jed Payne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chair of theRepublican National Committee Acting | |
| In office February 15, 1904 – June 23, 1904 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Hanna |
| Succeeded by | George B. Cortelyou |
| 40thUnited States Postmaster General | |
| In office January 9, 1902 – October 4, 1904 | |
| President | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Charles Smith |
| Succeeded by | Robert Wynne |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henry Clay Payne (1843-11-23)November 23, 1843 Ashfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | October 4, 1904(1904-10-04) (aged 60) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Home Cemetery Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Signature |  |
Henry Clay Payne (November 23, 1843 – October 4, 1904) wasU.S. Postmaster General from 1902 until his death under PresidentTheodore Roosevelt. He served as chairman of theRepublican National Committee.
Payne was born on November 23, 1843, inAshfield,Franklin County, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth (née Ames) and Orrin P. Payne. He attended common schools and an academy.[1][2] He spent his youth inMassachusetts, and attempted to enlist for theUnion Army, but he was rejected from service due to poor health. In 1859, he was graduated from theAcademy of Shelburne Falls.[citation needed] In 1863, he moved toMilwaukee, Wisconsin, where he found work as a cashier in a dry goods merchant.[1][2]
In 1872 he began his political career with theYoung Men's Republican Club of Milwaukee County. He worked his way up to become secretary and then chairman for the organization. In 1876, Payne was appointed by PresidentUlysses S. Grant as postmaster of Milwaukee, a position he held until 1886.[2][3] He was president ofWisconsin Telephone Company in 1886, and served as director for theFirst National Bank of Milwaukee.[1][2]
Payne was a delegate to the 1880, 1888, and 1892 Republican National Conventions. He joined theRepublican National Committee in 1880 and he became vice chairman. Following the death ofMark Hanna, he became active chairman of the committee.[1][2] He was secretary and chairman of the Republican State Committee from 1872 to 1892.[2]
Payne became alobbyist for the railroad industry, described by long-time opponentRobert La Follette, Sr. as “the most effective railroad lobbyist I ever knew.” Starting in 1890 he helpedHenry Villard acquire all the cars Milwaukee streetcar system for Villard'sNorth American Company ofNew Jersey. Villard created a new system that combined several of the earlierhorsecar,steam dummy, andstreetcar lines into one electric streetcar system,The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company. Payne was its vice president and became the president of theMilwaukee and Northern Railroad in 1889 and other enterprises controlled by Villard. In his duties as vice-president of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company, Payne instituted free park concerts at many of Milwaukee's parks, includingLake Park,[4] but fought Milwaukee's government in the courts and in the legislature.[2][5] In 1893 he was elected president of theAmerican Street Railway Association; and later in August 1893, he was appointed receiver for thebankruptNorthern Pacific Railway.[2][6]
In 1896, Payne refused to provide a one-cent-an-hour pay raise which had allegedly been promised to unionized TMER&L workers. This set off a bitter strike and boycott; the company hired hundreds of scabs, and broke both the strike and the union, creating an adversarial relationship between TMER&L Co. and workers (including the city's powerful "sewer Socialists") for many years to come; the company would not be unionized again until after a 1934 strike. During this period, Payne continued to promulgate expanded streetcar andinterurban services in the region, including a controversial 30-year extension of their franchise, a deal cut with Milwaukee MayorDavid Rose and theMilwaukee Common Council under what some considered corrupt circumstances.[7][5]
He also engaged in real estate development, such as the 1897 "Payne's Park Addition" toNorth Milwaukee, fed by expanded streetcar lines running past what has been described as "two miles of vacant fields" and ending a few blocks past the street Payne had named after Villard in 1892.
Payne was appointed by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt asU.S. Postmaster General in January 1902.[1]
Payne married Lydia W. Van Dyke of New York in 1867. They lived on H Street in Washington, D.C., adjacent toArlington Hotel.[1]
Payne died on October 4, 1904, at his apartment near Arlington Hotel in Washington, D.C. He was buried inForest Home Cemetery inMilwaukee, Wisconsin.[1]
Henry C. Payne, Postmaster General of the United States, died at his apartments in the annex of the Arlington Hotel at 6:10 o'clock to-night. The cause of death was officially stated to be disease of the mitral valve and dilation of the heart. Mr. Payne had been in poor health for some years, but his last illness lasted only seven days. ...
Attribution
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chair of theRepublican National Committee Acting 1904 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Postmaster General 1902–1904 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
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