He was devoted to General Grant and General Grant was very fond of him. General Grant, in talking of General Logan and Senator Morton of Indiana, used to say that they were the two most persistent men in the Senate in securing offices for their friends; but there was this difference between them: if Morton came to him and wanted ten offices and he gave him one, he would go away feeling perfectly satisfied, and make the impression on the people that he was running the Administration; while if Logan came to the White House to secure ten offices, and did not get more than nine of them, he would raise a great row, and claim that he could not get anything out of the Administration.
But Logan stood strongly for General Grant, no only during his two terms, where he had little or no opposition, but he was one of the leaders in the unsuccessful attempt to nominate him for a third term. Logan, Conkling, Cameron and others failed, and I believe that General Logan felt the failure more than even General Grant himself.
General Logan was a tremendously industrious man. He was always doing favors for his people, and seemed to delight in being of service to any one. That was the difference between him and Governor Oglesby. Logan was always willing and anxious to do favors for people, while Oglesby was not.
I remember an incident that illustrates this very well. Jacob Bunn, of Springfield, as honest a man as ever lived and a man of high standing, was compelled to take a distillery in part payment of a very large debt which was owing to him, and to make it of any account he had to operate it until such a time as he could dispose of it. He had some explanation he desired to make to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and he came to Washington and asked Governor Oglesby, who was then in the Senate, to introduce him to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Oglesby knew Bunn very well, and yet he cross-examined him at great length and detail. Bunn left Oglesby and next morning sought Logan, who at once agreed to perform the favor, with the result that Mr. Bunn very readily adjusted the matter with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Bunn afterwards said to me: "I had a good deal more trouble convincing Governor Oglesby that I was an honest man than I had convincing the Commissioner of Internal Revenue."
I give this incident as illustrating the difference between the characters of Oglesby and Logan.
The latter's honesty and integrity were never doubted. I believe he would not have hesitated for a moment to kill any one who would have questioned his honesty. He was a poor man, and when I came to the Senate as his colleague we often sat together condoling with each other on our poverty, and "abusing" the men in the Senate who were wealthy. This was one of the common bonds between us. When I became well acquainted with General Logan, I believed in him and admired him as one of the ablest men of Illinois. He was a man of intense feeling, intense friendships, and I might also add that he was a man of the most intense hatreds.
General Logan, while never doubting his friends, yet expected his friends to swear devotion to him every time they saw him. He was "touchy" in this respect, and would not readily overlook any fancied slights. On one occasion, my old friend, the Hon. David T. Littler, now deceased, of Springfield, Illinois, who was also a warm friend of Logan, went to Washington, and neglected to call on Logan until he had been there several days. Logan knew that he was in town, and when he finally did call, Logan abused him roundly for not coming to see him the first thing. It made Littler angry for the time being, and he showed his resentment as only Littler could. He made Logan apologize and agree never to find fault with him again. They were on good terms as long as they lived.
General Logan was my friend, and was always for me when I was running for office. It was sometimes tolerably hard to him to be for me as against a soldier, because there was never a man who was more thoroughly devoted to the soldiers. As colleagues in the Senate, we got along very agreeably and never had any cross-purposes or differences of opinion.
The only time I remember of ever having any feeling at all was on one occasion when Senator Logan, Senator Evarts, and Senator Teller were strongly advocating the seating of Henry B. Payne, of Ohio, as a matter of right and without investigation. I was disposed to vote for the taking of evidence and an investigation. When the discussion was going on, I stated to Logan that I felt like voting in favor of the investigation. He was very much out of humor about it. I consulted with some friends in the Senate as to what I ought to do under the circumstances, and they advised me, in view of General Logan's personal feeling on the subject—and he felt that he was personally involved—that I ought to vote with him.
After the vote was announced, I went around to General Logan's seat, and he expressed intense gratification that I had voted with him, remarking that if I had been involved in a struggle as he was, he would take the roof off the house before he would let me be beaten; and I believe he would have gone to almost any extent.