Frederick Gardner (D)

Overview

At a Glance

• Created bipartisan highway commission
• Proposed successful $60 million bond issue to build thousands of miles of paved roads throughout the state
• Eliminated $2.5 million state deficit with short-term low interest loans
• Established corporate franchise, income, and inheritance taxes
• Established the state park system (1917)
• Called special session to ratify constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote (1919)
• Reorganized state finances, balanced state budget
• Reformed the state penal system and put inmates to work

Personal History

Born on Nov. 6, 1869, in Hickman, Kentucky, Frederick Dozier Gardner attended public schools in Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1887, he moved to St. Louis to begin his business career, taking a job as an office boy for the St. Louis Casket Company.

Gardner did well at the St. Louis Casket Company, earning a promotion to bookkeeper. By age 24, Gardner owned stock in the company; eventually, he acquired a controlling interest and became president. In 1898, he branched out by forming the Memphis Casket Company, acting as chairman of the board of directors. Around the same time, he also became involved in casket manufacturing plants in Texarkana and Dallas, Texas.

Primarily a businessman, Gardner showed interest in financial ventures far beyond the scope of casket manufacturing. For instance, in 1893, he visited nations of the Old World and evaluated their land-credit systems. Subsequently, as a private citizen, he presented to the Missouri legislature a concept that would evolve into the state's land-bank plan.

Before becoming a candidate for Missouri governor in 1916, Gardner served on the St. Louis Board of Freeholders, a group established to create a charter for the city. The experience prompted Gardner to write a series of articles explaining the charter’s provisions and potential impact on the growth of St. Louis.

On October 10, 1894, Gardner married Jeannette Vosburgh of St. Louis. They had three children. After completing his term as governor in 1921 he retired from political life. He died on December 18, 1933. Gardner was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

Political History

A successful businessman, Gov. Gardner led the state through World War I by supporting such organizations as the Missouri Council of Defense and the U.S. Selective Service System. He also presented and carried out a plan to balance the state budget, reformed the state penal system, and acquired funding to improve the state highway system.

Gardner's promise to "devote the four best years of my life wholly and unreservedly to the service of the people of Missouri" convinced voters to elect him to office. He narrowly defeated the Republican nominee, Judge Henry Lamm, a 10-year veteran of the Missouri Supreme Court.

After his inauguration on January 9, 1917, Gov. Gardner moved quickly to fulfill his campaign pledges and his responsibilities as leader of the state. He arranged short-term, low-interest loans with St. Louis banks in order to pay off the $2.5 million budget deficit that had accumulated over many years. He then implemented his plan for rehabilitation of state finances by enacting three tax laws to replenish state coffers. The corporation franchise tax, the inheritance tax, and the income tax enacted under Gardner's administration proposed to equalize and make impartial the collection of taxes. The reorganization of the state's financial system during Gardner's administration also aimed to cut spending and to improve the economic status of Missouri.

In 1917, Gardner’s first year in office, the Missouri legislature acknowledged the need for public recreation areas and passed a law establishing a state park fund. Lawmakers used revenue from what was then the Missouri Fish and Game Department. With the fund established, the Fish and Game Department became responsible for the parks once they were acquired.

Gov. Gardner championed prison reform in several ways. Gardner supported education for Missouri inmates. He asked the Missouri General Assembly to consolidate management of the state penal system under one bipartisan body. He aimed to improve systemic efficiency by putting inmates to work within state prisons. By the end of his term, the penal system not only had become self-supportive, but it also boasted an unprecedented net profit of nearly $200,000.

During his second year in office, Gov. Gardner followed through on his campaign pledge to improve the highway system. He created a bipartisan state highway commission and proposed a $60 million bond issue to be funded by automobile license fees. In the fall of 1918, Gov. Gardner presented an original plan to the Missouri legislature that would, after its adoption as a constitutional amendment, provide thousands of miles of paved roads to Missouri counties, regardless of a county’s financial strength.

Gov. Gardner accomplished these changes while mobilizing Missourians to fight in World War I. He asked the state's citizens to sacrifice for the war effort and condemned those who questioned U.S. participation in the conflict.

At the end of his term, Gardner's supporters urged him to run for U.S. senator, but he declined and instead returned to St. Louis to resume his business interests. More than once after leaving office, Gardner was encouraged by his fellow Democrats to pursue the Democratic nomination for president or vice president, but Gardner opted not to resume his public career. He remained active in the Democratic Party and even wrote a liquor plank that was presented at the 1932 Democratic National Convention.

Historical Significance

Gov. Gardner worked hard to get Missouri's finances in order. By enacting franchise, inheritance, and income taxes, he was able to balance the budget. His prison reforms resulted in the state prisons becoming self-sustaining, and even earning a profit. As a result, Missouri was in solid financial shape to secure the bond that made it possible to pave thousands of miles of roads.

Although Gov. Gardner did not pass the 19th Amendment himself, he was responsible for calling for a special session for state legislators to ratify the amendment. As a result, the 19th Amendment was ratified overwhelmingly by the Missouri legislature in 1919, making Missouri the 11th state to grant women the right to vote. Five days after the 19th Amendment was ratified, Hannibal held a special election to fill an empty seat for alderman. By casting her vote in this municipal election, Marie Ruoff Byrum became the first woman ever to vote in Missouri, and may have been the first woman in the United States to vote under the 19th Amendment, (although others have made that claim).