By Rebecca Shoemaker
During his single term in the U.S. House of Representatives, Indiana Democratic congressman James D. Williams took personally a cutting remark made by Republican colleague Charles Foster of Ohio. When Foster objected to spending cuts recommended by Williams's Committee on Accounts, making reference to the committee's homespun "Kentucky jeans" attitude toward government expenditures, his Hoosier colleague, who throughout his life wore suits of homespun denim, rose to answer the charge: "I am not ashamed of my old Kentucky jeans. The people of Indiana are not ashamed of me because I wear it. . . . The trouble with a great many of our friends here . . . is that they forget that they have any constituents at home. If they thought a little less of the clothes that may be worn here, whether they be of broadcloth or Kentucky jeans, and looked a little less at the galleries, it would be better for them."
In 1926 scholar Howard R. Burnett published an article about Williams in the Indiana Magazine of History in which he dubbed him "The Last Pioneer Governor of Indiana." While Williams's life and career exhibited in many ways the characteristics of the frontiersmen who laid the foundations of the Hoosier state, a good case can be made that Williams also exemplified, and employed to his advantage, characteristics that Hoosiers have considered essential in their candidates and representatives down to the present day. Among these basic traits none are more important, as we see from topics emphasized even in 1996 campaigns, than fiscal responsibility, attention to the state's economy, and, perhaps most crucial, character.
Throughout his political career, James D. Williams's single most important characteristic, as far as Indiana voters were concerned, may well have been his reputation for fiscal responsibility. Although this trait was widely touted in his campaigns, it did not derive simply from a desire to win votes. It was inherent in every aspect of Williams's nature. Williams did not shy away from pinching pennies as a state official nor as a representative in the federal government, even if that meant confronting the president himself.
Williams's frugality first came to light during his years of service in the Indiana General Assembly and as a member of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture. Williams's first vote in the state legislature was in opposition to the expenditure of state funds to provide each member of the General Assembly with two copies of each of the major Indianapolis newspapers. During the turbulent era of the Civil War Williams risked severe criticism and even being branded a Southern sympathizer by sponsoring resolutions in the Indiana General Assembly sessions of 1861 and l863 calling upon Governor Oliver P. Morton to account for all expenditures from a $100,000 contingency fund the state had provided him for use in the war effort. Conversely, Williams earned praise for placing the Indiana State Board of Agriculture on sound financial footing during the years when he served as its head, making it self-supporting, and enabling it to acquire a substantial amount of valuable property, as well.
Financial issues as much as anything else are what propelled Williams into the U.S. House of Representatives in 1875. Hoosiers, like people everywhere, were being adversely affected by the panic and subsequent depression of 1873, and rural voters were convinced that the perpetuation of an inflationary greenback currency was the solution to their economic problems. Williams agreed with this position and supported it as a member of Congress.
Sympathy to his neighbors' desire for an inflationary money policy did not affect Williams's inherent frugality, however. As a new member of the Democratically controlled House of Representatives, Williams was made Chairman of the Committee on Accounts, a modest body which controlled the House's internal budget. Williams quickly earned his colleagues' wrath and his constituents' praise by eliminating expenditures for such perquisites as lemons and sugar for lemonade in the House cloakroom, and gold pens, gold knives, and free portmanteaus with which House members had traditionally been provided. Williams supported calls for reduction in congressional salaries, arguing that the members already made more than farmers, mechanics, and other blue collar workers. The extent to which Williams was willing to go to make his point about the need for fiscal responsibility in government was apparent in his response in the summer of 1876 to President Grant's complaint that the budget prepared by the Democratically controlled Congress was not providing enough money for the operation of the government. Williams was so outraged by the president's remarks on this subject during their first meeting that he refused to meet the president again.
Williams's service as governor of Indiana was marked by a continued emphasis on frugality. Returning to the state to campaign for the office in the summer of 1876, Williams stressed in his stump speeches the twin themes of economy in government and the need for the greenback policy to relieve the financial distress of the rural poor. Having thus won the support of Hoosier voters, Williams was elected governor and used his inaugural address to elaborate further on the necessity of fiscal responsibility in state government. He showed he was willing to spend state funds when necessary, however, by supporting such expenditures as increased appropriations for the prison system and for a variety of social services during his term.
Governor Williams's penny-pinching nature when it came to spending state funds may best be illustrated by the records for the construction of Indiana's new statehouse in 1877-78. The bill funding the construction limited the budget for the project to $2,000,000, and stipulated that any additional work was to be done at the architect's expense. Those responsible adhered so closely to the guidelines provided that, when the project was completed, $20,000 of the original appropriation was returned to the state treasury.
Second only in importance to frugality for a political candidate who hopes to be successful is the absolutely essential step of addressing the economic concerns among his constituency. For a large part of the population of mid-nineteenth-century Indiana, the term economy was synonymous with agriculture. The state remained overwhelmingly rural, and the successful production of crops, the professionalization of agriculture, and the resolution of the farmers' concerns were always major topics in any political debate. Few politicians of that era were better equipped to address these issues than James D. Williams, who has sometimes been dubbed Indiana's "farmer governor."
Despite his years of service in politics, Williams was, first and foremost, a farmer. Upon the death of his father in 1828, he assumed responsibility for running the family farm in Knox County, gradually improving upon and expanding his holdings until he owned approximately three thousand acres at the time of his election as governor in 1876. Williams became recognized as a success in his profession not only at the local and regional levels, where he helped organize and participated actively in farmers' organizations, but also at the state level, where he and his sons repeatedly took top honors at the Indiana State Fair for excellence in their production of such crops as timothy, oats, and clover. One of the best years for the Williams family was 1857, when they took fifteen first premiums, nine of which won them silver cups worth a total value of $150.
James Williams also built a solid record in the promotion of the professionalization of agriculture during the period from 1840 to 1870. No Hoosier who stayed abreast of current events would have been able to ignore his contributions. He built upon his work in the local and regional agricultural associations by becoming a driving force on the Indiana State Board of Agriculture for many years. He began his service as a delegate to the board in 1852. He served continuously in that capacity from 1856 to 1871, with three terms as vice president and three as president. During that time the board made great strides in solidifying its stability and, under Williams's leadership, developed a sound financial base. In 1856 Williams also supported legislation designed to insure the growth and perpetuation of the institution.
As a member of the Indiana General Assembly, Williams demonstrated that the interest he had expressed in the concerns of farmers during his campaigns was not simply rhetorical. He introduced or supported a variety of legislative proposals designed to solve some of the problems farmers regarded as most pressing, laying the groundwork for continued growth and professionalization. By the time Williams was nominated for governor in 1876, he had built a solid record on this front. He undertook legislative efforts to address what farmers saw as one of their most serious problems: cheap, efficient transportation of their goods to market. He first attempted to improve their options by sponsoring a bill to fund completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal. Later, as railroads became the transportation of choice for farmers, Williams endeavored to keep costs fair and reasonable by sponsoring a bill that would have made railroad rates uniform throughout the state. As future court battles would indicate, this proposed answer was unrealistic, but it did demonstrate to farmers that Williams was taking their problems to heart and trying to solve them.
Undoubtedly one of James D. Williams' longest lasting contributions to the progress and improvement of agriculture in Indiana resulted from his guiding through the general assembly in 1856 a bill which allowed Indiana to accept the largess provided by the federal Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. This bill paved the way for the founding of Purdue University, an institution Williams further supported in 1871 by sponsoring legislation providing for its governance.
Finally, no aspiring politician of any stripe, in any age, is likely to get far without being able to exhibit qualities of good character. For James D. Williams this posed no obstacle. An active public servant at the height of the Gilded Age, Williams was able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of his Hoosier constituents evidence of the strong moral fiber that they were looking for. He possessed many of the characteristics of the pioneer leaders they had long admired. He shared in their values and their backgrounds. And, even though he possessed these traits naturally, he was able to use them, and to allow his supporters and the press to do so, in such a way as to drive home the points about character that he knew the voters were looking for.
Although Williams was a modern and forward-looking farmer in the 1870s, he also possessed a background common to many Hoosiers and to the leaders of past decades that they admired. He and his family had been among those who had founded and developed a prospering farm community in Knox County, clearing land and building grist mills and other businesses, as well. He had made his living tilling the soil, and, if he had not been born in a log cabin, he had at least attended school in one. His simple appearance in suits of homespun denim (made for many years by his wife from the wool of his own sheep), delighted voters who valued simplicity and frugality. The fact that he continued to dress in this fashion throughout his career, even sitting for his official portrait as governor in his denim suit, indicated that this was not some temporary gimmick he had affected merely for its political value.
Williams's commitment to public service was also indicative of his personal values. Early on in his adulthood his farm had been a gathering place for those who wished to discuss the issues of the day, and Williams was soon chosen by his neighbors to serve as a justice of the peace. Soon after he began his long years of service to the Democratic party, and as an elected official at the state and national levels. Williams built his campaigns and his political agenda around his beliefs in frugality and his commitment to the needs of the farmer and the working man. His support of the greenback issue and his refusal to interfere with strikers in Indianapolis during the great railroad strike of 1877 could be seen as politically risky, but they were in keeping with his commitment to honor the interests of the blue-collar worker. Williams's career gives no indication that he was ever swayed by special interests, even though he might irritate party regulars by his unwavering stand. Indeed, one historian argues that he was nominated for governor in 1876 at least in part because he had so few enemies.
Although his personal character was based on solid values and beliefs, Williams was wise enough to recognize its value as a political asset. In his campaign speeches and political appearances he emphasized his homespun country background, even being willing to take part in log rollings and other physical activities. He encouraged the use of the nickname "Blue Jeans," the formation of "Blue Jeans" clubs during his campaigns, and the many references to him as "The soul of honesty, simple in his tastes and economical in his habits." He, and the newspapers that supported him, characterized him as a man of the people, a man of correct principles and honest practices. These descriptions offered Hoosiers a welcome antidote to the overblown rhetoric and extravagant claims of his Gilded Age opponents.
While a case can certainly be made that James D. Williams was the last pioneer governor of Indiana, it can also be argued that he was a prototype for politicians, then and later, who wanted to craft a career and an image that spoke to the issues and values that Hoosiers felt mattered most. Anyone who doubts that Williams had his finger on the enduring political pulse of the Hoosier state has only to compare the emphases of his campaigns and career with those of the candidates and other politicians of the present day.
Rebecca Shoemaker is a professor of history at Indiana State University. She coedited A Biographical Directory of the Indiana General Assembly: Volume 1, 1816-1899 and with support from an IHS Clio Grant is currently working on a history of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union.
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