Warner’s Safe Cure: James Abram Garfield (1831-1881)

Back in 2008, I wrote a little about H. H. Warner’s brief infatuation with politics. Like so many other successful industrialists of the late 19th Century, Warner may have believed that involvement in politics was a natural extension of his business life. By 1884, his medicine business was still in its ascendency and he undoubtedly exerted considerable influence in Rochester, so national politics probably seemed like a way for Warner to extend that power while, at the same time, growing his medicine empire worldwide. Although it is impossible to say for sure, Warner seems to have had great admiration for one of our country’s least-known and shortest-tenured presidents, James A. Garfield.  In the post-Civil War period, the Republican Party flourished and Garfield rode the tide.

Warner flirted with politics and as with everything else, he found a way to leverage it for marketing purposes. Like most of his contemporaries, Warner knew the importance of testimonials. His almanacs and other advertising is loaded with testimonials from average citizens, but also from the celebrities of the date. In the 1880′s, President Garfield was a celebrity. Warner undoubtedly believed that if he could convince prospective customers that the President of the United States used his remedies, he could convince almost anyone to use them. Toward that end, Warner published this poster.

Warner Safe Remedies Poster Featuring President James A. Garfield

Following his service in the Union Army in the Civil War, Garfield entered politics serving as a Congressman from Ohio for 18 years. At the 1880 Republican Convention, he supported the candidacy of John Sherman, but was ultimately nominated as the party’s presidential candidate.  He defeated another Union general, Winfield Scott Hancock, the Democratic nominee, by the slim margin of 10,000 popular votes. The above poster features members of the Garfield cabinet including (from left to right) James G. Blaine (Secretary of State), Thomas L. James (Postmaster General), Samuel J. Kirkwood (Secretary of the Interior), William H. Hunt (Secretary of the Navy), Garfield, I. Wayne MacVeagh (Attorney General), William Windom (Secretary of  the Treasury) and Robert T. Lincoln (Secretary of War).

Garfield served as President for barely six months when he was shot by a disguntled office seeker, Charles Guiteau. Garfield did not succumb to the assassin’s bullet directly, but rather as a result of an infection as a result of various doctors probing around to remove the bullet. This cadre of experts included the renowned Alexander Graham Bell. Talk about the cure being worse than the disease. Garfield was succeeded by his Vice-President, Chester A. Arthur.

While it is impossible to say whether the Garfield poster influenced anyone to buy Warner’s Safe Remedies, it is another great example of Warner’s pitch. It also gives us a look at one of our lesser known presidents. Special thanks to Jack Stecher for giving me the names of Garfield’s cabinet depicted in the poster.

The Rise and Fall of the Warner Empire: Politics (Part V)

It often seems that those who are successful in business decide that they should favor the world of politics with their wisdom. H. H. Warner was no exception. Having made his mark, first in the safe business and more recently in the patent medicine business, Warner decided on politics as his next area of endeavor. His involvement though was not as a candidate for elective office, but rather as an activist in the Republican Party.

Atwater reports that in 1884, Warner was chosen as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from the thirtieth New York district. In grand style, he rented two Pullman cars and transported fifty local Republicans and members of the press to the convention in Chicago. Based on the reports in the Rochester Union and Advertiser  and the Rochester Democrat and Chronical from May and June, 1884, the Warner party did not travel in complete sobriety. Quoting the reporter:

“The ride was dusty but not wholly dry” and by the time the convention opened, the Rochester boys “turned up cheerful and well preserved.”

Atwater at 180. At the Chicago convention, Senator James G. Blaine (above left) of Maine, a former Speaker of the House and Secretary of State was nominated over the incumbent President Chester A. Arthur. Warner repeatedly cast his votes for Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert, was not formally nominated as a candidate. Warner was unsuccessful as a candidate for vice-president of the convention. Blaine ultimately lost the election to Grover Cleveland (above right).

Warner returned to the Republican National Conventions in 1888 in Chicago and 1892 in Minneapolis. He supported favorite son candidate, Chauncey Depew and later the successful candidate, Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and Blaine again in 1892. The trips to these conventions were also aboard well-provisioned Pullman cars. After that, Warner faded from political life and moved on to other ventures that would ultimately bring the downfall of his patent medicine empire.