FROM CANAL-BOY TO PRESIDENT.
James A Garfield had been elected to the United States Senate, but he
was never a member of that body. Before the time came for him to take
his seat he had been invested with a higher dignity. Never before in our
history has the same man been an actual member of the House of
Representatives, a Senator-elect, and President-elect.
On the 8th of June, 1880, the Republican Convention at Chicago selected
Garfield as their standard-bearer on the thirty-sixth ballot. No one,
probably, was more surprised or bewildered than Garfield himself, who
was a member of the Convention, when State after State declared in his
favor. In his loyalty to John Sherman, of his own State, whom he had set
in nomination in an eloquent speech, he tried to avert the result, but
in vain. He was known by the friends of other candidates to be
thoroughly equipped for the highest office in the people's gift, and he
was the second choice of the majority.
[Illustration: INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.]
Mary Clemmer, the brilliant Washington correspondent, writes of the
scene thus: "For days before, many that would not confess it felt that
he was the coming man, because of the acclaim of the people whenever
Garfield appeared. The culminating moment came. Other names seemed to
sail out of sight like thistledown on the wind, till one (how glowing
and living it was) was caught by the galleries, and shout on shout arose
with the accumulative force of ascending breakers, till the vast
amphitheater was deluged with sounding and resounding acclaim, such as a
man could hope would envelope and uplift his name but once in a
life-time. And he? There he stood, strong, Saxon, fair, debonair, yet
white as new snow, and trembling like an aspen. It seemed too much, this
sudden storm of applause and enthusiasm for him, the new idol, the
coming President; yet who may say that through his exultant, yet
trembling heart, that moment shot the presaging pang of distant, yet
sure-coming woe?"
Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, who was the President of the Convention,
in a speech made not long afterward, paid the following just tribute to
Garfield's character and qualifications:
"Think of the qualifications for the office which that man combines. Do
you want a statesman in the broadest sense? Do you demand a successful
soldier? Do you want a man of more experience in civil affairs? No
President of the United States since John Quincy Adams has begun to
bring to the Presidential office, when he entered, anything like the
experience in statesmanship of Gen. Garfield. As you look over the list,
Grant, Jackson, and Taylor have brought to the position great fame as
soldiers, but who since John Quincy Adams has had such a civil career to
look back upon as Gen. Garfield? Since 1864 I can not think of one
important question debated in Congress or discussed before the great
tribunal of the American people in which you can not find the issue
stated more clearly and better than by any one else in the speeches in
the House of Representatives or on the hustings of Gen. Garfield--firm
and resolute, constant in his adherence to what he thinks is right,
regardless of popular delusions or the fear that he will become less
popular, or be disappointed in his ambitions.
"Just remember when Republicans and Democrats alike of Ohio fairly went
crazy over the financial heresy, this man stood as with his feet on a
rock, demanding honesty in government. About six years ago I sat by the
side of an Ohio Representative, who had an elaborately prepared table,
showing how the West was being cheated; that Ohio had not as many bank
bills to the square mile as the East, and that the Southwest was even
worse off than Ohio.
"In regard to the great questions of human rights he has stood
inflexible. The successor of Joshua R. Giddings, he is the man on whom
his mantle may be said to have descended. Still he is no blind partisan.
The best arguments in favor of civil service reform are found in the
speeches of Gen. Garfield. He is liberal and generous in the treatment
of the South, one of the foremost advocates of educational institutions
in the South at the national expense. Do you wish for that highest
type--the volunteer citizen soldier? Here is a man who enlisted at the
beginning of the war; from a subordinate officer he became a
major-general, trusted by those best of commanders, Thomas and
Rosecranz, always in the thickest of the fight, the commander of
dangerous and always successful expeditions, and returning home crowned
with the laurels of victory. Do you wish for an honored career, which in
itself is a vindication of the system of the American Republic? Without
the attributes of rank or wealth, he has risen from the humblest to the
loftiest position."
When the nominee of the convention had leisure to reflect upon his new
position, and then cast his eye back along his past life, beginning with
his rustic home in the Ohio wilderness, and traced step by step his
progress from canal-boy to Presidential candidate, it must have seemed
to him almost a dream. It was indeed a wonderful illustration of what we
claim for our Republican institutions, the absolute right of the poorest
and humblest, provided he has the requisite talent and industry to
aspire to the chief place and the supreme power. "It was the most
perfect instance of the resistless strength of a man developed by all
the best and purest impulses, forces, and influences of American
institutions into becoming their most thorough and ablest embodiment in
organic and personal activity, aspiration, and character."
The response to the nomination throughout the country was most hearty.
It was felt that the poor Ohio canal-boy had fitted himself, after an
arduous struggle with poverty, for the high post to which he was likely
to be called. The _N.Y. Tribune_, whose first choice had been the
brilliant son of Maine, James G. Blaine, welcomed the result of the
convention thus:
"From one end of the nation to the other, from distant Oregon to Texas,
from Maine to Arizona, lightning has informed the country of the
nomination yesterday of James A. Garfield, as the Republican candidate
for the Presidency.
"Never was a nomination made which has been received by friend and foe
with such evidence of hearty respect, admiration, and confidence. The
applause is universal. Even the Democratic House of Representatives
suspended its business that it might congratulate the country upon the
nomination of the distinguished leader of the Republicans.
"James Abram Garfield is, in the popular mind, one of the foremost
statesmen of the nation. He is comparatively a young man, but in his
service he commands the confidence and admiration of his countrymen of
all parties. His ability, his thorough study, and his long practical
experience in political matters gives an assurance to the country that
he will carry to the Presidential office a mind superior, because of its
natural qualifications and training, to any that has preceded him for
many years. He will be a President worthy in every sense to fill the
office in a way that the country will like to see it filled--with
ability, learning, experience, and integrity. That Gen. Garfield will be
elected we have no question. He is a candidate worthy of election, and
will command not only every Republican vote in the country, but the
support of tens of thousands of non-partisans who want to see a
President combining intellectual ability with learning, experience, and
ripe statesmanship."
The prediction recorded above was fulfilled. On the second of November,
1880, James A. Garfield was elected President of the United States.
Had this been a story of the imagination, such as I have often written,
I should not have dared to crown it with such an ending. In view of my
hero's humble beginnings, I should expect to have it severely
criticised as utterly incredible, but reality is oftentimes stranger
than romance, and this is notably illustrated in Garfield's wonderful
career.