which had been distinguished for two centuries in the law and medicine, several of his ancestors having been counsellors and physicians to the Elector. He was a descendant of the same family as Margaretta Linderman, the mother of the great Reformer, Martin Luther. Of this paternal stock, Dr. Henry R. Linderman was, by his mother, a nephew of the late Hon. Richard Brodhead, Senator of the United States from Pennsylvania; grandson of Richard Brodhead, one of the Judges of Pike county, and great-grandson of Garrett Brodhead, an officer of the Revolution, and a great-nephew of Luke Brodhead, a Captain in Col. Miles’ Regiment, and of Daniel Brodhead, Colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line; the latter was afterwards a Brigadier-General, was one of the original members of the Cincinnati of this State, and Surveyor-General of the Commonwealth when the war closed. His only son Daniel was a First Lieutenant in Colonel Shee’s Battalion, was taken prisoner by the British, and died after two years’ captivity. General Brodhead married Governor Mifflin’s widow, and died in Milford, Pike county, in 1803. The nephew of these three brothers, Charles Wessel Brodhead, of New York, was also in the Revolutionary army, a Captain of Grenadiers. They all descended from Daniel Brodhead, a Captain of King Charles II.’s Grenadiers, who had a command in Nichol’s expedition, which captured New York from the Dutch in 1664. Captain Brodhead was of the family of that name in Yorkshire, which terminated in England so recently as 1840 in the person of Sir Henry T. L. Brodhead, baronet.

Dr. Henry R. Linderman, after receiving an academic education, entered the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. When barely of age he graduated, returned to Pike county and began practice with his father, and earned a reputation as a skillful and rising physician.

In 1855 his uncle, Richard Brodhead (United States Senator), procured his appointment as chief clerk of the Philadelphia Mint. He held this position until 1864, when he resigned and engaged in business as a banker and broker in Philadelphia. In 1867 he was appointed Director of the Mint by President Johnson. In 1869 he resigned. In 1870 he was a commissioner of the Government to the Pacific coast to investigate the San Francisco and Carson Mints, and to adjust some intricate bullion questions. In 1871 he was a commissioner to Europe, to examine the coinage systems of the Great Powers. In 1872 he was a commissioner, with the late Dr. Robert E. Rogers, of the University of Pennsylvania, for fitting up the Government refinery at the San Francisco Mint. In the same year he wrote an elaborate report on the condition of the gold and silver market of the world. “In this report he called attention to the disadvantages arising from the computation and quotation of exchange with Great Britain on the old and complicated Colonial basis, and from the undervaluation of foreign coins in computing the value of foreign invoices and levying and collecting duties at the United States Custom Houses.” He was the author of the Act of March 9th, 1873, which corrected the defects above referred to. His predictions in this report on the decline in the value of silver as compared to gold were fulfilled to the letter.

He was thoroughly familiar with the practice, science, and finance of the Coinage Department of the Government, and about this time he wrote the Coinage Act of 1873, and secured its passage through Congress. General Grant, then President, considered him as the fittest man to organize the new Bureau, and, though a Democrat, appointed him first Director under the new Act; the Director being at the head of all the Mints and Assay Offices in the United States.

For the remainder of his life until his last illness, which began in the fall of 1878, he worked incessantly. Under his hands the Bureau of the Mints and the entire Coinage and Assay service were shaped in their present form. Much is due to his official subordinates, but his was the master mind, his the skillful and methodical direction, the studious and laborious devotion to the duties and obligations of his high position at the head of the Coinage Department of this great nation, which have given the United States the best coinage system in the world. It was Dr. Linderman who projected the “trade dollar,” solely for commerce, and not intended to enter into circulation here. It was a successful means of finding a market for our great surplus of silver, which Dr. Linderman sought to send to Oriental countries rather than flood our own and depreciate its fickle value. The old silver dollar by the Coinage Act of 1873 was abolished. The codification of all the legislation of Congress since the foundation of the Mint in 1792 was thus accomplished. Other needed legislative enactments were passed by Congress on his recommendations.

In 1877 Dr. Linderman wrote, and Putnam published, “Money and Legal Tender in the United States,” a valuable and interesting contribution to the science of finance, which was favorably received abroad as well as here. The same year his official report presented one of the most exhaustive, profound, and able efforts which has ever emanated from the Government press. The fact that several of his reports were in use as text books of technical information in some of the technical schools (notably that at Harvard University), will serve to show the estimation in which the late Dr. Linderman was held as an authority upon coinage, mining, and finance. When the Japanese established their mint, that government made him the liberal offer of $50,000 to stay in their country one year and organize their mint service.

When M. Henri Cernuschi, the eminent financier and the Director of the French Mint, was in this country in 1878, he said, “Dr. Linderman’s name is as celebrated on the continent of Europe in connection with his opinions on the double standard of metallic currency, as that of Garibaldi in connection with the Italian revolution.”

In 1877 Dr. Linderman was appointed a commissioner, with power to name two others, to investigate abuses in the San Francisco Mint and Custom House. He appointed ex-Governor Low, of California, and Mr. Henry Dodge, and this commission sat as a court of inquiry in San Francisco in 1877. He returned to Washington in the autumn of that year. His report of the commission was duly approved, and all the changes it advised were made by the Government authorities.

In 1853 Dr. Linderman married Miss Emily Davis, a highly accomplished and talented lady, daughter of George H. Davis, one of the pioneer coal operators of the Wyoming and Carbon districts. Dr. Linderman died at his residence in Washington in January, 1879, after a long illness superinduced by his self-sacrificing care and solicitude for public interests. His conscientious and valuable aid and advice in counsel, his conception of public duty, which so entirely guided his conduct in all his official relations connected with our present monetary system, established through his efforts, justly entitle him to be held in grateful remembrance for the benefits he conferred upon his fellow countrymen.[20]

COL. A. LOUDON SNOWDEN, SECOND SUPERINTENDENT,

was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and descends from one of the old families of Pennsylvania.

He was educated at the Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. On the completion of his collegiate course he studied law, but on May 7, 1857, just before being admitted to the bar, accepted the position of Register, tendered him by his uncle, the late Hon. James Ross Snowden, then Director of the United States Mint.

In 1866, a vacancy having occurred in the office of Coiner of the Mint, he was appointed by the President, and entered upon the duties of this office October 1, 1866.

At the request of President Grant, in 1876, he was induced to accept the Postmastership of Philadelphia.

He assumed the duties of that office January 1, 1877, with much reluctance, but soon manifested as Postmaster the same capacity for thorough discipline and organization which had distinguished him in the Mint. President Hayes, in December, 1878, tendered him the position of Director of all the Mints of the United States, made vacant by the expiration of the commission of Dr. Linderman. After the death of Dr. Linderman the President again sent for him and urged his acceptance of the place, which he was believed to have declined previous to Dr. Linderman’s death from motives of delicacy, having long been the friend of the late Director.

This offer he again declined, as the acceptance of it would necessitate his removal from Philadelphia to Washington.

In the following February the President again made a tender of office. This time it was the superintendency of the Philadelphia Mint, and, as its acceptance of it restored him to a service agreeable to him in every particular, and permitted him to remain among his friends in Philadelphia, he promptly accepted, and assumed control of the Mint on the 1st of March, 1879, and continued in charge of the “Parent Mint” of the United States until June, 1885, when he resigned his commission.

In January, 1873, he was elected vice-president of the Fire Association, one of the oldest and largest fire insurance companies of the United States. In 1868 he was elected its president. In October, 1880, he was elected president of the “United Fire Underwriters of America,” an organization embracing the officers of more than one hundred and fifty of the leading American and foreign companies doing business in the United States, representing a capital of over $118,000,000.

DANIEL M. FOX.

Hon. Daniel M. Fox, the new Superintendent of the United States Mint, was born in this city on the 16th of June, 1819. His ancestors, both on his father’s and mother’s side, are not without fame, many of them having figured more or less conspicuously in the early history of the country. Daniel Miller, his maternal grandfather, took quite a prominent part in the Revolutionary war, being present with Washington at Germantown, Pa., New Brunswick, N. J., the Highlands, N. Y., Valley Forge, Pa., the siege of Yorktown, and witnessed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. During the campaign in New Jersey he was taken by the British as a spy and brought to Philadelphia, but effected his escape and rejoined the army. At the termination of the war he finally settled with his family in the old Northern Liberties, where Mr. Fox’s grandfather, by the father’s side, John Fox, resided. Here Daniel’s father and mother were born, and here he himself first saw the light, and was reared and educated.

His parents were possessed of very little of this world’s goods, but that did not prevent them from giving their son a liberal education, which he was not backward in taking advantage of. After leaving school the first two years were employed as clerk in a store, after which he turned his attention to conveyancing, as he intended to make that his permanent profession. He devoted the next five years to the close study of all its intricate details in the office of the late Jacob F. Hoeckley, who at that period stood at the head of the profession in this city, and graduating with eminent credit he commenced practice for himself.

The profession is one affording many temptations to men who are not well grounded in strict integrity, and sustained in the paths of rectitude and virtue by a conscientious regard for the _meum_ and _tuum_ of a well-ordered business life; but Mr. Fox, looking upon his profession as one of dignity and trust, soon commanded and permanently secured the confidence of the public, by avoiding those speculative ventures which have brought so much disrepute upon it, and by a scrupulous regard for the interests of those who placed their property in his keeping. In consequence, the business entrusted to him has increased to such an extent from year to year that it is said he has more estates in his charge for settlement, as administrator, executor, or trustee, than any other single individual in Philadelphia. His practice constantly increasing as time rolled on, the laws touching real estate operations becoming more complicated year by year, and appreciating the necessity in many cases for court proceedings to secure perfection of title, he submitted himself to a legal examination, and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in November, 1878.

HIS PUBLIC CAREER.

His first step in public life was at the age of twenty-one, when he was elected a member of the Board of School Directors of the district in which he then lived, and for many years prior to 1854, when the city was consolidated, and the law in that regard changed, he was President of the Board. For many years he had taken an active interest in the public schools, and was a pioneer in the night-school system for adults. He was chosen two consecutive terms by the City Councils as a Director of Girard College, and also represented the Northern Liberties in the Board of Health, having charge of the sanitary matters and the quarantine regulations of the city, and was quite active and efficient in the abatement of the cholera, which was epidemic here twice during the nine years he served in that Board.

For three years he represented his ward in the Select Council of Philadelphia with credit and ability. In 1861 he retired from Councils, and in the year following was unanimously nominated for the Mayoralty by the Democratic party. The city at that time was strongly Republican, and he was defeated by Hon. Alexander Henry, although he ran largely ahead of his ticket. In 1865 he again received a unanimous nomination for the same office, and ran against Hon. Morton McMichael and with the same result. His personal popularity, however, was in the ascendant, and when he was placed in nomination in 1868 against General Hector Tyndale, he was duly elected.

On January 1, 1869, he was inaugurated, and his first official duty as Mayor was to formally receive on behalf of the city authorities General Grant as President-elect. The reception took place in Independence Hall, in the presence of Councils and a large number of prominent citizens, and was conducted on the part of the new Mayor with ease, grace, and elegance. His municipal administration was marked by many reformatory and sanitary measures, especially in those portions of the city where the impurity of the denizens hazarded the health of more respectable neighborhoods. It was during his official term that the Volunteer Fire Department ceased to exist. It had been his practice during its closing days to attend all conflagrations for the double purpose of holding a moral check on the lawless and to stimulate the police in their duties of keeping the streets clear for the free exercise of those whose business it was to extinguish the flames. The passage by Councils of the ordinance establishing a Paid Fire Department created a profound sensation in the city, arousing the bitter feelings of many of the volunteer firemen, and kindling an intense anxiety on the part of the people generally as to the fate of the bill when it reached the hands of the Mayor. He retained it for a fortnight, unsigned, evidently desiring to soften the feeling engendered by its passage, and also to perfect such arrangements as would be necessary to meet any emergency in carrying the act into effect. The latter being accomplished, he formally approved the ordinance and it became a law. This course was very unpalatable to the riotous element of the volunteers, who manifested their feelings in various ways, such as suspending the effigy of the Mayor in several engine houses, but no other violent demonstrations of any moment occurred, as the steps taken by his officers proved effective and rigorous; these, coupled with the co-operation of many of the discreet firemen, enabled the new “Paid Department” to go into operation without any disturbance whatever, and the city has ever since rejoiced in an efficient system without any of the former accompaniments of noise, riot, and public disturbance.

A startling attempt at assassination occurred during Mayor Fox’s incumbency, in the shooting of United States Revenue Detective James Brooks, in open day, in a Front street store, by some miscreants. The case was at once taken in hand by the Mayor, who by stimulating the police and offering heavy rewards caused the arrest of the parties. Their conviction soon followed. Whenever any question of grave public importance presented itself, it was his practice to invite conferences with the most prominent citizens at his office, as to the best course to be pursued; thus, while showing a true devotion to the public interests, he was enabled to act with great sagacity; he also brought to his support the power of eloquence, which he possesses in an eminent degree; this added much to his popularity. He did not hesitate to use the veto whenever he differed with Councils, and during his term he transmitted to these bodies thirty-two messages of this character, the majority of which were sustained. His official term ended in a most gratifying manner, both chambers of Councils unanimously passing resolutions of thanks for his able and energetic administration of the city’s affairs. This was followed by a grand banquet at the Academy of Music, tendered to him by our most distinguished citizens, irrespective of party. In two successive State conventions he received complimentary votes for the Gubernatorial nominations.

The great International Exposition in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the birth of our nation was held in this city in 1876. In the preparation for this grand demonstration, in its opening and down to its close, in the autumn of that year, Mr. Fox took a leading part, the incipient step having been taken in the Mayor’s Office during his administration, in a consultation with a committee from the Franklin Institute, who waited upon him for that purpose. As an active and earnest member of the Centennial Board of Finance, which had charge of all the funds for the Exposition, Mr. Fox contributed his time, his means, and his voice greatly to its promotion and final success.

Once more Mr. Fox was called to the discharge of an important public duty. For a number of years a controversy had existed between the general Government and the railroad corporations with reference to the transportation of the United States mails, the former complaining that the service was not satisfactorily rendered, and the latter that they were not adequately compensated.

On the 12th of July, 1876, Congress passed a bill authorizing the President to appoint a Commission of three civilians to investigate the subject and make report upon it. Mr. Fox was one of the appointees, his colleagues being selected from other States. The Commission, in the exercise of its functions, visited every section of the country, embracing a distance of travel of over twenty-eight thousand miles. Sessions were held in all the principal cities, much testimony taken, and when its labors were completed a report of great value was prepared and presented, which went far towards a satisfactory settlement of the controversy.

[From The History of the Philadelphia Police.]

One of the most important occurrences during Mr. Fox’s term as
Mayor was the abolition of the old Volunteer Fire Department.
The ordinance for the erection of a Paid Fire department was
passed December 29, 1870, after a series of hot debates. The
old volunteers were a power in politics, but their acts of
violence and incendiarism made it imperative in the opinion
of a majority of citizens that they should be superseded. The
passage of the ordinance caused a sensation because it was not
believed that Councils would dare to abolish the volunteers.
Feeling ran high. The firemen held meeting after meeting in
their engine-houses. All attention was directed towards the
Mayor. Would he sign the ordinance and make it a law? He had
ten days in which to consider the bill. He was known to favor
it; but day after day passed and he took no action. Meanwhile
he was not asleep. He had perfected police arrangements whereby
the whole force could be called out at once on the outbreak
of any violence, and the excitement was so great that the
rowdy element and the firemen were expected to sally forth at
any moment. There were two or three isolated outrages, but
no general riot. The ten days drew towards a close and the
excitement became less intense every day. It was with this
object in view that the Mayor delayed signing the ordinance. He
waited until the last day before putting his signature to the
bill. The volunteers had become in a degree reconciled to the
measure, and some of them hoped to resume work with engine and
hook-and-ladder under the new system.

The old volunteer firemen now hold Mr. Fox in high esteem.
At the great fire in Newhall, Borie & Co.’s sugar refinery,
which stood at the corner of Race and Crown streets, the lives
of a number of the volunteers were endangered through their
own stubbornness, and only saved through determined action
on the part of the Mayor. The engine-house of the refinery
was a single story building facing on Crown street; over it
was a projection five or six stories in height containing the
hoisting apparatus and other machinery of great weight.

HIS WATCHFUL CARE SAVES MANY LIVES.

About a score of the firemen took up a position on the roof
of the engine-house and directed a stream of water against
the main building. Unknown to them the flames were rapidly
eating their way to the machinery in the projection over them.
The Mayor made it a point to attend all important fires, and
frequently his vigilance at great conflagrations resulted in
the detection of gangs of thieves who operated in the uniform
of firemen. On this occasion he observed the danger which
threatened the men. It was evident to him that the machinery
would soon be reached, and the projection fall. A serious
disaster would be the consequence unless the men removed. The
Mayor sent the Chief of Police to inform them of their danger,
and endeavored to induce them to retire from their perilous
position. They angrily declared they would occupy whatever
place they pleased, and said the Mayor should mind his own
business as he had no authority over them. The Mayor saw that
prompt and decisive action was necessary if the lives of the
men were not to be sacrificed. He ordered Chief Mulholland
to drive the headstrong fellows from the roof by force. All
the policemen in the neighborhood of the fire were collected
and they charged the volunteers, who were routed with some
difficulty and came clamoring around the Mayor, demanding to
know by what authority he had interfered with them, execrating
and threatening him with personal violence.

“Wait five minutes and I will give you an answer,” said Mr.
Fox, quietly.

A moment later the projection with all the heavy machinery
fell, crushing the engine-house. The men who a moment before
had reviled the Mayor were silent for a moment, then they
gathered around him and gave three prolonged and hearty cheers
for Daniel M. Fox.

Mr. Fox was the first Mayor who directed the roping off the streets during large conflagrations, thereby keeping away not only the crowds who drawn by idle curiosity went simply to look on but also those persons who may have been attracted for purposes of theft. It aided considerably, too, in giving the Fire Department a clean working space, thus adding to their efficiency, and also avoiding the chance of accidents from falling embers or walls. This plan so wisely begun has been followed with advantage by every successive Mayor.

Mr. Fox’s participation in the philanthropic and benevolent movements of the city has always been unlimited. As President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Protection of Children from Cruelty, Trustee of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and in his connection with many other charitable works, his constant aim has been the alleviation of the sufferings and the general welfare of his fellow men.