A QUARTER CENTURY OF STRUGGLE OVER INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS, 1872 TO 1897
THE NATIONAL LABOR PARTY.--The changed industrial conditions of the period
1860-80 affected politics, and after 1868 the questions which divided
parties became more and more industrial and financial. The rise of the
national labor party and its demands shows this very strongly. Ever since
1829 the workingman had been in politics in some of the states, and had
secured many reforms. But no national labor congress was held till 1865,
after which like congresses were held each year till 1870, when a national
convention was called to form a "National Labor-Reform Party."
The demands of the party thus formed (1872) were for taxation of
government bonds (p. 387); repeal of the national banking system (p. 382);
an eight-hour working day; exclusion of the Chinese; [1] and no land
grants to corporations (p. 398). At every presidential election since this
time, nominations have been made by one or more labor parties.
THE PROHIBITION PARTY.--Another party which first nominated presidential
candidates in 1872 was that of the Prohibitionists. After much agitation
of temperance reform, [2] efforts were made to prohibit the sale of liquor
entirely, and between 1851 and 1855 eight states adopted prohibitory laws.
Then the movement subsided for a while, but in 1869 it began again and in
that year the National Prohibition Reform party was founded. In 1872 its
platform called for the suppression of the sale of intoxicating liquor,
and for a long series of other reforms. Every four years since that time
the Prohibition party has named its candidates.
GRANT REFLECTED.--In 1872 no great importance was attached to either of
these parties (the Labor and the Prohibition). The contest lay between
General Grant, the Republican candidate for President, and Horace Greeley,
[3] the Liberal Republican nominee (p. 390), who was supported also by
most of the Democrats. Grant was elected by a large majority.
THE PANIC OF 1873.--Scarcely had Grant been reinaugurated when a serious
panic swept over the country. The period since the war had been one of
great prosperity, wild speculation, and extraordinary industrial
development. Since 1869 some 24,000 miles of railroad had been built. But
in the midst of all this prosperity, the city of Chicago was almost
destroyed by fire (1871), [4] and the next year a large part of the city
of Boston was burned. This led to a demand for money to rebuild them. Many
speculative enterprises failed. The railroads that were being built ahead
of population, in order to open up new lands, could not sell their bonds,
and when a banker who was backing one of the railroads failed, the panic
started. Thousands of business men failed, and the wages of workingmen
were cut down.
THE SPECIE PAYMENT ACT.--The cry was then raised for more money, and (in
1874) Congress attempted to increase, or "inflate," the amount of
greenbacks in circulation from $356,000,000 to $400,000,000. Grant vetoed
the bill. What shall be done with the currency? then became the question
of the hour. Paper money was still circulating at less than its face value
as measured in coin. To make it worth face value, Congress (1875) decided
to resume specie payment; that is, the fractional currency was to be
called in and redeemed in 10, 25, and 50 cent silver pieces; and after
January 1, 1879, all greenbacks were to be redeemed in specie.
POLITICAL PARTIES IN 1876. [5]--This policy of resumption of specie
payment did not please everybody. A Greenback party was formed, which
called for the repeal of the Specie Payment Act and for the issue of more
greenbacks. That the presidential election would be close was certain, and
this certainty did much to lead the Democratic and Republican parties to
take up some of the demands of the Prohibition, Liberal Republican, and
Labor parties. Thus both the Democratic and Republican parties called for
no more land grants to corporations, and for the exclusion of the Chinese.
[Illustration: MEMORIAL HALL, PHILADELPHIA.]
THE ELECTION OF 1876.--The Republican candidate for President was
Rutherford B. Hayes; [6] the Democratic candidate was Samuel J. Tilden.
The admission of Colorado in August, 1876, made thirty-eight states,
casting 369 electoral votes. A candidate to be elected therefore needed at
least 185 electoral votes. So close was the contest that the election of
Hayes was claimed by exactly 185 votes. This number included the votes of
South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon, in each of which a dispute
was raging as to whether Republican or Democratic electors were chosen.
Both sets claimed to have been elected, and both met and voted.
ELECTORAL COMMISSION.--The electoral votes of the states are counted in
the presence of the House and Senate. The question then became, Which of
these duplicate sets shall Congress count? To determine the question an
electoral commission of fifteen members was created. [7] It decided that
the votes of the Republican electors In the four states should be counted,
and Hayes was therefore declared elected. [8]
END OF CARPETBAG GOVERNMENTS.--The inauguration of Hayes was followed by
the recall of United States troops from the South, and the downfall of
carpetbag governments in South Carolina and Louisiana. During the first
half of Hayes's term the. Democrats had control of the House of
Representatives, and during the second half, of the Senate as well. As a
result, proposed partisan measures either failed to pass Congress, or were
vetoed by the President.
THE YEAR 1877 was one of great business depression. A strike on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the summer of 1877 spread to other
railroads and became almost an industrial insurrection. Traffic was
stopped, millions of dollars' worth of freight cars, machine shops, and
other property was destroyed, and in the battles fought around Pittsburg
many lives were lost. [9] Failures were numerous; in 1878 more business
men failed than in the panic year 1873.
SILVER COINAGE.--For much of this business depression the financial policy
of the government was blamed, and when Congress assembled in 1877, this
policy was at once attacked. An attempt to repeal the act for resuming
specie payment (p. 408) was made, but failed. [10] Another measure,
however, concerning silver coinage, was more successful.
Congress had dropped (1873) the silver dollar from the list of coins to be
made at the mint. [11] Soon afterward the silver mines of Nevada began to
yield astonishingly, and the price of silver fell. This led to a demand
(by inflationists and silver-producers) that the silver dollar should
again be coined; and in 1878 Congress passed (over Hayes's veto) the
Bland-Allison Act, which required the Secretary of the Treasury to buy not
less than $2,000,000 nor more than $4,000,000 worth of silver bullion each
month and coin it into dollars. [12]
"THE CHINESE MUST GO."--Another act vetoed by Hayes was intended to stop
the coming of Chinese to our country. In 1877 an anti-Chinese movement was
begun in San Francisco by the workingmen led by Dennis Kearney. Open-air
meetings were held, and the demand for Chinese exclusion was urged so
vigorously that Congress (1879) passed an act restricting Chinese
immigration. Hayes vetoed this as violating our treaty with China, but
(1880) negotiated a new treaty which provided that Congress might regulate
the immigration of Chinese laborers.
THE ELECTION OF 1880; DEATH OF GARFIELD.--In 1880 there were again several
parties, but the contest was between the Republicans with James A.
Garfield [13] and Chester A. Arthur as candidates for President and Vice
President, and the Democrats with Winfield S. Hancock and William H.
English as leaders.
Garfield and Arthur were elected, and on March 4, 1881, were duly
inaugurated. Four months later, as the President stood in a railway
station in Washington, a disappointed office seeker shot him in the back.
After his death (September 19, 1881) Chester A. Arthur became President.
[14]
IMPORTANT LAWS, 1881-85.--All parties had called for anti-Chinese
legislation. The long-desired act was accordingly passed by Congress,
excluding the Chinese from our country for a period of twenty years.
Arthur vetoed it as contrary to our treaty with China. An act "suspending"
the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years was then passed and
became law; similar acts have been passed from time to time since then.
The Republicans (and Prohibitionists) had demanded the suppression of
polygamy in Utah and the neighboring territories. Another law (the Edmunds
Act, 1882) was therefore enacted for this end. [15]
The murder of Garfield aroused a general demand for civil service reform.
The Pendleton Act (1883) was therefore enacted to secure appointment to
office on the ground of fitness, not party service. [16]
[Illustration: THE CRUISER BOSTON.]
THE NEW NAVY.--After the close of the Civil War our navy was suffered to
fall into neglect and decay. The thirty-seven cruisers, all but four of
which were of wood; the fourteen single-turreted monitors built during the
war; the muzzle-loading guns, belonged to a past age. By 1881 this was
fully realized and the foundation of a new and splendid navy was begun by
the construction of three unarmored cruisers--the _Atlanta_, _Boston_, and
_Chicago_. Once started, the new navy grew rapidly, and in the course of
twelve years forty-seven vessels were afloat or on the stocks. [17]
NEW REFORMS DEMANDED.--Meantime the wonderful development of our country
caused a demand for further reforms. The chief employers of labor were
corporations and capitalists, many of whom abused the power their wealth
gave them. They were accused of importing laborers under contract and
thereby keeping wages down, of getting special privileges from
legislatures, and of combining to fix prices to suit themselves. In the
campaign of 1884, therefore, these issues came to the front, and demands
were made for (1) legislation against the importation of contract labor,
(2) regulation of interstate commerce, especially as carried on by
railways, (3) government ownership of telegraphs and railways, (4)
reduction of the hours of labor, (5) bureaus to collect and spread
information as to labor.
[Illustration: GROVER CLEVELAND.]
THE ELECTION OF 1884.--The Republicans nominated James G. Blaine for
President; the Democrats, Grover Cleveland. [18] The nomination of Blaine
gave offense to many Republicans; they took the name of Independents and
supported Cleveland, who was elected.
IMPORTANT LAWS, 1885-89. [19]--As the two great parties, Democratic and
Republican, had each favored the passage of certain laws demanded by the
labor parties, these reforms were now obtained.
1. An Anti-Contract-Labor Law (1885) forbade any person, company, or
corporation to bring aliens into the United States under contract to
perform labor or service.
2. An Interstate Commerce Act (1887) provided for a commission whose duty
it is to see that all charges for the carriage of passengers or freight
are reasonable and just, and that no unfair special rates are made for
favored shippers.
3. A Bureau of Labor was established and put in charge of a commissioner
whose duty it is to "diffuse among the people of the United States useful
information on subjects connected with labor." Such bureaus or departments
already existed in many of the states.
THE SURPLUS.--These old issues disposed of, the continued growth and
prosperity of our country brought up new ones. For some time past the
revenue of the government had so exceeded its expenses that on December 1,
1887, there was a surplus of $50,000,000 in the treasury. Six months later
this had risen to $103,000,000.
[Illustration: THE STATUE OF LIBERTY.]
Three plans were suggested for disposing of the surplus. Some thought it
should be distributed among the states as in 1837. Some were for buying
government bonds and so reducing the national debt. Others urged a
reduction of the annual revenue by cutting down the tariff rates. The
President in his message in 1887 asked for such a reduction, and in 1888
the House passed a new tariff bill which the Senate rejected.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1888.--In the campaign of 1888, therefore, the tariff
issue came to the front. The Democrats renominated Grover Cleveland for
President, and called for a tariff for revenue only, and for no more
revenue than was needed to pay the cost of economical government. The
Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison [20] on a platform favoring a
protective tariff, and elected him.
NEW STATES.--Both the great parties had called for the admission of new
states. Just before the end of Cleveland's term, therefore, an enabling
act was passed for North and South Dakota, Washington, and Montana, which
were accordingly admitted to the Union a few months later (1889). Idaho
and Wyoming were admitted the following year (1890), and Utah in 1896.
NEW LAWS OF 1890.--The administration of affairs having again passed to
the Republican party, it enacted the McKinley Tariff Law, which slightly
raised the average rate of duties; the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, forbidding
combinations to restrain trade; and a new financial measure which also
bore the name of Senator Sherman. The law (p. 409) requiring the purchase
and coinage of at least $2,000,000 worth of silver bullion each month did
not satisfy the silver men. They wanted a free-coinage law, giving any man
the privilege of having his silver coined into dollars (p. 224). As they
had a majority of the Senate, they passed a free-coinage bill, but the
House rejected it. A conference followed, and the so-called Sherman Act
was passed, increasing the amount of silver to be bought each month by the
government. [21]
THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF 1890.--The effect of the increased tariff
rates, the Sherman Act, and large expenditures by Congress was at once
apparent, and in the congressional election of 1890 the Republicans were
beaten. The Democratic minority in the House of Representatives was turned
into a great majority, and in both House and Senate appeared members of a
new party called the Farmers' Alliance. [22]
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1892.--The success of the Alliance men in the
election of 1890, and the conviction that neither the Democrats nor the
Republicans would further all their demands, led to a meeting of Alliance
and Labor leaders in May, 1891, and the formation of "the People's Party
of the United States of America." In 1892 this People's Party, or the
Populists, as they were called, nominated James B. Weaver for President,
cast a million votes, and secured the election of four senators and eleven
representatives in Congress. The Republicans renominated Harrison for
President. But the Democrats secured majorities in the House and the
Senate, and elected Cleveland. [23]
THE PANIC OF 1893.--When Cleveland's second inauguration took place, March
4, 1893, our country had already entered a period of panic and business
depression. Trade had fallen off. Money was hard to borrow. Foreigners who
held our stocks and bonds sought to sell them, and a great amount of gold
was drawn to Europe. So bad did business conditions become that the
President called Congress to meet in special session in August to remedy
matters.
The silver dollars coined by the government were issued and accepted by
the government at their face value, and circulated on a par with gold,
although the price of silver bullion had fallen so low that the metal in a
silver dollar was worth less than seventy cents. Many people believed the
business panic was due to fears that the government could not much longer
keep the increasing volume of silver currency at par with gold. Therefore
Congress repealed part of the Sherman Act of 1890, so as to stop the
purchase of more silver.
THE WILSON TARIFF.--The business revival which the majority of Congress
now expected, did not come. Failures continued; mills remained closed,
gold continued to leave the country, and government receipts were
$34,000,000 less than expenditures when the year ended. By the close of
the autumn of 1893, hundreds of thousands of people were out of employment
and many in want. In this condition of affairs Congress met in regular
session (December, 1893). The Democrats were in control of both branches,
and were pledged to revise the tariff. A bill was therefore passed,
cutting down some of the tariff rates (the Wilson Act). [24]
Nobody expected that the revised tariff would yield enough money to meet
the expenses of the government. One section of the law therefore provided
that all yearly incomes above $4000 should be taxed two per cent. Though
Congress had levied an income tax thirty years before, its right to do so
was now denied by many, and the Supreme Court decided (1895) that the
income tax was unconstitutional. [25]
AUSTRALIAN BALLOT.--One great reform which must not go unnoticed was the
introduction of the Australian or secret ballot. The purpose of this
system of voting, first used in Australia, is to enable the voter to
prepare his ballot in a booth by himself and deposit it without any one
knowing for whom he votes. The system was first used in our country in
Massachusetts and in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1888. So successful was it
that ten states adopted it the next year, and by 1894 it was in use in all
but seven of the forty-four states.
NEGROES DISFRANCHISED.--Six of the seven were Southern states where
negroes were numerous. After the fall of the carpetbag governments,
illegal means were often used to keep negroes from the polls and prevent
"negro domination" in these states. Later legal methods were tried
instead: the payment of taxes, and sometimes such an educational
qualification as the ability to read, were required of voters; but the
laws were so framed as to exclude many negroes and few whites. Mississippi
was the first state to amend her constitution for this purpose (1890), and
nearly all the Southern states have followed her example. [26]
THE FREE COINAGE ISSUE.--Now that the treasury had ceased to buy silver,
the demand for the free coinage of silver was renewed. The Republicans in
their national platform, in 1896, declared against it, whereupon thirty-
four delegates from the silver states (Idaho, Montana, South Dakota,
Colorado, Utah, and Nevada) left the convention. The Democratic party
declared for free coinage, [27] but many Democrats ("gold Democrats")
thereupon formed a new party, called the National Democratic, and
nominated candidates on a gold-standard platform. Both the great parties
were thus split on the issue of free coinage of silver.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1896.--The Republican party nominated William McKinley
[28] for President. The Democrats named William J. Bryan, and he was
indorsed by the People's party and the National Silver party. [29] The
campaign was most exciting. The country was flooded with books, pamphlets,
handbills, setting forth both sides of the silver issue; Bryan and
McKinley addressed immense crowds, and on election day 13,900,000 votes
were cast. McKinley was elected.
THE DINGLEY TARIFF.--The excitement over silver was such that in the
campaign the tariff question was little considered. But the Republicans
were pledged to a revision of the tariff, and accordingly (July, 1897) the
Dingley Bill passed Congress and was approved by the President. Thus in
the course of seven years the change of administration from one party to
the other had led to the passage of three tariff acts--the McKinley
(1890), the Wilson (1894), and the Dingley (1897).
FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS.--It is now time to review our foreign relations
during this period. Twice since 1890 they had brought us apparently to the
verge of war.
THE CHILEAN INCIDENT.--In 1891, while the United States ship _Baltimore_
was in the port of Valparaiso, Chile, some sailors went on shore, were
attacked on the streets, and one was killed and several wounded. Chile
offered no apology and no reparation to the injured, but instead sent an
offensive note about the matter. Harrison, in a message to Congress
(1892), plainly suggested war. But the offensive note was withdrawn, a
proper apology was made, and the incident ended.
THE SEAL FISHERIES.--Great Britain and our country were long at variance
over the question of ownership of seals in Bering Sea. Our purpose was to
protect them from extermination by certain restrictions on seal fishing.
To settle our rights in the matter, a court of arbitration was appointed
and met in Paris in 1893. The decision was against us, but steps were
taken to protect the seals from extermination. [30]
[Illustration: HAWAIIAN BOATS WITH OUTRIGGERS.]
HAWAII.--Just before Harrison retired from office a revolution in the
Hawaiian Islands drove the queen from the throne. A provisional government
was then established, commissioners were dispatched to Washington, and a
treaty for the annexation of Hawaii to the United States was drawn up and
sent to the Senate. President Cleveland recalled the treaty and sought to
have the queen restored. But the Hawaiians in control resisted and in 1894
established a republic.
VENEZUELA.--For many years there was a dispute over the boundary line
between British Guiana and Venezuela, and in 1895 it seemed likely to
involve Venezuela in a war with Great Britain. Our government had tried to
bring about a settlement by arbitration. Great Britain refused to
arbitrate, and denied our right to interfere. President Cleveland insisted
that under the Monroe Doctrine we had a right, and in December, 1895,
asked Congress to authorize a commission to investigate the claims of
Great Britain. This was done, and great excitement at once arose at home
and in Great Britain. But Great Britain and Venezuela soon submitted the
question to arbitration.
SUMMARY
1. The wonderful industrial growth of our country between 1860 and 1880
brought up for settlement grave industrial and financial questions.
2. The failure of the two great parties to take up these questions at
once, caused the formation of many new parties, such as the National
Labor, the Prohibition, the Liberal Republican, and the People's party.
3. Some of their demands were enacted into laws, as the silver coinage
act, the exclusion of the Chinese, the anti-contract-labor and interstate
commerce acts, the establishment of a national labor bureau, and the
antitrust act.
4. In 1890-97 the tariff was three times revised by the McKinley, Wilson,
and Dingley acts.
5. In the political world the most notable events were the contested
election of 1876-77; the recall of United States troops from the South,
and the fall of carpetbag governments; the assassination of Garfield; and
the two defeats of the national Republican ticket (1884 and 1892).
6. In the financial world the chief events were the panics of 1873 and
1893, the resumption of specie payment (1879), and the free-silver issue.
7. In the world at large we had trouble with Chile, Hawaii, and Great
Britain.
FOOTNOTES
[1] After the discovery of gold in California, Chinamen, called coolies,
came to that state in considerable numbers. But they attracted little
attention till 1852, when the governor complained that they were sent out
by Chinese capitalists under contract, that the gold they dug was sent to
China, and that they worked for wages so low that no American could
compete with them. Attempts were then made to stop their importation,
especially by heavy taxes laid on them. But the courts declared such
taxation illegal, and appeals were then made to Congress for relief. No
action was taken; but in 1868 an old treaty with China was amended, and to
import Chinamen without their free consent was made a penal offense. This
did not prevent their coming, so the demand was made for their exclusion
by act of Congress.
[2] In the early years of the nineteenth century liquor was a part of the
workingman's wages. Every laborer on the farm, in the harvest field, every
sailor, and men employed in many of the trades, as carpenters and masons,
demanded daily grog at the cost of the employer. About 1810 a temperance
movement put an end to much of this. But intemperance remained the curse
of the workingman down to the days of Van Buren and Tyler, when a greater
temperance movement began.
[3] Horace Greeley was born in New Hampshire in 1811, and while still a
lad learned the trade of printer. When he went to New York in 1831, he was
so poor that he walked the streets in search of work. During the Harrison
campaign in 1840 he edited the Log Cabin, a Whig newspaper, and soon after
the election founded the New York Tribune. In 1848 he was elected a member
of Congress. He was one of the signers of the bond which released
Jefferson Davis from imprisonment after the Civil War. Greeley overexerted
himself in the campaign of 1872, and died a few weeks after the election.
[4] The fire is said to have been started by a cow kicking over a lamp in
a small barn. Nearly 2200 acres were burned over, some 17,450 buildings
consumed, 200 lives were lost, and 98,000 people made homeless.
[5] The close of the first century of our national independence was the
occasion of a great exposition in Philadelphia--the first of many that
have been held in our country on centennial anniversaries of great events
in our history. The Philadelphia exposition was first planned as a mammoth
fair for the display of the industries and arts of the United States; but
Congress having approved the idea, all foreign nations were invited to
take part, and thirty-three did so. The main building covered some twenty
acres and was devoted to the display of manufactures. The exposition
occupied also four other large buildings devoted to machinery,
agriculture, etc., of which Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall are still
standing.
[6] Rutherford B. Hayes was born in Ohio in 1822, and after graduating
from Kenyon College and the Harvard Law School settled at Fremont, Ohio,
but soon moved to Cincinnati. At the opening of the war he joined the
Union army and by 1865 had risen to the rank of brevet major general.
While still in the army, he was elected to Congress, served two terms, and
was then twice elected governor of Ohio. In 1875 he was elected for a
third term. He died in 1893.
[7] The commission consisted of five senators, five representatives, and
five justices of the Supreme Court; eight were Republicans, and seven
Democrats.
[8] By 185 electoral votes against 184 for Tilden. The popular vote at the
election of 1876 was (according to the Republican claim): for Hayes,
4,033,768; for Tilden, 4,285,992; for Peter Cooper (Greenback-Labor or
"Independent"), 81,737; for Green Clay Smith (Prohibition), 9522.
[9] The strikers' grievances were reduction of wages, irregular
employment, irregular payment of wages, and forced patronage of company
hotels. There were riots at Baltimore, Chicago, Reading, and other places
besides Pittsburg; state militia was called out to quell the disorder; and
at the request of the state governors, United States troops were sent to
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia.
[10] Specie payment was accordingly begun on January 1, 1879, and then for
the first time since greenbacks were made legal tender they were accepted
everywhere at par with coin. By the provisions of other laws, the amount
of greenbacks kept in circulation was fixed at $346,681,000.
[11] The price of silver in 1872 was such that the 412-1/2 grains in the
dollar were worth $1.02 in gold money. The silver dollar was worth more
as silver bullion than as money, and was therefore little used as money.
This dropping of the silver dollar from the list of coins, or ceasing to
coin it, was called the "demonetization of silver."
[12] To carry any number of these "cart-wheel dollars" in the pocket would
have been inconvenient, because of their size and weight. Provision was
therefore made that the dollars might be deposited in the United States
treasury and paper "silver certificates" issued against them. Get
specimens of different kinds of paper money, read the words printed on a
silver certificate, and compare with the wording on a greenback (United
States note) and on a national bank note.
[13] James A. Garfield was born in Ohio in 1831. While still a lad. he
longed to be a sailor, and failing in this, he became a canal boatman.
After a little experience as such he went back to school, supporting
himself by working as a carpenter and teaching school. In 1854 he entered
the junior class of Williams College, graduated in 1856, became a teacher
in Hiram Institute, was elected to the Ohio senate in 1859, and joined the
Union army in 1861. In 1862 he was elected to Congress, took his seat in
December, 1863, and continued to be a member of the House of
Representatives till 1881.
[14] Chester Alan Arthur was born in Vermont in 1830, graduated from Union
College, became (1853) a lawyer in New York city, and was (1871-78)
customs collector of the port of New York. In 1880 he attended the
national Republican convention as a delegate from New York, and was one of
the 302 members of that convention who voted to the last for the
renomination of Grant. After Grant was defeated and Garfield nominated,
Arthur was named for the vice presidency, in order to appease the
"Stalwarts," as the friends of Grant were called.
[15] When this failed to accomplish its purpose, Congress (1887) enacted
another law providing heavy penalties for polygamy. The Mormon Church then
declared against the practice.
[16] The murder of Garfield led also to a new presidential succession law.
The old law provided that if both the President and the Vice President
should die, the office should be filled temporarily by the president
_pro tem_ of the Senate, or if there were none, by the speaker of the
House of Representatives. But one Congress expired March 4, 1881, and the
next one did not meet and elect its presiding officers till December; so
if Arthur had died before then, there would have been no one to act as
President. A new law passed in 1886 provides that if both the presidency
and the vice presidency become vacant, the presidency shall pass to the
Secretary of State, or, if there be none, to the Secretary of the
Treasury, or, if necessary, to the Secretary of War, Attorney General,
Postmaster General, Secretary of the Navy, or Secretary of the Interior.
[17] In 1881, Lieutenant A. W. Greely was sent to plant a station in the
Arctic regions. Supplies sent in 1882 and 1883 failed to reach him, and
alarm was felt for the safety of his party. In 1884 a rescue expedition
was sent out under Commander W. S. Schley. Three vessels were made ready
by the Navy Department, and a fourth by Great Britain. After a long search
Greely and six companions were found on the point of starvation and five
were brought safely home. During their stay in the Arctic, they had
reached a point within 430 miles of the north pole, the farthest north any
white man had then gone.
[18] Grover Cleveland was born in New Jersey in 1837. In 1841 his father,
a Presbyterian minister, removed to Onondaga County, New York, where
Grover attended school and served as clerk in the village store. Later he
taught for a year in the Institute for the Blind in New York city; but
soon began the study of law, and settled in Buffalo. He was assistant
district attorney of Erie County, sheriff and mayor of Buffalo, and in
1882, as the Democratic candidate for governor of New York, carried the
state by 192,000 plurality. Both when mayor and when governor he was noted
for his free use of the veto power.
[19] In 1885 the Bartholdi statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was
formally received at New York. It was a gift from the people of France to
the people of America. A hundred thousand Frenchmen contributed the money
for the statue, and the pedestal was built with money raised in the United
States. An island in New York harbor was chosen for the site, and there
the statue was unveiled in October, 1886. The top of Liberty's torch is
365 feet above low water.
In September, 1886, a severe earthquake occurred near Charleston, South
Carolina, the vibrations of which were felt as far away as Cape Cod and
Milwaukee. In Charleston most of the houses were made unfit for
habitation, many persons were killed, and some $8,000,000 worth of
property was destroyed.
[20] Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of President William Henry Harrison,
was born at North Bend, Ohio, in 1833. He was educated at Miami
University, studied law, settled at Indianapolis, and when the war opened,
was reporter to the supreme court of Indiana. Joining the volunteers as a
lieutenant, he was brevetted brigadier general before the war ended. In
1881 he became a senator from Indiana. He died in 1901.
[21] This required the Secretary of the Treasury to buy each month
4,500,000 ounces of silver, pay for it with treasury notes, and redeem the
notes on demand in coin. After July 1, 1891, the silver so purchased need
not be coined, but might be stored and silver certificates issued against
it.
[22] Soon after the war the farmers in the great agricultural states had
formed associations under such names as the Grange, Patrons of Husbandry,
Patrons of Industry, Agricultural Wheel, Farmers' Alliance, and others.
About 1886 they began to unite, and formed the National Agricultural Wheel
and the Farmers' Alliance and Cooperative Union. In 1889 these and others
were united in a convention at St. Louis into the Farmers' Alliance and
Industrial Union.
[23] The electoral vote was: for Cleveland, 277; Harrison, 145; Weaver,
22. The popular vote was: Democratic, 5,556,543; Republican, 5,175,582;
Populist, 1,040,886; Prohibition, 255,841; Socialist Labor, 21,532.
[24] Cleveland objected to certain features of the bill, and refused to
sign it; but he did not veto it. By the Constitution, if the President
neither signs a bill nor returns it with his veto within ten days (Sunday
excepted) after he receives it, the bill becomes a law without his
signature, provided Congress has not meanwhile adjourned. If Congress
adjourns before the ten-day limit expires and the President does not sign,
then the bill does not become a law, but is "pocket vetoed."
[25] Because Congress had made the tax uniform--the same on incomes of the
same amount everywhere--instead of fixing the total amount to be raised
and dividing it among the states according to population, as required by
the Constitution in the case of direct taxes.
[26] The franchise has been slightly narrowed in some Northern states by
educational qualifications; but, on the other hand, in four states it has
been extended to women on the same terms as men--in Wyoming (since 1869),
Colorado (since 1893), Utah (since 1895), and Idaho (since 1896). In
nearly half the states, women can now vote in school elections. In Kansas
they vote also in municipal elections.
[27] They demanded "the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold
at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1"; that is, that out of one pound of
gold should be coined as many dollars as out of sixteen pounds of silver.
[28] William McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843, attended Allegheny College
for a short time, then taught a district school, and was a clerk in a
country post office. When the Civil War opened, he joined the army as a
private in a regiment in which Hayes was afterwards colonel, served
through the war, and was brevetted major for gallantry at Cedar Creek and
Fishers Hill. The war over, he became a lawyer, entered politics in Ohio,
and was elected a member of seven Congresses. From 1892 to 1896 he was
governor of Ohio.
[29] The Gold Democrats nominated John M. Palmer; and the Prohibitionists,
the National party, and the Socialist Labor party also named candidates.
But none of these parties cast so many as 150,000 popular votes or secured
any electoral votes.
[30] We contended that we had jurisdiction in Bering Sea; that the seals
rearing their young on our islands in that sea were our property; that
even though they temporarily went far out into the Pacific Ocean they were
under our protection. Our revenue cutters had therefore seized Canadian
vessels taking seals in the open sea.