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JOHN S. BARRY BY H. H. RILEY
Governor Barry frequently resorted to this roundabout way to reach his end, and although it was awkward, it was effective, and often very severe.
Mr. Barry knew how to keep his secrets. I once asked him, while he was governor, to meet me in my office, as I wished to ask him a question. He came. I laid out the circumstances and reasons why I desired the information in my most happy, and as I supposed, convincing way. The governor sat quietly, his eyes fixed on the floor, listening most intently. I concluded my little speech. The governor jumped up, and pointing to a map of the United States which hung on the wall, said: "I think, sir, the finest climate in the country is along the Blue Ridge Mountains, " and thereupon darted out of the office like a shot.
He was a strong writer, very concise and pointed, and he could wrap up an arrow in a paragraph that hit and stung like an adder. He labored over that kind of work, understood the force of words, knew how to use them, and no person had any difficulty in knowing just what he meant.
His messages were very affirmative, nothing compromising about them; he sat down squarely on every measure proposed and enforced it with all his power. Many persons now living remember how violently he attacked the banking corporations of the day in his first and second administrations. He never did anything for political promotion. He had too much pride of opinion to sacrifice his convictions to personal ends.
He kept his eye on the state, as a state. Whatever may have been the opinion of him politically—however much he may have differed with his opponents on many questions—his financial policy was endorsed and sup- • ported by all parties. It is not too much to say that he was the salvation of the state. He brought order out of chaos. He found the state practically bankrupt.
Michigan
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