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Campaign Song "We are for Bliss"Written by Anna Mae Maday, Manager, Eddy Historical & Genealogy Collection of Hoyt Public Library in Saginaw, Michigan
There were a number of candidates running for governor on November 6, 1900. They were William C. Maybury, the Democrat; Frederick S. Goodrich, a Prohibition Party candidate; Daniel Thompson of the People's Party; Henry Ulbricht, Jr. for the Socialist Labor Party, and Henry Ramsay, a Social Democrat. When the votes for governor were counted, Republican candidate Aaron T. Bliss had won, becoming Michigan's twenty-fifth governor. Bliss had captured 305,612 votes, while his Democratic opponent received 226,228 votes. The prohibition candidate received the next highest number, 11,834 votes. In his first bid for governor, Aaron T. Bliss had won Saginaw County, but it wasn't an easy victory. Bliss won the county by only 146 votes, and the city by 139 votes. In his own 10th ward, he had only won by two votes. Aaron T. Bliss was a Republican and some of the issues he campaigned for in 1900 were equal taxation, sound government economic policies and trade expansion with protection for domestic goods. He said he was for the working man as well as the business man. In the governor's campaign of November 6, 1900, Bliss, who had served in the Civil War, espoused the causes of his fellow veterans. During this period in history, both major parties had progressive factions. The people demanded reforms such as election and tax reform, women's suffrage, prohibition and labor laws. Bliss and the legislature tried to comply with some of these demands. Governor Bliss' first term began January 1, 1901, and went to January 1, 1903. Bliss received an annual governor's salary of four thousand dollars. At that time Michigan did not have a governor's residence, and he had to commute from his Saginaw home or stay in temporary quarters in Lansing. Supporters thought that the new governor would be more conservative than his predecessor, but Bliss surprised them by vowing to carry on the railroad reforms initiated by former Governor Hazen S. Pingree. Governor Bliss also wanted the state to regulate interurbans and electric railroads. In his first speech to Michigan's House and Senate on January 9, 1901, the governor said that he wanted to lead Michigan on the "long highway of the 20th century." He requested the legislature give attention to property tax reform. He recommended the establishment of a state prison for women and wanted changes to the penal laws. But during the four years he was governor he was not able to accomplish either of those two goals. Governor Bliss hoped that the legislature would cooperate with the Michigan Forestry Commission to save the state's lumbering industry. As part of a wildlife conservation policy, Bliss wanted to restrict the number of deer taken by hunters and to prohibit the sale of game. Aaron T. Bliss recommended completion of the work started to compile records for those veterans who had served in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. He supported the dairy industry and good roads for Michigan. In his first administration, the legislature established a state highway commission and Bliss appointed the first highway commissioner, but the attorney general ruled that the legislative act was unconstitutional. Governor Aaron T. Bliss encouraged the appointment of a woman to the Board of Corrections and Charities, advising that a woman's services on that board would be invaluable. Believing that the "growing use of cigarettes" was a menace to Michigan's youth, the governor discouraged the sale of cigarettes in Michigan. Bliss was once again nominated for governor at the Detroit Republican state convention and on November 4, 1902 he was elected governor to serve until January, 1905. Bliss received 211,261 votes, and Democratic candidate Lorenzo T. Durand got 174,077 votes. There were three other parties represented in that governor's race: the Prohibition Party, the Socialists, and the Socialist Labor Party. In the 1902 election, Aaron T. Bliss lost Saginaw County to his Democratic opponent. Bliss had only received 6,410 votes while Durand picked up 6,835 Saginaw County votes. Governor Bliss also lost the city of Saginaw by 826 votes. By 1902 the city had increased the number of wards, and the Bliss home was then located in the 14th Ward. He lost his home ward by 45 votes. In his second inaugural message on January 8, 1903, Governor Bliss suggested that Michigan should have a primary election law because money was being used more frequently by candidates to buy their party's nomination for office. He recommended the state hold an election to revise the state constitution, but this wasn't done until 1907. Bliss believed that municipalities should have home rule and not tie up the legislature to enact local bills. After experiencing a term in office without an adequate governor's residence, he advised the legislature to acquire one, but they didn't. He continued to be a proponent of legislation to protect wildlife and Michigan fish stocks for sport fishermen. He held the belief that the state should provide a separate facility for epileptics and not house them with the insane. Aaron T. Bliss felt a duty to care for the less fortunate and handicapped population and was responsible for the establishment of the Michigan Employment Institute for the Blind in his hometown. As governor he recommended establishing the office of state fire marshal, conducting state inspections of steam boilers, and licensing stationary engineers. The governor also wanted new laws to regulate the practice of medicine in Michigan. Governor Bliss believed that the inheritance tax law needed to be amended so people could understand it and that the state banking system needed legislative attention. He encouraged the legislature to support the Pioneer and Historical Society in its goals to preserve and publish state history and the accounts of pioneers. In his retirement message, Governor Bliss urged the legislature to create a burial fund for veterans' widows. He also urged them to establish a better system for birth records. A new registration law passed in 1906. As to the future Bliss had once advised, "If a thing ought to be done, the state cannot shirk its duty, no matter what the expense may be." When Bliss left office the state was debt free. In his final address to the House and Senate as governor, Aaron T. Bliss voiced his appreciation, "I thank all who have assisted me, and retire to private life thankful that I have been permitted to know my state, proud of its history and confident of its future." During his second term Governor Aaron T. Bliss had suffered a stroke but was able to perform his duties and complete his term. He died September 15, 1906, at a hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Aaron Thomas Bliss, who had been born in Madison County, New York in the year Michigan acquired statehood, was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery at Saginaw, Michigan. At one memorial service Major Herbert E. Johnson, the governor's secretary, remarked that when Bliss "was lain therein, and the smoke of three volleys had floated over him, and taps had spoken to him the solemn words of the soldier's farewell, the last rays of the sinking sun floated through the western clouds and rested in benediction above his resting place." Many years ago Saginawians referred to Michigan Avenue as the "Street of Governors" because three of Michigan's governors had formerly resided on that street. Suggested Reading
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Keywords: Bliss, Aaron Thomas, 1837-1906
; Campaign songs
; Civil War, 1861-1865--Veterans
; Electioneering
; Governors
; Railroads
; Transportation
; Veterans
; Prohibition
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