Martin
H. Glynn was born in the town of Kinderhook, Columbia County, N.Y.,
September 17, 1871, the son of Martin and Ann G. Glynn, his parents
being natives of Ireland. He received his primary education in the village
of Valatie public school near his home and from the beginning evinced
that eagerness for knowledge which characterized him as long as he lived.
His parents were poor but they encouraged the boy in his studious ways
and as soon as he had grown to college age he was sent to Fordham University
from which he was graduated as the honor man in 1894 at the age of twenty-three.
So eager was the boy for a college education that he asked and obtained from James A. Reynolds, a banker, still a prominent citizen of Kinderhook, a small loan to enable him to continue his studies. In several public speeches after he had reached prominence Mr. Glynn gave Mr. Reynolds credit for this important assistance.
He subsequently studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1897. The young man already had become interested in politics and from his wide range of reading of history soon concluded that his talents could best be applied in the field of journalism. He obtained employment with the Hudson Weekly Record, then under the editorship of Edwin C. Rowley and traveled through the county obtaining subscriptions and collecting news items. Then the Record Printing and Publishing Company purchased the Hudson Evening Register from M. Parker Williams. Martin Glynn was made its business manager and wrote editorials.
During 1896 he was called to Albany to take a position as reporter on the Times-Union under John Henry Farrell. Upon the death of Mr. Farrell he became owner and publisher.
It was in the memorable campaign of 1896, when William J. Bryan was first nominated by the Democratic party for president that Mr. Glynn gave promise of becoming an unusually eloquent public speaker and campaigner. He spoke for the national and state ticket all over the county of Albany and there are many who still recall the stirring speeches of the young man who had just passed his twenty-fifth birthday. Gifted with a pleasing and far-reaching voice and a mind wellstored with campaign and historical material, he at once made an impression at all meetings which he addressed.
What he did in that national campaign led to his nomination for representative in congress in 1898 in a district strongly Republican. He was elected and took his seat in December, 1899, one of the youngest members ever chosen for the office. Notwithstanding his youth he made a record which was commended by many organizations. Among these were the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Patrons of Husbandry of New York State.
It is interesting to note also that during his term at Washington he began his long and valuable service in behalf of the Deeper Hudson movement. He obtained an appropriation for the improvement of the river and another for its resurvey, the purpose of which was to ascertain the feasibility of deepening the river from Hudson to Albany. From that time until he passed on Mr. Glynn constantly gave of his time and means to promote the movement to make Albany a seaport. With other Albanians he traveled to Washington to advocate the cause before congressional committees.
In 1901, the year following the expiration of his term in congress, Mr. Glynn was appointed a member of the national commission of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis by President McKinley. He was afterwards made vice-president of the commission, a marked tribute to the young man when it is remembered that nearly all of the other members of the commission were United States Senators and men of national prominence.
Elected State Comptroller
Mr. Glynn was in Europe in 1906 when the Democratic state convention at Buffalo nominated him for State Comptroller. William R. Hearst headed the ticket and all of the nominees, except the candidate for Governor, were elected. "One of the best Comptrollers the state ever had" was a common remark throughout New York whenever Comptroller Glynn's administration was mentioned. It was a reputation that was well deserved as the facts amply prove. He instituted reforms and established standards of efficiency which saved the state millions of dollars.
His administration was signalized by a vigorous enforcement of the many laws administered through the Comptroller's department. He located corpo rations which for years had escaped taxation and compelled them to pay. He enforced the statute which gives the Comptroller the power to investigate the manner in which county, municipal and village officials are performing their duties. His investigations revealed serious conditions in several counties and resulted in the institution of many reforms. When he became Comptroller Mr. Glynn compelled all banks and trust companies having state funds on deposit to give surety company bonds instead of personal bonds. The wisdom of that action was shown during the financial panic of 1907. When that financial crisis came the state had $22,000,000 on deposit in banks and trust companies. Comptroller Glynn personally took hold of the situation to protect the funds of the state. Banks in which $800,005 of state moneys were on deposit closed their doors but the State did not lose a penny. Within sixty days it was reimbursed for every dollar on deposit in those institutions. The state came through the panic without a dollar of loss. Comptroller Glynn established a system of safeguarding the stock transfer tax stamps, he located and had transferred into the state treasury many thousands of dollars of court and trust funds that should have been in the custody of the state. The amount of corporation and inheritance taxes collected was greatly increased during his administration.
Nominated for Lieutenant-Governor
Mr. Glynn's two-year term as State Comptroller expired in December, 1908 when he resumed his editorship of the Times-Union to which he devoted himself for the next four years. In 1912 the Democratic state convention at Syracuse nominated him for Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket headed by William Sulzer, then a representative in Congress from New York city. Mr. Glynn's friends had urged him as the most available and best equipped candidate for Governor, Thomas Mott Osborne, of Auburn, delivering the nominating speech. But Representative Sulzer had the support of the New York city organization and finally won a majority of the delegates.
It was the year of the Progressive revolt in the Republican party when Theodore Roosevelt was a candidate for President. Oscar Straus was the nominee for Governor on the same ticket. The Democrats won the election in both state and nation. As Lieutenant-Governor Mr. Glynn presided over the State Senate of 1913. Governor Sulzer was impeached by the Assembly in August of that year whereupon the Lieutenant-Governor became acting Governor. On the morning of October 17, after trial by the high court of impeachment, Chief Judge Cullen, as presiding judge, announced the removal of William Sulzer from the governorship. During the afternoon of the same day Martin H. Glynn took the oath of office as Governor.
As the extraordinary session of the Legislature was still in existence it was reconvened by the Governor, December 8. His first message to the Legislature, recommended legislation on primary and general elections; in relation to the direct election of United States Senators; in regard to workmen's compensation for injuries or death and relating to a constitutional convention in 1915.
His Record as Governor
In the same message he favored the Massachusetts form of ballot. On this subject, he said:
The party column in our present ballot promotes party voting and hampers individual choice and judgment. The Massachusetts form of ballot, safeguarded as I have suggested, will not only enable but will require the voter to deliberately express his sovereign will with respect to every office and upon every candidate for office.
The new form of ballot was considered a radical departure in our electoral
system but Governor Glynn, overcoming objections from many of the political
leaders, won his fight in the Legislature.
Recognizing also that a sentiment had been growing in the state for
direct primaries he advocated such a law in the message. Calling attention
to the fact that there had been enacted in 1911 the first direct primary
law, he said it fell far short of the requirements of the situation,
adding:
Public opinion will not now be satisfied with less than a direct primary law, state-wide in its application, which will require the nomination of every candidate for public elective office in the organized parties by the direct vote of the enrolled members of the parties in their party primaries, without the intervention of delegates or conventions and with the absolute assurance of exact equality to all candidates for party nominations. The existing primary law has abolished all nominating conventions, except the state convention. Legislation, responsive to unmistakable public opinion, is now demanded which will abolish state conventions and leave to party membership n the party primaries the direct nomination of candidates to be elected by the entire state.
It will be noted that Governor Glynn laid stress upon the public demand for direct primaries. Beginning with the administration of Governor Charles E. Hughes in 1907 the right of the enrolled voters directly to nominate the candidates for public office had been discussed throughout the state, a discussion which continued to grow during the time that John A. Dix and William Sulzer were in the executive office. Both of these Governors advocated a direct primary law in one form or another, but it remained for Governor Glynn definitely to bring the matter before the Legislature and to succeed in persuading the Legislature to enact a state-wide primary law, the first of its kind in New York state. It went into effect in 1914.
Enactment of the workmen's compensation law was another notable achievement of Governor Glynn during that session of the Legislature. He pointed out that other. states had long adopted that policy and that it was demanded by every principle of justice and humanity, that since the voters of the state had granted authority to the Legislature by approving an amendment to the state constitution there should be no further delay.
And thus he accomplished at one session of the Legislature three outstanding measures of which, to the end of his life, he was always particularly proud.
The Legislature also enacted legislation required by the federal amendment providing for the direct election of United States Senators by the people. It had the hearty support of Governor Glynn.
The organization leaders in both political parties had opposed direct primaries and the Massachusetts ballot and Governor Glynn earnestly pleaded for them, in the name of progressive democracy, as instruments by which the people might obtain more control of their government. Referring to these measures he said:
I sincerely believe and earnestly hope that our public spirited citizens will appreciate and realize the increased powers and obligations these measures lodge with them and make effective use of their opportunities under these laws, to the end that these measures may become great agencies for progress, for better government and advance the general welfare of the entire state.
In his first message to the regular session of the Legislature in 1914, Governor Glynn had much to recommend concerning such subjects as organization for farm profits, land banks for farmers, conservation of water power, prevention of frauds at elections, co-operative markets and expert highway service.
He criticized the method of investigation employed by the state government whereby many investigations of state affairs were going on at the same time, and recommended in their place a court of inquiry composed of the living ex-judges of the Court of Appeals. Nothing ever came of this recommendation.