71 CBJ 261. THE CROSS OF GOLD: A TESTAMENTARY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION FRUSTRATED BY CONNECTICUT LAW.

• Author: By RICHARD G. BELL

Connecticut Bar Journal

Volume 71.

71 CBJ 261.

THE CROSS OF GOLD: A TESTAMENTARY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION FRUSTRATED BY CONNECTICUT LAW

261THE CROSS OF GOLD: A TESTAMENTARY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION FRUSTRATED BY CONNECTICUT LAWBy RICHARD G. BELL(fn*) If you think raising campaign funds is complicated in today's climate, pity William Jennings Bryan. In 1904-05, the "Great Commoner" and "Boy Orator of the Platte," thrice unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the Presidency, was immersed in litigation in the New Haven Probate and Superior Courts. Two appeals to the Connecticut Supreme Court were involved, all in a vain attempt to consummate what seemed like the most innocent and altruistic of testamentary gifts from a political admirer. To make matters worse, notwithstanding the clear intent of the testator, the failure was his own fault.

The facts in the case were wholly undisputed. Philo Sherman Bennett, a New Haven resident, was a prosperous member of the commercial firm of Bennett, Sloan & Co., with offices at Hudson and Franklin Streets in New York City. The firm's letterhead proclaimed its business to be "Importers and jobbers, Teas, Coffees and Spices, Canned Goods, Flavoring Extracts." Bennett was born in Newtown, Connecticut, on January 25, 1842. He lost his father at the age of two, and when he was eight, he was placed with a farm family in Sharon, Connecticut. At the age of sixteen, he came to New Haven to seek his fortune. He first found employment with Porter Cook, a Fair Haven merchant. Along the way, he met New Havener Alfred P. Sloan(fn1) and, in 1878, the two formed a partnership to enter the wholesale grocery business. Sloan moved to Brooklyn in 1886 to oversee the firm's entry in the greater New York market. The company's headquarters was moved to New York and it prospered. Bennett remained a resident in New Haven. He was the donor of the charming fountain on the New Haven Green, at the corner of Church and Chapel Streets, designed to serve both humans and their animal

262 friends.(fn2)

Bennett's humble economic origins drew him to the populist wing of the Democratic party, which emerged after the national financial panic of 1893. Bryan, of course, became the champion of this movement. At the Democratic convention in 1896, the former Nebraska congressman abandoned the party's urban base and formed an uncomfortable coalition of agrarian reformers and populists to march under the symbolic banner of Free Silver: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.(fn3)

Bryan was a powerful orator and a commanding personality. A strident and somewhat starry-eyed moralist, he cast himself in the role of a crusading prophet, an avenging angel of outraged American yeomanry." He often began campaign speeches with an apology that a large portion of my voice has been left along the line of travel where it is still calling sinners in repentance." A staunch supporter of prohibition, he once declared its passage made drinking as dead an issue as slavery." He attracted derisive sobriquets from his opposition, as the "Boy Orator of the Platte" indicates. Bryan's loss to William McKinley in 1896 (Connecticut went Republican) left the Democrats stranded in a political wilderness from which they would not emerge until Woodrow Wilson led them forth in 1912. Bryan's support had assured Wilson's nomination, and he was rewarded by being named Secretary of State. An ardent pacifist, he was promptly dubbed the "Prince of Peace" by Republicans. Bryan resigned the office because he found Wilson's belated note of protest to Germany over the Lusitania sinking too belicose.(fn4)

263In 1896, Philo Bennett was one of the "Silver" electors-atlarge in the state of Connecticut. He accompanied Bryan and Bryan's wife on a campaign swing from New York to New Haven, and, indeed, rode in the carriage with the Bryans from the New Haven railroad station to their hotel. He reminded Bryan of this in the first of many letters he was to write him:

New York, October 30, 1896

Honorable William J. Bryan

Lincoln, Neb.

Dear Sir: The betting is three to one against you in this state at the present time; but, notwithstanding that, I am impressed with a feeling that you will win, and if you are defeated, I wish to make you a gift of $3,000, and if you will accept the same, it will be a genuine pleasure to me to hand it to you anytime after the tenth of next March.

You have made one of the most gallant fights on record for a principle, against the combined money power of the whole country and, if you are not successful now, you will be, in my opinion, four years later.

The solid press of the East and all of the wealth of the country have, ever since the canvass opened, concealed the truth and deceived the people regarding the whole question. They have succeeded in making twenty-five percent of them believe that if you are elected the country will be governed by a lawless, disorganized mob. If you are elected I trust that you will, as soon as you can, issue a letter or make a speech, assuring them that the great body of the people are honest and can be trusted.

This letter is intended only for yourself and wife to ever see. The feeling of gratitude for what you have done in this canvass for humanity, for right and justice, prompts me to write and make this offer.

I am one of the electors at large on the silver ticket in the state of Connecticut, and accompanied you from New York to New Haven, and rode in the carriage with you and Mr. Sergeant from the station to the hotel. Hoping for your victory, and with kind regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

P.S. Bennett(fn5)

264This letter, as New Haven Probate judge Livingston W. Cleaveland was to find, reveals the origin and character of the Bennett-Bryan relationship: The friendship thus begun continued up to the time of Mr. Bennett's death. The evidence shows that from the date of this first letter Mr. Bryan never visited New York without seeing Mr. Bennett who, except on a single occasion, always met him at the train . . . . The correspondence continued until Mr. Bennett's last letter to Mr. Bryan, dated July 24, 1903, just before starting west on the trip ending in his [Bennett's) death.(fn6)

While the evidence is clear that they became firm business and political, and later personal, friends, Bryan was cagy at the outset. In response to the first letter in 1896, Bryan replied in writing, making sure there were no strings on the intended gift. Bennett gave him assurance:

I have yours dated the 13th inst. I do not now and never have owned a dollar's interest in a gold, silver or any other mine, and do not expect to in this century. . .(fn7)

Nothing shows Bennett's regard and admiration for Bryan more clearly than his visit to the Bryan home in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the summer of 1900. Bennett's purpose was to confer with Bryan about his (Bennett's) will, and have Bryan, a former practicing lawyer, draft it. Bennett brought with him to Nebraska his old will and various memoranda indicating how he wanted to dispose of his property. Bryan consented to act as executor, along with Bennett's business partner, Alfred P. Sloan of New York. Most of the individual

265 bequests were copied from the original will. These included $75,000 outright and some Bridgeport real estate for his wife, Grace Imogene Bennett, together with an interest in the residuary estate which Bennett estimated to be another $25,000; $20,000 outright to his sister with another (estimated) $12,500 residuary interest; $1,000 to a niece; $12,500 outright to a half brother, and a like sum (estimated) out of the residuary estate; and $3,000 to the half brother's wife. The total estate was estimated at approximately $300,000, and the individual

265 bequests appear to have been ample and generous as judge Cleaveland later found: Mr. Bennett did not in his will forget any of his heirs-at-law and made ample provision for the support of his wife. . . [T]he testator, besides making liberal public and charitable bequests, made generous provisions for relatives who would have received nothing but for the Will.(fn8)

The charitable bequests included $30,000 given to Bryan, in trust, for various educational institutions. It was Bryan who suggested another: a bequest for founding the Bryan Bennett Library in Bryan's birthplace, Salem, Illinois, to which they were to jointly contribute $1,500 for the building, with Bryan donating the site.(fn9) Then came the clincher. Bennett proposed to give Bryan $50,000 directly. Bryan suggested...