Chapter III: As Democratic Leader of Howard, 1870-1884

I

We have intimated in the previous chapter that while young Kern was making his reputation as an orator and a leading criminal lawyer of his section of the state he was exceedingly active in politics. Before he had attained his majority his tact, political genius, and deep-seated convictions had forced upon him the position of leadership, ungrudgingly bestowed by the common consent of veteran politicians of Howard county. Such precocity is so rare that the story of the rapidity with which he forged to the front in his twenties constitutes one of the most fascinating chapters of his history. And more important from the viewpoint of the biographer is the light this period throws upon the principles that animated him throughout his life. Many public men enter public life in youth as radicals and cool gradually to a conservative old age. Others, rarer, begin as conservatives and gradually warm to radicalism. Kern began with the same general set of principles which characterized his public character at the age of sixty-eight.

The conditions in Howard county in 1870 were not such as to justify high hopes of political preferment on the part of young men affiliated with the Democratic party. The normal Republican majority ranged from 800 to 1,400, and, considering the population of the county at that time, this margin of advantage constituted an insurmountable barrier to Democratic aspirants for office. Nevertheless there were among the active Democrats of that day men of unusual political capacity, and several of these were destined to sit upon the bench of the judicial district and to find their fealty rewarded by election to state offices. The year that young Kern plunged into the war from which he was only to emerge almost half a century later “upon his shield” the Democratic prospects were no better than they had been since the civil war, but, owing to the growing disaffection in the Republican ranks, and the issue of “reform” then coming to the fore, the more optimistic favored an aggressive contest. In March, 1870, the Democratic County Central Committee was called for the purpose of organization and the determination of the much-mooted problem as to whether a straight Democratic ticket would be worth the ammunition. The reports of the meeting indicated that young Kern, not then of age, and one other man spoke earnestly in favor of a fight. And it was on this occasion that he was given his first official recognition by the party, of which he was to become the leader, by election to the secretaryship of the committee.

In conformity with the plan then decided upon the county convention met in August to nominate a full ticket. _The Kokomo Tribune_, an uncompromising Republican paper, in describing the convention, said that “on Saturday a hundred or more barefoots came together in this city and bunglingly went through with a convention.” The proceedings of the convention indicate that young Kern was probably the center of attention, making many of the motions which directed the course of the delegates, and finally being chosen chairman of the committee on resolutions and entrusted with the formulation of the party platform. These resolutions were written largely by him, and after a discussion in which he participated were adopted much in the form in which they were submitted. While there was something of the extravagant in part of the phrasing and something of the buncombe seemingly inseparable from party platforms to this day, these resolutions are indicative of views which in a broad sense were never abandoned by the then boy chairman.

A part of these resolutions were evidently intended to meet local prejudices at the time, but in view of the absence from Howard county of any appreciable laboring, or artisan class, the prominence given their interests show that Kern’s special championing of their rights in later life was not of new birth. The resolutions were adopted, and the convention directed its attention to the nomination of a candidate for the legislature.

One candidate had presented himself, an old farmer, who does not appear to have appealed to the leaders as available. At any rate C. N. Pollard, then a prominent lawyer and destined to the judgeship, placed young Kern in nomination. The boy leader instantly demurred, saying that while he “loved to work for the time-honored principles of the party” he was too young, had never even voted, and therefore respectfully declined. Pollard in rejoinder insisted that the reasons given were not sufficient and ended by demanding the services of the young lawyer in the campaign. Milton Bell, a rising lawyer, followed in rejecting Kern’s reasons, declaring as a reason for his nomination that he was “young, vigorous, fresh and able,” and comparing him to the improved needle gun. Others followed along the same line, and, notwithstanding the vigorous protest of the one avowed candidate for the place, Kern was nominated by a vote of 39 to 8.

This remarkable action in nominating a boy not yet of age was not a mere impulse of the convention. Throughout the summer of 1870 the young lawyer had been impressing himself upon the community, both by his speeches and writings. Just before the convention met he had established a reputation as an orator, and _The Kokomo Democrat_, in its issue of August 3, in referring to one of his speeches, had said: “We heard it. Considering the intense heat of the evening and the great disadvantage under which he spoke it was an eloquent and able effort and so regarded. The court house was crowded and the audience went away entertaining as high an opinion of the Kokomo boy as ever.” And during the summer he had written articles for _The Democrat_ over his initials calculated to fire the Democratic heart.

The announcement in little more than a week after the convention of the “speaking dates of John W. Kern” with the postscript that “other speakers would accompany him” bears witness to the seriousness with which he accepted the duty thrust upon him, and it was not long until _The Kokomo Tribune_, the Republican organ, found it advisable to devote much of its editorial space to attempted refutations of his arguments and to neutralizing the danger from his personal popularity with appeals for party regularity. The Republicans had nominated against him Captain Kirkpatrick, an idol of the soldiers, who were strong in Howard, and among Kern’s first moves was to challenge his opponent to a series of joint debates--an invitation that was declined. It was the year of Sedan, many citizens of German extraction lived in Howard, and it is interesting in the light of the present great war to find that sentiment in Indiana was quite generally with the Prussians because of the prevalent dislike for Louis Napoleon. Early in the campaign Kern spoke at a German celebration and _The Tribune_, evidently concerned over the possible effect of his speech, hastened to say:

“John W. Kern in his speech at the German meeting on Monday night
condemned in unmeasured terms the man or party that sympathized
with Louis Napoleon. His sympathies were with the Prussians all the
time. On that question John is right, but many of his party are
against him.”

That the youth with all his enthusiasm possessed an abundance of practical political judgment may be assumed from the fact that he took cognizance of the overwhelming Republican majority in refusing to make his fight along strictly party lines, refrained from mentioning the parties by name, and devoted himself exclusively to the reform issue. This policy from which he refused to be diverted by the gray beards of the Republican party soon got on the nerves of the Republican organ, which was moved to say:

“John W. Kern is not a party man now. Oh, no! But he was nominated
by a convention called by the chairman of the Democratic county
committee. He will vote for Henderson for congress, and if sent to
the legislature for Voorhees for senator. But he ignores party!
Such thin sophistry will make a fool of no one.”

And again we find the same fearsome note struck:

“Kern doesn’t want the voters of the county to allow Wildman, Jay,
or Phillips to dictate how they shall vote, but he wants to do the
dictating. John has put himself in the belly of the Trojan horse.
As soon as he shall get himself inside the walls of the city he
will turn himself loose.”

Meanwhile the editor of _The Tribune_ and Kirkpatrick seemed to feel in need of all possible help and the Republican organ contained numerous attacks on the boy candidate under the caption “Communicated.” In one of these the writer described Kern as “a young lawyer with a reputation for two things--making smart speeches and smoking cigars”--a reputation he lived up to throughout his life.

He closed the campaign at Alto to an audience of his boyhood friends, and if _The Tribune_ is to be credited followed this later in the night on the streets of Kokomo with “a bitter partisan speech.”

The election resulted in his defeat by so small a margin that _The Tribune_ editorially confessed its chagrin. It is to be presumed that he carried out his wager with Tony Jay, a Kokomo packer, and blacked that worthy’s boots on the street in front of the Clinton House--the leading hostelry of the town.

The campaign had firmly established his reputation as a very young man with a very old and level head, possessed of eloquence, tact, political judgment, and all the elements of leadership. And this before he was of age! Living as he was to do throughout his life in Republican communities he was not to attain the goal of his ambition until late in life, but had he lived in England and been thus equipped he would probably have entered parliament like Fox and Pitt as a mere boy and gone far.

II

In the year 1870 the political services of the boy leader were not confined to preparing resolutions and making stirring speeches. He was the most potent factor in the establishment of a Democratic newspaper in Kokomo. The story of the origin of _The Radical Democrat_, which was to change its name later to _The Kokomo Despatch_ and as such to take high rank among the party papers of the state, is intimately interwoven with the political history of Kern. In the spring of that year W. J. Turpin, anxious to establish a Democratic paper and in search of a location, was advised to turn his attention to Kokomo, and “for further information to write J. W. Kern.” He did write to the boy leader and the encouragement from Kern impelled him to make a personal investigation, and he went to Kokomo. A youth of precisely Kern’s age, twenty, and without a penny of capital, his project could have held forth little promise of a successful issue to one with less than Kern’s bubbling buoyancy and audacity. He has told the story of his conference with young Kern in some reminiscences published in later years.

“Mr. Kern was not yet one and twenty. He was literally slopping
over with soul and life. Recent college triumphs had inspired him
with a hope and confidence for the future. I recognized in him at
once the uncaged Nubian lion of the community. Upon one point we
were agreed--the capital was of but secondary and slight importance
to the furtherance of our object. We closed, and from that moment
began a fervent and unabating friendship.”

On the following day Kern accompanied Turpin on a canvass of the town for subscriptions, heading the list himself, and during the day procuring more than a hundred subscriptions. The Democrats were willing to take a risk and the Republicans could see no possible danger in the competition. The embryo editor thereupon plunged into the country townships with the view to increasing his circulation list, leaving with Kern the task of collecting enough real money to make a payment on an office. At length arrangements were made whereby each issue could be put out at a cost of $25, and a Democrat was persuaded to furnish office rent free. Such was the beginning of _The Kokomo Despatch_.

This, however, did not end Kern’s connection with the paper, for he appears by Turpin’s admission to have been a copious contributor to the editorial columns, and throughout the remainder of his residence in Kokomo he was charged at various times with plying his pen in the interest of the party and the paper. When the editor sold the paper in the late summer of the year of its birth to Doctor Henderson he acknowledged his indebtedness to Kern’s pen in the following tribute:

“John W. Kern has contributed much to the success of this
enterprise. To him I shall ever feel under obligations, and I am
also proud that the party in this county numbers among its young
men one of so much earnestness and purity of purpose who promises
to be truly a Defender of the Faith.”

Thus in his twentieth year he had established the reputation of being the most effective Democratic orator in the county, had made the most spectacular and brilliant campaign made by a Democrat in Howard in many years, given the Republicans their first real scare in a generation, won recognition as a leader of tact and judgment, and made possible the publication of a Democratic party organ in that wilderness of radical Republicanism.

III

In the spring of 1871 Kern’s growing popularity was attested by his election by the city council, composed of five Republicans and three Democrats, as city attorney--a position to which he was to be repeatedly re-elected by successive councils and without regard to the political complexion of that body. Although a strong partisan his winning personality exerted an influence beyond the party wall, and that generosity and geniality toward his political opponents which was to lead Senator Beveridge years later to pronounce him “the Bayard of the Hoosier Democracy” was even then pronounced.

In the Democratic county convention of that year he appears to have been a dominating factor. It was the year when thousands of old-fashioned Democrats found in party regularity a bitter hardship because of the nomination of Horace Greeley for the presidency. Even Voorhees in a speech acquiescing in the nomination acknowledged the bitterness of the pill. This lead to the appearance of a new Kokomo newspaper called _The Liberal_, with Kern’s name at the head of the editorial columns, and described by _The Kokomo Tribune_ as “a lively little paper full of Democracy, Greeleyism, Hendrickism and what-you-call-it.” It does not appear from the newspapers of that year that he participated very actively in the speaking campaign, but he was evidently in the midst of things from the occasional references of the Republican paper to his activities. Thus in describing a Democratic rally _The Tribune_ pictures him on horseback “riding along the procession urging cheers for Hendricks,” the nominee for governor; and at another Democratic meeting he is described as vehemently urging the unresponsive crowd to give “three cheers for Greeley” and to “go up-stairs and hear C. N. Pollard.”

By 1874 we find his position as the Democratic leader in Howard assured and as the sole representative of the county he was attending caucuses of the State Committee at Indianapolis. In the county convention of that year he was the general in command. The papers reported that out of the thirty-two motions made all were made by Kern but three. It had by this time come to be the custom to top off all county conventions in Howard with a ringing party exhortation from the boy leader, and in ’74 he was still harping on the necessity for “reform,” though now with special reference to the conditions in the court house. “Kern was then called for and spoke on the subject of reform,” wrote the editor of _The Tribune_, “If he had lived in the days of the Reformation he would have been the head and front of that movement. As a reformer Kern is a success.” It was in this campaign that he pounded the Republican machine of Kokomo with such vigor as to cause evident distress. The county officials had been obsessed with a mania for supplying their offices not only with the necessities but with all the luxuries obtainable. He brought all his withering power of ridicule to bear upon arm rests, paper weights, dusters, fancy stationery and numerous other articles deemed non-essential by the average Howard county farmer of that day, but his greatest scorn was reserved for the “McGill machine.” This was a new invention for clamping papers together, and it was Kern’s policy in addressing an audience in the country to dwell at great length and in awesome fashion upon the “McGill machine” until his farmer audience had conjured up a picture of something resembling in general outline a threshing machine, and then to spring the tiny machine upon them with the rather fancy price paid for it by the commissioners. He succeeded in making the “McGill machine” an issue in the campaign, the bone of hot contention, and every one who was not indignant over the purchase was laughing about it.

IV

The “paramount issue” in the campaign of 1876 was reform. It swept the country like a tidal wave. It made logical and inevitable the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden, the great reform governor of New York for the presidency by the Democrats. It played havoc with the ambitions of several worthy men in Indiana who had been guilty of petty extravagances in office but whose personal probity was no protection against the hysteria of the hour which pilloried them as unworthy of public favor and erased their names from the party tickets. It was the year that the Republicans thought they were disgracing Godlove S. Orth, as honorable a man as ever lived, by removing him from the head of their ticket when they were only shaming themselves; and the Democrats assumed that they were advertising their virtue by driving from their judicial ticket such honorable men and able jurists as Judges Buskirk, Downey and Pettit, when they were only exposing their weakness. There was, in those days, ample justification for the cry of reform, and we have seen that before he had attained his majority Mr. Kern had been strongly impressed with the necessity of it, but, like many good movements, it went to extremes, and we shall see that the young Kokomo leader shared in this weakness with many others.

We first find him active in ’76 in the county convention of Howard, where he was the dominating figure, and delivered what appears to have been a long and forceful speech on his favorite topic of reform. _The Tribune_ merely quoted one sentence from this speech to the effect that “the Democracy disowns Ben Hill,” with the comment that both Hill and Kern would be at the St. Louis convention, “Hill as a big whale and Kern as a tadpole.” The spicy editor was also grateful for the length of the speech, which “gave the reporters plenty of time to do real work on really important matters;” and another comment on the convention was to the effect that “the following persons took prominent part in the convention: John W. Kern, K. W. Yern, K. J. Wern, J. Kern Worth, etc.” The same year Kern was recognized by the state Democracy by his selection for the secretaryship of the state convention at Indianapolis. It was a convention characterized by great enthusiasm. Party leaders addressed the throngs from the balconies of hotels, and _The Indianapolis Journal_, in describing this manifestation of earnestness and enthusiasm, said that the party leaders spoke everywhere “from Voorhees, who spoke from the balcony of the Grand all the way down to one Kern of Kokomo, who was found haranguing a group of hack drivers from a soap box on Indiana avenue.” No better evidence of the partisan bitterness of that historic year could be asked than the fact that _The Kokomo Tribune_ described the proceedings under the headline--“Hoodlums.”

It was a little after the state convention that the young leader from Howard attracted state-wide attention by the ferocity of his attack upon Judge Worden of the supreme court in the district convention at Muncie. Few abler men have ever sat upon the bench, and none of greater personal or official probity, but the members of the supreme court had been guilty of the unpardonable extravagance of having purchased stationery and some of the conveniences for their offices and one by one as they appeared for renomination they were retired until Worden made his successful fight in the Fort Wayne district. Many years afterward, a year before his nomination for the vice-presidency, and in an address before the Bar Association on “Great Indiana Lawyers,” Mr. Kern referred to the incident as an extravaganza of his youth. His own description is the best one for the purpose here:

“The spirit of reform was strong upon me then. That was in ’76. I
attended the convention of my district, which was held in Muncie.
The county of Howard was then in the Fort Wayne district. I went
over there determined to do what I could to purge the Democratic
ticket of those unregenerate men who had brought disgrace upon the
fair name of the party of Jefferson and Jackson. We went there, and
the question as to whether or not Judge Worden should be removed
was presented on a motion to adjourn. Allen county (the home of
Worden) was there in force. About 200 shouters were there. They
knew more about politics than I did at that early day, and the
discussion was heated. I waited until Judge Worden’s champions had
let loose their thunder, and then I proceeded to let mine loose. It
did not occur to me that Judge Worden might be there, but I made a
vindictive speech, because, as I say, the spirit of reform was
strong upon me. I denounced the extravagance and profligacy of
those men who had betrayed their trust in the bitterest and most
vindictive terms. I had exhausted my vocabulary in my effort to
villify those men who I thought had brought disgrace upon the
party. And when I sat down a gentleman who was seated a little way
in my rear tapped me on the shoulder. I looked around, and Judge
Worden said to me, ‘Young man, I think I must form your
acquaintance.’ “He did not change my vote, however, but when the
vote was taken, it was so overwhelmingly in favor of Judge Worden
that I finally compromised by moving to make it unanimous.
Afterward I came to know Judge Worden better, and he was really a
great lawyer.”

Attached though he was to “reform,” it appears that he was not enamored of the candidacy of Tilden, and before the St. Louis convention, in the ardor of his opposition, which probably was born of his devotion to Hendricks rather than to any real objections to the New York governor, he made the statement that he would not vote for Tilden if nominated. The seriousness of the threat was evident in the comment of _The Kokomo Tribune_ immediately after the convention:

“John W. Kern declared upon his honor before the St. Louis
convention that he would not vote for Tilden if nominated. Now he
authorizes us to say that he is a liar and will vote for him. Of
course.”

As a matter of fact he was more active than ever upon the stump, not only in his own section of the state, but in distant parts, and the effectiveness of his speeches in Howard may be judged from the unrestrained fury with which _The Tribune_ assailed him in a personal way. It is doubtful if more bitter personal attacks have ever been made upon any politician anywhere or at any time, but it does not appear that Kern took any notice of them. The fact that the opposition paper referred to him in this campaign as “the Democratic party of Howard county” may throw some light upon the motives for the attack. Where it had previously softened its political asperities with scarcely veiled personal admiration, it now spoke of him habitually as “this fellow Kern.”

Two years later, in 1878, so vicious had some of the Republican leaders become against him that the scurrilous story was circulated that at a Democratic meeting in Anderson he had “thanked God for the death of Oliver P. Morton.” This was too brutal in its falsity for _The Kokomo Tribune_, which made an investigation and denial with the statement that “Kern is about as mean a Democrat as anybody ... but this article is intended to give the devil his due.” It appears that in 1880 he was not a member of any committee or a delegate to any convention, but later in the campaign he was drafted to run for prosecuting attorney, and again he ran several hundred ahead of his ticket without winning.

In the county convention of 1882 we find him reviewing the issues as he had done regularly for twelve years. His speech this year smacked strongly of the position he so prominently took in later years regarding corruption in elections. Reporting the speech _The Kokomo Despatch_ said:

“He bore down heavily on the use of money at the polls and
predicted that the time would come when every candidate who uses
money to buy his nomination or election will be repudiated and
spewed out by the people.”

This practically ends his political career as a citizen of Kokomo, for the next campaign was to find him a candidate on the state ticket, and upon his election he changed his residence to Indianapolis. From that time, however, until his death, thirty-three years later, the Democracy of Howard county claimed him as its own, and in campaign after campaign he was called upon until the last one in which he ever participated to discuss the issues in Kokomo.

Many stories are still told to illustrate the impression made by the Kern of this period upon the voters of Howard county. One of these relates to the supreme confidence of a Quaker idolater of his living in the Quaker stronghold of New London, where Democrats were a novelty. One cold election morning this venerable Democrat hobbled laboriously to the polls to be confronted by an old character of the village by the name of Uncle Jimmy Arnett, who was noted for the uncompromising bitterness of his Republicanism with the question:

“How art thou this morning?”

“My rheumatics is very bad. I could hardly get here.”

“Thou must be very old. How does’st thou intend to vote?”

“I am past eighty, but have always voted the Democratic ticket
since I first voted for Andy Jackson.”

“Thou art old and hath but a brief time on earth and should make
thy calling and election sure. Thou had’st better vote the
Republican ticket.”

“I don’t know that the way a man votes has much to do with his
future spiritually,” was the indignant reply.

“But does’st thou not know that the Good Book says that ‘no
Democrat can enter the kingdom of heaven?’”

“Well, it seems to me that the Bible does say something like that.”

“Well, thou had’st but a short time and if the Good Book is true
thou takest an awful risk. Thou had’st better vote the Republican
ticket.”

“No, I will not. In fact, if John Kern was here he could explain
all that away.”

Stories of this general nature taken from his Kokomo days might be multiplied, for Kern stories have been plentiful in Howard for half a century. His popularity never waned.