Henry Gage
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{{Infobox_Governor
| name = Henry Tifft Gage
| image = Gage.jpg
| order = 20th
| office = Governor of California
| term_start = [[January 4]], [[1899]]
| term_end = [[January 7]], [[1903]]
| lieutenant = [[Jacob H. Neff]]
| predecessor = [[James Budd]]
| successor = [[George Pardee]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1852|12|25|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Geneva, New York]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1924|8|28|1852|12|25}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles, California]]
| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse = Frances V. Rains
| profession = [[Lawyer]], [[politician]], [[diplomat]]
| religion =
|}}
'''Henry Tifft Gage''' ([[December 25]], [[1852]] – [[August 28]], [[1924]]) was an [[United States|American]] lawyer, politician and diplomat. A [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], Gage was elected to a single term as the 20th [[Governor of California]] from 1899 to 1903. Gage was also the [[U.S.]] [[diplomatic rank|Minister]] to [[Portugal]] for several months in 1910.
==Biography==
Henry Gage was born on [[Christmas Day]], 1852 in [[Geneva, New York]]. Relocating with his family to [[East Saginaw, Michigan]], Gage spent his teenage years in [[Michigan]], studying law with his lawyer father. In 1873 at the age of twenty-one, Gage was admitted to the Michigan Bar, working for his father's law practice in East Saginaw for over a year. Over a year later, Gage relocated to [[California]], settling in [[Los Angeles]]. Between 1874 to 1877, Gage was a successful [[sheep]] dealer, selling sheep to various farms around [[Los Angeles County]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Melendy, H. Brett & Benjamin F. Gilbert| title= The Governors of California | location=Georgetown, CA | publisher=Talisman Press|year= | origyear=1965 | isbn=}}</ref> In 1877, Gage returned to law, opening his own practice. Largely successful in court, his practice quickly began to attract a number of prominent corporate clients in [[Southern California]], including the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]], who would enjoy a decades-long relationship with Gage. Three years later, Gage married Francesca V. Rains, a great granddaughter to a [[Californio]] family.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi05h.htm| title=Gage Mansion - Oldest Remaining Home in Los Angeles County | publisher=LA Almanac| date=2006 | accessdate=2007-08-11}}</ref> The Gages settled in [[Bell Gardens]] at his wife's family home.
Running as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], Gage was elected as Los Angeles City Attorney in 1881, beginning a slow rise within party ranks. At the 1888 [[Republican National Convention]] in [[Chicago]], Gage was chosen as a delegate-at-large during the proceedings. In a speech to the convention, Gage seconded the motion to nominate [[Levi P. Morton]] as the party's nomination for the [[Vice President of the United States|vice presidency]].<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/gage-henry-biography.htm#notes| title=Gov. Henry T. Gage: Biographical Information. | publisher=[[Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society]]| date=July 2001 | accessdate=2007-08-12}}</ref>
[[Image:Chile steamer Itata.jpg|250px|left|thumb|The ''Itata'' in [[San Diego Bay]] in 1891.]]In 1891, President [[Benjamin Harrison]] appointed Gage as a [[federal prosecutor]] to prosecute the crew of the [[Chile]]an steamer ''Itata'' due to the [[Itata Incident]]. The [[U.S. federal government]] charged the crew with knowingly assisting an illegal arms purchase. Its cargo had consisted of weapons purchased for [[National Congress of Chile|National Congressional]] insurgent forces fighting in the [[Chilean Civil War]] against President [[José Manuel Balmaceda]]. Upon review of the federal government's case, Gage dropped all charges against the ''Itata's'' crew, claimining that the government had mistaken the arms purchase as illegal.<ref>{{cite book | author=Melendy, H. Brett & Benjamin F. Gilbert| title= The Governors of California | location= Georgetown, CA | publisher=Talisman Press|year= | origyear=1965 | isbn=}}</ref>
By 1898, Gage had become a prominent corporate lawyer within Los Angeles business circles, as well as a successful owner of real estate, particularly the [[Red Rover Mine|Red Rover gold mine]] in [[Acton, California|Acton]] in the [[Santa Clarita Valley]]. At the state Republican convention that year, Gage was nominated in the first round of voting as the party's nomination for the governorship. His nomination was largely orchestrated by the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]], who had worked with Gage since the 1870s, and saw him as supportive of their interests.
In the 1898 state general elections, Gage defeated his [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] rival, [[U.S. House of Representatives|House Representative]] [[James G. Maguire]] by a modest 6.7%.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/election/1898-11-08| title=November 8, 1898 General Election Results | publisher=JoinCalifornia.org | date=1898-11-08 | accessdate=2007-08-13}}</ref> Other minor candidates in the election included [[Job Harriman]] of the [[Socialist Labor Party of America]] and [[Prohibition Party|Prohibitionist]] [[J. E. McComas]], a former [[California State Senate|State Senator]].
==Governorship==
Gage was inaugurated as the 20th [[Governor of California]] on [[January 4]], [[1899]]. In his inauguration speech, Gage spoke lengthy over foreign policy, favoring the recent results of the [[Spanish-American War]] and their effect on [[Economy of California|California's economy]]. "The peaceful acquisition of the [[Hawaiian Islands]], extending our [[American Empire|empire]] beyond our [[Pacific]] shore, should be followed as a political necessity by the [[annexation]] of the [[Philippines]]," Gage spoke. "The center of commerce must move westward. [[California]], favorably situated, will, among other advantages, reap the harvest of trade with these new territories, developing our many varied and growing resources, creating a western merchant marine for the carriage of our imports and exports, and luring to our markets the nations of the world."<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/documents/inaugural_20.html| title=Inaugural Address, January 4, 1899 | publisher=State of California | date=1899-01-04 | accessdate=2007-08-13}}</ref>
In one of his first acts, Gage's administration reopened the State Printing Office, closed down earlier by previous governor [[James Budd]] in order to cut governmental expenditures.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/documents/inaugural_20.html| title=Inaugural Address, January 4, 1899 | publisher=State of California | date=1899-01-04 | accessdate=2007-08-13}}</ref>
From early on in his administration, Gage was highly partisan, due mostly to frequent accusations from [[progressive movement|Reform Republicans]] and [[United States Democratic Party|Democrats]] alike who accused Gage as being a pawn for the [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]]. When a newspaper published a political cartoon portraying railroad tycoon [[Collis Potter Huntington]] leading the governor around on a leash, Gage was so incensed by the accusation that he ramrodded a [[censorship]] bill through the [[California State Legislature]], restricting the press whenever editorial content involved politics or politicians.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_20.html| title=Henry Gage | publisher=State of California | date=2006 | accessdate=2007-08-13}}</ref>
===San Francisco bubonic plague outbreak===
From 1900 onwards, Gage's administration was often rocky. That year, the ship ''Australia'' laid anchor in the [[Port of San Francisco]], unknowingly bringing to the city [[rats]] carrying the [[Third Pandemic]] of the [[bubonic plague]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Chase, Marilyn| title= The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco | location= | publisher=Random House|year=2003 | origyear= | isbn=0375504966}}</ref> The disease soon made home in the cramped [[ghetto]] quarters of the city's [[Chinatown (San Francisco)|Chinatown]]. Rumors of the plague's presence abounded in the city, quickly gaining the notice of authorities from the federal [[Marine Hospital Service]] stationed on [[Angel Island]], including the Marine Hospital Service's head in San Francisco, [[Joseph Kinyoun]].
Allied with powerful railroad and city business interests, Gage publicly denied that any pestilence outbreak in the city, fearing that any word of the [[bubonic plague|bubonic plague's]] presence would deeply damage the city and state's economy. Supportive newspapers, such as the ''[[San Francisco Call|Call]]'', the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle|Chronicle]]'' and the ''[[San Francisco Bulletin|Bulletin]]'', echoed Gage's denials, beginning what was to become an intense defamation campaign against Kinyoun. In response to the state's refuting of the plague's existence, [[Surgeon General of the United States|U.S. Surgeon General]] [[Walter Wyman]] recommended to federal [[U.S. Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]] [[Lyman J. Gage]] to intervene. Secretary Gage agreed, creating a three-man medical commission to medically investigate the city. The commission conclusively discovered that bubonic plague was present.
Like Kinyoun, the Treasury commission's findings were again immediately denounced by Governor Gage. Gage believed the federal government's growing presence in the matter was a gross intrusion of what he recognized as a state concern. In his retaliation, Gage denied the federal commission any use of the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley's]] laboratories to further study the outbreak.<ref>{{cite book | author= Echenberg, Myron| title=Plague Ports: The Global Urban Impact of Bubonic Plague: 1894-1901 | location=Sacramento | publisher=New York University Press |year= | origyear=2007 | isbn=0814722326}}</ref> The ''Bulletin'' would also attack the federal commission, branding it as a "youthful and inexperienced trio."
The clash between Gage and federal authorities intensified. Surgeon General Wyman instructed Kinyoun to place Chinatown under [[quarantine]], as well as blocking all [[East Asians]] from entering state borders. Chinese residents, supported by Gage and local businesses, fought the quarantine through numerous federal court battles, claiming the [[Marine Hospital Service]] was violating their rights under the [[Fourteenth Amendment]], and in the process, launched [[lawsuit]]s against Kinyoun.<ref>{{cite book | author= Echenberg, Myron| title=Plague Ports: The Global Urban Impact of Bubonic Plague: 1894-1901 | location=Sacramento | publisher=New York University Press |year= | origyear=2007 | isbn=0814722326}}</ref> In these court proceedings, residents insisted Gage was correct in his denials of the plague outbreak. The courts initially agreed that [[Chinatown (San Francisco)|Chinatown]] residents were correct in that the quarantine violated their civil rights, yet most of these lawsuits were eventually thrown out of court on later dates.
Between 1901 and 1902, the plague outbreak continued to worsen. In an 1901 address to both houses of the [[California State Legislature]], Gage accused federal authorities, particularly Kinyoun, for injecting [[bubonic plague]] into [[cadavers]].<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.skubik.com/thesis%20summary.pdf| title=Public Health Politics and the San Francisco Plague Epidemic of 1900-1904 | publisher=Mark Skubik, San Jose State University| date=2002| accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref> In response to what he said to be massive scaremongering by the Marine Hospital Service, Gage pushed a censorship bill through the Legislature to gag any media reports of plague infection. The legislation failed, yet laws to gag reports amongst the medical community succeeded in passage and were signed into law by the governor. In addition, $100,000 was allocated to a public campaign led by Gage to deny the plague's existence. Privately, however, Gage sent a special commission to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], consisting of [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]], newspaper and shipping lawyers to negotiate a settlement with the Marine Hospital Service, whereby the [[U.S. federal government|federal government]] would remove Kinyoun from San Francisco with the promise that the state would secretly cooperate with the Marine Hospital Service in stamping out the plague outbreak.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.skubik.com/thesis%20summary.pdf| title=Public Health Politics and the San Francisco Plague Epidemic of 1900-1904 | publisher=Mark Skubik, San Jose State University| date=2002| accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref>
Despite the secret agreement allowing for Kinyoun's removal, Gage went back on his promise of assisting federal authorities and continued to obstruct their efforts for study and quarantine. A report issued by the State Board of Health on [[September 16]], [[1901]] bolstered Gage's claims, denying the plague's outbreak.<ref>{{cite book | author=| title=Report of State Board of Health; Report of the Special Health Commissioners | location=Sacramento | publisher=State Printing Office|year= | origyear=1901 | isbn=}}</ref>
===Labor agitation===
As Gage fought his growing battle with the federal government, labor agitation was starting to spill over along the San Francisco waterfront. In the July of 1901, members of the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters]] went on [[labor strike|strike]], protesting against recent orders to haul luggage for a non-[[unionized]] cargo company. The Teamsters strike was quickly joined by sympathizing [[sailors]], [[stevedore]]s and [[fireman]] belonging to the City Front Federation. Between 10,000 to 16,000 men joined the strike.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf596nb12t&chunk.id=bioghist-1.7.4&brand=oac| title=Inventory of the Peter Comacho Papers, 1904-1959 | publisher=San Francisco State University, Labor Archives and Research Center | date=2007 | accessdate=2007-08-21}}</ref>
Employers grew quickly frustrated with the strikers, asking for [[Mayor of San Francisco|San Francisco Mayor]] [[James D. Phelan]] to request Gage in ordering in the [[state militia]] to crush the strike. Phelan refused, though violence between strikers and officers of the [[San Francisco Police Department]] began to break out in September.
Gage became increasingly concerned that violence along San Francisco's waterfront was spilling out of the city's control. On one instance, in order to reassure himself that violence was not increasing, Gage disguised himself as a striker and walked amongst the stevedores to observe conditions personally.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_20.html| title=Henry Gage | publisher=State of California | date=2006 | accessdate=2007-08-13}}</ref> In October, Gage negotiated settlement with employers and the Teamsters, though the terms of the settlement were never made publicly known. Gage was the first California governor to negotiate an end to a labor strike.
===End of administration===
[[Image:HenryGage.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Gage's official portrait in the [[California State Capitol]]. The portrait was completed later in his life.]]Gage's troubles over the [[bubonic plague]] continued to worsen. Despite San Francisco-based newspapers continual denials, contradicting reports from the ''[[Sacramento Bee]]'' and the ''[[Associated Press]]'' on the plague's spread had made the outbreak become publicly known throughout the [[United States]]. The state governments of [[Colorado]], [[Texas]] and [[Louisiana]] passed quarantines of California, arguing that since the state had refused to admit a health crisis within its borders, states receiving rail or shipping cargo from California ports of call had the duty to protect themselves.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.skubik.com/thesis%20summary.pdf| title=Public Health Politics and the San Francisco Plague Epidemic of 1900-1904 | publisher=Mark Skubik, San Jose State University| date=2002| accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref> Threats of a national quarantine grew.
As the 1902 general elections approached, [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]] supporters increasingly saw Gage, a man who had represented their interests since his days as a [[Los Angeles]]-based lawyer, as an embarrassment to state [[United States Republican Party|Republicans]]. Gage's public denials of the plague outbreak were due to protecting the state's economy and the business interests of his political allies.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.skubik.com/thesis%20summary.pdf| title=Public Health Politics and the San Francisco Plague Epidemic of 1900-1904 | publisher=Mark Skubik, San Jose State University| date=2002| accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref> However, instead of putting allegations of the outbreak to rest, conflicting studies and reports from federal officials and the media continued to prove Gage incorrect. In turn, Gage's denials were creating economic headaches to shipping and rail companies within the state and throughout the country, who now faced quarantine and economic [[boycott]]s from other states.
At the state Republican convention that year, the Railroad Republican faction refused Gage renomination for the governorship. In his place, former [[Mayor of Oakland]] [[George Pardee]], a German-trained medical physician, received the nomination. Pardee's nomination was largely a compromise between the Railroad and the growing [[Progressive movement|progressive]]-minded Reform factions of the party.
In his final speech to the [[California State Legislature]] in early January 1903, Gage continued to publicly deny the outbreak, blaming the federal government, in particular Joseph Kinyoun, the [[Marine Hospital Service]] and the San Francisco Board of Health, for damaging the state's economy.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.skubik.com/ThesisConclusion.pdf| title=Conclusion: Public Health Politics and the San Francisco Plague Epidemic of 1900-1904 | publisher=Mark Skubik, San Jose State University| date=2002| accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref>
==Post governorship==
After leaving [[Sacramento]], Gage returned to [[Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles]] to resume his law practice. In 1909, President [[William Howard Taft]] appointed Gage as [[U.S.]] [[diplomatic rank|Minister]] to [[Portugal]]. Gage served in [[Lisbon, Portugal|Lisbon]] for a little more than five months until November 1910. Political instability in Portugal, due to the [[5 October 1910 revolution|Revolution of 1910]] that deposed [[Manuel II of Portugal|King Manuel II]], as well as his wife's deteriorating health, forced Gage to submit his resignation to the [[U.S. Department of State]] and President Taft. He returned to California shortly afterwards.
Gage died in [[Los Angeles]] on [[August 28]], [[1924]] at the age of 71.
==Legacy==
Despite his administration being characterized by historians as both rocky and incompetent, a lasting legacy of Gage's tenure of office was his signing off on the establishment of the [[California Polytechnic State University]] in 1901.
In 1902, Gage appointed [[Ulysses S. Webb]] as [[California Attorney General]]. Webb became one of the most successful the longest serving attorney generals in the history of California.
Gage Avenue in Los Angeles was named after him on [[October 28]] [[1929]]. [[Henry T. Gage Middle School]], also located on Gage Avenue, is named after the governor. The Gage Mansion located in [[Bell Gardens]] is now oldest remaining home in [[Los Angeles County]] and is a registered California State Historical Site.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi05h.htm| title=Gage Mansion - Oldest Remaining Home in Los Angeles County | publisher=LA Almanac| date=2006 | accessdate=2007-08-11}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
==External links==
*[http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_20.html Henry Gage bio] on State of California web site
*[http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/gage-henry-biography.htm Henry Gage bio and genealogy] on Santa Clarita Valley History web site
*[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5248 Find a Grave memorial]
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{{s-off}}
{{succession box |
before = [[James Herbert Budd]] |
title = [[Governor of California]] |
years = [[January 4]], [[1899]]–[[January 7]], [[1903]] |
after = [[George Pardee| George Cooper Pardee]]
}}
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{{succession box
| title = [[United States Ambassador to Portugal|United States Minister to Portugal]]
| before = [[Charles Page Bryan]]
| after = [[Edwin V. Morgan]]
| years = [[June 11]], [[1910]]–[[November 19]], [[1910]]
}}
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{{CAGovernors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gage, Henry Tifft}}
[[Category:Governors of California]]
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
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