John Lind (politician)

Background

Lind was born in Kanna, Kronoberg County in the Swedish province of Smaland and emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was thirteen years old. He served in the Spanish–American War in 1898. A former teacher and superintendent, he later graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Career

Lind settled in New Ulm to practice law. Most of the inhabitants were German, but Lind adjusted by learning to speak German almost as fluently as he could Swedish. He was soon known among the lawyers across the ninth circuit and so devoted to his practice that in the very convention that first nominated him to Congress, he left before proceedings had closed to attend to a client in the court down at Lincoln County. He joined the Republican party almost as soon as he set up his office; most Swedes made the same choice in Minnesota. While he could not yet vote in the 1872 presidential election, he stood at the polls to hand out ballots. Party loyalty brought the usual rewards: a receivership in the United States Land Office in 1881, and in 1886 a Republican nomination to Congress.

Lind was no great orator, but he had special advantages. The Second Minnesota Congressional District was Republican, generally by a two-to-one margin. The Swedish vote was dependably in favor of Lind, as well, and so were the Germans in New Ulm, thanks to his wide professional acquaintanceship with them. In addition, farmers resented the duty on binding-twine in the protective tariff, and Lind placed himself among the moderate tariff revisionists. At the north end of the state, his support for placing lumber on the duty-free list would have been political suicide. On the southern prairies, it was a far more popular position. Lind had other reasons for his stand. Concerned over the destruction of the nation's forests and a strong supporter for the national timber-culture law, he hoped that a larger importation of foreign lumber would slacken the timber companies' appetite for American trees.

Lind served as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1887 to March 3, 1893 in the 50th, 51st, and 52nd congresses. As a member of the House Commerce Committee, he handled all the bills dealing with bridge construction in the Northwest and stood fast against monoply privileges. Any railroad company authorized to span a river would have to guarantee free use by every other railroad, in return for reasonable compensation. Lind offered an anti-trust bill of his own, forbidding railroads from carrying any of the so-called patent cars—those like the oil-cars that Standard Oil built, or the refrigerator cars that the meat packers designed—that could not be furnished to all shippers at equal and fair rates. Even when he supported the McKinley protective tariff, the highest in history, he made himself conspicuous trying to cut the rates on jute-bagging for small shippers and in his fight against a seven hundred percent hike in the protection given to binding-twine manufacturers. That keen eye for constituent service and that moderate record on tariff and currency issues explains why, in 1890, when the Farmers' Alliances were defeating other Minnesota Republican congressmen, Lind survived nicely.

Lind chose not to continue in the House. His law practice had been neglected, and, with no independent means, he found it better to announce his retirement at the end of the Fifty-Second Congress. He remained an eligible choice, considered for the Republican nomination for governor in 1892, but conspicuously uninterested. Four years later, however, he ran for governor as a Democrat. Nobody was surprised that he lost; Minnesota remained a firmly Republican state. They were much more surprised in 1898 when he won. He served as the 14th Governor of Minnesota from January 2, 1899, to January 7, 1901. He had also been endorsed by the Populists and Silver Republicans.

Lind also served in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1905, as a Democrat. When he was elected Governor of Minnesota, he was the first non-Republican to hold that office in forty years. He died in 1930 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Role in Diplomacy with Mexico

Following the assassination of Mexican President Francisco I. Madero and Vice President Jose Maria Pino Suarez on February 22, 1913, it became clear that U.S. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson was complicit in the plot. General Victoriano Huerta was now president of Mexico. As soon as the new U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan assumed office on March 4, 1913, they sent John Lind to Mexico as Wilson's personal envoy for Mexican affairs. Lind had financial interests in Mexico, having invested in the Mexico Land company and had long-standing ties with other U.S. landholders. Lind attempted to persuade Victoriano Huerta to call prompt elections and not stand as a candidate in them. Huerta refused. "Lind clearly threatened a military intervention by the United States in case the demands were rejected but promised an American loan to Mexico" if Huerta stepped aside. Rebellions broke out in Mexico against the Huerta regime. Lind backed the faction of Venustiano Carranza, a large land owner and former governor of Coahuila. Lind worked to support the Carranza faction, known as the Constitutionalists, against more radical elements in the anti-Huerta rebellion, mainly Constitutionalist Army general Pancho Villa.

Personal life

Lind was known for having a temper. According to an article on the front page of the Moose Lake (Minnesota) Star on January 17, 1901: "Ex-governor John Lind after having freed himself from the duties of governor last Thursday walked down to the Dispatch office in St. Paul and administered to Editor Black a well-deserved licking. For a one armed man John Lind can make some telling blows once in a while."