=THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF HAYES AND OF GARFIELD AND ARTHUR, 1877–1885.=
INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS.
=600. General Character of the Administration of Hayes.=—The
administration of Hayes was one of adjustment to new conditions rather
than one of great political innovations. During the first half of his
term, the Democrats had a majority in the House, the Republicans in the
Senate; during the second half, the Democrats controlled both branches
of Congress. By reason of these facts, and of the more or less general
feeling that the President’s title to his position was not perfect,
radical legislation was impossible, and industrial questions occupied in
the main the attention of the country. Hayes himself, although much
harassed by difficulties with Congress, wielded his power, especially
that of the veto,[276] in a most creditable manner, and surrounded
himself with a Cabinet of good advisers.
=601. Withdrawal of Troops from the South.=—One of the first acts of
President Hayes’s administration was to order the withdrawal of the
United States troops from the South, where they had been stationed for
the protection of the reconstructed governments. The way for this
movement had been prepared during the last days of Grant’s
administration; for it had come to be seen that good order could not be
reëstablished by force. Democrats replaced Republicans in state offices,
and everywhere the supremacy of the white people of the South was at
once established. It was a practical confession that the methods of
reconstruction adopted by Congress had not been successful. From this
time forward the South was able to give attention to industrial
recuperation.
=602. Disorders and Riots.=—During 1877, the first year of Hayes’s
administration, railroad strikes were common. Freight charges were being
reduced, and the roads, finding it impossible to maintain the old rate
of wages, attempted to lower the price of labor. Thousands refused to
work at the new rates, and some of the workmen would not allow trains to
run. At Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore there were riots, in which
several persons were killed; but the most serious outbreak occurred at
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where nearly a hundred lives were lost and the
destruction of property amounted to about three million dollars.
Pennsylvania had several years before suffered from the outrages of a
secret society of miners known as the “Molly McGuires,” which was not
finally put down until 1875.
=603. Chinese Immigration.=—For the construction of the Pacific
railroads, large numbers of Chinese laborers had been induced to come to
the Pacific coast. These immigrants did not become citizens, and
consequently did not vote. The fact that they could live more cheaply,
and therefore work for less wages, than the white laborers, aroused
great opposition to their presence, and riots became common. In response
to this outcry, in 1880 a treaty was negotiated with China, by which it
was agreed that Chinese immigration might be stopped by the United
States government. This was followed, in 1882, by an Act of Congress
forbidding such immigration for ten years. The law was imperfectly
drawn, however, and its principal effect was to prevent the Chinese from
coming in large masses. More stringent measures were enacted later (§
624).
FINANCIAL PROBLEMS.
=604. Relations of Gold and Silver.=—Public opinion during Hayes’s term
was seriously agitated in regard to the relations of silver and gold. In
1873, during Grant’s administration, a law had been passed, in
consequence of a general advance in the price of silver, discontinuing
the coinage of silver dollars, which had long been practically out of
circulation. But by 1878 the price of the metal had fallen on account of
the large output of the Western mines, and Congress decided to
remonetize silver by providing that a certain amount should be purchased
and coined each month. An act was passed, known as the “Bland-Allison
Bill,” which provided for the purchase and coinage into dollars of not
less than two million, nor more than four million, dollars’ worth of
silver each month. The coining was to be at the rate of sixteen to one;
that is to say, sixteen pounds of silver was to be coined into the same
number of dollars as one pound of gold. As so much silver in circulation
would prove inconvenient, Congress provided for depositing the silver
thus coined in the Treasury and issuing silver certificates as currency
in its place. This legislation, which was passed over the President’s
veto and was regarded by economists as unsound, stimulated the
production of silver and greatly encouraged the new mining industries in
Colorado, Nevada, and the other states of the far West.
=605. Resumption of Specie Payments.=—Ever since the first year of the
war, the paper money which has already been described (§ 596) had been
the only currency in common use. Greenbacks and national bank notes had
been made legal tender for most purposes; but the Supreme Court had at
one time decided against, and at another time in favor of, the power of
Congress to make a legal tender out of paper not redeemable in coin. In
consequence there was a feeling of uncertainty with regard to the value
of the currency in which business was transacted, and this was harmful
to the commercial interests of the country. The paper had depreciated in
value as compared with gold, and many people urged that the government
should pay its debts in it. This hurt the national credit. Accordingly,
in January, 1875, an act was passed providing for resumption of specie
payments on the 1st of January, 1879. In other words, after the latter
date, any person could get coin from the Treasury in exchange for the
paper he offered. In the course of the four intervening years, the
government accumulated a large amount of gold and silver in the Treasury
and prepared itself to meet such demands as might be made. It happened,
however, as it usually does under similar conditions with local banks,
that so long as the people knew that the government was able and ready
to pay, they had no desire for actual payment. They at once settled into
the belief that paper was more convenient than coin. The chief credit
for this financial legislation belongs to John Sherman, brother of the
famous general, who long represented Ohio in the Senate, and at the time
of resumption was Secretary of the Treasury.
POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
=606. Causes of Dissatisfaction.=—Though President Hayes’s
administration was free from scandals and was one of uniform excellence,
it presented very few characteristics that appealed to the enthusiastic
admiration of the people. Nor was the President popular with the
political managers, who thought that greater energy on his part would
have secured such popular favor as to overcome the Democratic majority
in Congress. As the time for the next Republican nomination drew near,
it became evident, therefore, that Hayes, who did not seek a second
term, would not be renominated.
[Illustration: GENERAL WINFIELD S. HANCOCK.]
=607. Nomination and Election of Garfield and Arthur.=—The Republican
Convention, which met at Chicago in 1880, after a long struggle between
the supporters of J. G. Blaine and of General Grant, nominated, as a
compromise, James A. Garfield of Ohio for President, and Chester A.
Arthur of New York for Vice President. Garfield, having distinguished
himself in military service and in the House of Representatives, had
recently been elected to the Senate. Arthur, without legislative
experience, had been Collector of the Port of New York. The Democrats
met at Cincinnati, and nominated General Winfield S. Hancock[277] of
Pennsylvania for President, and William H. English of Indiana for Vice
President. There was no such heated contest for the nominations as there
had been among the Republicans, for the general prosperity of the
country indicated that the party in power would not be turned out. This
forecast proved to be correct, for at the election Garfield and Arthur
received two hundred and fourteen electoral votes, while Hancock and
English received one hundred and fifty-five. The defeated candidates
received their main vote from what began to be called “the Solid
South,”—that is to say, not only the states that had seceded, but all
those in which slavery had existed at the time of the war. Until the
election of 1896, this solid mass of electoral votes went to Democratic
candidates.
[Illustration: JAMES A. GARFIELD.]
=608. Factions in the Republican Party.=—Even before the nomination of
Garfield[278] and Arthur, it was evident that the Republican party was
inclined to divide into two factional sections. The questions at issue
related partly to the method of appointing the minor government officers
and partly to the attitude of the party toward the South. In general,
those Republicans who were popularly known as “Stalwarts” advocated a
more rigorous policy toward the South than Hayes had pursued; while the
other division of the party, contemptuously called “Half-breeds” by
their opponents, supported the administration of Hayes and approved of
the withdrawal of troops. The “Half-breeds,” moreover, advocated a
reform of the Civil Service, while the “Stalwarts” insisted that the
offices should be given to those who had consistently supported the
party. Garfield was supposed to represent the “Half-breeds,” while
Arthur was nominated as a representative of the “Stalwarts.” The leader
of the latter was Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York, a brilliant
orator, notorious for the violence of his partisanship. Conkling had
been a stanch supporter of General Grant for the nomination in 1880;
but, although he helped Garfield in the canvass preceding the latter’s
election, he was soon at odds with the new administration on the
question of appointments. He did not like the selection of Blaine for
Secretary of State, and was aggrieved by other selections of Cabinet
advisers made by the new President. Garfield was amply justified in
resisting dictation from Conkling and other leaders with regard to
appointments, for the platform on which he was nominated had called for
a “thorough, radical, and complete reform of the Civil Service.”
Moreover, he had been nominated without having been announced as a
candidate in advance of the nomination, and had made few, if any,
promises to bestow offices on special men.
=609. Strife for Offices: Assassination of Garfield.=—Soon after the
election, the strife for offices became unusually intense. Many of the
senators, acting in accordance with former custom, continued to insist
upon practically dictating who should be appointed within their own
states; but the President continued to resist them. When he refused to
appoint as Collector of the Port of New York the candidate whom Senators
Conkling and Platt had urged for the place, these “Stalwarts” were
intensely indignant and resigned their seats in the Senate. The New York
legislature expressed its disapproval of their course, by refusing to
reëlect them.[279] The result was not a little agitation and bitterness
between the two factions, which perhaps was partly responsible for the
assassination of the President by a fanatic named Charles J. Guiteau, to
whom an office had been refused. Garfield was shot on the 2d of July,
1881, just as he was about to take a train at the Pennsylvania Railroad
station in Washington. After lingering in great pain, but with heroic
endurance, for nearly three months, he died, September 19, at Elberon,
New Jersey. His death called forth sincere expressions of sympathy from
all parts of the world. Arthur[280] was at once sworn in as President.
Guiteau, after a long trial, was adjudged not insane, but responsible
for his act, and was hanged.
CHIEF FEATURES OF ARTHUR’S ADMINISTRATION.
[Illustration: CHESTER A. ARTHUR.]
=610. Success of Arthur.=—The effect of the assassination was
everywhere deeply felt throughout the country, and the impression was
almost universal that in the death of Garfield the nation had suffered
an irreparable loss. President Arthur, however, at once showed that he
was a man of firmness, intelligence, and good judgment, fully capable of
filling satisfactorily his great office. He chose a good Cabinet, his
Secretary of the Navy, William E. Chandler, being especially energetic
in increasing the efficiency of that branch of the service. Arthur’s
recommendations to Congress were judicious, and in the case of Civil
Service legislation, the need for which had been emphasized by President
Garfield’s assassination, particularly important (§ 616).
=611. Feats of Engineering.=—Arthur’s administration was marked by
several great triumphs of engineering. In 1881 the completion of the
Brooklyn Bridge was celebrated. This structure, the main avenue of
traffic between New York and Brooklyn, and the longest and boldest
suspension bridge in the world, was designed in 1869 by John A.
Roebling, an engineer who had designed and constructed the first
suspension bridge across Niagara River below the Falls. The Washington
monument (dedicated in 1885), the highest stone structure in the world,
was also completed during Arthur’s administration, after great delay and
certain difficulties of construction which were finally obviated by
engineering skill. The monument is an obelisk of white marble, five
hundred and fifty-five feet high, and is impressive in its simple
grandeur.[281]
=612. Condition of the Lower Mississippi.=—About this time the
attention of the country was called to the difficulty of protecting the
inhabitants of the lower Mississippi Valley against the dangers of
inundation. The waters of the Mississippi and of the Missouri bring down
enormous amounts of earth, which are deposited, partly in the bottom of
the former river and partly in the Gulf of Mexico. This continuous
deposit gradually raises the channel, so that, in places, the bed of the
river is higher than the surrounding country. It also fills up the mouth
of the stream and obstructs navigation. During the administration of
Hayes a system of jetties, consisting of thousands of bundles of fagots,
was devised for the purpose of narrowing the channel, and by so doing,
increasing the current so that the silt or mud might be carried far out
into the Gulf. This plan was due to Engineer James B. Eads, who had
distinguished himself by the construction of ironclads during the war
and of the great steel arch bridge across the river at St. Louis. The
jetty system was temporarily successful, but it did not prevent the
gradual rising of the river bed and consequent inundations. In the first
year of Arthur’s administration, as many as a hundred thousand people
were driven from their homes and vast amounts of property were
destroyed.
[Illustration: BROOKLYN BRIDGE.]
=613. Notable Events.=—In 1881 the nation celebrated with a great naval
display the one hundredth anniversary of the surrender of the British at
Yorktown. In recognition of the country’s friendship for Great Britain,
President Arthur, with characteristic tact, ordered at the end of the
ceremonies a national salute to the British flag. In 1884 a World’s
Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition was held at New Orleans,
which revealed the increasing prosperity of the country at large and of
the South in particular. The years 1881–1884 were also notable for brave
Arctic explorations conducted by Lieutenant A. W. Greely.
POLITICAL EVENTS.
=614. Anti-Polygamy Law.=—For many years polygamy among the Mormons had
given offense to a vast majority of the people of the country. The
practice had been supposed to be so essentially a part of the Mormon
religious system that Congress had hesitated to interfere with it. In
1882, however, Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont succeeded in
carrying through Congress a law which repealed the charter of the Mormon
church, made polygamy criminal in any territory of the United States,
and deprived of the elective franchise any persons who should refuse to
take the oath to obey the stringent provisions of the act.
=615. Tariff Commission.=—The tariff and internal revenue laws, enacted
in 1862, for the purpose of raising a war income (§§ 456, 457), produced
so large an income that the national debt was greatly reduced and a
large surplus accumulated in the Treasury. This surplus could not be
used to pay the debt, because the latter had been refunded,—that is,
loosely speaking, readjusted on subsequent borrowing at a lower rate of
interest than was paid when the debt was first incurred,—and the new
obligations had not yet fallen due. It was therefore deemed desirable to
reduce the income by a modification of the tariff. As questions of
protection and free trade were not the chief motives of the change, it
was decided to appoint a Tariff commission of business men to study the
matter and report a suitable bill to Congress. On the basis of the
recommendations of the Commission, a law was framed and passed in 1883;
but it failed to diminish the income, and the accumulations in the
Treasury went on as rapidly as before. It was thought, however, that the
Commission had been influenced too much by the urgent recommendations of
the protectionists. The final action was regarded by Democrats and by
advocates of free trade as amounting to excessive taxation, and so an
active agitation was begun in favor of a more liberal tariff law (§
627).
=616. Condition of the Civil Service.=—The murder of Garfield called
attention anew to the bad condition of the Civil Service. It was evident
that the number of appointments to be made had become so great that the
President was obliged to give too much of his time to the subject, and
even then thousands of offices had to be bestowed on the demand of
politicians who showed little sense of responsibility in making their
recommendations. Congress, therefore, in 1883, revived the Civil Service
question that had been dropped in the time of President Grant, and the
so-called “Pendleton Bill,” supported by Senator George H. Pendleton of
Ohio, was enacted. According to this law, a large number of subordinate
appointments were to be made by the President from those candidates who
had been most successful in competitive examinations. These examinations
were to be held by a Board of Commissioners, duly provided by Congress
for the purpose. This method had been very successful in other countries
and had been approved and encouraged by Grant, Hayes, and Garfield.
Under the act a Commission was appointed, which has been continued and
has rendered great service to the country.
=617. Prosperity during Arthur’s Administration.=[282]—The country
during Arthur’s administration passed through a period of prosperity,
which, up to that time, was unexampled. Agriculture, trade, and
manufactures everywhere flourished. Laborers found abundant employment.
The South had, for the first time since the war, become somewhat
prosperous. Free labor was proving more profitable than slave labor, and
new industries of various kinds began to spring up in all parts of the
Southern states. Manufactories of cotton goods, which, up to the time of
the war, had flourished only in the North, now made a beginning in the
South. Industrial expositions showed that a New South had come into
existence. But in some Southern states, notably Virginia, where there
was great agitation for the adjustment of the state debt, politics were
still in a bad condition. On the Pacific coast, agitation on the part of
more or less shiftless citizens, not only against Chinese immigration
but also against the moneyed classes,—known from its leader, Dennis
Kearney, as Kearneyism,—was quieting down, and the lawlessness of the
Middle West, represented by the crimes of Jesse James and his fellow
train robbers, was finally suppressed. Toward the end of Arthur’s
administration much attention was called to the growth of corporations.
In 1884 an “Anti-Monopoly” party was organized, and General Benjamin F.
Butler was nominated for President.
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1884.
=618. Demands for Reform.=—As the time for the election of 1884
approached, it was evident that demands for further Civil Service
improvement and for tariff reform were to play a very prominent part in
the campaign. Many Republicans insisted upon the selection of candidates
who would support measures of reform, and threatened, in case such
nominations should not be made, to vote for the Democratic candidates.
Such advocates of reform called themselves “Independents”; but they were
stigmatized by their enemies as “Mugwumps.”[283] These Independent
voters proved to be sufficiently numerous to decide the coming election.
[Illustration: JAMES G. BLAINE.]
=619. Election of Cleveland.=—The Republican Convention met at Chicago
and nominated James Gillespie Blaine[284] of Maine for President, and
General John A. Logan of Illinois for Vice President. Blaine had long
been one of the most prominent men in the Republican party. Possessed of
much personal charm, he enjoyed great popularity with those with whom he
came into personal contact. For six years he was Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and when the Democrats secured a majority in the House,
he became the brilliant leader of the Republicans on the floor. While he
occupied this position, however, it began to be whispered that his
career was not free from acts involving corrupt motives. An
investigation followed in regard to his connection with the Little Rock
and Fort Smith Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The
evidence had a serious effect upon his political prospects. Many
Republicans, believing him not free from the taint of corruption, were
ready from the time of his nomination to vote against him. The
Democrats, who also convened at Chicago, nominated, for President,
Grover Cleveland,[285] who had recently shown great strength as governor
of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana for Vice President. The
campaign was an unusually spirited one, full of unseemly personalities.
Some of the Reform Republicans finally made up their minds to support
Blaine; but others, like George William Curtis, advocated Cleveland’s
election. Blaine’s cause was greatly injured by the extravagant attacks
made upon the Democrats by some of his supporters. Cleveland and
Hendricks were finally elected by an electoral vote of two hundred and
nineteen against one hundred and eighty-two. The election was decided by
the thirty-five electoral votes of New York, secured by a majority of
less than twelve hundred. The vote showed that Blaine was defeated by
those Independent Republicans who distrusted his political integrity.
* * * * *
REFERENCES.—Comparatively few books have been devoted
specifically to the history of the period covered by this
chapter, and general works give such recent events scanty space.
Andrews’s _Last Quarter Century_, and Channing and Hart’s
_Guide_, § 25, may be consulted with profit. See, also, E. Cary,
_George William Curtis_ (“American Men of Letters”); A. R.
Conkling, _The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling_; S. S. Cox,
_Union, Disunion, Reunion_; J. A. Garfield, _Works_ (2 vols.);
John Sherman, _Recollections of Forty Years_; J. G. Blaine,
_Twenty Years of Congress_ (2 vols.); G. W. Curtis, _Orations
and Addresses_ (3 vols.); J. Bigelow, _Samuel J. Tilden, his
Writings and Speeches_ (2 vols.); Stanwood’s _History of
Presidential Elections_, 303-344; and the periodical literature
of the time.
-----
[276] For example, he showed great firmness in his vetoes during the
extra session of 1879, when the Democratic Congress tried to sweep away
reconstruction legislation by the use of “riders,” or incongruous
provisions, attached to appropriation bills. He also resisted
Congressional dictation in the matter of appointments, and supported the
cause of Civil Service reform.
[277] Born in Pennsylvania, 1824; died, 1886. Graduated at West Point,
1844; fought gallantly in Mexican War; appointed brigadier general of
volunteers in 1861; commanded under McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign;
distinguished himself at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; won the high praise of Grant for his
services in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and
Petersburg; was made a major general in the regular army in 1866;
Democratic candidate for President in 1880. Hancock was a gallant
commander throughout the war, and Grant spoke of him as “the most
conspicuous of those general officers who never held a separate
command.”
[278] Born in Ohio, 1831; died, 1881. Graduated at Williams College,
1856; became president of Hiram College in 1857; volunteered, and was
appointed lieutenant colonel in 1861; routed Confederates at Middle
Creek, January 10, 1862; was made brigadier general and served at
Shiloh; was chief of staff of Rosecrans and rendered such service as to
be made major general after Chickamauga; having already been elected
member of Congress, he took his seat in December, 1863; was a leading
member and debater till his election to the Senate in 1880; was
nominated by the Republicans for President on the thirty-sixth ballot in
1880; assassinated, 1881.
[279] Conkling had previously attacked Garfield in scathing speeches. He
did not reënter public life. He died from exposure to the great
“blizzard” of 1888. Platt later returned to the Senate.
[280] Born in Vermont, 1830; died, 1886. Graduated at Union College,
1848; studied and practiced law in New York City; as member of Governor
Morgan’s staff was of great service as quartermaster, engineer in chief,
and inspector general during the Civil War; was appointed Collector of
the Port of New York, 1871; was actively engaged in New York politics
while he held his position and was removed by Hayes in 1878 for alleged
excessive partisanship; was nominated for Vice President with Garfield
in 1880; succeeded to the Presidency in 1881; was a candidate for
renomination in 1884, but was defeated by Blaine.
[281] Congress had voted to erect a suitable memorial to Washington the
very year of his death; but no appropriation was available, and even the
corner stone was not laid until 1848.
[282] Arthur’s administration was not marked by foreign complications of
importance, although during the period efforts continued to be made to
secure from Great Britain some modification of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
(§ 401), since trade with South America was becoming more and more
valuable and the construction of an Isthmian Canal controlled by the
United States was considered essential. In domestic affairs it may be
noted that President Arthur showed firmness in vetoing a bill
restricting Chinese immigration, after which a less stringent one was
passed.
[283] The term “Mugwump” is a Massachusetts Indian word meaning a big or
important man. It was applied as a term of reproach, indicating that
those who received it set themselves up to be better or greater than the
majority of their party.
[284] Born in Pennsylvania, 1830; died, 1893. Graduated from Washington
College (Pennsylvania), 1847; taught school in Kentucky and
Pennsylvania; removed to Augusta, Maine, 1854; edited the _Kennebec
Journal_ and entered politics; in Maine legislature, 1858–1862; in
Congress, 1862–1876, where he was prominent in reconstruction and other
legislation, and was Speaker of the House from 1869–1875; charged with
corruption in 1876; unsuccessful candidate for Presidency, 1876, and in
the same year appointed to the Senate; failed to obtain Republican
nomination for President, 1880; Secretary of State, March to December,
1881; in retirement from public life, wrote his _Twenty Years of
Congress_ (Vol. I., 1884); nominated for President and defeated, 1884;
Secretary of State, 1889–1892.
[285] Born in New Jersey, 1837. Studied law and entered practice at
Buffalo, New York; served as sheriff, and became mayor on a “reform”
ticket in 1881; his efficient administration attracted so much attention
that he received the Democratic nomination for governor in 1882; was
elected by the enormous majority of one hundred and ninety-two thousand;
was so commended for his administration that in 1884 he received the
Democratic nomination for President; was elected over Blaine; became
prominent, while President, as a supporter of Civil Service reform,
“hard money,” and tariff reform; was defeated by Harrison on the tariff
issue in 1888; was nominated a third time in 1892, and reëlected by a
large majority; retired to Princeton, New Jersey, at the close of his
term; died, greatly honored, 1908.