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diff --git a/27953-8.txt b/27953-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55ec4fd --- /dev/null +++ b/27953-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10605 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The New Nation, by Frederic L. Paxson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The New Nation + +Author: Frederic L. Paxson + +Editor: William E. Dodd + +Release Date: January 31, 2009 [EBook #27953] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEW NATION *** + + + + +Produced by G. Edward Johnson, Charlene Taylor, Graeme +Mackreth and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Copyright, 1912, Moffett, Chicago + +[Signature]Woodrow Wilson] + +THE NEW NATION + +BY + +FREDERIC L. PAXSON + +PROFESSOR OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN + +[Illustration: logo] + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO + +The Riverside Press Cambridge + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY FREDERIC L. PAXSON + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS + +U.S.A. + + + + +PREFACE + + +A new nation has appeared within the United States since the Civil War, +but it has been only accidentally connected with that catastrophe. The +Constitution emerged from the confusion of strife and reconstruction +substantially unchanged, but the economic development of the United +States in the sixties and seventies gave birth to a society that was, by +1885, already national in its activities and necessities. In many ways +the history of the United States since the Civil War has to do with the +struggle between this national fact and the old legal system that was +based upon state autonomy and federalism; and the future depends upon +the discovery of a means to readjust the mechanics of government, as +well as its content, to the needs of life. This book attempts to narrate +the facts of the last half-century and to show them in their relations +to the larger truths of national development. + + +FREDERIC L. PAXSON. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. THE CIVIL WAR 1 + +II. THE WEST AND THE GREENBACKS 20 + +III. THE RESTORATION OF HOME RULE IN THE SOUTH 39 + +IV. THE PANIC OF 1873 59 + +V. THE HAYES ADMINISTRATION 75 + +VI. BUSINESS AND POLITICS 92 + +VII. THE NEW ISSUES 108 + +VIII. GROVER CLEVELAND 126 + +IX. THE LAST OF THE FRONTIER 142 + +X. NATIONAL BUSINESS 162 + +XI. THE FARMERS' CAUSE 177 + +XII. THE NEW SOUTH 192 + +XIII. POPULISM 208 + +XIV. FREE SILVER 225 + +XV. THE "COUNTER-REFORMATION" 244 + +XVI. THE SPANISH WAR 258 + +XVII. THEODORE ROOSEVELT 276 + +XVIII. BIG BUSINESS 293 + +XIX. THE "MUCK-RAKERS" 309 + +XX. NEW NATIONALISM 324 + +INDEX i + + + + +MAPS AND CHARTS + + +THE RAILWAYS OF THE "OLD NORTHWEST" 13 + +THE WESTERN RAILWAY LAND GRANTS, 1850-1871 23 + +THE SOLID SOUTH, 1880-1912 53 + +THE POLITICAL SITUATION AT WASHINGTON, 1869-1917 76, 77 + +POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION, 1850-1910 120 + +THE WESTERN RAILROADS AND THE CONTINENTAL FRONTIER, 1870-1890 146, 147 + +THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, 1789-1904 153 + +THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF 1890 _between 186 and 187_ + +THE FLOOD OF SILVER, 1861-1911 227 + +ALASKA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND THE SEAT OF THE SPANISH WAR 259 + +NORTH AMERICA IN 1915 _between 340 and 341_ + + + + +THE NEW NATION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CIVIL WAR + + +The military successes of the United States in its Civil War maintained +the Union, but entailed readjustments in politics, finance, and business +that shifted the direction of public affairs for many years. In the eyes +of contemporaries these changes were obscured by the vivid scenes of the +battlefield, whose intense impressions were not forgotten for a +generation. It seemed as though the war were everything, as though the +Republican party had preserved the nation, as though the nation itself +had arisen with new plumage from the stress and struggle of its crisis. +The realities of history, however, which are ever different from the +facts seen by the participant, are in this period further from the +tradition of the survivor than in any other stage of the development of +the United States. As the Civil War is viewed from the years that +followed it, the actualities that must be faced are the facts that the +dominant party saved neither the nation nor itself except by changing +its identity; that economic and industrial progress continued through +the war with unabated speed, and that out of the needs of a new economic +life arose the new nation. + +The Republican party, whose older spokesmen had been trained as Whigs or +Democrats, had by 1861 seasoned its younger leaders in two national +campaigns. It had lost the first flush of the new enthusiasm which gave +it birth as a party opposed to the extension of slavery. The signs of +the times had been so clear between 1856 and 1860 that many politicians +had turned their coats less from a moral principle than from a desire to +win. When Lincoln took up the organization of his Administration, these +clamored for their rewards. There was nothing in the political ethics of +the sixties that discountenanced the use of the spoils of office, and +Lincoln himself, though he resented the drain of office-seeking upon his +time, appears not to have seen that the spoils system was at variance +with the fundamentals of good government. + +It was a Republican partisan administration that bore the first brunt of +the Civil War, but the struggle was still young when Lincoln realized +that the Union could not stand on the legs of any single party. To +develop a general Union sentiment became an early aim of his policy and +is a key to his period. He was forced to consider and reconcile the +claims of all shades of Republican opinion, from that of the most +violent abolitionist to that of the mere unionist. In the Democracy, +opinion ranged from that of the strong war Democrat to that of the +Copperhead whose real sympathies were with the Confederacy. + +To conciliate a working majority of the voters of the Union States, a +majority which must embrace many Union Democrats, Lincoln steadily +loosened the partisan bonds. The congressional elections of 1862 showed +that he was still far from success. His overtures to the Democrats of +the border States fell into line with his general scheme. His tolerance +of McClellan and his support of Stanton, both of whom by sympathy and +training were Democrats, reveal the comprehensive power of his +endurance. As the election of 1864 approached to test the success of his +generalship, he had to fight not only for a majority in the general +canvass but for the nomination by his own party. + +There were many men in 1864 who believed that the war was a mistake and +that Lincoln was a failure. The peace Democrats denounced him as a +military dictator; to the radical Republicans he was spineless and +irresolute. Within his own Cabinet there was dissension that would have +unnerved a less steady man. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, wanted +to be President, and had allowed his friends to intrigue in his behalf, +yet had not withdrawn from the counsels of his rival. At various times +he had threatened to resign, but Lincoln had shut his eyes to this +infidelity and had coaxed him back. Not until after the President had +been renominated did he accept the resignation of Chase, and even then +he was willing to make the latter Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. + +Chase, in the Cabinet and in touch with dissatisfied Republicans +outside, was a menace to impartial administration. Less distressing, but +noisier than he, was John C. Frémont, the first nominee of the party, +who had sulked in the midst of admiring friends since Lincoln had +removed him from important military service in 1861. About him the +extreme abolitionists were gathered, and in his favor there was held a +convention in May, 1864. But this dissenting movement collapsed upon +itself before the elections in November. + +The Republicans went into convention at Baltimore, on June 7, 1864. The +candidacy of Chase had faded, that of Frémont was already unimportant, +and the renomination of Lincoln was assured. But the party carefully +concealed its name and, catering to loyalists of whatever brand, it +called itself "Union," and invited to its support all men to whom the +successful prosecution of the war was the first great duty. It was a +Union party in fact as well as name. Delegations of Democrats came to it +from the border States, and from one of these the convention picked a +loyal Democrat for the Vice-Presidency. With Lincoln and Andrew Johnson +on its ticket, with a platform silent upon the protective tariff, and +with an organization so imperfect that no roll of delegates could be +made until the convention had been called to order, the Administration +party of 1864 was far from being the same organization that had, in +1856, voiced its protest against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. + +The excesses of the Democrats aided Lincoln almost as much as the +efforts of the party which nominated him. A convention at Chicago, in +August, presided over by Governor Seymour, of New York, and under the +dominance of Clement L. Vallandigham, did not need to denounce the war +as a failure in order to disappoint the Union Democrats. Not even the +nomination of McClellan, nor his repudiation of the platform, could undo +the result of such leadership. It was far from certain which ticket +would receive the greater vote in November, but it was clear that union +against disunion was the issue, and that men would vote according to +their hopes and fears. The former were in the ascendant when the polls +were opened, for Sherman had gained a decisive victory in his occupation +of Atlanta, while Farragut had gained another at Mobile Bay. On the +strength of these successes the Union ticket carried every State but +Delaware, Kentucky, and New Jersey. + +Chase, who left the Treasury during the presidential campaign, had by +that time finished the work which carried the financial burdens of the +Civil War and provided party texts for another generation. He had come +to his task without special fitness, but had speedily mastered the +essentials of war finance. In his reports he outlined the policy which +Congress followed, more or less closely. Taxes ought to be increased, he +urged, to meet all the costs of civil administration, interest on the +debt, and sinking fund for the same. These were current burdens which +the country ought not to try to escape. But the extra cost of the war, +which was to be regarded as a permanent investment by the Union for its +own defense, might fairly be made a charge upon posterity. To meet these +he urged the creation of a sufficient bonded debt. + +The Thirty-seventh Congress (1861-63) had been more ready to borrow +than to tax. In all its experience until 1861 the United States had met +no crisis in which large revenues had been required. In the thirty +preceding years its total annual receipts had ranged from $20,000,000 to +$81,000,000, while in the fiscal year in which the war began the total +had reached $83,000,000, of which $41,000,000 were loans rather than +revenue. Since the panic of 1857 the Treasury had faced a deficit at the +end of each year, and had been compelled not only to spend its +accumulated surplus on current needs, but to borrow heavily. The tariff +duties, collected at the custom-houses, were, as they always had been, +the mainstay of the revenue. But these had not met the needs of the +three lean years before the war. + +Had there been no war, the disordered finances of the United States +might, in 1861, have called for corrective measures and new taxes, and +these could not have become effective before 1862 or 1863. As it was, +loans were resorted to for first-aid. In 1862 they alone were more than +six times as great as the total receipts of 1861; in 1865 they were +nearly three times as great as in 1862. Taxes were authorized more +reluctantly than loans, they became profitable more slowly, and did not, +until the last year of war, reveal the fiscal capacities of the United +States. + +The favorite national tax of the United States had always been the +tariff. Supplemented by miscellaneous items which included no internal +revenue after 1849, and no direct tax after 1839, it carried most of the +financial burdens. Whether parties preferred it high or low, or levied +it for protection or for revenue, they had continued to cherish it as a +fiscal device, and had acquired no experience with alternate sources of +supply. Like the army of the United States, which in time of war had to +break in its volunteer levies before it could win victories, the +Treasury and Congress had to learn how to tax before they could bring +the taxable resources of the United States to supplement the loans. + +The tariff was revised and increased several times between 1861 and +1865, and yielded its greatest return, $102,000,000, in 1864. The result +was due to both the swelling volume of imports and the higher rates. +Like all panics, that of 1857 had lessened the buying capacity of the +American people. In hard times luxuries were sacrificed and treasury +receipts were thereby greatly curtailed. A return to normal conditions +of business would have been visible by 1861 had not war obscured it. +Steadily through the war a prosperous North and West bought more foreign +goods regardless of the price. + +The rate of tariff was based upon the probable revenue, the protective +principle, and the tax burdens already imposed upon American +manufacturers. Not until 1863 were the internal or direct taxes +noticeable, but in 1864 these passed the tariff as a source of revenue, +with a total of $116,000,000. In 1866 this total was swollen to +$211,000,000. Like the tariff, the income, excise, and direct taxes were +often revised and raised, and many of the tariff increases were +dependent upon them. When the American manufacturer, who already +declared that he could stay in business only because the tariff +protected him from European competition, found himself burdened with a +tax on his income and with others upon his commercial transactions and +his output, he complained bitterly of the disadvantage at which he was +placed. To equalize his burdens, the import rates were repeatedly raised +against the foreigner. By the end of the war, the tariff exceeded +anything known in American experience, and was fixed less with the +intention of raising revenue than of enabling the American producer to +pay his internal tax. Less than $85,000,000 were collected from the +customs in 1865; while $211,000,000 came from internal sources. + +By taxing and borrowing the United States accumulated $88,000,000 in +1861, $589,000,000 in 1862, $888,000,000 in 1863, $1,408,000,000 in +1864, and $1,826,000,000 in 1865. The Treasury, unimportant in the +world's affairs before 1861, suddenly became one of the greatest dealers +in credit. Its debt of $2,808,000,000, outstanding in October, 1865, +affected the interests and solidity of international finance, and +indicated, as well, resources of which even boastful Americans had been +unaware in 1861. One item in the debt, however, was a menace to the +security of the whole, which was but little stronger than its weakest +part. + +The physical currency in which the debt was to be created and the +expenses paid was as difficult to find in 1861 as the wealth which it +measured. After Jackson destroyed the second Bank of the United States +there had been no national currency but coin, and too little of that. +Gold and silver had been coined at the mint, and the former had given +the standard to the dollar. In intrinsic worth the gold dollar, as +defined in 1834 at the ratio of sixteen to one, was slightly inferior to +its silver associate, and by the law of human nature, which induces men +to hold the better and pass the cheaper money, the value of the gold +coin had become the measure of exchange. + +The coined money did not circulate generally. It was devoted to a part +of the business of government, and to the needs of the banks which +provided the actual circulating medium. Scattered over all the States, +hundreds of state and private banks issued their own notes to serve as +money. At best, and in theory, these were exchangeable for gold at par; +at worst, they were a total loss; yet as they were, variant and +depreciated since the panic of 1857, they were the money of the people +when the Civil War began. Before the end of 1861 the banks gave up the +pretense of redeeming their notes in coin. The United States Treasury +suspended the payment of specie early in 1862, and thereafter for +seventeen years the paper money in circulation depended for its value on +the hope that it would some day be redeemed. + +The needs of the Treasury, in the crisis of suspension, induced Congress +to authorize the emission of $150,000,000 of legal-tender paper money. +These notes, soon known as the "greenbacks," became the measure of the +difference between standard money and coin. Issued at par, they sank in +value and fluctuated until in the darkest days of 1864 a dollar in gold +could be exchanged for $2.85 in greenbacks. Yet they were called +dollars, and the creditor was forced to accept them in payment of his +debts. They were themselves a forced loan, borrowed by compulsion from +the people, and constituting $433,000,000 in the total debts of the +United States in 1865. + +The greenback element in the national debt threatened the integrity of +the whole. Should redemption take place at par, and at once, the credit +of the United States could not fail to be strengthened. But should the +greenbacks be allowed to remain below par, should more of them be +issued, or should the United States avail itself of its technical +privilege to pay off part of the bonded debt in "lawful money" +manufactured by the printing-press, the weakest item in the total might +easily depress the whole. + +The future of American politics after 1865 was largely determined by the +methods through which the revenue had been increased and by the fate of +the greenbacks, but more important for the immediate future than either +of these was the great fact that in five years the United States had +been able to incur its net debt of $2,808,000,000, and had raised in +addition more than $700,000,000 through taxation. It was a prosperous +Union that emerged from the Civil War, and every region but the South +was strong in its conscious wealth. + +The whole of the United States had shared in the unusual growth in the +period following the Mexican War, in which the new railroads were tying +the Mississippi Valley to the seaboard. The census of 1860 reported an +increase of 36 per cent in total population in ten years, somewhat +unevenly divided, since the Confederate area had increased but 25 per +cent, as compared with 39 per cent in the North and West, yet large +enough everywhere to keep up the traditions of a growing population. The +growth continued in the next decade, despite the Civil War. It is not to +be expected that it should have touched the record of the fifties, for +2,500,000 men were drawn from production for at least three years--the +three years in which most of them would have grown to manhood and +married, had there been no war. The South, desolated by war, and with +nearly every able-bodied white man in the ranks, stood still, with under +9 per cent increase. But the whole country grew in population from +31,443,321 to 38,558,371 (22 per cent), while the North and West, in +spite of war, grew 27 per cent,--more than the South had done in its +most brilliant decade. + +How far the North and West would have gone had they not been hampered by +the depression after 1857 cannot be stated. These regions had suffered +most from the panic, since in them railroads and banks, factories and +cities, and all the agents of a complex industrial organization had been +most active. The industrial disturbance had disarranged for the time the +elaborate Northern system. The simpler South, with its staple crops, its +rural population, and its few railways, had suffered less. Southerners +before the war had seen in their immunity from the effects of panic a +proof of their superiority over other social orders; they had misread +the times and prophesied the disintegration of the industrial +organization of the North. + +The South seceded before the rest of the United States emerged from the +panic period. In the next four years the treasury receipts show the +resources of the loyal States. Industry, recovered from its depression, +went ahead unnoticed in the noise of war, yet little impeded by the fact +of war. + +Communication by rail brought the most significant of the single changes +into the Northern States. Before the panic of 1857 the trunk-line +railways had completed their net of tracks between the Mississippi and +tidewater. Nearly ten thousand miles had been built in the Old Northwest +alone in the ten preceding years. But the effect of this on business, +certain to come in any event, was not seen until secession closed the +Mississippi to the agricultural exports of the Northwest. For a part of +1861 and 1862 traffic piled up along the young railroads extending from +St. Louis and Chicago to Buffalo, Pittsburg, New York, and Philadelphia. +But before 1863 these lines, notably the New York Central, the Erie, and +the Pennsylvania, had adapted themselves to the trade which the South +had thrust upon them; and never since secession has New Orleans regained +her place as the great outlet of the Mississippi Valley. + +The fundamental change in the direction of its trade added to the +prosperity of the North. In the additions to the transportation system, +made to accommodate the new business, new railroads were less prominent +than second tracks, bridges, tunnels, and terminal facilities. The +experimental years of railroading had passed before most of the lines +learned the importance of city terminals. The growth of the cities and +the rising price of land made the attainment of these more difficult +than they need have been, while city governments and their officials +learned that illicit profits could be made out of the necessities of the +railroads. The great lines, active in the development of their plants, +and consolidating during the sixties to get the benefits of unified +management, added to the bustle in the cities in the North. + +[Illustration: THE RAILWAYS OF THE "OLD NORTHWEST" + +Showing the development between 1848 and 1860, upon which the Civil War +prosperity of the region was based] + +The United States was an agricultural country until the beginning of +manufacturing and the revolution in communication made it profitable to +concentrate people and capital in the cities. Between 1850 and 1880 the +number of cities with a population of 50,000 more than doubled. The +actual construction of the houses, the water and lighting systems, and +the sewers for these communities gave employment to labor. As cities +grew, their more generous distances brought in the street-car companies, +whose occupation of the public streets added to the temptations and +opportunities of the officials of government. The swelling manufactures +increased the city groups and gave them work. + +The country life itself began to change. The typical farming families, +developed by pioneer conditions, had remained the social unit for +several generations, but these felt the lure of the cities which drew +their boys and girls into the factories. Domestic manufactures could not +compete in quality, appearance, or price with the output of the new +factories. The farmer began to give up his slaughtering and +butter-making, as he had already abandoned his spinning and weaving, and +devoted himself more exclusively to raising crops. Here, too, the +mechanical improvements touched his life. Agricultural machinery was +coming into general use, while the new railroads carried off his produce +to the great markets which the rising cities created. + +The number of employees of American factories increased more than half +between 1860 and 1870, while the capital invested and the goods turned +out were more than doubled. The United States was for the first time +looking to a day when all the ordinary necessities of life could be made +within its limits. At Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Boston, +Philadelphia, and a host of cities in the interior, men were not +disturbed by the war in their attempt to exploit the abundant resources +of the continent. The manufacture of food began to shift from the +household to the city factory, to the advantage of the cities lying near +the great fresh areas of farm lands. The flour mills of the Northwest, +the meat-packing establishments at Chicago and elsewhere, the +distilleries of central Illinois, utilized the agricultural staples and +transformed them for export. The presence of factories forced upon the +city governments, East and West, already embarrassed by the pains of +rapid growth, the problems of police power and good government. Charters +written for semi-rural villages were inadequate when the villages became +cities. + +Clothing, no less than food, passed into the factory, thanks to Elias +Howe and his sewing-machine and the shoe machinery of McKay. Before the +war the influences of this change were visible in the increasing demand +for cotton. Now came the great growth of the textile regions of the +East, around Fall River and Philadelphia, and of the shoe factories in +the Lynn district. + +The use and manufacture of machines gave new stimulus to those regions +where coal and iron, placed conveniently with reference to +transportation, had fixed the location of smelters and rolling-mills. In +the middle of the sixties Henry Bessemer's commercial process for the +manufacture of steel marks the beginning of a revolution in the +construction of railroads and bridges, as well as in public and private +architecture. Pittsburg became the heart of the steel industry, and the +young men who controlled it fixed their hands upon the commercial future +of the United States. The newest of industries, the trade in petroleum +and its oils, reached fifteen millions in Pittsburg alone in 1864. + +The trunk-line railways with their spurs and branches adjusted +themselves early in the war to the new direction of business currents. +They then began to carry the new inhabitants into the cities, the new +manufactures to their markets, and to press upon iron, coal, and timber +for their own supplies. Men of business laid the foundations of huge +fortunes in supplying the new and growing demands. The stock company, +with negotiable shares and bonds, made it possible for the small +investor to share in the larger commercial profits and losses. + +The growth and elaboration of companies and commerce were projected upon +a legal system that was most accustomed to small enterprises and local +trade. Not only had the corporations to establish customs and precedents +among themselves, but courts, legislatures, and city councils had to +face the need for an amplification of American law. The speed with which +the new life swept upon the country, the inexperience of both business +men and jurists, the public ignorance of the extent to which the +revolution was to go, and the cross-purposes inevitable when States +tried to regulate the affairs of corporations larger than themselves, +make it unnecessary to search further for the key to the confusing +half-century that followed the Civil War. + +The rapid changes in manufacturing, transportation, urban life, and +business law that came with the prosperity of the early sixties gave to +these years an appearance of materialism that has misled many observers. +None of the developments received full contemporary notice, for war +filled the front pages of the newspapers. The men who directed them were +not under scrutiny, and could hardly fail to bring into business and +speculation that main canon of war time that the end is everything and +that it justifies the means. But though war was not the sole American +occupation between 1861 and 1865, and though a new industrial revolution +was begun, material things often gave way in the American mind to +altruistic concepts and the service of the ideal. + +Congress endowed the agricultural colleges in the early years of the +war, and the state universities, though thinned by the enlistment of +their boys, established themselves. The creation of new universities, +the endowment of older foundations, and the beginning of an education +that should fit not only for law, medicine, and theology, but for +business, agriculture, engineering, and teaching, all bear testimony to +the real interests of American democracy. The ideal was as yet far +removed from the fact, and the intellectual leaders of the United States +were yet to pass through a period of black pessimism, but the people +were still firm in their faith that education is the mainstay of popular +government, and gave their full devotion to both. + +The four years of the Civil War carried the United States over a period +of social and economic transition and left it well started on the new +course. They enlarged and expanded the activities of government, +hastening that day when there should exist a public conviction that +government is a matter of technical expertness and must be run in a +scientific manner for the common good. They raised the problems of +taxation and currency to a new importance, and impressed their +significance upon the men who directed the industries of the country. In +their prosperity they made it possible to save the Union; and at their +close a Union party, uncertain of its strength and its personnel, faced +the problems of a united country which included an industrial North, a +desolated South, and a vanishing frontier. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +For further references upon the Civil War period, consult William E. +Dodd, _Expansion and Conflict_ (in this series), and F.L. Paxson, _The +Civil War_ (1911). The best and most exhaustive narrative is J.F. +Rhodes, _History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the +Final Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877_ (7 vols., +1892-1906), and this may be supplemented to advantage by E.D. Fite, +_Social and industrial Conditions in the North during the Civil War_ +(1910). There is a convenient account of the election of 1864, with +platforms and tables of votes, in E. Stanwood, _A History of the +Presidency_ (1898) and there are many valuable documents in E. +McPherson's annual _Political Manual_. The biographies of W.H. Seward, +by F. Bancroft, and Jay Cooke, by E.P. Oberholtzer, are among the best +of the period. There are no better summaries of finances than D.R. +Dewey's _Financial History of the United States_ (1903, etc.); W.C. +Mitchell's _History of the Greenbacks_ (1903); and J.A. Woodburn's +_Thaddeus Stevens_ (1913). In the _Annual Cyclopædia_ (published by D. +Appleton & Co., 1861-1902) are useful and accurate accounts of current +affairs. E.L. Godkin began to publish the _Nation_ in New York in the +summer of 1865, and H.V. Poore issued the first volume of his annual +_Manual of the Railroads of the United States_, in 1868. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WEST AND THE GREENBACKS + + +The activity of the North and the East between 1861 and 1865 was +imitated and magnified among the youthful communities that made up the +western border and ranged in age from a few weeks to thirty years. These +had been mostly agricultural in 1857. Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and +Kansas had been the frontier before the Civil War. In place of these, +now grown to be populous and more or less sedate, a new group appeared +farther west, within what had been believed to be the "American Desert." +By 1868 Congress completed the subdivision of the last lands between the +Missouri River and the Pacific, since which date only one new political +division has appeared in the United States. + +The last frontier, that developed after 1857, was novel as well as new. +It was made up of mining camps. Everywhere in the Rocky Mountains +prospectors staked out claims and introduced their free-and-easy life. +Before 1857 the group of Mormons around the Great Salt Lake was the only +considerable settlement between eastern Kansas and California. Now came +in quick succession the rush to Pike's Peak and Colorado Territory +(1861), the rush from California to the Carson Valley and Nevada +Territory (1861), and the creation of the agricultural territory of +Dakota (1861) for the up-river Missouri country, where in a few more +years were revealed the riches of the Black Hills. In 1863 the mines of +the lower Colorado River gave excuse for Arizona Territory. Those of the +northern Continental Divide were grouped in Idaho in the same year, and +divided in 1864 when Montana was created. Wyoming, the last of the +subdivisions, was the product of mines and railroads in 1868. Oklahoma +was not named for twenty years more, but had existed in its final shape +since the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854. + +The legitimate influence of these mining-camps upon the United States +was great. It was no new thing for Congress to solve its national +problems on the initiative of the West. Since the passage of the +Ordinance of 1787 this had been a frequent occurrence, and the history +of the public lands had always been directed by Western demands. In 1862 +the agricultural West, whose capacity to cultivate land had been +magnified by the new reaper of McCormick, had obtained its Homestead +Act, by which land titles were conveyed to the farmer who cleared the +land and used it. Thomas H. Benton had fought for this through a long +lifetime. He died too soon to see the full apotheosis of the squatter, +who gradually developed, in point of law, from the criminal stealing the +public land to the public-spirited pioneer in whose interest a wise +Congress ought to shape its laws. Under the influence of this new +Homestead Law, aided by the Preëmption Law, which remained in force, +land titles were established in the Mountain States as rapidly as the +Indians could be removed. + +The frontier mining territories were loud in demanding that Congress +should give them more land, remove the Indians, extend police +protection, and give them mails and railroads. The miner disliked the +isolation which his speculations brought upon him, and Congress unfolded +new powers to remove it for him. In 1858 it organized the great overland +mail that ran coaches to California in less than twenty-five days. The +pony express provided faster service in 1860-61. And after private money +had built the telegraph line to the Pacific, both Congress and the West +took up the subject of a continental railway. + +In the summer of 1862 a group of railroad companies was authorized to +build a track from the Missouri River (which had already been reached at +St. Joseph by a railway from the East) to California. As modified by law +in 1864 the contract provided for extensive government aid in the +speculation: twenty sections of land for every mile of track, and a loan +of United States bonds at the rate of at least $16,000 per mile. But the +West had little capital, and the prosperous East had better investments +at home, so that money could hardly be got into this scheme on any +terms. The Western promoters were driven to shifty extremes before they +overcame the Eastern belief that no continental railroad could pay. Not +until 1866 was the construction work begun in earnest. + +[Illustration: THE WESTERN RAILWAY LANDGRANTS, 1850-1871 + +Explanation of the map of + +THE WESTERN RAILWAY LAND GRANTS, 1850-1871 + +(This map is based upon the one in Donaldson, Public Domain, 948, and +includes certain wagon-road lands.) + +There never were any public lands in the State of Texas. Oklahoma lay +within the Indian Country in which no lands were available for grants +between 1850 and 1871. + +The railway land grants, authorized between 1850 and 1871 lay within the +areas shaded, and consisted, in all cases, of alternate sections on each +side of the track. The sections retained by the United States were, +however, withdrawn from entry upon filing of the railway survey, and +remained withdrawn until the railway allotment had been made. Regions +thus impeded in their development often became centers of hostility +toward the railroads.] + +Between 1866 and 1869 the building of the Union Pacific was the most +picturesque enterprise in America. Across the great plains, the desert, +and the mountains, from Council Bluffs to Sacramento, it was pushed. In +the West, Stanford and his group of California visionaries carried the +burden. The eastern end brought out no single great promoter. Both ends +fought the problem of timber and stone and railroad iron, but most of +all of labor. Stanford finally imported the Chinese coolie for the job. +Civil War veterans and new immigrants did most of the work on the +eastern end. And along the eastern stretches the Indian tribes of the +plains watched the work with jealous eyes. The Pawnee, the Sioux, the +Arapaho, and the Cheyenne saw in the new road the end of a tribal life +based upon wild game. + +Severe Indian outbreaks accompanied the construction of the railroad, as +the tribes made their last stand in Wyoming, Colorado, and the Indian +Territory. Before the line was done, the tribes of the plains were under +control in two great concentration camps, in South Dakota and Indian +Territory, and the worst of the Indian fighting in the West was over. + +In the spring of 1869 the railroad was finished and a spectacular +celebration was held near Ogden, in Utah Territory. The finishing stroke +was everywhere regarded as national, since not only had Congress given +aid, but the union of the oceans was an object of national ambition. +With the completion, the problem shifted from the exciting risks of +construction and finance to the prosaic duties of paying the bills, and +with the shift came a natural falling-off in enthusiasm. + +The Union Pacific was the longest railroad of the sixties, and aroused +the greatest interest. In an economic way it is merely typical of the +speculative expansion of the North that began early in the Civil War and +continued increasingly thereafter. The United States was engaged in a +period of hopeful growth such as has followed every panic. After a few +years of depression, stagnation, and enforced economy, business had +revived about 1861. Confidence had increased, loans had been made more +freely, and capital had taken up again its search for profitable +investment. In the newer regions, where permanent improvements were +least numerous, the field for exploitation had been great. The climax of +exploitation was reached throughout the West. + +As had been true at all the stages of the westward movement, the West +was heavily in debt, and upon a forced balance would generally have +shown an excess of liabilities over assets. Borrowed money paid much of +the cost of emigration. During the first year the pioneer often raised +no crops and lived upon his savings or his borrowings. He and his local +merchant and his bank and his new railroad had borrowed all they could, +while the creditor, living necessarily in the older communities where +saving had created a surplus for investment, lived in the East, or even +in Europe. The necessary conditions of settlement and development had +prepared the way for a new sectional alignment of business interests, +those of the Far West and the Northwest taking their tone from the +interests of a debtor class, while those of the East represented those +of the creditor. The possible cleavage was revealed as real when the +United States Treasury Department, in its work toward financial +reconstruction, approached the subject of the greenbacks. + +The legal-tender greenbacks, which were in circulation to the extent of +$433,000,000 in 1865, constituted not only a part of the debt of the +war, but the foundation of the currency in circulation. Throughout most +of the war they were supplemented by the notes of state banks, local +token-money, and fractional currency, or "shinplasters," of the United +States. Coin ceased to circulate in 1862 and was used only by those +whose contracts obliged them to pay in gold or silver. In 1863 Secretary +Chase inaugurated a system of national banks, to circulate a uniform +currency, secured by United States bonds, but these did not become a +factor in business until the state bank notes had been taxed out of +existence in 1865. After this time national banks were formed in large +numbers, replacing the uncertain notes of the state banks with their own +notes, which were quite as good as greenbacks. But all paper money was +below par in 1865, and gold remained out of circulation, at a premium, +until the end of 1878. + +The depreciation of the greenbacks reflected a popular doubt as to the +outcome of the Civil War. They entailed hardship upon all who received +them as dollars, since their purchasing value was below the standard of +one hundred cents in gold. When the Government, desperate in war time, +forced its creditors to accept them at par, it did an injustice which +it regarded as real, though necessary. The speedy restoration of the +greenbacks to par received the immediate attention of the Treasury upon +the return of peace. + +Hugh McCulloch, of Indiana, who became Secretary of the Treasury in +1865, was a banker of long experience and success. He proposed, if +allowed, to reduce the whole war debt, including the greenbacks, to +long-term bonds bearing a low rate of interest, and to create a sinking +fund which should redeem them as they fell due. This involved the +withdrawal from circulation of the greenbacks, and the destruction of +that amount of the money used in business. Congress authorized it, +however, and McCulloch canceled greenbacks from month to month until he +had reduced the total to $356,000,000 in February, 1868. + +The withdrawal of the legal tenders had not been long under way before +protests began to come in upon the Treasury and Congress from the West. +Bad as the depreciated currency was, it was the only currency available +for the active business of the country. If the greenbacks should go +there would be nothing to take their place until coin should finally +emerge from hiding. The reduction of the volume of money in a time of +increasing business would enforce upon each dollar an enlarged activity +and a greater market value. The price of money rising, the price of all +commodities measured in money would necessarily fall, and in a period of +falling prices the West thought it saw financial catastrophe. There was +enough real truth in the contention that resumption meant a fall in +prices for the Treasury to be compelled to make the difficult choice +between this evil and the other evil of a depreciated currency forced +upon the people. + +The creditor East regarded the possible increase in the purchasing value +of the dollar with entire complacency. Its selfish interests harmonized +with sound theories of finance. But in the debtor West the process had +so different an aspect that the financial obligations of the United +States were obscured by the local interest. + +The great "boom" of the West began after the depreciation had commenced. +Most of the Western debts, whether on the farm of the settler, the stock +of the merchant, or the bonds of the industrial corporation, had been +created in legal-tender dollars of the value of the depreciated +greenbacks. Any appreciation which might come to the greenbacks must +increase the content-value of the debt. If "dollars," borrowed when they +were worth sixty cents in gold, were to be repaid in "dollars" worth +eighty or more cents in gold, the debtor was repaying one third more +than he had received, and no appeal to the importance of public credit +could make him forget his loss. He resented not only the decrease in the +actual amount of money, but the appreciated value of the remainder. + +McCulloch, trained in finance, was ready to sacrifice the debtor for the +sake of national solvency,--and, indeed, one or the other had to yield. +But Congress felt the pressure, which was strong from all the West, and +most strong from the Northwest, between Pittsburg and Chicago, whose +industry had been reorganized during the years of war. In February, +1868, the retirement of more greenbacks was forbidden by law, the amount +then in circulation being $356,000,000. The inflation which war had +brought about was legalized in time of peace, and the Supreme Court +ultimately ruled[1] that the issue of legal tenders, in either war or +peace, is at the free discretion of Congress. + +Like every other West, the West of 1868 was in debt; like every other +debtor community, it was liable to yield to theories of inflation, and +was prone to look to politics for redress of grievances. The farmers of +Massachusetts and Connecticut had followed Shays for this purpose in +1786; Ohio and Kentucky had attacked the second Bank of the United +States when it forced their banks to pay their debts; and now the +Northwest listened to politicians who told them that more greenbacks +would cure their ills. + +The advocates of the Greenback movement urged that the legal tenders be +retained as the foundation of the currency, and that all bonds and +interest payable in "lawful money" be paid in paper. By thus increasing +the volume of greenbacks in circulation they hoped to avoid a fall in +prices or an increased pressure on the debtor. Wherever men were heavily +in debt, they accepted this doctrine. George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, +became its most prominent spokesman, though it received the support of +men as far apart as Thaddeus Stevens and B.F. Butler, and on it as an +issue Pendleton sought to obtain for himself the Democratic nomination +for the presidency in 1868. + +[Footnote 1: In the cases of Knox _vs._ Lee and Juilliard _vs._ +Greenman.] + +The aspirations of Pendleton, when his friends brought his "Ohio Idea" +to the national convention, in Tammany Hall, New York, on July 4, were +opposed by the similar desires of Chief Justice Chase, who still wanted +the Presidency, and Horatio Seymour, the Democratic war Governor of New +York. In its leader, commenting on the convention, _Harper's Weekly_ +asserted that "The Democratic Convention of 1864 declared the war a +failure. The loyal people scorned the words and fought on to an +unconditional victory. The Democratic Convention of 1868 declares that +the war debt shall be repudiated. And their words will be equally +spurned by the same honorable people." Pendleton failed to secure the +nomination, which went to Seymour, on the twenty-second ballot, with +Francis P. Blair, Jr., for the Vice-Presidency, but the "Ohio idea" was +embodied in the platform of the party, although Seymour distinctly +disavowed it. + +Pledged to what the East commonly regarded as repudiation, the +Democratic party was severely handicapped at the beginning of the +campaign. Not only could their opponents reproach Seymour as a +Copperhead, but they could profess to be frightened by Wade Hampton and +the "hundred other rebel officers who sat in the Convention." Already +including "treason," and disloyalty, the indictment was amended to +include dishonor, by the Republicans, who scarcely needed the strong +popularity of Grant to carry them into office. + +The Republican party was compelled to disguise itself as "Union" in +1864, and it paid for the disguise during the next four years. Upon the +death of Lincoln, the Tennessee Democrat, Andrew Johnson, took the oath +of office. The bond which kept Democrats and Republicans together as +Unionists had dissolved with the surrender of Lee, so that Johnson was +enabled to follow his natural bent as a strict constructionist. His +policies had carried him far away from the radical Republicans before +Congress convened for its session of 1865-66, and led to a positive +breach with that body in 1866. + +The quarrel between Johnson and the Republican leaders was occasioned by +his views upon the rights of the Southern States, conquered in war and +held within the military grasp of the United States. It was his belief, +as it had been Lincoln's, that these States were still States and were +in the Union, even though in a temporarily deranged condition. As +President, entrusted with force to be used in executing the laws, he +regarded himself as sole judge of the time when force should no longer +be needed. And in this spirit he offered pardon to many leaders of the +Confederacy in May, 1865. He followed amnesty with provisional +governments, and proclaimed rules according to which the conquered +States should revise their constitutions and reëstablish orderly and +loyal governments. He had reorganized the last of the eleven States +before Congress could interfere with him. + +The difference between Johnson and his Republican associates lay in the +character of the restored electorates in the South. The whole white +population had, in most States, been implicated in secession. There was +no Union faction in the South that remained loyal throughout the war. +Pardoned and restored to a full share in the Government, these Southern +leaders would come back into Congress as Democrats, and with increased +strength. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, and raised the +representation of the negroes in the South from the old three-fifths +ratio to par. Every State would come back with more Representatives than +it had had before the war, and with the aid of Northern Democrats it was +not unlikely that a control of Congress might be obtained. + +To Northern Republicans it was unreasonable that the conquered South +should be rewarded instead of punished, and that any theory of +reconstruction should risk bringing into power the party that Union men, +headed by Lincoln, had defeated in 1864. Politicians, interested in the +spoils of office, were enraged at the thought of losing them. +Disinterested Northerners, who had sacrificed much to save the Union, +believed it unsafe at once to hand it over to a combination of peace +Democrats and former "rebels." Yet this was Johnson's plan, and +Congress, with radical Republicans in control, set about to prevent it. + +Although Johnson, as President, controlled the patronage, Congress +possessed the power, if not the moral right, to limit him in its use. No +appointment could be made without the consent of the Senate, which was +Republican. In 1867 Congress enacted that no removal should be made +without the same consent, in a Tenure-of-Office Bill that brought the +dispute to a climax. More important than this power of concurrence was +the exclusive right of each house to judge of "the elections, returns, +and qualifications" of its own members. So long as the Southern Senators +and Representatives were out of Congress no power could get them in +without the consent of either house. Violent advisers of the President +argued that a Congress excluding the members of eleven States by +prearrangement was a "rump," and without authority, but they failed to +influence either the conduct of the majority or the acts of Johnson. + +In the Thirty-ninth Congress, which sat in 1865 and 1866, it was the +problem of the leaders, Charles Sumner in the Senate and Thaddeus +Stevens in the House, to hold the party together and to block the +designs of the President. In the House, the heavy Republican majority +made this easy. In the Senate the majority was slighter, and could be +kept at two thirds only by unseating a Democratic Senator from New +Jersey, after which event both houses were able to defy Johnson and to +pass measures over his veto. The vetoes began when Johnson refused his +consent to the Freedmen's Bureau and the Civil Rights Bills. These and +all other important acts of reconstruction were forced upon the +President by the two-thirds vote. + +The split, so far as founded upon honest divergence in legal theory, was +embarrassing. It was made disgraceful by the violence of the radical +Republicans and the intemperate retorts of Johnson. In 1866 Congress +sent the Fourteenth Amendment to the States for ratification. In 1867 it +passed its bills for actual reconstruction under the control of the army +of the United States, and defied Johnson to interfere by refusing to +allow him to remove officials from office. + +Johnson carried himself through the partisan struggle with ability and +success. His language was often extreme, but he enforced the acts which +Congress passed as vigorously as if they had been his own. So far as any +theory of the Constitution met the facts of reconstruction, his has the +advantage, but in a situation not foreseen by the Constitution force +outranked logic, and the radical Republicans with two-thirds in each +house possessed the force. There was no lapse in the President's +diligence and no flaw in his official character which his enemies could +use. They began to talk of impeachment in 1866, but could find no basis +for it. + +The Tenure-of-Office Act furnished the pretext for impeachment. Advised +by his Attorney-General that it was unconstitutional, Johnson dismissed +the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, for whose protection the law had +been passed. In removing Stanton he broke with Grant, commanding the +army, over a question of veracity, and gave to Congress its chance. In +February, 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach him. + +The trial of Andrew Johnson before the Senate dragged through April and +May. The articles of impeachment were long and detailed in their +description of the unquestioned bad manners of the President, but the +only specific violation of law cited was in the case of Stanton, and +here it could be urged both that the law was unconstitutional and that +it was so loosely drawn that it did not really cover this case. In +brief, it was the policy of Johnson that was on trial, and it was +finally impossible to persuade two-thirds of the Senators that this +constituted a high crime or a misdemeanor. The President was acquitted +in the middle of May, while the Republican party turned to the more +hopeful work of electing his successor. + +In the fight over Johnson party lines had been strengthened and defined +so that no Unionist, not in sympathy with congressional reconstruction, +could hope for the nomination. No other issue equaled this in strength. +The greenback issue was condemned in a plank that denounced "all forms +of repudiation as a national crime," but ran second to the basis of +reconstruction. No other candidate than Ulysses S. Grant was considered +at the Chicago Convention. + +Few men have emerged from deserved obscurity to deserved prominence as +rapidly as General Grant. In 1861 he was a retired army officer, and a +failure. In 1863, as the victor at Fort Donelson and at Vicksburg, he +loomed up in national proportions. In the hammering of 1864 and 1865 it +was his persistence and moral courage that won the day. In 1868, as +commander of the army, and fortunate in his quarrel with Johnson, he was +the coveted candidate of both parties, for he had no politics. Held by +his associations to the Republican leaders, he was nominated at Chicago +on the first ballot, with Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, as his +Vice-President. + +The nomination of Grant occurred as the impeachment trial was drawing to +a close. Before Congress adjourned it readmitted several of the Southern +States that had been restored under the control of Republican +majorities. Tennessee was already back; the new States were North +Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and +Arkansas. Only three States remained under provisional control when +Grant was elected in November and seated in the following March. As he +took the oath of office there were few, North, South, or West, who did +not rejoice in his election; he had defeated the Greenback pretension, +which endeared him to the East; the West remembered that he had been +born and bred in the Mississippi Valley; and to the South he presented +the clean hands of the regular army officer, and the welcome promise of +his letter of acceptance, "Let us have peace." + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +For general accounts of the Far West in this period consult K. Coman, +Economic _Beginnings of the Far West_ (2 vols., 1912), and F.L. Paxson, +_The Last American Frontier_ (1910). These should be supplemented by +E.L. Bogart, _Economic History of the United States_ (1907), K. Coman, +_Industrial History of the United States_ (2d ed., 1910), W.A. Scott, +_The Repudiation of State Debts_ (1893), and W.C. Mitchell, _History of +the Greenbacks_. The more valuable memoirs include H. McCulloch, _Men +and Measures of Half a Century_ (1888), and J.G. Blaine, _Twenty Years +of Congress_ (2 vols., 1884). A brilliant analysis of the financial +interests of the debtor sections is M.S. Wildman, _Money Inflation in +the United States_ (1905). Rhodes continues to furnish a comprehensive +narrative, and is paralleled by the shorter W.A. Dunning, +_Reconstruction, Political and Economic, 1865-1877_ (in _The American +Nation_, vol. 22, 1907). A detailed account of impeachment politics is +in D.M. DeWitt, _Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson_ (1903), and in +J.A. Woodburn, _The Life of Thaddeus Stevens_ (1913). J.P. Davis, _The +Union Pacific Railway_ (1894), is the standard account of the early +movement for a continental railroad. S.L. Clemens (Mark Twain) presents +a vivid picture of frontier life in _Roughing It_ (1872), while A.B. +Paine, _Mark Twain_ (3 vols., 1912), contains much material of general +historical interest for this period. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE RESTORATION OF HOME RULE IN THE SOUTH + + +The eight Southern States whose votes were cast in 1868 were far +different from the States of the same names in 1860, and were, like the +three still outside the Union, largely under the control of radical +Republicans. Restoration, after a fashion, they had received, but it had +been accompanied by a revolution in society, in politics, and in +economic life. "Reconstruction" is an inappropriate name for what took +place. + +Many efforts have been made to show the price paid by the South for its +attempt at independence, but these have always failed to be exact. No +scheme of accounting can uncover all the costs. It is a sufficient +suggestion as to the total that a million men, at the prime of life, +were diverted from ordinary production for about three years. Not only +did the South lose the products of their labor, but it lost many of +them, while its houses, barns, and other permanent improvements wore +out, were burned, or went to pieces from lack of care. Its slave +property was destroyed. Poverty was universal within the region of the +Confederacy when Johnson issued his amnesty proclamation and the troops +came home. + +The most immediate problems before the Southern planter in the spring of +1865 were his dilapidated buildings, his spring crops, and his labor +supply. Without money or credit, he needed all the stiffness of a proud +caste to hold off bankruptcy. The daughter of a prominent Mississippi +planter told later how her father, at seventy years, did the family +washing to keep his daughters from the tub. A society whose men and +women took this view of housework (for the daughters let their father +have his way) had much to learn before it could reëstablish itself. Yet +this same stubbornness carried the South through the twenty trying years +after the war. + +The system of slave labor was gone, but the negroes were still the chief +reliance for labor. It appears from the scanty records that are +available that the planters expected to reopen the plantations using the +freedmen as hired laborers. In 1865 and 1866 they tried this, only to +find that the negro had got beyond control and would not work. +Supervision had become hateful to him. A vagrant life appealed to his +desire for change. At best, he was unintelligent and indolent. In a few +years it became clear that the old type of plantation had vanished, and +that the substitute was far from satisfactory. + +Failing at hiring the negro for wages, the planter tried to rent to him +a part of the estate. But since the tenant was penniless the landlord +had to find much or all of the tools and stock, and too often had to see +the crops deserted while the negro went riding around the county on his +mule, full of his new independence. The census records show the decline +of the plantation as the labor system changed. In 1860 the average +American farm contained 199 acres, while those of the eleven seceding +States ranged in average from 245 in Arkansas, to 430 in Georgia, and +591 in Texas. All were far above the national average, for the economics +of the plantation system impelled the owner ever to increase his +holdings. In 1870, and again in 1880, the reports show a rapid decline. +The average for the whole country went down from 199 to 134 acres in the +twenty years, as intensive agriculture advanced, but the South declined +more rapidly than the whole, and in 1880, in all but two States, the +average farm was less than half its size before the Civil War. + +The vagrant, shiftless freedman was a social problem as well as +economic. To fix his new status was the effort of the legislatures that +convened in 1865, under the control of those who had qualified as loyal +in Johnson's scheme. In several States laws were passed relating to +contracts, apprenticeship, and vagrancy, under which the negro was to be +held to regular work and the employer was given the right to punish him. +The laws represented the opinion of the white citizens that special +provisions were needed to control and regulate the negro population now +that the personal bond of the owner for the good behavior of his slaves +was canceled. To the North, still excited and nervous in 1865, the laws +appeared to embody an overt attempt to restore the essentials of +slavery. They served to embitter Congress toward Johnson's plans, and to +convince Republicans that the professed loyalty of former Confederates +was hypocritical,--that these must not be permitted to return at once to +federal office or to Congress. + +It was not until the summer of 1867 that Congress substituted +governments of its own design for those which Johnson had erected by +proclamation. These, meanwhile, had proceeded to revise their +constitutions and to adopt the Thirteenth Amendment, which was +proclaimed as part of the Constitution in December, 1865. The direct +hand of Congress was shown in the strengthening of the Freedmen's Bureau +in the spring of 1866, and the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in +the following summer. + +The Freedmen's Bureau had its excuse in the poverty and ignorance of the +negroes who crowded about the invading armies. Toward the end of the war +it was authorized to administer abandoned property, and to aid the +freedmen in farming upon the same. It did wide charitable and +educational work in easing the abrupt change from slavery to freedom, +and would have been dissolved a year after the return of peace had not +Congress maintained it to offset the tendencies of Johnson's +administration. Hereafter the agents of the Bureau were thrown into +politics until 1872. + +The permanent government of the conquered South by the army was +repugnant to even radical Northerners, yet the white inhabitants were +Democratic almost to the last man, and if restored to civil rights would +control their States. The only means of developing a Southern Republican +party that might keep the South "loyal" was the enfranchisement of the +freedman, for which purpose the Fourteenth Amendment was submitted. The +agents of the Bureau were expected not only to feed and clothe the +negroes, but to impress upon them the fact that they owed their freedom +to the Republicans. Some spread the belief that the Democrats desired to +restore slavery. Many built up personal machines. The responsibility +upon these white directors of the negro vote was great, and was too +often betrayed. Generally not natives, and with no stake in the Southern +community, they lined their own pockets and earned the unkindly name of +"carpet-baggers." The Territories had always known something of this +type of ruler, but the States, hitherto, had known bad government only +when they made it themselves. + +The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 ordered the President to divide the +South into five military districts, whose commanders should supersede +all the state officers whom Johnson had restored. With troops behind +them, these commanders were, first, to enroll on the voting list all +males over twenty-one. The negroes, before the adoption of the +Fourteenth Amendment, were thus given by Congress the right to vote in +their respective States, and were included in the lists. Excluded from +the lists were the leaders of every Southern community, those whites who +had held important office in the Confederacy; and none was to be +enrolled, white or black, until he had taken an ironclad and offensive +oath of allegiance. + +Based upon the list of voters thus made up, state conventions were to be +summoned to revise the constitutions. In every case they must modify the +laws to admit the status of the freedmen, must ratify the Fourteenth +Amendment with its guaranty of civil rights, and must extend the right +of suffrage to the blacks. When all these things had been done, with +army officers constantly in supervision, the resulting constitutions +were to be submitted to Congress for final approval or rejection. + +No constitutional theory ever met all the problems of reconstruction. +The war had been fought on the basis that no State can get out of the +Union. If this was true, then all the States were still States, and it +was a reasonable presidential function to restore order and withdraw the +troops. The unreasonable result of this theory was the immediate +restoration of an enlarged influence to those very men who had tried to +break the Union, at a moment when the greenback movement threatened the +foundations of public faith. Yet Congress, by pretending to readmit or +restore States, denied that they were still States, and by implication +conceded the principle for which the Confederacy had contended: that the +members of the Union could get outside it. The power of Congress to seat +or unseat members, however, placed it beyond all control. Every effort +to get the courts to interfere broke down, when the suits were directed +against the President (Mississippi _vs._ Andrew Johnson), or the +Secretary of War (Georgia _vs._ Stanton). A personal suit that promised +some relief (_Ex parte_ McCardle) was evaded by a sudden amendment of +the law relating to appeals. The situation was unpremeditated, and the +Constitution made no provision for its facts. In the end, reconstruction +must be judged by its results rather than by its legality. If it brought +peace, restored prosperity, safeguarded the Union, and created no new +grievances of its own, it was good, whatever the Constitution. + +Johnson enforced the Reconstruction Acts with care, and the Southern +conventions, meeting in the autumn of 1867, sat into the following +winter. In five of the States the roll of electors showed a majority of +negroes, and in none were conservatives able to control the election of +delegates. The old leaders were still disfranchised, and many of them +could not believe that the North would permit the radicals to subject +them to the control of illiterate negroes. The resulting conventions +contained many negroes and were dominated by white Republicans, +carpet-baggers, or scalawags as the case might be. An active part in +directing them was taken by the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau, while +the freedmen were consolidated by the secret ritual of the Union League. +Only Tennessee escaped the ordeal, she having ratified the Fourteenth +Amendment so promptly that Congress could not evade admitting her in +1866. + +An analysis of the conventions of 1867 reveals the extent of the +political revolution which Congress intended to thrust upon the South, +whose industrial revolution was now well advanced. Planters had begun +already to break up their estates and entrust small holdings to cash +renters, or share tenants, known as "croppers." Their financial burdens +were heavy, but with intelligent government and reasonable commercial +credits from the North, the problems of labor and capital might be met. +But the men who must control the economic future of the South were +excluded from the Government as traitors. Their places were filled by +Northern adventurers and by negroes. The Mississippi convention included +seventeen negroes, and was called the "black and tan." Inexperience and +incompetence were in control, leading to extravagance and dishonesty, +but the conventions were generally superior to the legislatures which +followed them. + +Framing new constitutions, most of the States had met the demands of +Congress by the summer of 1868, with the respectable portion of the +South looking on in desperate silence. The war had left no grievances +equal to those now being suffered. Seven of the new constitutions were +adopted in time for the radicals to give to their States votes in the +election of 1868. Alabama, making the eighth, was allowed to vote under +a constitution which Congress had forced upon her after it had failed of +ratification by the people. Only Georgia and Louisiana, of these eight, +did not give their votes to Grant. Only Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas +remained without the pale when Grant was inaugurated in 1869. + +The completion of reconstruction in its formal sense was reached during +Grant's first Congress. Mississippi completed her process in February, +1870. She had in 1868 voted down the reconstruction constitution, taking +courage in the leadership of a conservative governor, Humphreys. When he +was removed, and replaced by a Northern governor, the conservatives lost +heart and ratified the constitution that they had rejected. Their delay +cost the State one more humiliation, since in the interval the +Fifteenth Amendment had been submitted by Congress and made a condition +of readmission for the recalcitrant States. A Republican legislature, +the first fruit of reconstruction, accepted this and sent to Washington +as the new Mississippi Senators the Northern military governor, Ames, +and a negro preacher named Revels. + +Virginia was readmitted in January, 1870. Her original loyal government +under Pierpont, which Lincoln had respected, had been supplanted by a +military régime, having lost its last chance for recognition when it +rejected the Fourteenth Amendment in 1867. Under congressional direction +a negro-radical convention made a new constitution which was forced upon +the people in January, 1870. Texas, too, was in her final stage of +restoration in 1870, and like Virginia and Mississippi was readmitted +upon conditions that had become more onerous since the passage of the +Reconstruction Acts in 1867. + +Eleven States, all the old Confederacy, had been restored by the spring +of 1870; but one, Georgia, was ejected after restoration, and thus +became the last item in congressional reconstruction. In 1868 Georgia +had ratified her new constitution and moved her capital from its +ante-bellum location at Milledgeville to the new town growing upon the +ashes of Atlanta. She had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, but her +first legislature had so poorly read the meaning of Congress that it +expelled every negro whom the radicals had elected to membership. +Congress had thereupon declined to seat the Georgia delegation at +Washington, and had renewed the probationary period until the +legislature, humbled and browbeaten, had undone the expulsion, whereupon +Georgia received her final recognition. + +The arbitrary acts of Congress, passed by the radicals over the +unvarying vetoes of Johnson, find little sanction in the Constitution, +but it is to be expected that the laws should suffer in a time of war. +Congress held off the day of restoration until it saw in the South what +its majority believed to be loyal governments. Its majority could not +believe that any party but its own was loyal, and was thus led to a +policy much more debatable than that of actual reconstruction. Step by +step it moved. The abolition of slavery, in the Thirteenth Amendment +(effective December 18, 1865), was expected by all and accepted without +a fight. The next amendment, inspired by a fear that the freedmen would +be oppressed and by a hope that they might be converted into a political +ally of the Republicans, was submitted to the States before the +Reconstruction Acts were passed, and was proclaimed as part of the +Constitution July 28, 1868. Only compulsion upon the Southern States +procured its ratification. It left negro suffrage optional with the +States, but threatened them with a reduction in representation in +Congress if they refrained from granting it. In the Southern States +Congress had already planted a negro electorate by law. The Fifteenth +Amendment forbade the denial of the right to vote on grounds of race, +color, or previous condition of servitude, and was not submitted to the +States until after the inauguration of General Grant. A fear that the +South would disfranchise the freedmen, pay the price, and revert to +Democratic control seems to have been the prime motive in its adoption. +When it was proclaimed, March 30, 1870, the radical Republicans had done +everything in their power to save themselves, and had inflicted on the +conquered States, in malice, ignorance, or mistaken philanthropy, a +condition that in the North, with its trifling number of negroes, was +tolerated with reluctance. + +The South was in name completely restored in 1870, but neither +restoration nor reconstruction was in fact far advanced. In the latter +process it was yet clearing away the wreckage of the institution of +slavery, breaking up the plantations, devising new systems of tenure and +wage, rebuilding the material equipment that the war had left desolate. +The former process was only commenced. It was unthinkable that an +American community should permit itself to remain subject to the +absolute control of its least respected members, yet this was the aim of +white disfranchisement and negro suffrage. Law or no law, the +restoration of the South was not complete until its government was back +in the control of its responsible white population. + +Almost without exception, until 1870, the Southern State Governments +were what Congress had chosen to make them. Their Senators and +Representatives in Congress were Republican, commonly of the carpet-bag +variety. Their governors, administrative officers, and legislatures were +Republican, too. Rarely were they persons of property or standing in +their communities, and often, as their records show, they were both +black and illiterate. Had all possessed good intentions they could +hardly have hoped to meet the local needs, which called for a wise +revision of law in order that the community might recover and live. That +their work should be accompanied by error and waste was inevitable. + +From the contemporary accounts of travelers in the South, from public +documents, from the growing body of Southern biography and reminiscence, +it is easy to gather a mass of detail upon the extravagance of the +Reconstruction Governments. Printing bills and salary lists rose without +a corresponding increase in service done. When expenditures exceeded the +revenues, loans were created carelessly and recklessly. For negroes, +only a few months out of the cotton-field, there was an irresistible +attraction in the plush carpets, the mahogany desks, and the imported +cuspidors that the taxpayers might be forced to provide for the comfort +of their servants. A free and continuous lunch, with ample food and +drink, was set up in one of the capitols. Gratuitous waste was the least +of the burdens inflicted upon the South. + +It is unreasonable to lay all the corruption of the Reconstruction +Governments to the account of the congressional policy. The period of +the Civil War was one of abuse of power by local officials everywhere. +It took a Tweed in New York to drive a Northern public to revolt, and a +Nast to focus public attention upon the crime. In other States, where +rogues were less brutal in their methods, or prosecutors less acute, the +evil ran, not unnoticed but unchecked. In the South the same phenomena +were resented with greater vigor than in the North because the crimes +were more openly and clumsily committed, and because they were the work +of "outsiders." + +Deliberate theft of public money was so common as to occasion no +surprise. In no State were books so kept that the modern student can be +sure he knows where all the money went. Graft in contracts, fraud in the +administration of schools and negro-relief schemes, sale of charters and +votes, illegal issues of bonds, improvident loans to railroads, combined +to enrich the office-holder and to increase the volume of public debts. +A long series of repudiations of these debts injured Southern credit for +many years. South Carolina occasioned the most vivid description of the +orgy in a book entitled _The Prostrate State_, by a Maine abolitionist +and Republican, named Pike; but several other States would have +furnished similar materials to a similar historian. + +So far as law was concerned, the South was helpless in those regions in +which the negroes approached a majority. The military garrisons which +Congress kept on duty saw to it that the freedmen were protected, yet +were unable in the long run to control the white population. It is a +vexed question whether negro violence or white was the first to appear, +but by 1867 events had begun to point the way to the elimination of +negro control by force or fraud. By law it could not be destroyed unless +the whites struggled and argued for negro votes, treating the negroes as +citizens and equals, which was generally as impossible as an acceptance +of their control. + +The Ku-Klux Klan was a secret movement, with slight organization, that +appeared earliest in Tennessee, but spread to nearly every crossroads in +the South. It began in the hazing of negroes and carpet-baggers who were +insolent or offensive to their neighbors. Its members rode by night, in +mask, with improvised pomp and ritual, and played as much upon the +imagination of their victims as upon their bodies. Frequently it +revenged private grievances and went to extremes of violence or murder. +From hazing it was an easy step to intimidation at election time, the +Ku-Klux Klan proving to be an efficient means of reducing the negro +vote. It was so efficient, indeed, that Grant asked and Congress voted, +in 1871, special powers for the policing of the South. In this summer a +committee of Congress visited Southern centers and accumulated a great +mass of testimony from which a picture of both the Ku-Klux Klan outrages +and the workings of reconstruction may easily be drawn. The reign of +terror subsided by 1872, but it had done much to dissuade the negro from +using his new right, and had started the movement for home rule in the +South. + +That the normal politics of the South was Democratic is shown by the +votes of the border States, where a population of freedmen had to be +assimilated and Congress could not interfere. Delaware, Maryland, and +Kentucky voted against Grant in 1868, although all the restored +Confederate States but two voted for him. In Georgia the Democrats +swallowed their pride, electioneered among the negroes, and elected a +conservative State Government in 1870. Tennessee escaped negro +domination from the start. Virginia, late to be readmitted, had +consolidated her white population as she watched the troubles in South +Carolina and Mississippi, and never elected a radical administration. In +North Carolina, after a fight that approached a civil war, a Democratic +State Government was chosen in 1870. The rest of the Confederate States +followed as opportunity offered; after 1872 the process was rapid, and +after 1876 there was no Republican administration in the old South. The +Republican party, itself, almost disappeared from the South at this +time. A bare organization, largely manned by negroes, endured to enjoy +the offices which a Republican National Administration could bestow, and +to contribute pliant delegations to the national conventions of the +party. But the South had become solid in the sense that its votes were +recorded almost automatically for the Democratic ticket. + +[Illustration: THE SOLID SOUTH 1880-1912 + +Within the shaded area every electoral vote was cast for the Democratic +presidential candidate between 1880 and 1892; since 1892 the heavily +shaded area has continued solidly Democratic, while the border States +have occasionally cast Republican votes.] + +Force and fraud played a large part in the restoration of white control, +but it could not have been effective without some connivance from the +North. Before 1872 the keenness of Northern radicalism was blunted. +Thoughtful Republicans began to examine their work and criticize it. "We +can never reconstruct the South," wrote Lowell, "except through its own +leading men, nor ever hope to have them on our side till we make it for +their interest and compatible with their honor to be so." A social order +which needed the constant support of troops lost the confidence of +political independents. These, as the presidential campaign of 1872 drew +near, openly expressed their hostility to reconstruction as carried out +by Grant, and threatened to prevent his reëlection. + +The first term of Grant ended unsatisfactorily. His appointments to +office were marked by favoritism and incapacity. He appointed the only +really inferior man who has ever represented the United States in +London,--one who thought it not incompatible with his high office to +publish a treatise on draw-poker, and to appear as bellwether in a +mining prospectus. Grant's personal intimates included shifty +financiers. Corruption and misgovernment at the South were held against +him, though Congress was properly to blame for them. Only in his stand +for honest finance, his effort to improve the Indian service, and his +conclusion of the disputes with Great Britain, could his supporters take +great pride. + +The settlement with England was his greatest achievement. Since the +summer of 1862, when the Alabama had evaded the British officials and +had gone to sea, the American Minister in London had continued to press +for damages. The Alabama claims were based on the assertion that the law +of neutrals required Great Britain to prevent any hostile vessel from +starting, in her waters, upon a cruise against the United States. In the +face of official rebuff and popular sneers Charles Francis Adams +formulated the claims. His successor, Reverdy Johnson, reached a sort of +settlement which the Senate declined to ratify, and which Sumner +denounced. It was Sumner's contention that the Civil War was prolonged +by British aid and that a demand for national damages (perhaps +$2,000,000,000, or Canada, by way of substitute) ought to be advanced. +So tense did the international situation become in 1869 and 1870 that +friends of peace were frightened. Boundaries, fisheries, and general +claims aggravated the situation, which was given into the hands of a +Joint High Commission, hastily summoned to meet in Washington in 1870. +The resulting Treaty of Washington, and the successful arbitrations +which followed it, eliminated Sumner's extreme contention but vindicated +the main American claims and founded Anglo-American relations on a more +secure basis than they had ever known. It was Grant's great triumph, but +it was a political danger as well, for the negotiator in charge, Charles +Francis Adams, loomed up as the possible presidential candidate of the +Republican dissenters. + +The Liberal Republicans included the enemies of Grant as well as +dissatisfied reformers of all sorts. Carl Schurz, the great +German-American independent, was their leader. Horace Greeley, whose +_Tribune_ had done much to make the Republican party possible, gave them +his support. Charles Francis Adams was not indifferent to them. Salmon +P. Chase wanted their nomination. Young newspaper men, like Whitelaw +Reid and Henry Watterson, tried to control them. And the new group of +civil service reformers, disappointed in Grant, hoped that the new party +would take a step toward better government. At Cincinnati, in May, 1872, +they met in mass convention, and nominated Horace Greeley and Gratz +Brown. Their platform denounced Republican reconstruction, urged the +return to self-government in the South, and advocated civil service +reform, specie payments, and maintenance of public credit. The schism +became more threatening when the Democrats saw a chance through fusion, +and nominated the same candidates at Baltimore in July. + +No quainter political figure has appeared in America than Horace +Greeley, thus transferred from his editorial office to the stump. Long +used to the freedom of the press, he had advocated many things in his +lifetime, had examined and exploited unpopular social reforms, had +contradicted himself and retraced his tracks repeatedly. The biting +cartoons of Nast exploited all these; but no contrast was so absurd as +that which brought to the great denouncer of slavery and the South the +support of the party of the South. + +The Republican Convention renominated Grant at Philadelphia without +opposition, refused Colfax a second term, and picked Henry Wilson for +Vice-President. Its platform, as in 1868, was retrospective, taking +pride in its great achievements and assuming full credit for the war, +reconstruction, and financial honor. It offered its ticket to all the +States for the first time since 1860, and elected Grant with ease. The +inharmonious Democrat-Liberal-Republican alliance increased the +Republican majority, but the returns from the South confirmed the +suspicion that home rule was in sight. + +Restored completely to themselves, four years later, the Southern +Governments ceased to play much part in national affairs and continued +the economic rebuilding of their region. It was thirty years after the +war before the South, in population and business, had recovered from its +devastation, and even then it was far from subordinating its local +politics to national issues. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The writings of Rhodes and Dunning contain the best comprehensive +accounts of political reconstruction. For greater detail, the series of +doctoral dissertations on reconstruction in the several States, directed +by Professor Dunning and printed generally in the Columbia University +Studies, has great value. In W.L. Fleming, _Documentary History of +Reconstruction_ (2 vols., 1906), important selections from the sources +have been printed; the same writer's _Civil War and Reconstruction in +Alabama_ (1905) is the best account of the process in a single State. +J.A. Woodburn, _Thaddeus Stevens_, is useful. The old and new economic +systems of the South receive their keenest interpretation in the works +of U.B. Phillips and A.H. Stone. The _Annual Cyclopædia_ continues +valuable; the Report of the Ku-Klux Committee is invaluable (42d +Congress, 2d Session, Senate Report, No. 41, 13 vols.). _Harper's +Weekly_, which supported Grant in 1872, was the most prominent journal +of the period. C.F. Adams, Jr., has contributed to the diplomatic +history of these years his _Charles Francis Adams_ (1900, in American +Statesmen Series), and his "Treaty of Washington" (in _Lee and +Appomattox_, 1902). Elaborate details of the arbitrations are in J.B. +Moore, _History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to which +the United States has been a Party_ (6 vols., 1898). An interesting +series of recollections of reconstruction events, by Watterson, Reid, +Edmunds, and others, was printed in the _Century Magazine_ during 1913. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PANIC OF 1873 + + +"Are not all the great communities of the Western World growing more +corrupt as they grow in wealth?" asked a critical and thoughtful +journalist, Edwin L. Godkin, in 1868, as he considered the relations of +business and politics. He answered himself in the affirmative and found +comrades in his pessimism throughout that intellectual class in whose +achievements America has taken conscious pride. For at least ten years +they despaired of the return of honesty. James Russell Lowell, decorated +with the D.C.L. of Oxford, and honored everywhere in the world of +letters, was filled with doubt and dismay as late as 1876, at "the +degradation of the moral tone. Is it, or is it not," he asked, "a result +of democracy? Is ours a 'government of the people by the people for the +people,' or ... for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?" + +It was not without reason that serious men were fearful in the years in +which military heroes dominated in politics, and in which commerce +struggled with its revolution. Had they foreseen the course of the next +generation, noted the progress of new ideas in government, the extension +of philanthropy and social relief, and the passion for education that +swept the country, they need not have despaired. Godkin, himself, could +not have made a living from his _Nation_, with its high ideals, its +criticism, and its despondency, in a land that was wholly rotten. The +young college presidents of the period could not have found a livelihood +in a country that was not fundamentally sound. At Harvard, Charles +William Eliot broke down the old technique of culture and enlarged its +range; at Michigan, James Burrill Angell proved it possible to maintain +sound, scholarly, and non-political education, in a public institution +supported by taxation; in a new university a private benefactor, Johns +Hopkins, gave to Daniel Coit Gilman a chance to show that creative +scholarship can flourish in a democracy. But the essential soundness of +the Republic was as much obscured in 1868 as its wealth had been in +1861, and for the present the objects on the surface, brought there by +violent convulsion, represented its less creditable part. + +The years of Grant's Presidency were filled with unsightly episodes, +that were scandalous then and have been discouraging always. In his +first year of office, Jay Gould and James Fisk, tempted by the premium +on gold, tried to corner the market, and Grant's public association with +the speculators brought upon him fair reproach. Tweed, exposed and +jailed after a long fight, revealed the close alliance between crooked +politics and business in the cities, and became a national disgrace. +Less prominent than these but far from proper were Schenck and Frémont. +The latter was arrested in France, charged with promoting a railroad on +the strength of land grants that did not exist. He had been close to +the old Republican organization, and the figurehead of the radicals in +1864, so that his notoriety was great. Schenck, while Minister in +London, posed as director of a mining company, and borrowed from the +promoters of the scheme the money with which he bought his shares. When +the company proved insolvent, and perhaps fraudulent, Grant was forced +to recall him. Critics who saw dishonesty or low ethical standards in +these men were ready to see in the carnival of the Reconstruction +Governments wholesale proofs of decadence. + +During the campaign of 1872 yet another item was added to the unpleasant +list. Letters were made public showing how Congressmen had taken pay, or +its equivalent, from men behind the Union Pacific Railroad. The scandal +of the Crédit Mobilier touched men in all walks of life, beginning with +Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President of the United States, including Blaine, +Allison, and Garfield, Wilson and Dawes, and other men who no longer +held office. Some of these denied the charges and proved their +innocence. But none entirely escaped the suspicion that their sense of +official propriety was low, and their list sampled the Republican party +at all its levels. One of the victims, Colfax, talked freely in 1870 of +gifts received--a carriage from a Congressman and horses from an express +company. + +In 1872 the notorious Butler aimed at the governorship of Massachusetts. +He failed to get the Republican nomination, but the strength of his +candidacy showed the uncritical devotion of many voters to success. He +resumed his seat in Congress, unabashed, and put through an act +properly increasing the salaries of Washington officials, but applying +also to the men who voted for it and to the session just ending. Its +makers went home to explain their part in the "salary grab" to their +constituents, and many never returned to Congress. + +Other improprieties of the first Administration of Grant came to light +in his second term. His Secretary of War, Belknap, confessed to the sale +of offices. In the Treasury Department were uncovered the whiskey frauds +which tainted even Grant's private secretary. And the Speaker of the +House, Blaine, was shown to have urged a railroad company to recognize +his official aid, promising not to be a "deadhead in the enterprise" in +its future service. + +There is no better illustration of the commercial ethics of the sixties +than may be found in the letters of Jay Cooke, philanthropist and +financier. With a lively and sincere piety, and an unrestrained +generosity, he at once extended hospitalities to the political leaders +of the day, carried their private speculations on his books, and +performed official services to the Government. It was impossible to tell +where his public service ended and his private emolument began, but +there was nothing in his life of which he was ashamed. A friend of +General Grant, and liberal patron of his children, Cooke was actually +entertaining the President at his country home just outside of +Philadelphia when the failure of his banking house precipitated the +panic of 1873. + +There had been financial uneasiness abroad and in the United States for +several months, but few had anticipated the collapse of credit that +followed the suspension of Jay Cooke and Company, September 18, 1873. If +this house failed, none could be regarded as safe. Jay Cooke had +established his reputation during the Civil War through his ability to +find a market for United States bonds. After the war he had carried his +activity and prestige into railways. In 1869 he had become the financial +agent of the Northern Pacific, and customers, encouraged by their good +bargains in the past, continued to invest through him as he directed. +His personal followers, numerous and confident, had been taught to +believe his credit as sound as that of the Government whose bonds he had +handled. When he collapsed, overloaded with Northern Pacific securities, +in which his confidence was enthusiastic, the panic was so acute that +the New York Stock Exchange closed its doors for ten days, to prevent +the ruinous prices that forced sales might have created. Thirty or more +banking houses were drawn down by the crash within forty-eight hours. +Others followed in all the business centers, while trade stood still +through the paralysis of its banking agents. + +The distribution of the panic throughout the United States followed the +usual course. In the first crisis, banking houses broke down, unable to +meet the runs of their depositors or their original obligations. The +depositors next, unable to secure their own funds or to obtain their +usual loans, were driven to insolvency. After the failure of banks came +that of railroads, the wholesale houses, and the factories. As these +last defaulted, the loss was spread over their employees, their +contractors, and their creditors. Confidence was everywhere destroyed. +Investments were lost, or lessened, or put off indefinitely in their +payments. After a few days the acute crisis was over, but the resulting +depression brought stagnation to business. Industries marked time, at +best; expansions were out of the question; new enterprises were not +heard of. From 1873 until 1879 the United States was engaged in recovery +from the injury which the panic had done and from the weakness which it +had revealed. + +The panic, followed by five years of economic prostration, was only +occasioned by the failure of Cooke. Its real causes lie throughout the +period of Civil War expansion. Never had the daily necessities of the +United States equaled its production, and the resulting surplus, +available for permanent improvements, was larger than ever in the +sixties because of the growing use of machinery. Funds for investment, +produced at home and increased through the strong foreign credit of the +United States, tempted and aided the speculative development of the +North and West. Yearly greater sums were sunk in municipal improvements +that brought in no return, or in railroads that were slow in paying, or +in errors that were a dead loss. The loss from the Civil War was an +added charge upon the surplus. Great fires in Boston and Chicago +consumed more of it. By 1870 the United States was using surplus at a +rate that threatened soon to exhaust it. When the limit should be +reached, new enterprises must necessarily cease, and all that were not +wisely planned must fall, dragging down others in their ruins. For +months before the failure of Jay Cooke, business had been dangerously +near this margin. His failure, caused by his inability to find a market +for Northern Pacific, merely precipitated the inevitable crash. + +The faulty currency, outstanding since the war, and adding to the +business uncertainty, now aggravated the panic when it broke. The +greenbacks were slowly rising in value. They profited by the growing +credit of the United States, and received a special increase because of +the development of business. After 1865 business transactions grew in +number and volume more rapidly than the amount of available money, and +this, driven to greater activity in circulation, rose in value from the +increased demand. As the purchasing value of the dollar increased, +prices, measured by the greenbacks, necessarily fell, while the +equivalent of every debt that had to be paid in a specified number of +dollars as steadily rose. Indeed, so great was the increase of +production from the new farms, reached by the new railroads, and +supplying raw materials for the new factory processes, that prices fell, +even when stated in terms of gold. In a period of falling prices and +appreciating currency, the gap between the poor and the rich was +widened. The debtor carried a growing burden while the creditor +harvested an unearned increase. Persons who lived on fixed salary or +income profited by the fluctuations, but commercial transactions were +made more difficult for the debtor. + +The organized Greenback movement had figured in politics during the +campaign of 1868, and made a special appeal to the debtor section +during the hard times after 1873. The Republican Congress had, in 1869, +sealed the professions of the party's platform by passing a resolution +"to strengthen the public credit," in which it declared "that the faith +of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin or its +equivalent," of the greenbacks, and that the United States would not +take advantage of its creditors by paying off its "lawful-money" bonds +in depreciated paper. All debts created before the war or during its +early years had lost through depreciation, just as the later debts had +gained through the reverse. + +Despite this pledge, advocates of greenback inflation, with Butler among +their leaders, became more numerous in both parties after the panic, and +an attempt was made to have Congress reverse itself. Grant's Secretary +of the Treasury gave a new construction to the law by reissuing during +the critical days of the panic some $26,000,000 of greenbacks that had +been called in by McCulloch. He raised the total outstanding to +$382,000,000, and Congress in 1874 passed a law increasing the amount to +$400,000,000, in an act named by its opponents the "Inflation Bill." To +the surprise of many, Grant sharply vetoed the act, adhering to his +views of 1869 on the evils of an irredeemable paper currency. During the +next winter John Sherman, Senator from Ohio, induced Congress to take a +step in fulfillment of the guaranty which Grant had saved. On January +14, 1875, it was provided that the Treasury should resume the payment of +specie on demand on January 1, 1879. + +Ultimately Congress was saved from the act of repudiation which the +Greenbackers urged upon it, but while the movement flourished it added +another to the catalogue of troubles with which men like Godkin and +Lowell were distressed. Easterners, in general, had as little +understanding of the West as they had had of the race problem in the +South. They were disposed to attribute to inherent dishonesty the +inflation movement, and to ignore the real economic grievance upon which +it was founded. The suspicions directed against the ethical standards of +the West were increased by the Granger movement, to which the panic gave +volume and importance. + +Among the social phenomena of 1873-74 was the sudden emergence in the +Northwest of a semi-secret, ritualistic society, calling itself the +"Patrons of Husbandry," but popularly known as the "Grange." It was +founded locally upon the soil, in farmers' clubs, or granges, at whose +meetings the men talked politics, while their wives prepared a picnic +supper and the children played outdoors. It had had a nominal existence +since 1867, but during the panic it unexpectedly met a new need and grew +rapidly, creating 1000 or more local granges a month, until at its +maximum in 1874 it embraced perhaps 20,000 granges and 1,600,000 +persons. In theory the granges were grouped by States, which latter were +consolidated in the National Grange; in fact, the movement was almost +entirely confined to the region north of the Ohio River, and even to the +district northwest of Chicago. + +Such a movement as the Grange, revealing a common purpose over a wide +area and in a great number of citizens, could not but affect party +allegiance and the conduct of party leaders. Simultaneously with its +development the legislatures of the Northwest--Illinois, Wisconsin, and +Iowa--became restive under existing conditions, and assumed an attitude +which became characteristic of the Grange,--one of hostility to +railroads and their management. With the approval of the people, these +States passed, between 1871 and 1874, a series of regulative acts +respecting the railways, which were known at the start as the "Granger +Laws," and which became a permanent contribution to American government. + +To Eastern opinion the Greenback movement had been barefaced +repudiation; the Granger movement seemed to be confiscation; for every +law provided a means by which public authority should fix the charge +imposed by the railroad upon its customer. Both movements need to be +studied in their local environment, which at least explains the Western +zeal in clamoring for the greenbacks, and shows that in the Granger +movement the West saw farther than it knew. + +The Civil War period marks a new era in the history of American +railways. Prior to the panic of 1837, the few lines that were built were +local. Few could foresee that the railway would ever be more than an +adjunct to the turnpike and canal in bringing the city centers closer to +their environs. In the revival of industry after the panic of 1837, the +mileage increased progressively, and before the next panic checked +business in 1857 the tidewater region was well provided, and the +Alleghanies had been crossed by several trunk lines whose heads extended +to the Lakes and to the Mississippi. But in these years the change was +of degree rather than of kind. The lines were built to supplement +existing routes, like the Erie Canal, the Lakes, the Ohio River, or the +Mississippi. They connected communities already well developed and +prosperous, and in undertaking new enterprises promoters had figured +upon capturing the profits of existing trade. + +In the new epoch of the sixties there were only new fields to conquer. +The great enterprises were forced to speculate upon the development of +the public domain and to find their profits in the business of +communities to which they themselves gave birth. Natural waterways and +roads extended little west of Chicago. The new fields were entered by +the railroads without prospect of any competition but that of other +railroads. The resulting communities, born and developed between 1857 +and 1873, were peculiarly the creatures of, and dependent on, the +railway lines. + +This inevitable dependence on railways colored the history of Wisconsin, +Iowa, and Minnesota, and, to a lesser degree, of all the West. While men +were yet prosperous and sanguine and without adequate railway service, +they offered high inducements to promoters of railways. Once the roads +were built and the communities began to pay for them and to maintain +them, the dependence was realized and anti-railway agitation began. The +fact that they were commonly built on money borrowed from the East +threw debtors and creditors into sectional classes injurious to both. + +The antagonism to railways was increased because these yet regarded +their trade as private, to be conducted in secrecy, with transportation +to be sold at the best rates that could be got from the individual +customer. The big shipper got the wholesale rate; the small shipper paid +the maximum. Favoritism, discrimination, rebates, were the life of +railway trade, and railway managers objected to them only because they +endangered profits, not because they felt any obligation to maintain +uniformity in charges. + +In a community as dependent on the railways as the Northwest was, the +iniquity of discriminatory or extortionate rates was soon seen. The +East, with rival routes and less dependence on staple interests, saw it +less clearly. The charges were paid grumblingly in good times; in bad +times, when the rising greenbacks squeezed the debtor West and the panic +of 1873 stopped business everywhere, the farmers soon made common cause. +They seized upon the skeleton organization of the grange and gave it +life. In 1874 their organized discontent compelled attention. + +The Granger Laws were an attempt to establish a new legal doctrine that +railways are quasi-public because of the nature of the service which +they render and the privileges they enjoy. This principle was overlaid +in many cases by the human desire to punish the railroads as the cause +of economic distress, but it was visible in all the laws. It is an old +rule of the common law that the ferryman, the baker, and the innkeeper +are subject to public control, and railways were now classified with +these. In Wisconsin, the "Potter" Law established a schedule with +classified rates, superseding all rate-cards of railroads in that State. +Illinois created a railroad and warehouse commission with power to fix +rates and annul warehouse charters. In Iowa the maximum rates were fixed +by law. + +The railroads failed to realize at once what the new laws meant. They +denounced them as confiscatory, and attacked them in court as wrong in +theory and bad in application. Even admitting the principle of +regulation, the laws were so crudely shaped as to be nearly unworkable. +Farmer legislators, chosen on the issue of opposition to railways, were +not likely to show either fairness or scientific knowledge. Coming at +the same time with the panic of 1873, it is impossible to measure the +precise effect of any of these laws, and all were modified before many +years. But the railroads' objection lay beneath the detail, and the +fundamental fight turned on two points--the right of public authority to +regulate a rate at all, and whether state regulation was compatible with +the power of Congress over interstate commerce. + +By 1876 the appeals of the railroads against the constitutionality of +these Granger Laws had gone through the highest state courts to the +Supreme Court of the United States. In the spring of 1877 that body +handed down a definitive decision in the case of Munn _vs._ the State of +Illinois in which it recognized that the "controlling fact is the power +to regulate at all." It held that when the institutions in question (in +this case warehouses) established themselves, they did so "from the +beginning subject to the power of the body politic to require them to +conform to such regulations as might be established by the proper +authorities for the common good." It upheld the rate laws, declared that +they were not an infringement upon the powers of Congress, and thus gave +formal sanction to a new doctrine in American law. + +The legal consequences of the "Granger Cases" extended through the +ensuing generation. The need for public intervention grew steadily +stronger, and as time went on it became clear that this control could +not be administered by orators or spoilsmen, but called for scientific +training and permanence of policy. It was one of many influences working +to reshape American administrative practice. + +The Granger movement had close relations with the panic of 1873, +although it must anyway have appeared in the Northwest at no remote +date. As a political force it soon died out, leaving the principle of +regulation as its memorial. With the gradual recurrence of prosperity +the Northwest found new interests, and as early as 1877, when the +decisions were made, the passion had subsided. + +It was, however, a gloomy United States that faced the end of its first +century of independence, in 1876. Pessimism was widely spread among the +best educated in the East. Public life was everywhere discredited by the +conduct of high officials. The South was in the midst of its struggle +for home rule, which it could win only through wholesale force and +fraud. The West was discouraged over finance and still depressed by the +panic. Yet Philadelphia went ahead to celebrate the centennial as though +it were ending the century as hopefully as it had begun. + +The Exposition at Philadelphia this year was a revelation to the United +States. Though far surpassed by later "world's fairs," it displayed the +wide resources of the United States and brought home the difference +between American and European civilization. The foreign exhibits first +had a chastening influence upon American exuberance, and then stimulated +the development of higher artistic standards. In ingenuity the American +mind held its own against all competition. But few Americans had +traveled, the cheap processes of illustration were yet unknown, and in +the resulting ignorance the United States had been left to its +assumption of a superiority unjustified by the facts. From the +centennial year may be dated the closer approach of American standards +to those of the better classes of Europe. + +In the summer of 1876 the thirty-eighth State, Colorado, was added to +the Union. It had been seventeen years since the miners thronged the +Kansas and Nebraska plains, bound for "Pike's Peak or Bust!" In the +interval the mining camps had become permanent communities. Authorized +in 1864 to form a State, they had declined to accept the responsibility +and had lingered for many years with only a handful of inhabitants. Now +and then entirely isolated from the United States by Indian wars, they +had prayed for the continental railroad, only to be disappointed when +the Union Pacific went through Cheyenne instead of Denver. One of the +branches of the Union Pacific was extended to Denver in 1870, and +thereafter Colorado grew in spite of the panic of 1873. Grant began to +urge its admission in his first Administration, and signed a +proclamation admitting it in 1876. It came in in time to cast three +Republican electoral votes in the most troublesome presidential contest +the United States had seen. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Among the more valuable books of biography and reminiscence for this +period are R. Ogden, _Life and Letters of Edwin Lawrence Godkin_ (2 +vols., 1907); H.E. Scudder, _James Russell Lowell_ (2 vols., 1901); C.E. +Norton, ed., _Letters of J.R. Lowell_ (1894); _Reminiscences of James B. +Angell_ (1912); J. T. Austen, _Moses Coit Tyler, 1835-1900_ (1911); J.G. +Blaine, _Twenty Years of Congress_; E.P. Oberholtzer, _Jay Cooke_; and +A.B. Paine, _Th. Nast_ (1904). The Crédit Mobilier may best be studied +in Rhodes, in J.B. Crawford, _Crédit Mobilier of America_ (1880), and in +the reports of the committees of Congress that investigated the scandal +(42d Congress, 2d Session, House Report no. 77). J.W. Million, _State +Aid to Railways in Missouri_ (1896), gives a good view of railroad +promotion schemes. F. Carter, _When Railroads were New_ (1909), is a +popular summary. In J.R. Commons (ed.), _Documentary History of American +Industrial Society_ (10 vols., 1910-), are various documents relating to +the Grange, which organization received its classic treatment in E.W. +Martin, _History of the Granger Movement_ (1874; his illustrations +should be compared with those in J.H. Beadle, _Our Undeveloped West_, in +which some of them had originally appeared in 1873). There are numerous +economic discussions of the Grange in the periodicals, which may be +found through Poole's Indexes, the best work having been done by S.J. +Buck. The _Chapters of Erie_ (1869), by C.F. Adams, is a valuable +picture of railroad ethics. Much light is thrown upon financial matters +by the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury and J.D. +Richardson (ed.), _Messages and Papers of the Presidents_ (10 vols.). + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE HAYES ADMINISTRATION + + +The reëlection of Grant in 1872 was almost automatic. No new issue had +forced itself into politics to stir up the old party fires or light new +ones. The old issues had begun to lose their force. Men ceased to +respond when told that the Union was in danger; they questioned or +ignored the statement. Many of them contradicted it and voted for +Greeley in 1872, but they were impelled to this by repulsion from +Republican practice rather than by attraction to Democratic promise. +Yet, on the whole, the habit of voting the Union or Republican ticket +retained its hold on so many in the North that Grant's second term was +insured, and it was even possible that a Republican successor might +profit by the same political inertia. + +The second term (1873-77) added no strength to Grant or to his party. +Throughout its course, administrative scandals continued to come to +light, striking at times dangerously near the President, but failing to +injure him other than in his repute for judgment. The period was one of +financial depression and discouragement. The best intellect of the +United States was directed into business, the professions, and +educational administration. Politics was generally left to the men who +had already controlled it, and these were the men who had risen into +prominence in the period of the Civil War. + +THE POLITICAL SITUATION AT WASHINGTON, 1869-1917 + +Showing the party in control of the national government in each Congress + +President ++------+ +-------+ +--------+ +------------+ +-------------+ +-----------+ +|GRANT | | GRANT | | HAYES | | GARFIELD- | | CLEVELAND | | HARRISON | +| | | | | | | ARTHUR | | | | | +| R | | R | | R | | R | | D | | R | ++------+ +-------+ +--------+ +------------+ +-------------+ +-----------+ +Senate +1869 1873 1877 1881 1885 1889 1893 ++------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+----+---+ +| R | R | R | R | R | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | ++------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+----+---+ +House + 1871 1875 1879 1883 1887 1891 ++---+ +----+ +---+ +-----+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +----+ +---+ +|41 | |42 | |43 | |44 | |45 | |46 | |47 | |48 | |49 | |50 | |51 | |52 | +| B | | B | | B | | R | | R | | R | | K | | C | | C | | C | | R | | C | +| l | | l | | l | | a | | a | | a | | e | | a | | a | | a | | e | | r | +| a | | a | | a | | n K | | n | | n | | i | | r | | r | | r | | e | | i | +| i | | i | | i | | d e | | d | | d | | f | | l | | l | | l | | d | | s | +| n | | n | | n | | a r | | a | | a | | e | | i | | i | | i | | | | p | +| e | | e | | e | | l r | | l | | l | | r | | s | | s | | s | | | | | +| | | | | | | l | | l | | l | | | | l | | l | | l | | | | | +| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | e | | e | | e | | | | | +| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +| R | | R | | R | | D | | D | | D | | R | | D | | D | | D | | R | | D | ++---+ +----+ +---+ +-----+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +----+ +---+ + +President ++----------+ +----------+ +-----------+ +-----------+ +--------+ +--------+ +| | | | | | | | | | | | +|CLEVELAND | | McKINLEY | | McKINLEY- | | ROOSEVELT | | TAFT | | WILSON | +| | | | | ROOSEVELT | | | | | | | +| | | | | | | | | | | | +| D | | R | | R | | R | | R | | D | +| | | | | | | | | | | | ++----------+ +----------+ +-----------+ +-----------+ +--------+ +--------+ +Senate +1893 1897 1901 1905 1909 1913 ++------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+ +| | | | | | | | | | | | | +| D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | +| | | | | | | | | | | | | ++------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+ +House + 1895 1899 1903 1907 1911 ++---+ +---+ +---+ +----+ +---+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +|53 | |54 | |55 | |56 | |57 | |58 | |59 | |60 | |61 | |62 | |63 | |64 | +| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +| C | | R | | R | | H | | H | | C | | C | | C | | C | | C | | C | | C | +| r | | e | | e | | e | | e | | a | | a | | a | | a | | l | | l | | l | +| i | | e | | e | | n | | n | | n | | n | | n | | n | | a | | a | | a | +| s | | d | | d | | d | | d | | n | | n | | n | | n | | r | | r | | r | +| p | | | | | | e | | e | | o | | o | | o | | o | | k | | k | | k | +| | | | | | | r | | r | | n | | n | | n | | n | | | | | |(?)| +| | | | | | | s | | s | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +| | | | | | | o | | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +| | | | | | | n | | n | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +| D | | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | | D | | D | | D | ++---+ +---+ +---+ +----+ +---+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ + +During only three of the ten Congresses between 1875 and 1895 did either +party control the national government. The Democrats were in possession +only once, in the 53d Congress. The Republicans controlled the 47th +Congress by manipulation of senators, and the 51st by Reed's drastic +rules. Most of the partisan legislation of twenty years was enacted +during these three Congresses. + +A new and not a better type was brought into American politics by the +Civil War. Notwithstanding the bad manners and excesses of ante-bellum +politics, the leaders had been men of defined policy, only occasionally +reaching high office through trickery or personal appeal. Now came the +presence of an intense issue which smoothed out other differences, +magnified a single policy,--the saving of the Union,--and gave +opportunity to a new type of intense, patriotic, narrow mind. Men of +this type dominated in the reconstruction days. As the sixties advanced, +their number was recruited by men who had won prominence and popularity +on the battlefield, who used military fame as a step into politics, and +who came into public life with qualifications adapted to an issue that +was closed. + +Few of the leaders of the period 1861 to 1876 ever grew into an +understanding of problems other than those of the Civil War. The most +eminent of them were gone before the latter year. Lincoln was dead; +Grant had had two terms; Stevens was gone; Sumner had been driven from +party honor before his death; Chase had died Chief Justice, but unhappy. +With these men living, lesser men had remained obscure. As they dropped +out, a host of minor leaders, trained to a disproportionate view of the +war and ignorant of other things, controlled affairs. + +About these men the scandals of the Grant Administrations clustered, and +their standards came to be those of the Republican party organization. +They represented a dead issue, which they had never directed when it +was alive, and were chosen by voters whose choice had become automatic. +In their hands office tended to become a thing to be enjoyed for its own +sake, not a trust to be fulfilled. + +If the Republican organization was drifting into the control of +second-rate men who misrepresented the rank and file, the status of the +opposition was no better. At the South the Democratic party was openly +founded on force and fraud. In the deliberate judgment of the white +population of the South, negro control was intolerable and worse than +any variety of political corruption that might be necessary to prevent +it. The leaders of the party in this section had borne so important a +part in the Confederacy that it was hopeless to think of them for +national leaders, while they could meet the Northern charge of fraud +only by the assertion of a greater alternate evil, which their opponents +would not recognize as such. The South could be counted on for +Democratic votes, but not as yet for leaders. + +In the North and West the Democratic party was still weakened by its +past. Its leaders of the early sixties, where they had not joined the +Union party, were Copperheads, and were as little available as +ex-Confederates. One of them, Seymour, whose loyalty, though he was in +opposition to Lincoln, is above question, had been nominated and +defeated in 1868. So few had been available in 1872 that the party had +been reduced to the indorsement of Horace Greeley. Even the scandals of +the Republican administration could not avail the Democrats unless a +leader could be found free from the taint of treason and copperheadism +and strong enough to hold the party North and South. + +In the paucity of leaders during Grant's second Administration the +Democrats turned to New York where a reform governor was producing +actual results and restoring the prestige of his party. Like other +Democrats of his day, Samuel J. Tilden had few events in his life during +the sixties to which he could "point with pride" in the certain +assurance that his fellow citizens would recognize and reward them. He +had been a civilian and a lawyer. He had not broken with his party on +its "war a failure" issue in 1864. He had acted harmoniously with +Tammany Hall while it began its scheme of plunder, in New York City. But +he had turned upon that organization and by prosecuting the Tweed Ring +had made its real nature clear. Within the party he had led the demand +to turn the rascals out, and had been elected Governor of New York on +this record in 1874. As Governor he had proved that public corruption +was non-partisan and had exposed fraud among both parties so effectively +that he was clearly the most available candidate when the Democratic +Convention met in St. Louis in 1876. + +The only competitors of Tilden for the Democratic nomination were +"favorite sons." Thomas A. Hendricks, a Greenbacker, was offered by +Indiana and pushed on the supposition that this doubtful State could not +be carried otherwise. Pennsylvania presented the hero of Gettysburg, +General Winfield Scott Hancock, through whom it was hoped to bring to +the Democratic ticket the aid of a good war record. The other candidates +received local and scattering votes, and altogether they postponed the +nomination for only one ballot. On the first ballot Tilden started with +more than half the votes; on the second he had nearly forty more than +the necessary two thirds. Hendricks got the Vice-Presidency, and the +party entered the campaign upon a program of reform. + +The Republicans had completed their nominations some weeks before the +Democrats met, and having no unquestioned leader had been forced to +adjust the claims of several minor men. Six different men received as +many as fifty votes on one ballot or another, but only three factions in +the party stood out clearly. The Administration group had sounded the +public on a third term for Grant, and receiving scanty support had +brought forward Conkling, a shrewd New York leader, and Morton, war +Governor of Indiana. The out-and-out reformers were for Bristow, who had +made a striking reputation as Secretary of the Treasury, over the frauds +of the Whiskey Ring. Between the two groups was the largest single +faction, which stood for James G. Blaine from first to last. + +The political fortunes of James G. Blaine prove the difficulty with +which a politician brought up in the Civil War period retained his +leadership in the next era. Blaine had been a loyal and radical +Republican through the war. Gifted with personal charms of high order, +he had built up a political following which his unswerving orthodoxy and +his service as Speaker of the House of Representatives served to widen. +Never a rich man, he had felt forced to add to his salary by +speculations and earnings on the side. In these he had come into contact +with railroad promoters and had not seen the line beyond which a public +man must not go, even in the sixties. His indiscretions had imperiled +his reputation at the time of the Crédit Mobilier scandal. They became +common property when an old associate forced him to the defensive on the +eve of the convention of 1876. In the dramatic scene in the House of +Representatives when Blaine read the humiliating "Mulligan" letters that +he had written years before, tried to explain them, and denounced his +enemies, he convinced his friends of his innocence, and evidenced to all +his courage and assurance. But his critics, reading the letters in +detail, were confirmed in their belief that if his official conduct was +not criminal, it was at least improper, and that no man with a blunted +sense of propriety ought to be President. + +Despite all opposition, Blaine might have won the nomination had not a +sunstroke raised a question as to his physical availability. He led for +six ballots in the convention, and only on the seventh could his +opponents agree upon the favorite son of Ohio, General Rutherford B. +Hayes, who added to military distinction a good record as Governor of +his State. + +Neither Hayes nor Tilden represented a political issue. Each had been +nominated because of availability, and each party contained many voters +on each side of every question before the public. Even the appeal to +loyalty and Union, which had worked in three campaigns, failed to stir +the States. Blaine, expert in the appeal, had revived it over the +proposition to extend pardon and amnesty to Jefferson Davis, but his +frantic efforts, as he waved the "bloody shirt," evoked no general +enthusiasm. The war and reconstruction were over, but the old parties +had not learned it. + +There was doubt throughout the canvass as to the nature of the issue, +and when the votes were counted there was equal doubt as to which of the +candidates had been elected. Tilden had received a popular plurality +over Hayes of about 250,000 votes, but it was not certain that these +carried with them a majority of the electoral college. Of the 369 +electoral votes, Tilden and Hendricks had, without question, 184; while +Hayes and Wheeler were equally secure in 166. The remaining 19 (Florida, +Louisiana, and South Carolina) were claimed by both parties, and it +appeared that both claims were founded on widespread fraud. Unless all +these 19 votes could be secured, Hayes was defeated, and to obtain them +the Republican party set to work. + +For weeks between the election and the counting of the electoral votes +the United States debated angrily over the result. The Constitution +required that when Congress should meet in joint session to hear the +returns, the Vice-President should preside, and should open the +certificates from the several States; and that the votes should then be +counted. It was silent as to the body which should do the counting, or +should determine which of two doubtful returns to count. Since the +outcome of the election would turn upon the answer to this question, it +was necessary to find some solution before March 4, 1877. + +Failing to find in the Constitution a rule for determining cases such as +this, Congress made its own, and created an Electoral Commission to +which the doubtful cases were to be submitted. This body, fifteen in +number, five each from Senate, House, and Supreme Court, failed, as +historians have since failed, to convince the United States that the +claims of either Republican or Democratic electors were sound. Honest +men still differ in their beliefs. The members came out of the +Commission as they went in, firm in the acceptance of their parties' +claims, and since eight of the fifteen members were Republican, the +result was a decision giving none of the nineteen contests to Tilden, +and making possible the inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes. + +There was bitter partisanship shown over the contest, and the Democrats, +with a real majority of popular votes, maintained that they had been +robbed of the Presidency. Excepting this, there was no issue that +clearly separated the followers of Hayes from those of Tilden when the +former took the oath of office. There was likewise, unhappily for Hayes, +no common bond by which the President could hold his own party together +and make a successful administration. + +Like three of his predecessors, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and +Martin Van Buren, Hayes was carried into office by the weight of a +well-organized machine, rather than by his own hold upon the people. +Like all of them he fought faction as a consequence, and every new step +in administration forced upon him increased his embarrassment in +conducting the Government. At the start, he alienated many Republicans +by his policy toward the South. + +Before the election Hayes had reached the conclusion that coercion in +the South must be abandoned. The people must be left in control of their +own institutions, and if they mishandled them must take the +consequences. This meant that the last of the States, in which only the +army garrisons had kept the Republicans in office, must revert to the +control of the Democrats. It also meant an attack upon the President by +those who still believed the South a menace, and those who cherished it +as a political issue,--the "sentimentalists controlled by knaves," in +Godkin's language. Hayes acted upon his conviction as soon as he took +office, withdrew the troops, and turned over to the South her own +problems. Political reconstruction, as shaped by Congress, had broken +down in every part, and it remained to be seen whether the +constitutional reconstruction, as embodied in the amendments, would be +more permanently effective. + +In addition to taking their issue from them, Hayes deprived the +politicians of their plunder. The personal conduct of his household +added nothing to his popularity in Washington, for his wife served no +wines and gave to the White House the atmosphere of the standard +middle-class American family. His official family struck a blow at the +political use of offices. + +Although many of the Liberal Republicans of 1872 were still dissatisfied +and saw no prospect of a change of heart for their party, most of them +had voted for Hayes, and one of them was taken into the new Cabinet. +Carl Schurz became Secretary of the Interior, bringing into office for +the first time an active desire to reform the civil service. Congress +had made a timid experiment in civil service reform early in the +seventies, but had soon wearied of it. Schurz announced that his +subordinates would be chosen on merit, and acted upon the announcement. + +The storm broke at once upon the Secretary over the issue of the +patronage, and soon reached the President. The offices were not only +valued assets of Senators and Representatives, who held control over +their followers through them, but had come to be regarded as the cement +that held the national party organization together. In the absence of an +issue, the binding force of the offices had an enlarged importance. But +Hayes generally backed up Schurz in the fight. The Indian Bureau, in +particular, profited by the new policy. Two serious outbreaks had +recently occurred as the result of bad administration. In one, Custer +had been led to his destruction; in the other Chief Joseph and the Nez +Percés had worried the regular army through a long campaign. The +Democratic House of Representatives had in this very period been +striking at the army appropriations in order to shape Grant's Southern +policy. It had enabled Nast to draw, in one of his biting cartoons, a +picture of the savage, the Ku-Klux, and the Congressman shaking hands +over a common policy. Schurz and his Indian Commissioner foresaw the +changes needed, now that the range Indians had all been consolidated on +reserves, and took this time to reorganize the service. + +Hayes refused to give over all the offices as spoils, and removed some +officials for pernicious political activity. The most important removal +was that of Chester A. Arthur, Collector of the Port of New York, whose +enraged friends, Conkling among them, became the center of the attack on +the titular head of the party. Sneering at the sincerity of the new +policy, Conkling cynically declared that "when Doctor Johnson said that +patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel, he ignored the enormous +possibilities of the word reform." But because Hayes did not in every +case follow an ideal that no other President had even set, he lost the +support of the reformers who soon denounced him nearly as fiercely as +did the "Stalwarts." + +Even if Hayes had been able to keep a united party behind him, his +Administration could scarcely have been marked by constructive +legislation. His party had lost control of the House of Representatives +in the election of 1874. The Forty-fifth Congress, chosen with Hayes in +1876, and the Forty-sixth, in 1878, were Democratic, and delighted to +embarrass the Administration. Dissatisfied Republicans saw the deadlock +and laid it upon the shoulders of the President. The Democratic Congress +checked Administration measures, and managed to advance opposition +measures of its own. Twice Hayes had to summon special sessions because +of the failure of appropriation bills, and in his first winter the +opposition endangered those policies of finance to which the Republican +party had become pledged. + +The Greenback agitation, rising about 1868 and stimulated by the panic +of 1873, had not subsided when Hayes became President. It had lost much +of its force, but there continued throughout the West, in both parties, +a spirit that encouraged inflation of every sort. In Congress there were +repeated efforts to repeal the Resumption Act of 1875, which the +Democratic platform had denounced the next year. And when a sudden +increase in the production of silver reduced its price, a silver +inflation movement was placed beside the Greenback movement. + +The United States had used almost no silver coin between 1834 and 1862 +because the coinage ratio, sixteen to one, undervalued silver and made +it wasteful to coin it. No specie was used as currency between 1862 and +1879, and the relative market prices of bullion remained close to their +usual average until the year of panic. During the seventies the price of +silver fell as new mines were opened in the West. The ratio rose above +sixteen to one, and silver, from being undervalued at that ratio, came +to be overvalued. It would now have paid owners of silver bullion to +coin it into dollars at the legal rate, but Congress had in 1873, after +a generation of disuse of silver, dropped the silver dollar from the +list of standard coins. As silver fell in value, mine-owners asked for a +renewal of coinage, and inflationists joined them, hoping for more money +of any kind. During the winter of 1878 a free silver coinage bill, +passed by the Democratic House under the guidance of Richard P. Bland, +of Missouri, was under consideration in the Republican Senate. + +John Sherman, the defender of gold resumption, was no longer in the +Senate to fight this Bland Act. He had become Hayes's Secretary of the +Treasury, and in this capacity was working toward resumption and +upholding Hayes in his war on the spoilsmen. In his place, Allison, of +Iowa, forced an amendment to the Bland Bill, taking away its +free-coinage character and substituting a requirement to buy a specified +amount of silver bullion each month--from $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 +worth--and coin it. Thus amended, the House concurred in the act, which +Hayes vetoed in February, 1878. It became a law over his veto. + +The Administration was embarrassed in its financial policy, but not +defeated. The Resumption Bill withstood attacks and, as the day for the +resumption of specie payment approached, the price of greenbacks +reflected the growing credit of the United States. It reached par two +weeks before the appointed day. When that day arrived, Wednesday, +January 1, 1879, John Sherman had the satisfaction of seeing the change +to a coin basis effected without a shock. More gold was turned into the +Treasury for exchange with greenbacks than greenbacks for redemption in +gold. It appeared that Horace Greeley had been right when he had +maintained that "the way to resume is to resume,"--that few would want +gold if they could get it. + +The adherence of Hayes to the gold standard and resumption drove from +his side another body of Republicans. He had now lost the reformers and +the spoilsmen, the radical Republicans and the inflationists, and no one +hoped or believed that he would recall his pledge for a single term and +be renominated in 1880 to succeed himself. The disintegration of his +party was as complete as the collapse of its issues. On no subject, +between 1876 and 1880, was it possible to bring before the public a +distinctive party issue. The uncertainties of the campaign of 1876 were +increased during the next four years. + +Both parties had ceased to represent either policies or the people. The +office-holders were in no sense the leaders of their communities. +Industry, social life, education, and religion had parted company with +politics since the decline of the Union issue, and unless a new +political alignment could be found there was a prospect of continued +rivalry for offices alone. Yet men were beginning to realize that a new +period of growth had begun during the Hayes Administration, and that +American institutions, formulated before the Civil War, had ceased to +meet industrial needs. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +J.F. Rhodes terminates his great history with the election of 1876, and +although he has promised sometime to continue it, he has as yet +published only a few scattered essays upon the later period. A.M. +Gibson, _A Political Crime_ (1885), is a contemporary and partisan +account of the electoral contest; P.L. Haworth, _The Hayes-Tilden +Disputed Presidential Election_ (1906), is a recent work of critical +scholarship; E. Stanwood may be relied upon for platforms, tables of +votes, and other formal details, in his _History of the Presidency_. +_The Writings and Speeches of S.J. Tilden_ (2 vols., ed. by J. Bigelow, +1885) are useful, as are the Blaine books: J.G. Blaine, _Twenty Years of +Congress_, E. Stanwood, _James Gillespie Blaine_ (1905, in American +Statesmen Series); G. Hamilton (pseud. for M.A. Dodge), _James G. +Blaine_ (1895, a domestic biography); and the spicy _Letters of Mrs. +James G. Blaine_ (edited by H.S.B. Beale, 2 vols., 1908). Other useful +biographies or memoirs exist for R.P. Bland, Roscoe Conkling, Robert G. +Ingersoll, O.H. Platt, T.C. Platt, John Sherman, and Carl Schurz, etc. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BUSINESS AND POLITICS + + +A great commercial revival, affecting the whole United States, began +during the Administration of Hayes. Ingersoll had predicted it, in +defining his candidate in 1876, when he declared: "The Republicans of +the United States demand a man who knows that prosperity and resumption, +when they come, must come together; that when they come, they will come +hand in hand through the golden harvest-fields; hand in hand by the +whirling spindles and the turning wheels; hand in hand past the open +furnace doors; hand in hand by the flaming forges; hand in hand by the +chimneys filled with eager fire, greeted and grasped by the countless +sons of toil." In every section and in every occupation commerce revived +during 1878 and 1879. Manufactures began to invade the South; +mining-booms gave new life to the camps of the Far West; the wheat-lands +of the Northwest, reached by the "Granger" railroads and cultivated by +great power machines, produced a new type of bonanza farming; in the +Southwest and on the plains great droves of cattle produced a new type +of cattle king; and the factory towns of the East began again to grow. +Connecting the various sections, the railroads played a new part, and +built more miles of track in the next ten years than in any decade +before or since. The whole country awoke as from an anæsthetic, tested +its muscles to find that they were stronger than ever, and set to work +again. + +The silent evidence of the United States Treasury testifies to the +prosperity of the next ten years. The average expenditures of the United +States from 1850 to 1860 were under $60,000,000; they ranged between +1880 to 1890 from $244,000,000 to $297,000,000 without exhausting the +supply. Yearly, despite the heavy drains upon it, a surplus accumulated +to the embarrassment of the Government and the demoralization of +Congress. The aggregate accumulation for ten years was over +$1,000,000,000. + +The disbursements of the United States were growing at a higher rate +than its population, though this was keeping up the traditions of a new +country. From 31,443,321 inhabitants, with which the nation faced the +Civil War in 1860, it had grown to 38,558,371 in 1870, and it was now, +in 1880, 50,155,783. In mobility and activity it had increased even more +rapidly than this, for it was served by nearly three times as many miles +of railway (87,000) in 1880 as when the war broke out. Along the old +frontier the percentage figures for population and railway mileage were +highest, but everywhere a larger population was moving more actively, +and studying itself more intently than ever before. It was also +generating more internal friction than ever. In the silver mines at +Leadville in 1878 had occurred one of the great forerunners of economic +clash. This had been preceded in 1877 by the railway strikes of +Pennsylvania and the East. In California, Dennis Kearney and the Irish +were driving the Chinese from society in the interest of "America for +Americans." The murders by the "Molly Maguires" had brought condign +punishment upon the lawless in the anthracite region; and throughout the +East men were vaguely conscious of a secret society that called itself +the Knights of Labor. + +Complexity, class interest, and the problems at once of labor and of +capital, thrust themselves upon a society that had occupied its +continent and used most of its free land. The Centennial had revived the +study of American history from patriotic reasons. An intense interest in +self-analysis now kept this alive, as Henry Adams, James Schouler, and +John Bach McMaster devoted themselves to a scrutiny of historic facts, +as colleges began to create chairs of American history, as James Ford +Rhodes retired from his office to his study to write the history of his +own times. In the next few years associations for the study of political +economy, political science, sociology, and history multiplied the +testimonies to the existence of a new nation. + +It was many years before the study of history and institutions reached +the eighties and began to place events in their true proportion. Then it +appeared that there was in fact a fundamental economic problem and that +the political issues of the decade faced it from various angles. + +The United States had nearly reached its greatest capacity in production +by 1880, and was no longer able to consume its output. Through its first +century there had been a rough plenty everywhere,--enough food, enough +work, and free land,--so that the industrious citizen need never go +hungry, although he was rarely able to acquire great wealth. Men had +worked with their own hands and with the labor of their beasts of +burden, as men had ever worked. Their land had appeared, indeed, to be +the land of opportunity. Population had doubled itself in a short +generation, and America had called upon the oppressed of Europe to aid +in reclaiming the plains and forests. With all the labor and +opportunity, there had rarely been either an overproduction or a lack of +work. + +The industrial revolution changed the nature of American society in many +directions. Through an improved system of communication, whose results +were first visible between 1857 and 1873, it had broadened the realm to +be exploited, brought the rich plains of the West into agricultural +competition with the Middle West and the East, and enabled an increased +production of staples by lessening freights and widening the area of +choice. As the result of rapid communication grain, cotton, and food +animals increased more rapidly than population. The use of manures and a +more careful agriculture on the smaller farms--and all the farms were +growing smaller--further swelled the productivity of the individual +farmer. + +Machinery increased the capacity of the laborer as transportation +widened his choice of home. The factories, as they were reorganized in +the new period of prosperity, found that invention had lessened the need +for labor and increased the product. Machine tools in agriculture, in +iron and steel, in textiles, in shoemaking, rendered the course of +manufacture nearly automatic, and when steam neared its limit in +dexterity active minds could see electricity holding out a new promise. + +In 1880 population and the capacity to consume American products were +growing less rapidly than the power to produce. The United States was +finding every year greater difficulty in selling all its output. It was +possible to foresee the day when overproduction might be a menace unless +there should be some reorganization of society to meet the new problem. +Pending the arrival of that reorganization, prices fell. + +A study of the prices of standard commodities shows that there was a +constant, moderate decline after the Civil War. During the war nominal +prices, expressed in depreciated greenbacks, rose far above the normal, +but when corrected to a gold basis they show little change. At the end +of the war, however, the steady decline set in; by 1880 it was +perceptible, and by 1890 it had come to be generally admitted. It +continued until 1900, when the larger production of gold and an extended +use of bank credits and checks, increased the volume and mobility of +currency and started a general rise in prices. Inflationists believed, +in the eighties, that the falling prices were due to an appreciation of +gold, and demanded more money because they so believed; but +overproduction appears to give a better explanation of the decline than +gold appreciation. In the falling prices may be seen a proof of the +enlarged production and a justification of serious study of remedial +measures. + +Solutions, intended to restore good prices and to correct social evils, +became numerous as the eighties advanced. Tariff reformers claimed that +the tariff was a vexatious interference with proper freedom of trade, +without which a foreign market for American surplus could not be +obtained. The protected manufacturers retorted that only through a +higher tariff could manufactures be developed and an enlarged consuming +population of factory workers be created at home. A Western economist +brushed both these aside and found the key to the situation in the +disappearance of free land, and urged a single tax upon land as a +panacea. United labor found the cause to be unrestricted immigration. +Too much government, with its extravagance and corruption, was a cause +in the mind of extreme theoretical democrats. Too little government was +equally responsible for the discords, in the eyes of growing groups of +socialists and communists. + +Before 1890 the United States was involved in an elaborate discussion of +its troubles and their causes, but in 1880 the period had only just +begun and its trend was not clear to the political leaders who were yet +quarreling over the spoils of office. Hayes was ending his term in +disfavor, and was passing into the jurisdiction of the historians, which +was much more kindly disposed toward him than was that of his +contemporaries. He had gone into office without being the leader of his +party and without having a single definitive issue. He had alienated one +faction after another; while in Congress, in which both houses were +never Republican, it was never possible to pass constructive laws. The +fight for the next nomination began soon after his inauguration. + +Grant and Blaine were the most probable candidates for the Republican +nomination as the spring of 1880 advanced. For the former there was a +feeling of affection among the senatorial crowd, headed by Roscoe +Conkling, who had been so severely disciplined by Hayes. The refusal of +the President to allow the officials of the United States to engage too +actively in politics had brought about the dismissal of Arthur and +Cornell from their posts, and a prolonged quarrel with the Senate. Hayes +had won here, but the defeated leaders turned upon his Southern policy, +demanded a "strong" candidate who would really keep the South in check, +and called for Grant as the only strong man who could lead his party. +Grant was willing in 1880 as he would have been in 1876. Upon his return +from his trip around the world his candidacy was pressed and had strong +support among Civil War veterans and men who were displeased with Hayes. + +Blaine, too, was still a candidate, drawing his strength from men of the +same type as those who stood for Grant. He might have secured the +nomination had he not been opposed by the Secretary of the Treasury, +John Sherman, whose friends thought his distinguished service in the +cause of hard money entitled him to a reward. A special element in +Sherman's strength was a group of pliant negro delegates, from the +Southern wing of the party, which was brought to Chicago under close +guard, fed and entertained in a suite at the Palmer House, and voted in +a block as Sherman's managers directed. None of these three, Grant, +Blaine, and Sherman, could please the reform element, that found its +choice in Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. + +The convention at Chicago was marked by the fight of Conkling to secure +unity and the nomination for Grant, and by the stubbornness with which +the opposing delegates held out against a third term and for their own +candidates. In the end the deadlock was broken when the followers of +Blaine and Sherman shifted to the latter's floor manager, James A. +Garfield, and gave him the nomination on the thirty-sixth ballot. The +Vice-Presidency was thrown to the Conkling men, falling upon Chester A. +Arthur, who accepted it against the desires of his leader. The platform +was a "code of memories" as it had been in 1876 and 1872, congratulating +the party on its successes of the past and having no clear vision of the +future. + +The Democratic party in 1880 was without leader or issue, as it had been +since 1860. Tilden, who might have been renominated and run on the +charge that he was counted out in 1876, was sick. He was unwilling to +run unless the demand were more spontaneous than it appeared to be. In +its perplexity the party turned to a military hero who called himself a +Democrat and had been passed over in 1876. General Winfield Scott +Hancock had never been in active politics, but was now nominated over a +long list of local candidates. William H. English, of Indiana, who was +known to have money, and was believed to be ready to use it in the +campaign, was the vice-presidential candidate. + +The canvass of 1880 was fought during a prosperous summer on issues that +were largely personal. As Sherman said of Ohio in 1879, so he might have +said of the country in 1880, that "the revival of industries and peace +and happiness was a shrewd political trick of the Republicans to carry" +the United States. Following their practice for three campaigns, the old +line speakers dwelt upon the conditions in the South. An Indiana rhyme +"for young Democrats" ran:-- + + "Sing a song of shotguns, + Pocket full of knives, + Four-and-twenty black men, + Running for their lives; + When the polls are open + Shut the nigger's mouth, + Isn't that a bully way + To make a solid South?" + +But the audiences were unresponsive. An old political reporter remembers +being in the national headquarters late in the campaign, and hearing +Blaine, who had been stumping for Garfield, say, "You want to fold up +the bloody shirt and lay it away. It's of no use to us. You want to +shift the main issue to protection." Not until the campaign was nearly +over did a real issue emerge. + +The protective tariff had not played a large part in any campaign since +1860. In 1868 and 1872 both parties had looked forward to the reduction +of revenue to a peace basis, adopting mild planks to that effect. In +1876 the topic had been more prominent in the platforms, but not in the +canvass. In 1880 Hancock was questioned on the tariff during one of his +speeches. The question was probably unpremeditated, but it took the +candidate unaware, for as an officer in the regular army he had never +given the matter thought. His evasive answer, that the tariff was a +local issue only, gave an opening to his opponents, who forced the +tariff to a prominent place in the few remaining days before election. +They made much of Hancock's ignorance, and perhaps by this maneuver +offset the disadvantage done to Garfield by a forged letter, which +purported to show him as a friend of cheap labor and Chinese +immigration. Garfield and Arthur were elected by a small plurality over +Hancock. No one received a popular majority, for a third candidate, +named Weaver, headed a Greenback-Labor ticket and polled 308,000 votes. + +General James A. Garfield would have become Senator from Ohio in 1881 +had not his election transferred him to the Presidency. The fifty years +of his life covered a career that was typically American. The son of a +New England emigrant, he was born in the Connecticut Reserve in Ohio. He +worked his way from the farm through the log school to college. His +service on the towpath of the Ohio Canal, in the course of his +education, became a strong adjunct to his popularity among the common +people. He taught Latin and Greek after leaving college, studied law, +worked into politics, and went to the front upon the call for troops. He +left the war a major-general to enter Congress, in 1863, where he sat +until his election to the Senate in 1880. He was the friend of John +Sherman and had been the manager of his campaign. Like his friend, and +like most Ohio Republicans, he believed that the tariff was one of the +bases of prosperity in his State. In his campaign a young Cleveland +merchant named Hanna raised funds among the local manufacturers on the +plea that Republican success and their interests would go hand in hand. +In his inaugural address, however, Garfield said nothing of the new +issue which was threatening to enter politics, but dwelt upon the +supremacy of law, the status of the South, hard money, religious +freedom, and the civil service. + +The Republican party had been left broken and in hostile camps by +President Hayes; Garfield tried in his Cabinet to change this and "to +have a party behind him." The State Department went to his rival and +ally, Blaine, whose personal following was larger than that of any other +American politician. The independent Republicans, who had seceded in +1872 and had muttered ever since, were pleased by the elevation of Wayne +MacVeagh, a Pennsylvania lawyer, to the post of Attorney-General. A +friend of Conkling, who had made a striking record in the New York +Post-Office through two terms, Thomas L. James, became Postmaster-General. +The sensibilities of the West, always jealous of the East in matters of +finance, were appeased by the selection of William L. Windom, of +Minnesota, as Secretary of the Treasury, for "any Eastern man +would be accused of being an agent or tool of the 'money kings' and +'gold-bugs' of New York and Europe." The Cabinet as a whole was received +with favor, but the harmony which its members promised was soon +disturbed. + +The appointment of Blaine as Secretary of State, which Garfield had +determined upon a few days after his election, was a blow to Roscoe +Conkling. Hayes had struck at Conkling in removing Arthur and Cornell. +Now when Garfield decided to please himself in the New York +collectorship, Conkling saw in the act the hand of Blaine. He fell back +upon the practice of senatorial courtesy, and held up the confirmation +of the appointment. When he found himself unable to coerce the +President, he broke with him as he had broken with Hayes, and this time +he and his colleague from New York, Thomas Collier Platt, resigned their +seats and appealed to the New York Legislature, then in session. The +move was not without promise. Cornell was now Governor of New York. +Arthur, with the prestige of the Vice-Presidency, left his chair in the +Senate to work for the reëlection and triumphant return of Conkling and +Platt, on the doctrine that the appointments of a President must be +personally acceptable to the Senators from the State concerned. But the +New York Legislature failed to give the martyrs their vindication, and +permitted them to remain in private life. Their friends, the +"Stalwarts," ceased to support Garfield. + +James, who was not enough a follower of Conkling to emulate him, +remained in the Post-Office, where he had already found wholesale +corruption. It had been the practice of the Post-Office to classify the +mail routes according to their method of transportation, and to mark +those running by stage or rider by a star on the general list. These had +come to be known as the "star routes." The contracts for the star routes +were flexible in order to meet the shifting needs of the Western +population that lived away from railways and depended upon the +stage-coach. When the business of any route justified a better service +than it was receiving, the Department was at liberty to increase the +service, hasten speed, and raise the pay without a re-letting of the +contract. During the latter seventies the growth of settlement +throughout the remoter West had justified a large increase in star-route +costs, but James discovered not only legitimate increase but collusive +fraud. The official in charge, in collusion with former Congressmen who +"knew the ropes," and with the mail contractors, had awarded original +contracts to low bidders who had no intention of fulfilling their bids. +After the letting of contracts the compensation had been increased +without investigation or reference to actual needs. + +The unearned profits had been shared by the promoters and the dishonest +officials, and some of it had gone into the Republican campaign fund. A +former Senator, Dorsey by name, who was indicted for fraud in 1882, had +been Secretary of the Republican National Committee in 1880, and had +been hurried to Indiana to save that State. He did this so effectively +that his friends gave him a dinner, which Arthur attended, and at which +the allusions to his methods in Indiana were but loosely veiled. Brady, +the official in the Post-Office, had collected the usual assessments on +federal office-holders for Garfield's campaign fund. When he and others +were threatened with criminal prosecution they produced letters by which +they hoped to prove that Garfield was cognizant of and had approved +their financial methods. How far they might have succeeded in blackening +the President and stopping his prosecutions must remain unknown, for he +was shot on July 2, 1881, while on his way to a college celebration, and +died on September 19. + +The murderer of Garfield declared to the policeman who arrested him, "I +am a Stalwart and want Arthur for President." It was soon learned that +he was a disappointed candidate for office, and irresponsible Washington +gossip soon had it that Garfield's friends wanted him to hang, while +Arthur's thought he was only insane. The murderer's sister, in an +incoherent book based on his story, asserted, "Yes, the 'Star-Route' +business killed Garfield! The claim, 'The Stalwarts are my friends,' +hung Guiteau!" He was perhaps insane, and was certainly irresponsible, +but his crime, coming simultaneously with the notoriety of the +star-route frauds and the demands of Conkling, emphasized the pettiness +of factions and the need for a reform in the civil service. + +The illness of Garfield dragged on through eleven weeks in the summer of +1881, with bulletins one day up and the next down. The strain told on +every one in the Administration. The prospect of Arthur's succession +called attention to the fact that the Vice-President is rarely nominated +for fitness, but is chosen at the end of a hot convention, in +carelessness, or to placate a losing side. It led soon to the passage of +an adequate Presidential Succession Act. The death of Garfield threw the +control to the Republican faction that disliked him most. + +Blaine, the head of Garfield's Cabinet, was most directly affected by +the catastrophe. He had stepped from the Senate into the State +Department at Garfield's request. While he was a receptive candidate for +the Presidency this post suited his needs and gratified his taste. He +loved business and liked to associate with men. He had a diplomatic +vision that led him to formulate a more constructive policy than most +Secretaries have had. + +With England, Blaine found negotiations upon the Isthmian Canal pending, +having been taken up by Hayes. His attitude in his notes of 1881 failed +to meet the approval of Great Britain, and ignored obligations that the +United States had long before accepted. But it pointed to an American +canal and was part of his larger scheme. His America was inclusive of +both continents, and drew him to hope for larger trade relations in the +Western Hemisphere. With the approval of Garfield he had started to +mediate in South America, in a destructive war between Chile and Peru. +He had on foot, when Garfield died, a scheme for a congress of the +American States in the interest of a greater friendliness among them. +The invitations for this gathering had just been issued when Arthur +reorganized his Cabinet, brought F.T. Frelinghuysen in as Secretary of +State, and let Blaine out. There was no public office ready for him at +this time, so he retired to private life and the historical research +upon which his _Twenty Years of Congress_ was founded. Jefferson Davis +had just brought out his _Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government_, +while the Yorktown centenary, like the centennial of independence, had +stimulated the market for historical works. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The United States Census of 1880 is more elaborate and reliable than its +predecessor of 1870, and may be supplemented to advantage by H.V. Poor, +_Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1880_, which contains +a good sketch of railroad construction, and by R.P. Porter, _The West +from the Census of 1880_ (1882). E.E. Sparks, _National Development_ (in +_The American Nation_, vol. 23, 1907), is a useful survey of the years +1877 to 1885, and contains a good bibliographical chapter. The +bibliographies in Channing, Hart, and Turner's _Guide to the Study and +Reading of American History_ (1912) are specially valuable for the years +1876 to 1912. E.B. Andrews, _The United States in Our Own Time_ (1903), +is discursive and entertaining. Special phases of material development +may be reached through D.R. Dewey, _Financial History of the United +States_; T.V. Powderly, _Thirty Years of Labor_ (1889); H. George, +_Progress and Poverty_ (1879; and often reprinted), and the Aldrich +Report on Prices (52d Congress, 2d session, Senate Report, No. 1394). +Many interesting details are to be found in W.C. Hudson, _Random +Recollections of an Old Political Reporter_ (1911); and J.F. Rhodes has +touched upon this period in his essays, among which are "A Review of +President Hayes's Administration in the Light of Thirty Years" (_Century +Magazine_, October, 1909); "The Railroad Riots of 1877" (_Scribner's +Magazine_, July, 1911); and "The National Republican Conventions of 1880 +and 1884" (_Scribner's Magazine_, September, 1911). Among the economic +journals started in the eighties, and containing a wealth of scholarly +detail for contemporary history, are the _Quarterly Journal of +Economics_ and the _Political Science Quarterly_. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEW ISSUES + + +Garfield died before he met his first Congress, the Forty-seventh, which +was elected with him in 1880, but he lived long enough to foresee the +first chance to do party business that had appeared since 1875. When +Grant lost the lower house at the election of 1874, the Democrats gained +control of that body and Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, supplanted Blaine +as Speaker. On Kerr's death in 1876, Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, +took the place, and was continued in it through the next two Congresses, +in the latter of which, the Forty-sixth, his party controlled the Senate +too. It had been impossible to produce an agreement between the Senate, +the House, and the President on important new matters. They could not +always agree even on appropriations, and all Republicans felt with Mrs. +Blaine when she wrote, after the election of 1880, "Do you take in that +the House is Republican, and the Senate a tie, which gives the casting +vote to the Republican V.P.? Oh, how good it is to win and to be on the +strong side!" + +When the new Congress organized, Randall ceased to be Speaker and became +leader of the minority, while J. Warren Keifer, of Ohio, took his place, +with a small Republican majority behind him. In the Senate the +predictions of Mrs. Blaine were fulfilled, although the accident which +made a President of Arthur left the Senate without a Vice-President. In +the even division of the Senate, the two independent members controlled +the whole. Judge David Davis, transferred "from the Supreme Bench to the +Fence," became the presiding officer, and generally voted with the +Republicans, though elected as a Democrat. Mahone, of Virginia, an +Irishman and an ex-Confederate, called himself a "Readjuster," and voted +with the Administration. These two men made it possible to carry party +measures through Congress. + +Shortly after Congress met in 1881, Arthur reorganized his Cabinet, +allowing the friends of Garfield to resign and putting his own Stalwart +friends in their places. The new Secretary of State, Frelinghuysen, took +up Blaine's policies and mangled them. He adhered to the general view of +an American canal, as Blaine had done. He pushed the influence of the +United States in Europe as far as he could, keeping Lowell, in England, +busy in behalf of Irish-Americans whose lust for Home Rule got them into +trouble with the British police. But he dropped the South American +policy, recalled the invitations to the Pan-American Congress, and kept +hands off the Chilean war. Blaine protested in vain against this +humiliating reversal. + +The decision of Arthur to take counsel from the Stalwarts aroused fears +among others of the party that his would be the administration of a +spoilsman. His first message, however, somewhat allayed these fears, for +it dwelt at length upon the unsatisfactory status of the civil service, +and the need for a merit system that should govern removals and +appointments. He promised his support to measures even more +thoroughgoing than the reformers had asked, and, in January, 1883, +signed the "magna carta" of civil service reform. + +The use of public offices for party purposes had been regarded as a +scandal by independents of both parties for four administrations. The +long list of breaches of trust, revealed in the seventies, had made +reformers feel that incompetence and spoils endangered the life of the +nation. As late as 1880, they had heard a delegate in the Republican +Convention, when asked to vote for a civil service plank, exclaim +indignantly: "Mr. President, Texas has had quite enough of the civil +service.... We are not here, sir, for the purpose of providing offices +for the Democracy.... After we have won the race, as we will, we will +give those who are entitled to positions office. What are we up here +for?" And they had become used to the silent or outspoken resistance to +their demands from men in "practical" politics. + +The history of the civil servants of the United States falls into three +periods: Before 1829, 1829-65, and 1865-83. In the first period they +were commonly treated as permanent officials. Rarely had they been +removed for partisan purposes, although it had been the wail of +Jefferson that "few die, and none resign." Appointments had often been +given as the reward for past services, but none had felt a need for a +general proscription of officials upon the entry of a new President. + +Andrew Jackson brought a new practice into use in 1829. His election +followed a political revolution, in which it was believed by his +supporters that the National Republican party had become corrupt. It was +a matter of faith and pledge to turn the incumbents out of office. +Hungry patriots crowded round the jobs, while Jackson's advisers +included men who in New York and Pennsylvania had already learned how to +use the offices as retainers for future service. Advocacy of the +Democratic principle of rotation in office was in practice easily +converted into the maintenance of the maxim that "to the victors belong +the spoils." + +Every President after Jackson used the offices for partisan purposes, +and few objected to the practice on theoretical grounds. The simplicity +of the National Government made the habit less destructive than it +otherwise would have been. The spoils system did not enter the army or +navy, the only extensive technical departments of the United States. In +other branches of the Government a large majority of the officials were +unskilled penmen, whose places could easily be filled with others as +little skilled as themselves. Always a few clerks who knew the business +were saved to guide the recruits, and the departments were generally +working again before a President met his first Congress. + +Lincoln was not different from his predecessors in the use of offices. +He permitted the most complete sweep that had yet been made, being +forced to an unusually high percentage of new appointments by the +necessity of removing Southerners. In his hands the patronage became an +additional weapon for the Union, upholding the leaders in Congress, and +striking at the backsliders. In the election of 1864 the Union party +carried all the branches of the Government, and it had a vision of four +years of complete control of the offices when the death of Lincoln +brought a Tennessee Democrat into the White. House. + +The discussion of civil service reform, on theoretical grounds, began +about 1865, when the evil of removals for party purposes was shown to +the Senate. Johnson was trying to use the patronage for his own ends, in +opposition to the will of the radicals in Congress. Reformers who +maintained the iniquity of this custom now found temporary converts +among the Republicans. They got a committee appointed on the civil +service in 1866, and President Grant announced his conversion to the +principle early in his Administration. + +In 1871 Congress tried the experiment of a modest appropriation +($25,000) for a reform of the civil service, and Grant placed the test +in the hands of George William Curtis, a leader of the new reform. The +commission breasted the whole current of politics, found that Grant +would not support it in critical cases, and was abandoned by Congress +after a short trial. The demand, however, increased, receiving the +support of the independents who were Liberal Republicans in 1872, and +who thereafter constituted a menace to party regularity. Schurz, Godkin, +and Curtis were their admitted leaders. In 1872 and 1876 they persuaded +the great parties to put general pledges for civil service reform into +their platforms. Schurz, as Secretary of the Interior under Hayes, put +their ideal partly into practice. In 1881 they were a well-recognized +body of advocates, with a definite doctrine of non-partisan efficiency, +which few politicians denied in principle or liked in fact. + +Public attention was focused upon the civil service by the events of +1881. The fight between Garfield and Conkling raised not only the +question of the relative rights of President and Senate in appointments, +but that of the use of offices for the support of political machines. +The frauds uncovered in postal administration by the star-route +investigations could hardly have occurred in a department administered +by experienced and competent officials. The murder of Garfield by a +disappointed office-seeker gave additional emphasis to the need for +reform, and these things coming together made possible the passage of a +civil service act earlier than its advocates expected. + +President Arthur recommended the reform in 1881, and his party, +chastened by the fall election of 1882, took up a law in the session of +1882-83. Eaton, one of the leading reformers, and first chairman of the +Civil Service Commission, wrote the bill which Congress passed with +little real debate. Men who hated the measure knew the unwisdom of +opposing it. A board of three commissioners was created in 1883 to +classify the civil servants, prepare rules and lists, and conduct +examinations. The classified service, removed from politics, began with +13,780 officers in 1884; by 1896 it contained 87,044; by 1911, 227,657. +It grew most actively toward the end of each administration, as outgoing +Presidents transferred to it the offices that they had filled. Its best +recommendation was to be found in the opposition of politicians toward +it. + +Arthur did better than the reformers had hoped in urging and +administering the Civil Service Act. He prosecuted the star-route +trials, even among his Stalwart friends. + +In 1882 Congress, with Arthur's approval, took up a revision of the +tariff. Neither of the great parties had, in 1882, received a clear +mandate touching the tariff, although it was true that most Republicans +were content with the system in its general outlines, while a +considerable number of Democrats were listening to tariff reform and +asking for a tariff for revenue only. It had been eighteen years since +the last general revision had taken place, and in that period unforeseen +conditions had developed, whose tendency was at once to point the need +for a readjustment of schedules and to create a class of citizens whose +profits would be touched thereby. The course of financial reconstruction +between 1865 and 1875 had raised the rate of actual protection beyond +the expectations of its advocates. + +In 1865 the revenues of the United States, amounting to $322,000,000, +and far exceeding the needs of the Treasury in time of peace, came +chiefly from the tariff and the internal revenue. The two taxes were +dependent upon each other. Each increase in the latter had forced an +increase in the former, lest special burdens should be laid upon +American manufacture. The ideal of protection had never been lacking, +nor had special interests failed to look out for themselves, but the +dominant spirit in the war taxes was revenue. + +When Congress undertook to reduce the revenue to a peace basis, it found +that every approach to the tariff aroused classes of interested +manufacturers, while every attack upon the internal revenue was welcomed +by the public. As a result, following the line of least resistance, most +of the internal taxes were removed by 1870, leaving the tariff rates +where they had been, and higher than any protectionist had asked. A +large part of the tariff rate had been intended to equalize the internal +revenue tax; the removal of the latter created to that extent an +incidental protection, which was unexpected but was none the less +acceptable. Some few details of the tariff were modified by special +acts, and there was a flat reduction of ten per cent in 1872. But the +panic of 1873 reduced the revenues and frightened Congress, in 1875, +into restoring the ten per cent. In 1882 the rates of 1865 remained +substantially unchanged, leaving the protected industries in the +enjoyment of an incidental protection never intended for them and +created only by accident in the general reduction of revenue. + +Spasmodic attacks were made upon the tariff system throughout the +seventies, but since few defended it on principle they failed to affect +the public. The tariff was not a political issue. Opposition to it was +confined to members of the Democratic party, in search for weapons to +turn against the Republicans, and to theorists and economists who had +little connection with politics. There were free-trade clubs after +1868, though few ever wanted to establish real free trade. All that the +free-trader commonly desired was a mitigation of protection and the +establishment of reasonable rates. Godkin, Schurz, Sumner of Yale, David +A. Wells, Edward Atkinson, and Henry D. Lloyd taught the +tariff-for-revenue theory wherever they could find listeners. Wells +wrote on "The Creed of Free Trade," in the _Atlantic Monthly_ in 1875, +and was sure he had found the issue of 1876. But in neither this nor the +next campaign did the parties face the issue. In 1880 the tariff figured +only as a means of embarrassing Hancock, while Garfield did not even +mention it in his inaugural. + +The forces that compelled a revision of the tariff in 1882-83 had to do +with revenue and expenditures. Following the new prosperity the receipts +increased beyond the ability of Congress to spend them. There was a +small surplus in 1879. In 1880 it was $68,000,000; in 1881, +$101,000,000; in 1882, $145,000,000; in 1883, $132,000,000. The surplus +was a constant incentive to extravagance and deranged the currency. If +it was allowed to remain in the Treasury, its millions were withheld +from circulation, and contraction was the result; if it was applied to +the purchase or redemption of bonds, the national bank currency was +contracted, for this was founded upon bonds owned by the banks; and it +could not be spent without the invention of new channels. The temptation +to increase pension payments was strengthened, while public works +multiplied without reason. + +The waste of money on public works induced Arthur to advertise the need +for a reduction of the revenue. The annual River and Harbor Bill had +consumed $3,900,000 in 1870, and $8,900,000 in 1880. In 1882 the bill +was swollen to over $18,000,000 by greed and log-rolling. Arthur vetoed +it as unreasonable and unconstitutional in August, 1882. It passed over +his veto, but the defeat of his party in the following November was +construed as a vindication of the President. The Republicans lost +control of the House of Representatives, Democratic governors were +elected in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, in New York, Connecticut, New +Jersey, and Indiana, and critics began to ask if this was the beginning +of the end of the party. The certainty that party bills could not be +passed in the next Congress, with the control divided, stimulated the +Republicans to act while they could. The Civil Service Act was passed +early in 1883, and on the same day the House took up the consideration +of a new tariff. + +Arthur, in 1881, had urged that the revenues be reduced and the tariff +be revised, and Congress had created a commission to investigate the +needed changes, in May, 1882. This committee was in session throughout +the following summer, sitting in manufacturing centers all over the East +and hearing testimony from all varieties of manufacturers. It had been +organized on a conservative basis, containing members familiar with the +needs of sheep-raisers and wool manufacturers, and iron and sugar, as +well as experts on administration. Its enemies thought that it was +pledged to protection at the start. The commission expressed a belief +that the country desired to adhere to the general idea of protection, +but it early learned the force of the demand for revision and reduction, +and sent into the House, in December, 1882, a project for a bill +intended to reduce the tariff at least twenty per cent. The bill based +on this was reported from the Committee on Ways and Means on January 16, +1883, and was debated until February 20, and then abandoned in the House +for a bill which had passed the Senate. + +The Senate Bill was in the form of an amendment to an Internal Revenue +Bill already before that house. It was passed on February 20 under the +leadership of the young Senator from Rhode Island, Nelson W. Aldrich, +and was sent to conference by the House a week later. In conference a +new bill was substituted for the Senate Bill. This was hurried through +both houses in time to receive the signature of Arthur on March 3, 1883. + +The tariff of 1883 failed to meet the demand for a revision. Its debates +show the difficulties attendant upon the construction of any tariff. +Congress was divided upon the theory of protection, both parties +including high protectionists as well as tariff-for-revenue men. The +revenue-producing side of the tariff increased the complexities, since +every change in a rate might affect the standing of the Treasury. In +addition to the economic and the fiscal needs, quite serious enough, +there was the tireless influence of the lobby of manufacturers, pressing +for single rates which should aid this business or that. Few Congressmen +were sufficiently detached in interests to be entirely dispassionate as +they framed the schedules. Many did not even try to disguise their +desire to promote local interests. Neither party had a mandate on the +tariff in 1882, but when the act had become a law it was clear that most +of the Republican leaders voted cheerfully for all the protection they +could get, that the intent to reduce the revenue had failed, and that +what little hope of revision remained was in the opposition party. "The +kaleidoscope has been turned a hair's breadth," said the _Nation_, "and +the colors transposed a little, but the component parts are the same." +It was deliberate bad faith throughout, urged a Democratic leader, and +"finished this magnificent shaft [of the tariff policy] which they had +been for years erecting, and crowned it with the last stone by repealing +the internal tax on playing cards and putting a twenty per cent tax upon +the Bible." + +Throughout the tariff debate no argument had been used more steadily +than that of the protectionists that protection to labor was their aim. +The degradation of "pauper labor" in Europe was contrasted repeatedly +with that prosperity that was typical of America. The insistence upon +the argument revealed the desire to conciliate a class that was being +noticed in American society for the first time. + +The great labor problem before the Civil War had been that of getting +enough laborers and meeting the competition which the abundant free +lands of the West had offered. Labor organizations and strikes had been +so unusual that public opinion had not yet come to regard them as normal +features of society. But the manufacturing development of the sixties +in iron and steel, in textiles, and in other machine industries, threw +workmen together in increasing number, taught them their interests as a +class, and set the scene for an outbreak of strikes when the shops shut +down or reduced wages in the depression of the seventies. About 1877 +these strikes shocked society by their violence. Neither had the public +been educated to the strike itself, nor the labor leaders to that +moderation, without which public sympathy cannot be retained or strikes +won. A feeling adverse to organized labor swept the country and +endangered the existence of the labor movement. + +POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION, 1850-1910 + +(Table and Diagram based upon Thirteenth Census, 1910, Population, +Vol. 1, pp. 129, 130.) + + Total Foreign + Population. and Mixed Foreign Born. + Parentage. + + 1910 91,972,266 18,897,837 13,345,545 + 1900 75,994,575 15,646,017 10,213,817 + 1890 62,947,714 11,503,675 9,121,867 + 1880 50,155,783 8,274,867 6,559,679 + 1870 39,818,449 5,324,268 5,493,712 + 1860 31,443,321 4,096,753 + 1850 23,191,876 2,240,535 + +[Illustration: graph] + +The Knights of Labor received the heaviest weight of disfavor. This was +an industrial union, founded in 1869, embracing labor of all trades, and +held together by a secret organization. Dismissal so often followed +admitted membership in a union that secrecy was defensible, but secrecy +mystified and frightened the public. The policy of secrecy was abandoned +in 1882, after the excesses of the "Molly Maguires" had brought +discredit upon all organized labor. Under the leadership of Grand Master +Workman Powderly the Knights carried on an open and aggressive campaign +of education for labor and inspection laws throughout the Union. The +American Federation of Labor, founded in 1881 and reorganized in 1886, +aided in this general work, and with the Knights helped to reconcile the +public to the principle of unionism. + +State bureaus of labor appeared in many States as the result of the +general agitation. An eight-hour law, for federal employees, had been +gained in 1868, while in 1884 a Commissioner of Labor was created in +the Department of the Interior. Arthur was urged to give the post to +Powderly, but selected instead an economist less actively identified +with the propaganda, Carroll D. Wright, under whose direction the Bureau +grew steadily in importance. Its reports became quarries for statistical +information on the labor problem, and its success justified its +incorporation in the new Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. + +The "Army of the Discontented," as Powderly called the workers, demanded +education and protective laws, and turned their attention to competition +about 1882. The cutting of wages by peasant laborers, newly arrived in +America, was a grievance as soon as labor became class-conscious. +Opposition to this became virulent in the Far West, where the foreigner +was also a Mongolian. The Chinese of the Pacific Slope, more frugal and +industrious than Americans, were harried in the early eighties, and +violence was done them in many quarters. Garfield had been weakened in +1880 by a forged letter seeming to show that he favored the introduction +of more Chinese. So numerous were the persecutors that Congress +responded to the demand for a Chinese Exclusion Bill, in spite of the +Treaty of 1880, which guaranteed fair treatment. Arthur vetoed the first +bill, but accepted a second, less stringent in its terms. After this +victory, the labor forces turned upon immigration in general. + +No idea had been fixed more firmly in the American mind than that the +oppressed of Europe were here to find opportunity. Immigrants had +always been welcomed and assimilated, while Congress had, in 1864, +organized a bureau to encourage and safeguard immigration. The influx +always increased in prosperous, and declined in adverse, years. After +1878 the annual number broke all records. Western railway corporations +were inviting immigrants to use their lands, manufacturers called them +to the mills, and the total rose from 177,000 in 1879 to 788,000 in +1882. This latter year was the greatest of the century, its newcomers +attracting the attention of the press, of the city charities who felt +their growing responsibilities, and of the unions who felt their +competition. Nearly all the immigrants were producers, a high percentage +being able-bodied young men and women. The greatest number came from +Great Britain, among whom the Irish settled in the Eastern cities. Next +were the Germans, who moved toward Chicago or St. Louis, while the +Scandinavians filled up the wheat-lands of the Northwest. + +Under the demand of the labor vote, Congress provided, in 1882, for the +inspection of immigrants and the deportation of undesirable aliens, and +in 1885 it forbade the importation of skilled laborers under contract. +As yet the labor movement was largely aristocratic, safeguarding the +skilled workmen, but disregarding the common laborers. + +The labor and immigration movement in its new aspect widened the field +for economic legislation, for few States had factory laws, employers' +liability laws, or laws protecting the weak,--the women and the +children. It also complicated the situation in politics. The Germans +and Scandinavians, settling in centers which had been strongly Unionist +in the Civil War, were believed to absorb the doctrines of the +Republicans from their compatriots already in America. The Irish were +generally Democrats, and the only Republican leader who had a large +following among them was Blaine. He had fraternized with the California +Irish leader, Dennis Kearney; as Secretary of State he had protected +naturalized Irishmen who went home to fight for Home Rule; some of his +immediate family were Catholics; and his insistence on an American canal +won him friends who were already disposed to hate Great Britain. + +The votes of 1876 and 1880 showed that the two parties were nearly even +in strength, so that any slight popularity or accident might decide an +election. As politicians prepared for 1884 the attitude of naturalized +foreigners assumed a new importance which the friends of the various +candidates tried to measure. The campaign could not be fought on any of +the old issues, but which of the new--civil service, tariff, or +labor--was in doubt. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The best history of civil service reform is C.R. Fish, _The Civil +Service and the Patronage_ (1905). This supplants all previous accounts, +and may itself be supplemented in detail by the Annual Reports of the +United States Civil Service Commission (1883-), by the _Memoirs of Carl +Schurz_ (3 vols., 1907-08), the _Writings of Carl Schurz_ (7 vols., +Frederic Bancroft, _ed._, 1912), the biographies of J.R. Lowell, E.L. +Godkin, and George William Curtis, and the files of _Harper's Weekly_, +the _Nation_, and the _North American Review_. The general narrative of +the eighties is covered by E.E. Sparks, _National Development_, and D.R. +Dewey, _National Problems_ (in _The American Nation_, vols. 23 and 24, +1907), and E.B. Andrews, _The United States in Our Own Time_. A +thoughtful economic analysis of the period is D.A. Wells, _Recent +Economic Changes_ (1890). The Report of the Tariff Commission of 1882 is +valuable for the study of tariff revision, as are also the standard +tariff histories by E. Stanwood, I.M. Tarbell, and F.W. Taussig. The +Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Labor (1884-) are fundamental for +the labor problem. Useful monographs are C.D. Wright, _An Historical +Sketch of the Knights of Labor_ (in _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, +vol. I), T.V. Powderly, _Thirty Years of Labor_ (1889), G.E. McNeill, +_The Labor Movement_ (1887), and M.A. Aldrich, _The American Federation +of Labor_ (in American Economic Association, Economic Studies, vol. +III). + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +GROVER CLEVELAND + + +The Administration of Chester A. Arthur proved that the President had +never been so discreditable a spoilsman as the reformers had believed, +or else that he had changed his spots. The term ended in dignity and +Arthur hoped to secure a personal vindication through renomination by +his party. His struggle precipitated a contest of leaders, and until the +nominations were made, none could say where either party stood. + +The independents, chiefly of Republican antecedents, hoped to retain +what had been gained in the last Administration. They hoped to extend +the reform in the civil service and to focus attention upon the tariff. +The failure of downward revision in 1883 had strengthened their hands +and increased their hopes. They had dallied with bolting movements and +threats so long that party regularity meant little to them. Either party +could obtain their support by nominating men who could be trusted to +stick to their platform. Arthur was not acceptable to them, and Blaine +was anathema. + +The candidacy of Arthur was doomed to failure. He had alienated the +Stalwarts by his independence, while he had failed to win the reformers +because he had not invariably refrained from playing the politician. In +the fall of 1882 he had interfered in the campaign in New York, allowing +his Secretary of the Treasury, Charles J. Folger, while retaining that +office, to be the Republican candidate for governor. This had led to the +belief that the patronage was being used for local purposes, and had +stirred up an opposition to Folger which defeated him. Arthur's veto of +the Chinese Exclusion Bill and the River and Harbor Bill further +increased his unpopularity in various sections. He failed to win over +the Blaine faction, who regarded him as an intrusive accident and waited +impatiently for the next national convention. + +Blaine was the leader of the Republican party in 1884, so far as it had +a leader, and he possessed all the weaknesses of such a leader as well +as personal weaknesses of his own. Rarely has it been possible to +nominate or to elect one who has gained a dominant place through party +struggles. Such men, Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and their kind, have +commonly created enough enemies, as they have risen, to make them +unavailable as leaders of a national ticket. Blaine was handicapped like +these. His prolonged fight against Conkling and the Stalwarts created a +breach too deep to fill, while the old questions respecting his honor +would not down. + +Early in 1884 Blaine was the leading candidate for the nomination in +spite of all opposition. The Republican National Committee was in charge +of men who sympathized with him. Dorsey had resigned as its secretary +after the star-route exposure, though his associate in land +speculations, Stephen B. Elkins, remained as one of the managers. The +control was in the hands of men who had close affiliation with the old +organization, and of the manufacturers who had blocked tariff revision +in 1883. It was improbable, in the opinion of many independents, that a +tariff reduction could be got from an Administration headed by Blaine; +they questioned his sincerity upon civil service reform; and they +thought it not right that any man, concerning whose character there was +a doubt, should be President. They put forward, within the party, +Senator George F. Edmunds, whom they had desired in 1880, and who had +since become President of the Senate. Other candidates with local +followings were General John A. Logan, of Illinois, John Sherman, and +the President himself. + +The Chicago Convention of the Republican party, meeting early in June, +was the scene of a battle between the two elements in the party. At the +outset, the old independents, headed by Curtis, and reinforced by +younger men like Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, and Theodore +Roosevelt, of New York, broke the slate of the National Committee and +seated a chairman of their own choice. But the regulars rallied, +controlled the platform, and made the nomination. Blaine and John A. +Logan were selected, the former accepting the honor with secret +misgivings, for he had a clear understanding of the intensity of the +opposition within the party. The reformers went home discouraged, many +of them determined not to let party regularity hold them to Blaine. + +Out of the nomination of Blaine grew the "Mugwump" movement, whose +influence was greater than that of the last bolt. The origin of the name +"Mugwump" is not entirely clear, but it was well known as an opprobrious +epithet, and was applied now by party regulars to the "holier-than-thou" +reformers. One of the regulars later quoted Revelation at them: "Thou +art neither hot nor cold ... so, then, I will spew thee out of my +mouth." They were more offensive to Republicans than were the Democrats, +while the latter were bewildered but cynical. "I know that to-day we are +living in a very highly scented atmosphere of political reform," said +one of the Democratic Senators a little later, "I know that under the +saintly leadership of the Eatonian school of political philosophers we +are all ceasing to be partisans, that we no longer recognize party +obligations, party duty, party discipline, and party devoirs; that we +are all to become reconciled to a life of political monasticism; but I +will continue to have one failing, and that is in my humble way to be as +watchful and as vigilant of the purposes, designs, and craft of the +Republican leaders as I have endeavored to be in the past." + +The Mugwumps left Chicago and at once opened negotiations with the +Democratic leaders. The _Nation_ and the _Evening Post_ were already +with them. _Harper's Weekly_, which had been a Union journal in the war, +and Republican ever since, abandoned the party ticket. George William +Curtis, its editor, led in the revolt, and the Mugwumps met at the house +of one of the Harpers for organization, on June 17, 1884. Their problem +was whether to nominate an independent ticket and be defeated, or to +support and help elect a Democratic President, in case the Democrats +should be willing to coöperate with them. + +Not all the reformers turned from Blaine. Whitelaw Reid, the successor +of Horace Greeley on the New York _Tribune_, remained regular. Lodge +went back to Massachusetts and persuaded himself to take part in the +canvass. Roosevelt, discouraged by the nomination of Blaine, remained +regular, but stepped out of the campaign and began his ranch life in the +Far West. With him, as with many others, it was a matter of conviction +that reform, to be effective, must be urged within the party. But enough +of the reformers went with the Mugwumps to lessen Blaine's chances of +election. + +When the Mugwumps made overtures for fusion to the Democratic leaders, +they had in mind as a candidate a young Democratic lawyer who had +appeared as Mayor of Buffalo in 1881 and had been elected as reform +Governor of New York in 1882. He had secured the aid of independent +reformers in that campaign,--men who resented the candidacy of Folger +and the intrusion of the National Administration in local politics. As +governor he had speedily established his reputation for stubborn honesty +and independent judgment. Grover Cleveland had become, like Tilden, the +most promising candidate in a party that had no admitted leader. + +The opposition from two elements in his party, at the Democratic +Convention in Chicago, strengthened Cleveland as the candidate of +reform. Ben Butler, who had himself been nominated for the Presidency by +an Anti-Monopoly Convention, denounced him as a foe of labor; and such +was Butler's reputation that his enmity was one of Cleveland's assets. +John Kelly, the chief of Tammany Hall, opposed him, too, having learned +to know him as Governor of New York. Well might Cleveland's friends say, +"We love him for the enemies he has made." They nominated him on the +second ballot, selecting Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, to run with +him. Their platform was full of reform, even of the tariff, but on the +latter subject it was less specific than the tariff reformers had hoped. + +As the parties stood in 1884, personal character meant more than +platform or party name. Cleveland possessed qualities that made his +appeal to independents quite as strong as it was to Democrats. With +older brothers in the army he had supported his mother during the war, +and had kept clear of copperheadism. He stood for sound money; he +believed in a tariff for revenue; he had proved his devotion to civil +service reform; he lacked the factional enemies who weakened the +candidacy of a prominent leader like Blaine; and his peculiar appeal to +Republican dissenters led the canvass away from issues into the field of +personalities. + +The charge of the independents upon Blaine's personal honor caused the +Republican schism and drove the party regulars into a retort in kind. +The private life of the candidates was uncovered to the annoyance of +both and to the greater embarrassment of Cleveland. Nothing +discreditable to his honesty could be found, but an apparent lapse in +his private conduct gave the pretext for wild and dishonest attacks upon +his character. A few years later the novelist, Paul Leicester Ford, in a +keen study of New York politics entitled _The Honorable Peter Stirling_, +portrayed a situation somewhat resembling that of Cleveland, though +disclaiming Cleveland as his model. The Boston _Journal_ led in the +exploitation of the charges, and partisans forgot decency on both sides. +Nast, having formerly cartooned Blaine in the "Bloody Shirt," now turned +to "A Roaring Farce--The Plumed Knight in a Clean Shirt," while others +pointed out the fact that the admirer who coined the "plumed knight" +epithet had been counsel for the fraudulent star-route contractors. + +Attempts were made to appeal to class hatred on both sides. Butler had +hesitated for several weeks in his acceptance of the nomination by the +Anti-Monopoly Convention. Greenbackers and a few labor leaders made up +his following, and it was supposed that they would draw votes from the +Democrats. After conference with Republican leaders, Butler agreed to +run, and it was freely charged that these leaders financed his campaign +to injure Cleveland. Republicans appealed to the Irish vote by recalling +Blaine's vigorous diplomacy against Great Britain; their opponents +caricatured Blaine by representing him as consorting with Irish thugs +and dynamiters. At the very end of the canvass a chance remark may have +decided the result. + +So much had been said of character in the campaign that both candidates +brought out the clergy to give them certificates of excellence. In +October a meeting of clergymen of all denominations was held at the +Fifth Avenue Hotel to greet Blaine. The oldest minister, Burchard by +name, was asked to deliver the address, and while he spoke Blaine +thought of other matters. He thus missed a phrase which other hearers +caught and which the Democrats immediately advertised. It denounced the +Democrats as adherents of "rum, Romanism, and rebellion," and was +reported as conveying a gratuitous insult to the Irish vote. How many +Irish turned from Blaine to Cleveland in the last week of the campaign +cannot be said, but the election was so close that a few votes, swung +either way, could have determined it. Cleveland carried New York and won +a majority of the electoral college, but his popular plurality over +Blaine was only 23,000, while he had some 300,000 fewer than his +combined rivals. Butler drew 175,000 votes without defeating Cleveland. +Purists, disgusted with the personalities of the campaign, swelled the +Prohibition vote to 150,000. + +On March 4, 1885, Grover Cleveland was inaugurated as the first Democrat +elected President since James Buchanan. His Cabinet was necessarily +filled with men inexperienced in national administration, for the party +had been proscribed for six terms. The greatest attention was attracted +by the two former Confederates, Garland and Lamar, whose career did much +to disprove the "gloomy and baseless superstition" of twenty years, +"that one half of the nation had become the irreconcilable enemies of +the national unity and the national will." It was an American +Administration, and of its chief, James Russell Lowell, who had known +men in many lands, wrote, "He is a truly American type of the best +kind--a type very dear to me, I confess." + +The State Department was entrusted to Thomas F. Bayard, who had been a +competitor for the nomination in 1884, and who sustained the tradition +that only first-rate men shall fill this office. Bayard proceeded at +once to undo the work of the last five years and to reverse a policy of +Blaine. A treaty with Nicaragua, negotiated by Frelinghuysen in +December, 1884, ran counter to the English treaty of 1850. After a vain +attempt to persuade Great Britain to abandon the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty +respecting an isthmian canal, Frelinghuysen had disregarded it and +acquired a complete right-of-way from Nicaragua. This was pending in the +Senate when Cleveland was inaugurated, and was withdrawn at once. The +United States reverted to the old Whig policy of a neutralized canal. + +In all departments the new Administration was forced to test the +strength of its convictions upon civil service reform. During its long +years of opposition the party had often voiced a demand for reform, but +now in office its workers demanded the usual rewards of success. +Cleveland had fought the spoils politicians in New York, and had taken +counsel of Carl Schurz after his election as President. In the next four +years he nearly doubled the number in the classified service in the face +of opposition from his most intimate associates. + +The problems of prosperity and national growth, developing in the +eighties and culminating between 1885 and 1889, involved administrative +efficiency rather than party policy. On every side the Government was +forced to expand its activities, and Cleveland was occupied in getting +new machinery into operation and meeting conditions for which no +precedents existed. + +Organized labor had gained concessions from Congress in a Bureau of +Labor, in 1884, and an Anti-Contract Labor Law in 1885. These called for +sympathetic administration and encouraged labor to hope for more. During +1886 and 1887 the views of labor leaders attracted much attention +because of a series of strikes and riots. In the greatest of these the +local chapters of the Knights of Labor fought against the Gould railways +of the Southwest--the Missouri Pacific and the Texas Pacific. The strike +originated in March, 1886, in sympathy with labor organizers who had +been discharged by the railroad. Under the leadership of Martin Irons it +spread over the Southwest, causing distress in those regions which were +dependent upon the railroad for fuel and food and causing disorder in +the towns where the idle workmen congregated. Powderly and the other +chief officials of the Knights tried to stop the strike, but were +ineffective, while the railroad managers shaped events so as to divert +the sympathies of the Western people against the strikers. The Knights +never recovered from the blow which the loss of the strike inflicted +upon them. + +In May, 1886, a general demonstration in favor of the eight-hour day +was planned and carried out. In Milwaukee riots ensued, the militia was +called out by Governor Rusk, and a volley was fired into the mob. In +Chicago the union movement was combined with anarchy and socialism, and +opponents of all did not discriminate among them. A meeting of the +anarchists was broken up by the police, several of whom were killed by +the explosion of a bomb thrown in the tumult. In 1887 a group of the +anarchist leaders were hanged, having been convicted of what may be +called constructive conspiracy. The unrest revealed by the strikes and +riots showed that the old period of uniform well-being and satisfaction +was over. + +The demands made upon politics by organized labor were exceeded by the +demands of organized patriotism. The veterans of the Civil War, who were +in early manhood in 1865, were now in middle life, were possessed of +political influence, and turned to the National Government for personal +advantage. Advocates of protection acted upon the theory that for +national purposes special advantages ought to be given to manufacturers. +The same idea of government readily bestowed these advantages in return +for a past service. + +The machinery of the veterans was the Grand Army of the Republic, which, +from being an unimportant, reminiscent league, had grown to be an +instrument for the procuring of pensions. The surplus tempted citizens +to make demands upon it; the number of soldier votes encouraged +politicians to comply with the demands. In 1879 the movement began with +an Arrears of Pensions Act, by which pensioners were entitled to back +pay from their mustering-out dates, regardless of the period at which +their incapacity set in. The next step involved the issuing of pensions +for incapacity and dependence, regardless of their cause, and opened the +way for pensions for service only. In 1887 Cleveland vetoed a pension +bill of this character, and prevented its passage until the term of his +successor, in 1890. He had already offended many of his supporters by +guarding the offices; his pension veto offended more by checking the +attack of the old soldiers on the Treasury. No one opposed the granting +of pensions to soldiers who had been injured in the Civil War, but the +demands of the leaders of the Grand Army, supported by the interests of +hundreds of attorneys who lived on pension claims, now assumed the +appearance of an organized raid on the Treasury. The general laws were +supplemented by special private pension laws, of which 1871 were sent to +Cleveland in four years. He vetoed 228 of these, often to his political +injury. In many cases these made allowances to persons whose claims had +been rejected by the Pension Bureau as inadequate or fraudulent. In the +course of time Cleveland became "thoroughly tired of disapproving gifts +of public money to individuals who in my view have no right or claim to +the same." The pension fund, he maintained, was "the soldiers' fund," +and should be distributed so as to "exclude perversion as well as to +insure a liberal and generous application of grateful and benevolent +designs." In the ten years ending in 1889, Congress spent $644,000,000 +on pensions; in the next ten it spent $1,350,000,000. + +The surplus incited extravagance, and its reduction had been demanded on +this ground, the tariff appearing to afford the best method of +reduction. When the Democratic party gained control of the House, in +1883, it proceeded at once to discuss revision, and promptly uncovered a +difference of opinion among its members. The last Democratic Speaker of +the House had been Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who +had been trained in the philosophy of Henry Clay and in the interests of +a great manufacturing State. He was by conviction and association a +protectionist, and was a candidate for his party's nomination as Speaker +in the Forty-eighth Congress, which met in December, 1883. From this +date he ceased to lead his party in the House and became the leader of +an internal faction. John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, supplanted him, was +elected Speaker, and organized the House in the interest of a tariff for +revenue only. For the next six years the Democratic organization of the +House was pledged to revision, but operated in the face of a growing +Republican opposition, and with Randall and the protectionist Democrats +attacking from the rear. + +The election of Cleveland gave the Democrats control of two branches of +the Government, but left the Senate in the hands of the Republicans. It +was vain to talk of serious revision or any other party measure in a +divided administration, yet the President chafed under his inability to +fulfill party pledges. The surplus continued to accumulate, to permit +extravagance in Congress, and to arouse the cupidity of citizens. In his +message to his second Congress, in 1887, Cleveland startled the country +by devoting his undivided attention to this single topic. He set his +party a text which could not be evaded, although there was even yet no +reason to believe that a tariff bill could pass both houses. He had +taken Carlisle into his confidence before sending the message; the +latter entrusted the leadership in revision to Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, +a free-trader, whom he appointed as chairman of the Committee on Ways +and Means. + +With the opening of the debate on the Mills Bill, in April, 1888, there +began "the first serious attempt since the war to reduce toward a peace +basis the customs duties imposed during that conflict almost solely for +purposes of revenue." Mills and William L. Wilson, who had been a +college president in West Virginia, bore the burden of advocacy of a +reduction of the revenue to the extent of $50,000,000. They were opposed +by a united Republican party, both frightened and gratified because the +issue had been made so clear. It was charged that the Committee on Ways +and Means had drawn up the bill in secrecy, and that a majority of its +Democratic members were Southerners who knew nothing of the needs of +manufactures. The danger to American labor from the competition of the +pauper labor of Europe was urged against it. It was asserted to be a +pro-British measure, and stories were circulated of British gold, coming +from the Cobden Club, a free-trade organization, to subvert American +institutions. The Democratic organization drove the bill through the +House of Representatives in spite of all resistance. In the Senate, with +the Republicans in control, the bill never came to a vote, and was used +to manufacture campaign materials for the campaign then pending. Many of +the advisers of Cleveland had urged him to withhold the tariff message, +lest he arouse the enemy and defeat himself, but he had risked personal +and party defeat in order to get an issue definitively accepted--the +first issue so accepted in politics since 1864. + +The Mills Bill fiasco was the most important party measure of +Cleveland's Administration, yet it served only to accentuate the +difficulties in tariff legislation which had been experienced in 1883, +and to provide an issue for the campaign of 1888. The laws that were +passed between 1885 and 1889 were generally non-partisan in their +character and were of most influence when they helped to readjust +federal law to national economic problems. The Federal Government was +unfolding and testing powers that had existed since the adoption of the +Constitution, but had not been needed hitherto in an agricultural +republic. The change that forced the resort to these powers came largely +from the completion of a national system of communication. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +For the election of 1884, consult, in addition to Stanwood, J.F. Rhodes, +"The National Republican Conventions of 1880 and 1884" (_Scribner's +Magazine_, September, 1911), and "Cleveland's Administrations" +(_Scribner's Magazine_, October, 1911). There is an annotated reprint of +the "Mulligan Letters" in _Harper's Weekly_ (1884, pp. 643-46). The +biographies of Blaine by Hamilton and Stanwood should be examined, as +well as the sketches of Cleveland (who left few literary remains), by +J.L. Williams, G.F. Parker, and R.W. Gilder. Among partisan party +histories, the best are F. Curtis, _The Republican Party_, (2 vols., +1904), and W.L. Wilson, _The National Democratic Party_ (1888). J.H. +Harper recounts details of the Mugwump split in his history of _The +House of Harper_ (1912). The standard compilation on the pension system, +which has not yet received adequate treatment, is W.H. Glasson, +_Military Pension Legislation in the United States_ (in Columbia +University Studies, vol. XII). C.F. Adams and W.B. Hale published useful +essays on the pension system in _World's Work, 1911_. H.T. Peck begins +his popular _Twenty Years of the Republic_ (1907) with the inauguration +of Cleveland in 1885. Consult also Sparks, Dewey, Andrews, and the +_Annual Cyclopædia_. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE LAST OF THE FRONTIER + + +Five statutes that received the signature of Grover Cleveland are +documentary proof of the new problems and the changing attitude of the +National Administration during the eighties. They indicate that the +chief function of the National Government had ceased to be to moderate +among a group of self-sufficient States and had come to be the direction +of such interests as were national in importance or extent. On February +4, 1887, the Interstate Commerce Law was passed in recognition of a +transportation system that had become national; and four days later the +Dawes Bill, providing that lands should be issued to Indians in +severalty, marked the disappearance of the wild Indian from the border. +In 1889 a Department of Agriculture, with a seat in the Cabinet, and a +law for the survey of irrigation sites in the Far West, mark the +interest of a nation in the prosperity of its whole area and population; +while laws of 1889 and 1890 admitting six new States extended the chain +of commonwealths for the first time from ocean to ocean. A process that +had been under way since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock had culminated in +the occupation of the whole breadth of the continent. + +The first continental railroad, the Union Pacific, chartered in 1862 +and finished in 1869, was admittedly a national project. Its purpose was +to bind the Pacific Slope to the East in a period when sectionalism was +a menace to national unity. Its opening was the first step in the +completion of an intricate system of lines extending to the Pacific. +Direct federal aid was given to the road in the form of land grants, +right of way, and a loan of bonds. + +Other continental railroads were authorized in the later sixties. In +1864 a Northern Pacific, to connect Lake Superior and Puget Sound, made +its appearance. In 1866 the Atlantic & Pacific was given the right to +run from a southwestern terminal at Springfield, Missouri, to southern +California. In 1871 the Texas Pacific was designed to connect the head +of navigation on the Red River, near Shreveport and Texarkana, with Fort +Yuma and San Diego. Additional lines with continental possibilities +received charters from the Western States,--the Denver & Rio Grande, the +Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé,--and +received indirectly a share of the public domain as an inducement to +build. Congress stopped making land grants for this purpose in 1871, but +not until more lines than could be used for twenty years had been +allowed. + +All the continental railways were begun before 1873, were checked by the +five years of depression, and were revived about 1878. When they began +again to build there was associated with them a new project for an old +continental route. + +The interoceanic canal had been foreseen ever since the first white man +stood on the Isthmus and gazed at the Pacific. Its construction had been +stimulated by the gold discoveries and the California emigration of +1848-49, and had been arranged for in a treaty signed with Great Britain +in 1850. No means to build the canal were found, however, and the +project drifted along until De Lesseps finished his canal at Suez, and +the new interest in continental communication in America resuscitated +the canal at Panama. In 1878 a French company, with De Lesseps at its +head, obtained a concession from Colombia. It began work in 1880, at +once arousing the jealousy of the United States which was shown in the +efforts of Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur to abrogate the Clayton-Bulwer +Treaty and procure for the United States a free hand at the Isthmus. +Cleveland reverted to the policy of a neutralized canal in 1885, but +interest on either side was premature, since no canal was built for +thirty years. + +The continental railways aroused keen interest in problems of +transportation by their completion between 1881 and 1885. The Northern +Pacific was finished under the direction of Henry Villard, a German +journalist who had been a correspondent in the Civil War and had managed +the interests of foreign investors after 1873. He gained control of the +partly finished Northern Pacific and the local lines of Oregon through a +holding company known as the Oregon & Transcontinental. In September, +1883, he took a special train, full of distinguished visitors, over his +lines to witness the driving of the last spike near Helena, Montana. On +the way out, they stopped at Bismarck to help lay the corner-stone for +an ambitious new capitol of the Territory of Dakota. From Duluth to +Tacoma the new line brought in immigrants whose freight made its chief +business. + +South of the Northern Pacific, the original main line of the Union +Pacific ran from Omaha up the Platte Trail through Cheyenne to Ogden, +with a branch from Kansas City to Denver and Cheyenne. Between the main +line and the branch the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy constructed a road +that reached Denver in May, 1882. Here it met, in 1883, the Denver & Rio +Grande, a narrow-gauge road that penetrated the divide by way of the +cañon of the Arkansas River, and extended to the Great Salt Lake. The +two roads together offered a competition to the Union Pacific for its +whole length from the Missouri River to Ogden, and drove that road to +extend feeder branches south to the Gulf and north into Oregon. + +Farther south the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé stretched the whole length +of Kansas and followed the old trail to Santa Fé and the Rio Grande, and +thence to Old Mexico. Its owners coöperated with the owners of the +Atlantic & Pacific franchise, and the Southern Pacific of California, to +build a connecting link between the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé at +Albuquerque and the Colorado River at the Needles. From this point the +Southern Pacific traversed the valleys of California. In October, 1883, +trains were running from San Francisco to St. Louis over this road. + +[Illustration: By 1870 the railway net had covered the eastern half of +the United States and had just begun its Pacific extension. There were +52,914 miles of railroad.] + +[Illustration: By 1890 the railway mileage of the United States had +increased to 163,597, extending the railway net over the whole +trans-Missouri region, and reinforced by lines in Canada and Mexico. + +THE WESTERN RAILROADS AND THE CONTINENTAL FRONTIER, 1870-1890 + +(Based upon the maps showing density of population in the Eleventh +Rand-McNally Official Rail-Census, and upon Appleton's Railway Guide, +November, 1871, and the way Guide, August, 1891.)] + +The Southern Pacific of California met the other continental lines at +the Fort Yuma crossing of the Colorado River. The Texas Pacific had got +only to Fort Worth before the panic of 1873. It now built across Texas +toward El Paso. Subsidiary corporations owned by the Southern Pacific +men built the line between El Paso and Fort Yuma, and enabled a through +service to start to St. Louis in January, and to New Orleans in October, +1882. Yet another Southern Pacific line was opened through San Antonio +and Houston, tapping the commerce of the Gulf shore, and running trains +to New Orleans in February, 1883. + +The opening of great lines in the United States in the early eighties +was part of a similar movement throughout the world. In Canada, Sir +Donald Smith, later raised to the peerage as Lord Strathcona, was +beginning the Canadian Pacific from Port Arthur to Vancouver, while on +the Continent of Europe the first train of the "Orient Express" left +Paris for Constantinople in June, 1883. In November, 1883, the American +railroads, realizing that they were a national system, agreed upon a +scheme of standard time by which to run their trains. Heretofore every +road had followed what local time it chose, to the confusion of the +traveling public. + +Most of the continental railways had extensive land grants, of from +twenty to forty sections per mile of track, but whether they had lands +to sell or not they were vitally interested in the settlement of the +regions through which they ran. Each encouraged immigration and +colonization. Their literature, scattered over Europe, was one factor in +the heavy drift of population that started after 1878. Six new Western +States were created in the ten years after their completion. + +The youngest American Territory in the eighties was Wyoming, created in +1868, and the youngest State was Colorado, admitted in 1876. After +Colorado, the political division of the West embraced eight organized +Territories: Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington along the Canadian +line, Wyoming and Utah in the middle, Arizona and New Mexico on the +Mexican border. Besides these Territories there was the unorganized +remnant of the Indian country known as Indian Territory, and attracting +the covetous glances of frontiersmen in all the near-by Western States. + +Agriculture was the main reliance of the wave of pioneers that poured +over the plains along the lines of the railroads. In the valley of the +Red River of the North, wheat-farming was their staple industry. As the +Old South had devoted itself to the staple crop of cotton, so this new +region took up the single crop of wheat, bringing to its cultivation +great machines, white labor, and a modified factory system. South of the +wheat country, corn dominated in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, and went to +market either as grain or in the converted form of hogs or stock. In +Texas the cotton-fields pushed into new areas. The farm lands completely +surrounded the Indian Territory, in which a diversified agriculture was +known to be both possible and profitable. + +Across the United States, from Canada to Mexico, the advance line of +farms pushed from the well-watered bottoms of the Mississippi Valley +into the plains that rise toward the Rocky Mountains. Near the +ninety-seventh meridian the rainfall of this region becomes insufficient +for general farming in ordinary years. But the solicitations of +land-sellers brought settlers into the sub-humid region, while for a few +years in the eighties the rainfall was greater than the average. +Permanent climatic changes were imagined by the hopeful. A Governor of +Kansas stated, in 1886, "with absolute certainty, that great areas in +the Western third of Kansas are becoming more fertile," while an Eastern +Senator, who was generally well informed, believed in 1888 that "the +whole Territory of Dakota is as capable of sustaining population as +Iowa." + +Between the farming frontier and the mountains the cattlemen expanded +the grazing industry, with profits that were enlarged because of the +markets that the railroads brought them. The "long drive" from Texas to +Montana became a familiar idea on the border, while the cowboys in their +lonely watches developed a folk-song literature that is typically +American. Between the cattlemen and the sheepmen there was permanent +war, for the sheep injured the grass they grazed over. Although both +industries were trespassers on the public lands the herders resented the +appearance of the flocks as an intrusion upon their domain. + +Kansas City rose suddenly to prominence as the meeting-place of the +railways of the West and Southwest with those of the East. Near to the +line that divided steady agriculture from the nomadic life of the +plains it became a convenient market for both. Here the packers +developed the traffic in fresh beef that the new railways with their +refrigerator cars made possible. The cities of the East, in need of more +fresh meat than the local farmers could provide, found their supply on +the plains of the Far West. + +Beyond the plains, the mountain regions changed less from the advent of +the railways than any other section of the remote West. They had +attracted population to their camps during the Civil War, and now they +grew in size and permanence. But only such regions reached permanent +importance as had valleys to be irrigated and fields to be cultivated. +Without agriculture no important region has flourished in the West. + +Toward the end of the eighties the pressure of the population for more +homestead lands brought about the opening of Oklahoma. Here, for over +half a century, the Indian tribes had lived in full possession. After +the Civil War the plains tribes had been colonized here too. Now, as the +lands were awarded to the Indians in severalty under the Dawes Act, the +old tribal holdings were surrendered and large areas were offered to +white settlement. After ten years of ejectment and restraint the +Oklahoma boomers were let into the country in 1889. Guthrie and Oklahoma +City were created overnight, and in 1890 the Territory of Oklahoma +received permanent organization. + +Before the last continental railway was finished, the Territories were +asking for statehood and were showing advance in population to justify +it. When Villard aided in the corner-stone laying at Bismarck in 1883 +there were already three clearly defined groups of population in Dakota +and an ultimate division had been determined upon by the settlers. +Repeatedly, in the decade, the Dakota colonists framed constitutions and +signed petitions, and the Republicans in Congress sought to give them +statehood. The Democratic House, which prevailed from 1883 to 1889, saw +no reason for creating more Republican States, as these would likely be, +and found pretexts for holding up the bills. Montana, less advanced than +Dakota, and Idaho and Wyoming which were yet more primitive, joined the +forces of the statehood advocates. Arizona and New Mexico did the same, +and Utah had been a suitor since 1850. Washington, with a growing +population on Puget Sound and in the Spokane country, was obviously not +long to be denied. + +For party purposes, the Democrats resisted the demands for statehood +until the election of 1888 insured Republican control through every +branch of the United States Government. Thereafter there was no point to +resistance, and Cleveland, in 1889, signed an "omnibus" bill under which +North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington were admitted. Idaho +and Wyoming, defeated at this time, were let in by the Republicans in +1890. The unorganized frontier was now all but gone, and the pioneers of +these new States used Pullman cars and read the monthly magazines like +any other citizens. + +Arizona and New Mexico were excluded from the new States of 1889 and +1890 because a Republican Congress expected them to be Democratic, and +both remained Territories for more than twenty succeeding years. Utah, +with ample population, was kept where the Federal Government could +control it because of the practices taught by its Church. The Mormons +had made a prosperous Territory in Utah by 1850. They had flourished +ever since, but their institution of polygamy frightened the United +States and created permanent hostility to their admission. In 1882 the +Territory was placed under a commission, and thereafter polygamous +citizens were brought to punishment. In 1890 the Church gave up the +fight and formally abandoned the obnoxious doctrine, but the surrender +came too late to accomplish admission at this time. + +THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, 1789-1904 + +The large rectangle represents the total land area of the United States, +excluding Alaska and the Islands + +1,902,000,000 Acres + ++-----------------------------------------------------------+-------------+ +| |Land area of | +| |the thirteen | +| |original | +| |states | +| |and Maine, | +| |Vermont, West| +| Public lands remaining in the possession |Virginia, | +| of the United States in 1904 |Kentucky, | +| about 700,000,000 Acres |Tennessee, | +| |and Texas, | +| |in none | +| |of which | +| |has the | +| |public domain| +| |ever existed | ++-----------+------------+------------+---------------------+ | +|Area |Land grants |Donations |Sales to companies | 460,000,000 | +|given to | for | to the | or individuals | Acres | +|individuals| internal | states for | under preëmption | | +|in the |improvements| education | and general laws, | (Diagram | +|form of | and | and | and private land | based upon | +|homesteads |railroads | other | claims allowed | the Report | +|or | | local | | of the | +|allotments | | purposes | | Public Lands | +| | | | | Commission | +| | | | | and the | +|122,000,000|137,000,000 | 164,000,000| 319,000,000 | Report of the | +|Acres | Acres | Acres | Acres | Commissioner | +| | of the | +| Land area of the twenty-nine states constituting the | General Land | +| public domain. 1,442,000,000 Acres | Office, 1905) | ++---------------------------------------------------------+---------------+ + +By 1890 the good agricultural lands of the United States were nearly all +in private hands. Their occupation had been hastened in the last five +years by facility of access and the efforts of the railways. With the +disappearance of free lands a new period in America began, as was +recognized at the time, and has become clearer ever since. + +Out of forty-eight States comprising the United States in 1912, and +including about 1,902,000,000 acres, twenty-nine with 1,442,000,000 +acres had been erected in the public domain to which Congress had once +owned title. By cession, purchase, or conquest this domain had been +acquired between 1781 and 1853; it had been treated as a national asset +and governed with what efficiency Congress possessed. By 1903 the United +States had transferred to individuals about half its public land and +nearly all its farm land. It retained many millions of acres, but these +were mountain or desert, and were not usable by the individual farmer +who had been the typical unit in the occupation of the West. + +Already, by 1880, the statisticians had recognized that the period of +free land was at an end, and had turned their attention to the abuses +which had arisen in the administration of the estate. From the +beginning, it had been difficult to compel the West to respect national +land laws. The squatter who occupied lands without title had always been +an obstacle to uniform administration. Evasion of the law had rarely +been frowned upon by Western opinion, which had hoped to get the public +lands into private hands by the quickest route. In the region where the +laws had to be enforced, opinion prevented it, while the National +Administration, before the adoption of civil service reform, was +incapable of directing with accuracy and uniform policy any +administrative scheme which must be so highly technical as a land +office. The Preëmption, Homestead, and Timber Culture Laws were all +framed in the interest of the small holder, but were all perverted by +fraud and collusion. The United States invited much of the fraud by +making no provision by which those industries which had a valid need for +a large acreage could get it legally. + +Among the special abuses that were observed now that it was too late to +remedy them were the violations of the law and the lawless seizures of +the public lands. The cattle companies took and fenced what they needed +and drove out "trespassers" by force. Mail contractors complained of +illegal inclosures which they dare not cross, but which diverted the +United States mail from its lawful course. Yet such was the general land +law that against all but the United States Government the possessors +could maintain their possession. If the Government could not or would +not interfere, there was no redress. + +These abuses had been noticed for many years, and were specially +advertised in the early eighties by the enormous holdings of a few +British noblemen. The problem of absentee landlordism was exciting +Ireland in these years. When Cleveland became President his Commissioner +of the General Land Office, Sparks, turned cheerfully and vigorously to +reform, and denounced the discreditable condition the more readily +because it had appeared under Republican administration. He held up the +granting of homestead and preëmption titles for the purpose of +examination and inspection, and demanded the repeal of the Preëmption +Law. He was successful in recovering some of the lands that had been +offered to the railways to aid in their construction. + +The railway land grants were notorious because the railways had rarely +been done on contract time, and had in theory forfeited their grants. +The estimated area offered them was about 214,000,000 acres, and the +question arose as to the extent to which forfeiture should be imposed +upon them. The spectacular completion of their lines and their efforts +to bring a population into the West, and the vast size of the +corporations that owned them, had aroused a hostile opinion that +supported the Democratic Administration in its efforts to save what +lands it could. Some fifty million acres were restored to the domain by +this fight, but the restoration only emphasized the fact that most of +the good lands were gone. + +Out of the demand for the reform of the public lands grew a new interest +in the condition of the lands that were left. The Department of +Agriculture was created at the end of Cleveland's term, and Governor +Jeremiah Rusk was appointed as its first Secretary by Harrison. Rusk +accepted cheerfully his place as "the tail of the Cabinet," asserting +that as such he was expected "to keep the flies off," and set about +rearranging or organizing a group of scientific bureaus. Since most of +the remaining lands could not be used without irrigation, the surveys +undertaken by Congress started a new phase of public science, and led +ultimately to the rise of a positive theory of conservation. + +The problems of national communication, Western settlement, and public +lands resulted from the completion of the continental railways, while +the railways themselves gave a new significance to transportation in +America. During the years of the Granger movement the doctrine had been +established that railroads are quasi-public and are subject to +regulation by public authority. In the Granger Cases in 1877 the Supreme +Court recognized the right of the States to establish rates by law, even +when these rates, by becoming part of a through rate, had an incidental +effect upon interstate commerce. The problem had been viewed as local +or regional during the seventies. Most of the States had passed railway +laws and had proceeded to accumulate a volume of statistical information +upon the railway business, that was increased by such public +investigations as the Windom and Hepburn Reports and by lawsuits that +revealed the nature of special favors and rebates. + +Before the States had gone far in the direction of railway regulation it +was discovered that no State could regulate an interstate railway with +precision and justice. The great systems built up by Villard and Gould +and Vanderbilt and Huntington dominated whole regions and precipitated +the question of the effectiveness of state action. The continental +lines, necessarily long and traversing several States, emphasized the +inequality between the powers of a State and the problem to be met. +Their national character pointed to national control. + +In Congress there were repeated attempts after 1873 to secure the +passage of an Interstate Commerce Act. In continuation of this campaign +a committee headed by Senator Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois, made a new +investigation in 1885, and reported early in 1886 that supervision and +publicity were required, and that these could best be obtained through a +federal commission with large powers of taking testimony and examining +books. The committee was convinced, as the public was already convinced, +that the problem had become national. + +The Supreme Court reached the same opinion in 1886 when it handed down a +new decision in the case of the Wabash Railway Company vs. Illinois. +Here it reversed or modified its own decision in the Granger Cases. In +1877 it had ruled that railways are subject to regulation and that the +States under their police powers may regulate. It now adhered to its +major premise, but declared that such regulation as affected an +interstate rate is exclusively a federal function. In effect it +determined that if there was to be regulation of the great systems it +could only be at the hands of Congress. + +The regulation of interstate commerce was not a party measure. It had +its advocates in both parties, and found its opponents in the railroad +lobby that resented any public interference with the business of the +roads. The railway owners and directors were slower than the public in +accepting the doctrine of the quasi-public nature of their business. It +was a powerful argument against them that their size and influence were +such that they could and did ruin or enrich individual customers, and +that they could make or destroy whole regions of the West. Enough +positive proof of favoritism existed to give point to the demand that +the business must cease to discriminate. + +The Interstate Commerce Act became a law February 4, 1887. It created a +commission of five, with a six-year term and the proviso that not more +than three of the commissioners should belong to one party. It forbade a +group of practices which had resulted in unfair discrimination and gave +to the commission considerable powers in investigation and interference. +The later interpretation of the law deprived the commission of some of +the powers that, it was thought, had been given to it, but during the +next nineteen years the Interstate Commerce Commission was a central +figure in the solution of the railroad problem. The work of this +commission, like the work of irrigation and agriculture, was technical, +calling for expert service, and aiding in the process that was changing +the character of the National Administration as one function after +another was called into service for the first time. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +In 1893 F.J. Turner called attention to the _Significance of the +Frontier in American History_ (in American Historical Association, +Annual Report, 1893). His theory has been elaborated by F.L. Paxson, +_The Last American Frontier_ (1910), and K. Coman, _Economic Beginnings +of the Far West_ (1912). There is no good account of the public lands. +T. Donaldson, _The Public Domain_ (1881), is inaccurate, antiquated, and +clumsy, but has not been supplanted. Many useful tables are in the +report of the Public Lands Commission created by President Roosevelt (in +58th Congress, 3d session, Senate Document, No. 189, Serial No. 4766). +The general spirit of the frontier in the eighties has been appreciated +by Owen Wister, in _The Virginian_ (1902), and _Members of the Family_ +(1911), and by E. Talbot, in _My People of the Plains_ (1906). J.A. +Lomax has preserved some of its folklore in _Cowboy Songs and Other +Frontier Ballads_ (1910). The best narratives on the continental +railways are J.P. Davis, _Union Pacific Railway_ (1894), and E.V. +Smalley, _The Northern Pacific Railroad_ (1883). Many contributory +details are in H. Villard, _Memoirs_ (2 vols., 1904), E.P. Oberholtzer, +_Jay Cooke_ (2 vols., 1907), and in the appropriate volumes of H.H. +Bancroft, _Works_. L.H. Haney has compiled the formal documents in his +_Congressional History of Railroads_ (in Bulletins of the University of +Wisconsin, Nos. 211 and 342). The debate over the Isthmian Canal may be +read in J.D. Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the Presidents_; the +Foreign relations Reports, 1879-83; L.M. Keasbey, _The Nicaragua Canal +and the Monroe Doctrine_ (1896); J.B. Henderson, _American Diplomatic +Questions_ (1901); and J. Latané, _Diplomatic Relations of the United +States and Spanish America_ (1900). + + + + +CHAPTER X + +NATIONAL BUSINESS + + +Transportation was a fundamental factor in the two greatest problems of +the eighties. In the case of the disappearance of free land and the +frontier, it produced phenomena that were most clearly visible in the +West, although affecting the whole United States. In the case of +concentration of capital and the growth of trusts, its phenomena were +mostly in the East, where were to be found the accumulations of capital, +the great markets, and the supply of labor. + +Through the improvements in communication it became possible to conduct +an efficient business in every State and direct it from a single head +office. Not only railroad and telegraph helped in this, but telephone, +typewriter, the improved processes in photography and printing, and the +organization of express service were of importance and touched every +aspect of life. Journalism both broadened and concentrated. The +effective range of the weeklies and monthlies and even of the city +dailies was widened, while the resulting competition tended to weed out +the weaker and more local. Illustrations improved and changed the +physical appearance of periodical literature. + +Social organizations of national scope or ambition took advantage of the +new communication. Trade unions, benevolent associations, and +professional societies multiplied their annual congresses and +conventions, and increased the proportion of the population that knew +something of the whole Union. A few periodicals and pattern-makers began +to circulate styles, which clothing manufacturers imitated and local +shopkeepers sold at retail. Mail-order business was aided by the same +conditions. A new uniformity in appearance began to enter American life, +weakening the old localisms in dress, speech, and conduct. Until within +a few years it had been possible here and there to sit down to dinner +"with a gentleman in the dress of the early century--ruffles, even +_bag-wig_ complete"; but the new standards were the standards of the +mass, and it became increasingly more difficult to keep up an +aristocratic seclusion or a style of life much different from that of +the community. + +With the growth of national uniformity went also the concentration of +control. As the field of competition widened, the number of possible +winners declined. Men measured strength, not only in their town or +State, but across the continent, and the handful of leaders used the +facilities of communication as the basis for the further expansion of +their industries. Business was extended because it was possible and +because it was thought to pay. + +Many of the economies of consolidation were so obvious as to need no +argument. If a single firm could do the business of five,--or fifty--it +increased its profit through larger and better plants, greater division +of labor, and a more careful use of its by-products. It could cut down +expenses by reducing the army of competing salesmen and by lessening the +duplication of administrative offices. The same economics in management +which had driven the Old South to the large plantation as a type drove +American industrial society toward economic consolidation and the +trusts. + +The technical form of organization of the trust was unimportant. +Strictly speaking, it was a combination of competing concerns, in which +the control of all was vested in a group of trustees for the purpose of +uniformity. The name was thus derived, but it spread in popular usage +until it was regarded as generally descriptive of any business so large +that it affected the course of the whole trade of which it was a part. +The logical outcome of the trust was monopoly, and trusts appeared first +in those industries in which there existed a predisposition to monopoly, +an excessive loss through competition, or a controlling patent or trade +secret. + +The first trust to arouse public notice was concerned in the +transportation and manufacture of petroleum and its products. Commercial +processes for refining petroleum became available in the sixties, +enabling improvements in domestic illumination that insured an +increasing market for the product. The industry was speculative by +nature because of the low cost of crude petroleum at the well and the +high cost of delivering it to the consumer. Slight rises in price caused +the market to be swamped by overproduction, and threw the control of the +industry into the hands of those who controlled its transportation. + +Once above ground, the cheap and bulky oil had to be hauled first to the +refiner and then to the consumer. The receptacles were expensive, and +the methods of transportation that were cheapest in operation had the +greatest initial cost. Barrels were relatively cheap to buy, but were +costly to handle. Tank-cars were more expensive, but repaid those who +could afford them. Pipe-lines were beyond the means of the individual, +but brought in greater returns to the corporations that owned them. + +It was inevitable that some of the dealers who competed in the +oil-fields of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in the sixties +should realize the strategic value of the control of transportation and +profit by it. John D. Rockefeller happened to be more successful than +others in manipulating transportation. His refineries grew in size, as +they bought out or crushed their rivals, until by 1882 most of the +traffic in petroleum was under his control. Economy and sagacity had +much to do with the success, but were less significant than +transportation. Railway rates were yet unfixed by law and every road +sold transportation as best it could. Rockefeller learned to bargain in +freight rates, and through a system of special rates and rebates gained +advantages over every competitor. His lobby made it difficult to weaken +him through legislative measures, while his attorneys were generally +more skillful than his prosecutors before the courts. The recognition of +the existence of rebates did much to hasten the passage of the +Interstate Commerce Law. The group of corporations that flourished +because of them became the greatest of the trusts. By 1882 the +affiliated Rockefeller companies were so numerous and complicated that +they were given into the hands of a group of trustees to be managed as a +single business. + +The Whiskey and Sugar Trusts, formed in 1887, had to do with commodities +in which transportation was not the controlling element. These +industries suffered from overproduction and ruinous competition, to +eliminate which the distilleries and sugar refineries entered into trust +agreements like that of the Standard Oil companies. Other lines of +manufacture followed as best they could. Before Cleveland was +inaugurated the trend was noticed and attacked. + +Most of the agitation against the trusts came from individuals whose +lives were touched by them. Competition was ruthless and often +unscrupulous. Every man who was crushed by it hated his destroyer. There +was much changing of occupations as firms merged and reorganized and as +plants grew in size and ingenuity. Perhaps more workers changed the +character of their occupation in the eighties than in any other decade. +As each individual readjusted himself to his new environment, he added +to the mass of public opinion that believed the trusts to be a menace to +society. + +As early as 1881 there was a market for anti-trust literature, for in +March of that year the _Atlantic Monthly_ printed the "Story of a Great +Monopoly," by Henry Demarest Lloyd, who became one of the leaders in the +attack. It had been fashionable to regard success as a vindication of +Yankee cleverness and worthy of emulation, without much examination of +the methods by which it was attained. The Standard Oil Company, +attracting attention to itself, raised the question of the effect of +industry upon society. + +The evils ascribed to the trusts were social or political. In a social +way they were believed to check individualism and to create too large a +proportion of subordinates to independent producers. As monopolies, they +were believed to threaten extortion through high price. It was strongly +suspected of the largest trusts that having destroyed all competition +they could fix prices at pleasure. Economists pointed out that such +price could hardly be high and yet remunerative to the trusts, because +the latter did not dare to check consumption. But fear of oppression +could not be dispelled by any economic law. + +The trust was believed to have an evil influence in politics, and to +obtain special favors through bribery or pressure. The United States was +used to the influence of money in politics, and distrusted public +officials. The state constitutions framed in this period were being +expanded into codes of specific law in the hope of safeguarding public +interests. There was little belief that corrupt overtures, if made by +the trusts, would be resisted. + +Lloyd, and men of his type, believed in regulation and control. Some of +them became socialists. Others hoped to restore a competitive basis by +law. The greatest impression on the public was made by one of their +literary allies, Edward Bellamy. + +Early in 1888 Edward Bellamy published a romance entitled _Looking +Backward_, in which his hero, Mr. Julian West, went to sleep in 1887, +with labor controversy and trust denunciation sounding in his ears, to +awake in the year 2000 A.D. The socialized state into which the hero was +reborn was a picture of an end to which industry was perhaps drifting. +It caught public attention. Clubs of enthusiasts tried to hasten the day +of nationalization by forming Bellamistic societies. Those who were +repelled by a future in which the trusts and the State were merged +became more active in their demand for regulation. + +The legislative side of trust regulation, like that of railway +regulation, was made more difficult because of the division of powers +between Congress and the States. It was an interesting question whether +one State could control a monopoly as large as the nation. But the +States passed anti-trust laws by the score, as they had passed the +railway laws. As in the earlier case they found their model in the +common law, which had long prohibited conspiracies in restraint of +trade. One of the States, Ohio, with only the common law to go upon, +brought suit against the Standard Oil Trust and secured a prohibition +against it in 1892. It was relatively easy to attack the formal +organization of the trust, but in spite of such attacks concentration +continued to produce ever greater combinations, as though it were +fulfilling some fundamental economic law. + +Those of the anti-monopolists who were also tariff reformers had a +weapon to urge besides that of regulation. They maintained that part of +the power of the corporations was due to the needless favors of +protection, which deprived the United States of the aid that competition +from European manufacturers might have given. They insisted that a +revision of the tariff would do much to remove the burden of the trusts. +The House ordered an investigation of the trusts while it was engaged on +the futile Mills Bill in 1888, but it was the latter that furnished the +text for the ensuing presidential campaign. + +So far as the parties were concerned the Republicans took the aggressive +in 1888. Cleveland's emphasis upon tariff reduction was personal and +never had the cheerful support of the whole party. The manufacturers, +however, were thoroughly scared by the continued threats of revision. As +they had come, by supporting the party in power, to support the +Republicans, so they now organized within that party to save themselves. +Their leaders sang a new note in 1888, no longer apologizing for the +tariff or urging reduction, but defending it on principle,--on Clay's +old principle of an American system,--and asking that it be made more +comprehensive. From Florence, and then from Paris, Blaine replied to +Cleveland's Message of 1887, and his friends continued to urge his +nomination for the Presidency. Only after his positive refusal to be a +candidate did the Republican Convention at Chicago make its choice from +a list of candidates including Sherman, Gresham, Depew, Alger, Harrison, +and Allison. The ticket finally nominated consisted of Benjamin +Harrison, a Senator from Indiana, and Levi P. Morton, a New York banker. +The platform was "uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of +protection." It denounced Cleveland and the revisionists as serving "the +interests of Europe," and condemned "the Mills Bill as destructive to +the general business, the labor, and the farming interests of the +country." + +The Democrats, as is usual for the party in power, had already held +their convention before the Republicans met. They had renominated Grover +Cleveland by acclamation, and Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, as +Vice-President, and had indorsed, not the Mills Bill by name, but the +views of Cleveland and the efforts of the President and Representatives +in Congress to secure a reduction. For many of the Democrats the need to +defend tariff reform was so distasteful that they left the party, +blaming Cleveland as the cause of their defection. + +The canvass of 1888 was not marred by the personalities of 1884. The +issue of protection was discussed earnestly by both parties, Blaine, who +returned from Europe, leading the Republican attack. The only exciting +incidents of the campaign had to do with the "Murchison Letter" and the +campaign fund. + +Matthew S. Quay, whose career as Treasurer of Pennsylvania had not been +above reproach, was chairman of the Republican campaign committee. +During the contest it was asserted that he was assessing the protected +manufacturers and guaranteeing them immunity in case of a Republican +victory. He was at least able to play upon their fears and bring a +vigorous support to the protective promises of his party. His committee +circulated stories of the un-Americanism of Cleveland, charging that +free-trade was pro-British, and making capital out of the pension +vetoes. Toward the end of the canvass Sir Lionel Sackville-West, the +British Minister, fell into a Republican trap and wrote to a pretended +naturalized Englishman, who called himself Murchison, that a vote for +Cleveland would best serve Great Britain. His tactless blunder caused +his summary dismissal from Washington and aided the Republican cause +much as the Burchard affair had injured it four years before. + +Harrison was elected in November as a minority President, Cleveland +actually receiving more popular though fewer electoral votes. He came +into office with a Republican Senate and a Republican House, able to +carry out party intentions for the first time since 1883. + +Benjamin Harrison was never a leader of his party. He had a good war +record and had been Senator for a single term. His nomination was not +due to his strength, but to his availability. Coming from the doubtful +State of Indiana, he was likely to carry it, particularly since the +Republican candidate for governor was a leader of the Grand Army of the +Republic. Harrison's personal character and piety were valuable assets +in a time when party leaders were under fire. Once in office he had a +cold abruptness that made it easy to lose the support of associates who +felt that their own importance was greater than his. + +Blaine, the greatest of these associates, became Secretary of State, +and soon had the satisfaction of meeting the Pan-American Congress that +he had called eight years before. In his interest in larger American +affairs he lost some of his keenness as a protectionist and acquired a +zeal for foreign trade. With England he had another unsuccessful tilt, +this time over the seals of Bering Sea. + +In some of the appointments Harrison paid the party debts. Windom came +back to the Treasury, although ex-Senator Platt, of New York, claimed +that he had been promised it. John Wanamaker, who had raised large sums +in Philadelphia to aid Quay in the campaign, became Postmaster-General. +The Pension Bureau, important through the alliance with the soldiers, +went to a leader of the Grand Army of the Republic, one "Corporal" +Tanner, whose most famous utterance related to his intentions: "God save +the surplus!" + +The Fifty-first Congress, convening in December, 1889, took up with +enthusiasm the mandate of the election, as the Republicans saw it, to +revise the tariff in the interest of protection. It chose as Speaker +Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, and revised its rules so as to expedite +legislation. William McKinley prepared a revision of the tariff in the +House, while another Ohioan, John Sherman, took up the matter of the +trusts in the Senate. + +The Sherman Anti-Trust Law was enacted in July, 1890, after nearly +ten years of general discussion. Although formulated by +Republicans--Sherman, Edmunds, and Hoar--it was not more distinctly +a party measure than the Interstate Commerce Act had been. It relied +upon the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution as its +authority to declare illegal "every contract, combination in the form +of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of commerce among +the several States, or with foreign nations," and it provided suitable +penalties for violation. The most significant debate in connection +with it occurred upon an amendment offered by Representative Richard +P. Bland, of Missouri, who desired to extend the scope of the +prohibition, specifically, to railroads. The Senate excluded the +amendment on the ground that the law was general, covering the railroads +without special enumeration. The full meaning of the law remained in doubt +for nearly fifteen years, for few private suitors invoked it and the +Attorneys-General were not hostile to the ordinary practices of business. +A great financial depression which appeared in 1893 acted well as a +temporary deterrent of trusts. There was a suspicion that the law had +been intended not to be enforced, but to act as a popular antidote to +the McKinley Tariff Bill which was pending while it passed. + +There were two reasons for a revision of the tariff in 1890. The +surplus, still a reason, added $105,000,000 in 1889, and continued to +embarrass the Treasury with a wealth of riches. Secondly, the election +of 1888 had gone Republican, and party leaders chose to regard this as a +popular condemnation of Cleveland and tariff reform, and a popular +mandate for higher protection, in spite of the fact that more Americans +voted for Cleveland than for Harrison. A third reason, alleged by the +opposition, was the necessity of fulfilling the pledges given by Quay +and the campaign managers to the manufacturers who contributed to the +campaign fund,--manufacturers who were parodied as "Mary":-- + + "Our Mary had a little lamb, + Her heart was most intent + To make its wool, beyond its worth, + Bring 56 per cent." + +In April, 1890, McKinley presented his act "to equalize the duties upon +imports and to reduce the revenues." For five months Congress wrestled +with the details of the bill and the issues connected with it. In June +it rewarded the soldier allies of the Administration with a Dependent +Pension Act which granted pensions to those who could show ninety days +of service and present dependence, and which, aided by the previous +laws, relieved the surplus of $1,350,000,000 in the next ten years. +Early in July the Anti-Trust Act was passed. Two weeks later Congress +paused in its tariff deliberations to pass the Sherman Silver Purchase +Bill at the demand of Republican Senators from the Rocky Mountain +States, who wanted their share of protection in this form and were so +numerous as to be able to produce a deadlock. + +The tariff that became a law October 1, 1890, was the first success in +tariff legislation since the Civil War. It enlarged protection and +reduced the revenue. The latter was done by repealing the duty on raw +sugar, which had been the most remunerative item of the old tariff, and +by substituting a bounty of two cents per pound to the American +sugar-grower, which further relieved the surplus. The sugar clause was +one of the notable features of the McKinley Bill, and was closely +related to a group of duties upon agricultural imports. There had been +complaint among the farmers that protection did nothing for them. The +agricultural schedule was designed to silence this complaint. + +Another novelty in the bill was the extension of protection to unborn +industries. In the case of tin plate, the President was empowered to +impose a duty whenever he should learn that American mills were ready to +manufacture it. This was an application of the principle that went +beyond the demands of most advocates of protection. + +A final novelty, reciprocity, was the favorite scheme of the Secretary +of State. Blaine, in his foreign policy, saw in the tariff wall an +obstacle to friendly trade relations, and induced Congress to permit the +duties on the chief imports from South America to be admitted on a +special basis in return for reciprocal favors. McKinley, as his +experience widened, accepted this principle in full, and died with an +expression of it upon his lips. But in 1890 most protectionists inclined +toward absolute exclusion, regardless of foreign relations, and were +ready to raise the rate whenever the imports were large. + +In the passage of the McKinley Tariff Bill it was noticed that a third +body was sharing largely in such legislation. After each house had +passed the bill and disagreements on amendments had been reached, it was +sent to a Joint Committee of Conference whose report was, by rule, +unamendable. In the Conference Committee the bill was finally shaped, +and so shaped that the Republican majority was forced to accept it or +none. The party leaders who sat on the Committee of Conference were a +third house with almost despotic power, and were, as well, men whose +association with manufacturing districts or protected interests raised a +fair question as to the impartiality of their decisions. The Republican +reply, in their hands, to the assertion that the tariff was the mother +of trusts was to raise the tariff still higher and to forbid the trusts +to engage in interstate commerce. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The _Life of Henry Demarest Lloyd_, by C. Lloyd (2 vols., 1912) contains +an admirable and sympathetic survey of the growth of anti-trust feeling, +and should be supplemented by the writings of H.D. Lloyd, more +particularly, "The Story of a Great Monopoly" (in _Atlantic Monthly_, +March, 1881), and _Wealth against Commonwealth_ (1894). The philosophy +of Henry George is best stated in his _Progress and Poverty_ (1879), and +is presented biographically by H. George, Jr., in his _Life of Henry +George_ (1900). The most popular romance of the decade is based upon an +economic hypothesis: E. Bellamy, _Looking Backward_ (1887). J.W. Jenks, +_The Trust Problem_ (1900, etc.), has become a classic sketch of the +economics of industrial concentration. The histories of the Standard Oil +Company, by I.M. Tarbell (2 vols., 1904) and G.H. Montague (1903), are +based largely upon judicial and congressional investigations. The +Sherman Law is discussed in the writings and biographies of Sherman, +Hoar, and Edmunds, and in A. H. Walker, _History of the Sherman Law_ +(1910). For the election of 1888, consult Stanwood, Andrews, Peck, the +_Annual Cyclopædia_, the tariff histories, and D.R. Dewey, _National +Problems, 1885-1897_ (in _The American Nation_, vol. 24, 1907). + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FARMERS' CAUSE + + +The Republican protective policy had its strongest supporters among the +industrial communities of the East where the profits of manufacture were +distributed. In the West, where the agricultural staples had produced a +simplicity of interests somewhat resembling those of the Old South in +its cotton crop, the advantage of protection was questioned even in +Republican communities. The Granger States and the Prairie States were +normally Republican, but they had experienced falling prices for their +corn and wheat, as the South had for its cotton, in the eighties, and +had listened encouragingly to the advocates of tariff reform. +Cleveland's Message of 1887 had affected them strongly. Through 1888 and +1889 country papers shifted to the support of revision, while farmers' +clubs and agricultural journals began to denounce protection. The +Republican leaders felt the discontent, and brought forward the +agricultural schedules of the McKinley Bill to appease it, but +dissatisfaction increased in 1889 and 1890 through most of the farming +sections. + +The farmer in the South was directly affected by the falling price of +cotton, and retained his hereditary aversion to the protective tariff. +He could not believe that either party was working in his interests. The +dominant issues of the eighties did not touch his problems. He was not +interested in civil service reform, which was a product of a +differentiated society, in which professional expertness was recognized +and valued. He knew and cared little about administration, and being +used to a multitude of different tasks himself saw no reason why the +offices should not be passed around. In this view American farmers +generally concurred. + +The Southern farmer was without interest in the pension system and was +prone to criticize it. The Fourteenth Amendment had forced the +repudiation of the whole Confederate debt, leaving the Southern veterans +compelled to pay taxes that were disbursed for the benefit of Union +veterans and debarred from enjoying similar rewards. They could not turn +Republican, yet in their own party they saw men who failed to represent +them. + +In the North agriculture was depressed and the farmers were +discontented. In many regions the farms were worn out. Scientific +farming was beginning to be talked about to some extent, but was little +practiced. The improvements in transportation had brought the younger +and more fertile lands of the West into competition with the East for +the city markets. Cattle, raised on the plains and slaughtered at Kansas +City or Chicago, were offered for sale in New York and Philadelphia. +Western fruits of superior quality were competing with the common +varieties of the Eastern orchards. Here, as in the South, the farmers +saw the parties quarreling over issues that touched the manufacturing +classes, but disregarding those of agriculture. + +It was in the West, however, that agricultural discontent was keenest. +In no other region were uniform conditions to be found over so large an +area. The Granger States had shown how uniformity in discontent may +bring forth political readjustments. The new region of the late eighties +lay west of Missouri and Iowa, where the railroads had stimulated +settlement along the farther edge of the arable prairies. Texas, Kansas, +Colorado, and the Dakotas had passed into a boom period about 1885, and +had pushed new farms into regions that could not in ordinary years +produce a crop. Only blinded enthusiasts believed that the climate of +the sub-humid plains was changing. In good years crops will grow as far +west as the Rockies: in bad, they dry up in eastern Kansas. + +It served the interest of the railroads to promote new settlements, and +speculation got the better of prudence. The rainfall coöperated for a +few years, enabling the newcomers to break the sod and set up their +dwellings and barns. The quality of the settlers increased the dangers +attendant upon the community. + +Under earlier conditions in the westward migration each frontier had +been settled, chiefly, by occupants of the preceding frontier, who knew +the climate and understood the conditions of successful farming. The +greater distances in the farther West, and the ease of access which the +railroads gave, brought a less capable class of farmers into the plains +settlements. Some were amateurs; others knew a different type of +agriculture. The population which had to deal with this new region was +less likely to succeed than that of any previous frontier. + +The frontier of the eighties presented new obstacles in its doubtful +rainfall and its experimental farmers. It contained as well the +conditions that had always prevailed along the edge of settlement. +Transportation was vital to its life,--as vital as it had been in the +Granger States,--yet was nearly as unregulated. The Interstate Commerce +Law of 1887 had little noticeable immediate effect. Discrimination, +unreasonable rates, and overcapitalization were still grievances that +affected the West. The new activity of organized labor, shown in the +Western strikes of 1885 and 1886, added another obstacle to the easy +prosperity of farmers who needed uninterrupted train service. The germs +of an anti-railroad movement were well distributed. + +An anti-corporation movement, too, might reasonably be expected in this +new frontier. Producing only the raw products of agriculture, its +inhabitants bought most of the commodities in use from distant sections. +They were impressed with the cost of what they had to buy and the low +price of what they sold. They were ready listeners to agitators against +the trusts. + +Like all frontiers, this one was financed on borrowed money. The pioneer +was dependent on credit, was hopeful and speculative in his borrowings, +built more towns and railroads than he needed, and loaded himself with a +mountain of debt that could be met only after a long series of +prosperous years. + +By necessity he was readily converted by the arguments of inflation. +Greenback inflation had run its course, and after the resumption of +specie payments in 1879 had been only a political threat without +foundation or many followers. A Greenback party, affiliating with labor +and anti-monopoly interests, had nominated Weaver in 1880 and Butler in +1884, but even inflationists had not voted for the ticket in large +number. A new phase of inflation had become more interesting than the +greenbacks, and had led to the demand for the free coinage of silver. + +Among the demands of the Western farmer, whose greatest problem was the +payment of his debts, none was more often heard than that for more and +cheaper money. The Eastern farmer, though less burdened with debt, knew +that more money would make higher prices, and believed it would bring +larger profits. The Southern farmer, heavily in debt, not so much for +purposes of development and permanent improvements, as because he +regularly mortgaged his crop in advance and allowed the rural +storekeeper to finance him, was also interested in inflation as a common +remedy. Together the farmers of all sections kept pressing on the +parties for free silver after the passage of the Bland-Allison Bill in +1878. As the price of silver declined the gain which silver inflation +would bring them increased, and they were joined by another class of +producers whose profits came from mining the silver bullion. + +The silver mines furnished important industries in Montana, Idaho, +Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California, and were highly valued +in most of the Western communities. As their output declined in value +after 1873, their owners turned to the United States Government for aid +and protection, not differing much from the manufacturers of the East +in their hope for aid. The restoration of silver coinage was the method +by which they desired their protection, and they asserted that Congress +could coin all the silver and yet maintain it at a parity with gold. +They were allies with the farmer inflationists so far as means of relief +were concerned, and both failed to see how incompatible were their real +aims. The miners wanted free silver in order to increase the price of +silver and their profits; the farmers wanted it to increase the volume +of money and reduce its value. If either was correct in his prophecy as +to the result of free coinage, the other was doomed to disappointment. +But the combined demand was reiterated through the eighties. While times +were good it was not serious, but any shock to the prosperity or credit +of the West was likely to stimulate the one movement in which all the +discontented concurred. + +The crisis which precipitated Western discontent into politics came in +1889 when rainfall declined and crops failed. In the Arkansas Valley, +with an average fall of eighteen inches, the total for this year was +only thirteen inches. General Miles, who had chased hostile Indians +across the plains for more than twenty years, and who had seen the new +villages push in, mile by mile, saw the terrible results of drought. +First suffering, then mortgage, then foreclosure and eviction, he +prophesied. "And should this impending evil continue for a series of +years," he wrote, "no one can anticipate what may follow." The glowing +promises of the early eighties were falsified, whole towns and counties +were deserted, and the farmers turned to the Government for aid. + +The Western upheaval followed a period in which both great parties had +been attacked as misrepresentative. There was a widely spread belief +that politicians were dishonest and that the Government was conducted +for the favored classes. It was natural that the discontented should +take up one of the agricultural organizations already existing, as the +Grangers had done, and convert it to their political purpose. + +Since the high day of the Granger movement there had always been +associations among the farmers and organizations striving to get their +votes. The Grange had itself continued as a social and economic bond +after its attack upon the railroads. There had been a Farmers' Union and +an Agricultural Wheel. The great success of the Knights of Labor and the +American Federation of Labor had had imitators who were less successful +because farming had been too profitable to give much room for organized +discontent, while in times of prosperity the farmer was an +individualist. A new activity among the farmers' papers was now an +evidence of a growing desire to get the advantage of coöperation. + +The greatest farmer organization of the eighties was the Farmers' +Alliance, a loose federation of agricultural clubs that reflected local +conditions, West and South. In the South, it was noted in 1888 as +"growing rapidly," but "only incidentally of political importance." In +Dakota, it had been active since 1885, conducting for its members fire +and hail insurance, a purchasing department, and an elevator company. +In Texas it was building cotton and woolen mills. The machinery of this +organization was used by the farmers in stating their common cause, and +as their aims broadened it merged, during 1890, into a People's Party. +In Kansas, during the summer of this year, the movement broke over the +lines of both old parties and had such success that its promoters +thought a new political party had been born. + +Agricultural discontent, growing with the hard times of 1889, had been +noticed, but there had been no means of measuring it until Congress +adjourned after the passage of the McKinley Bill and the members came +home to conduct the congressional campaign of 1890. They found that the +recent law had become the chief issue before them. The so-called popular +demand for protection, revealed in the election of 1888, had after all +been based upon a minority of the votes cast. The tariff and the way it +had been passed were used against them by the Democrats and the Farmers' +Alliance. + +The act was passed so close to election day that its real influence +could not then be seen and its opponents could not be confuted when they +told of the evils it would do. Before the election of 1888, as again in +1892, Republican manufacturers frightened their workmen by threats of +closing down if free-traders won. This time the tables were turned +against them by the recital of prospective high prices. + +Corrupt methods in framing the schedules furnished an influential +argument throughout the West. Even in the East the tariff reformers +asserted that undue favors had been done for greedy interests; that +manufacturers who had bought immunity by their contributions to Quay's +campaign fund had been rewarded with increased protection. The farmers +believed these charges, plausible though unprovable, for they were +disposed to believe that both the great parties were interested only in +selfish exploitation of the Government to the advantage of politicians. + +In every State Republican candidates had to meet this fire as well as +the local issues. In Maine, Reed met it and was elected with enlarged +majority from a community that wanted protection. In Ohio, McKinley lost +his seat, partly from the revulsion of feeling, but more because the +Democrats, who controlled the State Legislature, had gerrymandered his +district against him. Cannon, of Illinois, who had already served nine +terms and was to serve ten more, lost his seat, and LaFollette, of +Wisconsin, whom the protectionists had made much of, was checked early +in a promising career because of an educational issue in his State. +Pennsylvania, protectionist at heart, elected the Democratic ex-governor +Pattison again in one of its revulsions against the Quay machine. + +The Democrats defeated the Republicans in the East while the Farmers' +Alliance undermined them in the West. In Kansas and Nebraska the +Alliance controlled the result, sent their own men to Washington, and +secured the Kansas Legislature which returned the first Populist +Senator. In several States fusion tickets were successful with +Democratic and Alliance support. In the South, Democrats found it aided +them in winning nomination--for the real Southern election was within +this party and not at the polls--to assert that they were and had been +farmers. + +When the votes were counted the extent of the reaction was realized. The +last Congress had contained a safe majority of Republicans in each +house. The new Congress, the Fifty-second, chosen in 1890, had lost the +high-tariff majority in the lower body. Only 88 Republicans were +elected, against 236 Democrats and 8 of the Alliance. The Republicans +retained the Senate partly because of the "rotten borough" States, Idaho +and Wyoming, which they had just admitted. + +The greatest factor in the landslide was the tariff, but this was, +largely, only the occasion for an outburst of discontent that had been +piling up for a decade. The dominant party was punished because things +went wrong, because the trusts throve and labor was uneasy, because +prices declined, because there were scandals in the Public Lands and +Pension Bureaus, and because the rainfall had diminished on the plains. +The new House elected a Georgian, Crisp, as Speaker, and the second half +of Harrison's term passed quietly. Among the people, however, there was +much conjecture upon the future of the Farmers' Alliance. A convention +at Cincinnati, six months after the election, tried to unite the new +element and form a third party of importance. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +Union between the Knights of Labor and the Farmers' Alliance for +political purposes was the aim of the promoters of the People's Party, a +party that was to right all the wrongs from which the plain people +suffered and restore the Government to their hands. Until the next +presidential election they had time to organize for the crusade. + +The United States, by 1890, had begun to feel the influence of the +agencies of communication in breaking down sectionalism and letting in +the light of comparative experience. Men who survived from the +generation that flourished before the war found their cherished ideas +undermined or shattered. In public life, administration, literature, and +religion the old order was being swept away. The United States had +become a nation because it could not avoid it. Even the Congregational +churches, with whom parish autonomy was vital, had seen fit to erect a +National Council. Every important activity of trade had become national, +and the only agency that retained its old localism was the law, which +must cope with the new order. In many ways the trust problem was the +result of an inadequate legal system which left a wide "twilight zone" +between the local capacity of the State and the activity of the Nation. +Yet the Nation was unfolding and expanding its powers. Railroad control, +immigration and labor control, agricultural experiment, irrigation, and +reclamation were only samples of the new lines of activity that created +new administrative machinery and advanced abreast of the new idea of +appointment because of merit and tenure during good behavior. Men who +continued to see the center of political gravity in the State +Governments were behind the times. + +An indigenous literature was rising in the United States. Dickens had +lived long enough to recognize the spirit of a new school in _The Luck +of Roaring Camp_, and _The Outcasts of Poker Flat_, which appeared in +1868. Before 1890 the fame of their author, Bret Harte, was secure. +Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain), too, had seen the native field +and had exploited it. The New England school, Emerson and Longfellow, +Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell, lived into or through the eighties, but +were less robust in their American flavor than their younger +contemporaries who picked subjects from the border. _Tom Sawyer_, +_Huckleberry Finn_, and the _Connecticut Yankee_ were life as well as +art. Another writer of the generation, William Dean Howells, gave _The +Rise of Silas Lapham_ to the world in 1885, and revealed a different +stratum of the new society, while the vogue of _Little Lord Fauntleroy_ +tells less of the life therein described than of the outlook of American +readers. + +Pure literature was in 1890 turning more and more to American subjects; +applied literature was searching for causes and explanations. The +writings of Henry George, particularly his _Progress and Poverty_, +brought him from obscurity to prominence in six years, and by 1885 had +"formed a noteworthy epoch in the history of economic thought." The +success of Bellamy's utopian romance proved the avidity of the reading +public. Parkman and Bancroft, of the older generation, Henry Adams, +McMaster, and Rhodes, of the younger, led the way through history to an +understanding of American conditions. Economics, sociology, and +government were beginning to have a literature of their own, the last +receiving its strongest impulse from the thoughtful _American +Commonwealth_ of James Bryce. + +In the field of periodical literature the rising American taste was +supporting a wider range of magazines. The old and dignified _North +American Review_ was still an arena for political discussion. During +1890 it printed an important interchange of views between William E. +Gladstone and James G. Blaine, on the merits of a protective tariff. +_Harper's Monthly_ and the _Atlantic_ had given employment to the +leading men of letters since before the Civil War. _Leslie's_ and +_Harper's Weeklies_ had added illustration to news, making their place +during the sixties, while the _Independent_ held its own as the leading +religious newspaper and the _Nation_ appeared as a journal of criticism. +_Scribner's_ and the _Century_ had been added more recently to the list +of monthlies, the latter running its great series of reminiscences of +the battles and leaders of the Civil War and its life of Lincoln by +Nicolay and Hay. Improvements in typography and illustration, combined +with greater ease in collecting the news and distributing the product, +made all the periodicals more nearly national. + +The periodicals, in a measure, took the place as national leaders that +the newspapers had before. The newspaper as a personal expression was +passing away, as the great editors of Horace Greeley's generation died. +The younger editors were making investments rather than journalistic +tools out of their papers. Trade and advertisement used this vehicle to +approach their customers. News collecting became more prompt and +adequate, but the opinion of the papers dwindled. They bought their +news from syndicates or associations, as they bought paper or ink. The +counting-house was coming to outrank the editorial room in their +management. + +Through the new literature the changing nature of American life was +portrayed, and as the life reshaped itself under nationalizing +influences theology lost much of its old narrowness. Among religious +novels _Robert Elsmere_ was perhaps most widely read. The struggle +between orthodoxy and the new criticism had got out of the control of +the professional theologians and had permeated the laity. A revised +version of the Old and New Testaments gave new basis for textual +discussion. The influence of the scientific generalizations of Darwin +and his school had reached the Church and forced upon it a rephrasing of +its views. It was becoming less dangerous for men to admit their belief +in scientific process. The orthodox churches lost nothing in popularity +as the struggle advanced, and outside them new teachers proclaimed new +religions as they had ever done in America. + +The greatest of the new religions was that of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, in +whose teachings may be found a religious parallel to the political +revolt of the People's Party. Christian Science was a reaction from the +"vertebrate Jehovah" of the Puritans to a more comfortable and +responsive Deity. It was the outgrowth of a well-fed and prosperous +society, presenting itself to the ordinary mind as "primarily a religion +of healing." + +Intellectual, spiritual, economic, and political revolt were common in +America in 1890, as they must have been after the industrial revolution +of the last ten years. The whole nation was once more acting as a unit, +for the South had outlived the worst results of war and reorganization +and was again developing on independent lines. The immediate problem was +the effect of the revolt upon political control. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The materials upon the unrest of the later eighties are yet uncollected, +and must be pursued through the files of the journals, many of which are +named above in the text. The new scientific periodicals: _Quarterly +Journal of Economics_, _Political Science Quarterly_, _Yale Review_, +_Journal of Political Economy_, etc., devoted much space to current +economic and social analysis. F.L. McVey, _The Populist Movement_ (in +American Economic Association, Economic Studies, vol. I), is useful but +only fragmentary. The materials on free silver are mentioned in the note +to chapter XIV, below. A.B. Paine, _Mark Twain_, gives many +cross-references to the literary life of the decade. J.F. Jameson +discusses the fertile field of American religious history in "The +American Acta Sanctorum" (in the _American Historical Review_, 1908). + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE NEW SOUTH + + +The Old South, in which two parties had always struggled on fairly equal +terms, was destroyed during the period of the Civil War, while +reconstruction failed completely to revive it. The New South, in +politics, had but one party of consequence. With few exceptions white +men of respectability voted with the Democrats because of the influence +of the race question which negro suffrage had raised. From the +reestablishment of Southern home rule until the advent in politics of +the Farmers' Alliance no issue appeared in the Southern States that even +threatened to split the dominant vote. But under the economic pressure +of the late eighties the old white leaders parted company and even +contended with each other for the negro vote to aid their plans. + +The political influence of the Alliance cannot be measured at the polls +in the South as easily as in the West. In most States, in 1888 and 1890, +Alliance tickets were promoted, often in fusion with the Republican +party. The greater influence, however, was within Democratic lines, at +the primaries or conventions of that party. Here, among the candidates +who presented themselves for nomination, the professional politician +found himself an object of suspicion. The lawyer lost some of his +political availability. Men who could claim to be close to the soil had +an advantage. + +The value placed upon the dissatisfied farmer vote is shown in the +autobiographical sketches which Senators and Representatives wrote for +the _Congressional Directory_ of the Fifty-second Congress. Some who had +never before held office stated the fact with apparent pride. One, who +appeared from the Texas district which John H. Reagan had represented +through eight Congresses, announced that he "became a member of the +Order of Patrons of Husbandry, and took an active interest in advocating +the cause of progress among his fellow laborers; is now Overseer of the +Texas State Grange and President of the Texas Farmer Coöperative +Publishing Association." From Georgia came several Representatives of +this type. One "has devoted his time exclusively [since 1886] to +agricultural interests, and is a member of the Farmers' Alliance." +Another was elected "as an Alliance man and Democrat." A third "was +Vice-President of the Georgia State Agricultural Society for eleven +years, and President of the same for four years; he is now President of +the Georgia State Alliance." A fourth, Thomas E. Watson, lawyer, editor, +historian, and leader of the new movement, "has been, and still is, +largely interested in farming." A South Carolina Representative covered +himself with the generous assertion that he was "member of all the +organizations in his State designed to benefit agriculture." + +The agricultural bases of the Southern political disturbance lay in the +changes in tenure and finance that had recently appeared. The South was +not without a pioneer immigration resembling that of the West. Many of +the carpet-baggers had undertaken to develop farms there. There was much +opportunity for rural speculation that increased in attractiveness as +the area of free Western lands diminished. So far as this went, it +produced a debtor class and prepared the way for inflation. + +But the development of new areas in the South was less significant than +the method of its industry. The disintegration of plantations continued +steadily through the seventies and eighties. The figures of the census, +showing tenure for the first time in 1880, and color in 1890, +exaggerated this, since many of the small holdings there enumerated were +to all intents farmed by hired labor and were only matters of +bookkeeping. Yet there was a marked diminution in the size of the +estates. A class of negro owners was slowly developing to account for a +part of the diminution. Frugality and industry appeared in enough of the +freedmen to bring into negro ownership in 1900, within the slave area, +149,000 farms, averaging 55 acres. There were at this time 2,700,000 +farms in the South, and 5,700,000 in the whole United States. Negro +renters and negro croppers, many of whom labored under the direct +supervision of the white landlords, increased the number of individual +farmers, and like the rest lived upon the proceeds of the cotton crop +that was not yet grown. + +Much of the capital that was used in Southern agriculture came from the +North through the manufacturers and wholesalers who supplied the retail +merchants of the South. These merchants advanced credit to their +customers, measuring it by the estimated value of the next crop. Once +the bargain had been struck, the farmer bought all his supplies from his +banker-merchant, paying such prices as the latter saw fit to charge. +There could be little competition among merchants under this system, +since the burden of his debt kept the planter from seeking the cheapest +market. The double weight of extortionate prices and heavy interest +impressed a large section of the South with the scarcity of cash and the +evils of existing finance. + +In agricultural method as well as in finance the South was oppressed by +its system. The merchant wanted cotton, for cotton was marketable, and +could not be consumed by a tricky debtor. Single cropping was thus +unduly encouraged; diversified agriculture and rotation of crops made +little progress. The use of commercial fertilizers was greatly +stimulated, but agriculture as a whole could not advance. + +Tied fast to a system nearly as inflexible as that of the ante-bellum +plantation, the South suffered disproportionately in years when cotton +was low. Depression in the later eighties and the early nineties +intensified the suffering of the debtor class and produced an inflation +movement that allied the South and West in the demand for cheaper money +and more of it. The Farmers' Alliance, with its demands for railroad +control, trust regulation, banking reform, and free silver, was the +logical vehicle for the expression of Southern discontent. + +The white population of the South, undivided since the Civil War, was +confronted in 1890 by an issue that bore no relation to race and that +divided society into debtor and creditor classes. For twenty years, by +common agreement in which the North had tacitly concurred, the negro had +been suppressed outside the law. Occasional negroes had got into office +and even to Congress in reconstruction days. One, who described himself +as "a bright mulatto," sat in the Fifty-first and Fifty-second +Congresses, but in most regions of the South the negro had not been +allowed to vote or had been "counted out" at the polls, while only in +sporadic cases, mostly in the mountain sections, was the Republican +party able to get enough votes to elect its candidates. + +The Farmers' Alliance split the white vote and gave to the negro an +unusual power. From being suppressed by all to being courted by many +involved a change that raised his hopes only to destroy them. The South +no sooner saw the possibility that the negro vote might hold a balance +of power between two equal white factions than it took steps to remove +itself from temptation and to disfranchise the undesired class. + +The purpose of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments had been to raise +the freedmen to civil equality and protect them there. Pursuant to the +Fourteenth Amendment, Congress passed, in 1875, a Civil Rights Bill, +which forbade discrimination against any citizen in "the full and equal +enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges +of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places +of public amusement." It was restrained from imposing coeducation of +the races only by Northern philanthropists who were interested in +Southern education. Its compulsion was disregarded at the South, where +social equality between the races could not be attained. Innkeepers and +railroads continued to separate their customers, and in time a few of +them were haled into court to answer for violating the law. Their +defense was that the Fourteenth Amendment forbade discrimination by the +States, but did not touch the private act of any citizen; that it +protected the rights of citizens, but that these rights, complete before +the law, did not extend to social relations,--that attendance at a +theater is not a civil right at all, and may properly be regulated by +the police power without conflict with the Constitution. In the Civil +Rights Cases, decided in 1883, the Supreme Court released the +defendants, ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment was too narrow in its +intention to justify Congress in the passage of a code of social +relations at the South. This part of reconstruction thus broke down, +leaving the negro population at the discretion of its white neighbors. + +The Fifteenth Amendment, too, had been limited in its protecting force +before 1890. It forbade a denial of the right to vote by any State. The +Supreme Court easily determined that no violation could occur when a +hostile mob excluded negroes from the polls. It had been settled before +1890 that the negro was defenseless against personal discrimination. It +remained to be seen whether he could be disfranchised by law and yet +have no redress. Not till the South found some of its people appealing +for the negro vote in the crisis of the Farmers' Alliance did it take +the last steps in the undoing of reconstruction. + +The Fifteenth Amendment was not explicit. Instead of asserting the right +of the negro to vote, it said, by negation, that the right should not be +denied on account of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." +The three qualities of race, color, and servitude separated the races, +but the South learned that they were separated by other qualities that +were not proscribed by the amendment as a basis for the franchise. The +negro was generally poor, and any qualification based on property would +exclude him. He was shiftless, and often vagrant, and hence could be +touched by poll-tax and residence requirements. He was illiterate, and +was unable to meet an educational test. Tired of using force or fraud, +the South began in 1890 a system of legal evasion of the Fifteenth +Amendment. + +The State of Mississippi, in a new constitution framed in 1890, defined +the franchise in terms that bore heavily upon the negro. In the debates +of its convention members talked frankly and freely of their intention +to disqualify the race; the clause bore no mention of discrimination. It +permitted persons to vote who, being male citizens over twenty-one, and +having reasonable residence qualifications, had paid a poll or other tax +for two years preceding the election, and could read, or understand and +interpret when read to them, any section of the constitution of the +State. Under this clause, between the cumulative tax and the large +discretionary powers vested in the officers of enrollment, the negro +electorate was reduced until it was negligible in Mississippi; and it +was a subject of admiration for other Southern States, which proceeded +to imitate it. + +All of the cotton States but Florida and Texas, and most of the old +slave States, revised their electoral clauses in the next twenty years. +Arkansas, in 1893, based the franchise on a one-year poll-tax. South +Carolina, in 1895, used residence, enrollment, and poll-tax, while the +convention called to disfranchise the negro passed resolutions of +sympathy for Cuban independence. Delaware, in 1897, established an +educational test. Louisiana, in 1898, established education and a +poll-tax; North Carolina, in 1900, did the same. Alabama, in 1901, made +use of residence, registry, and poll-tax. Virginia based the suffrage on +property, literacy, or poll-tax in 1902. Georgia did the same in 1908, +and the new State of Oklahoma followed the Southern custom in 1910. + +It was relatively easy to exclude most of the negroes by means of +qualifications such as these, but every convention was embarrassed by +the fact that each qualification excluded, as well, some of the white +voters. In nearly every case revisions were accompanied by a +determination to save the whites, and for this purpose a temporary basis +of enrollment was created in addition to the permanent. Louisiana +devised the favorite method in 1898. Her constitution provided that, for +a given period, persons who could not qualify under the general clause +might be placed upon the roll of voters if they had voted in the State +before 1867 or were descended from such voters. The "grandfather +clause," as this was immediately called, saved the poor whites, and was +imitated by North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Georgia. The governor +of Louisiana, in 1898, sang the praises of the new invention: "The white +supremacy for which we have so long struggled at the cost of so much +precious blood and treasure is now crystallized into the constitution as +a fundamental part and parcel of that organic instrument, and that, too, +by no subterfuge or evasions. With this great principle thus firmly +embedded in the constitution and honestly enforced, there need be no +longer any fear as to the honesty and purity of our future elections." +The Supreme Court, in Williams _vs._ Mississippi (1898), and Giles _vs._ +Teasley (1903), declined to go behind the innocent phraseology of the +clauses, and refused to overthrow them. + +Before the courts had shown their unwillingness to interfere, Congress +had done the same. Two methods of redress were discussed during the +years of Republican ascendancy, 1889-91. One of these contemplated a +reduction of the Southern representation in the House, under that part +of the Fourteenth Amendment that requires such reduction in proportion +to the number of citizens who are disfranchised. Although urged angrily +more than once, this action was not taken, and would not have affected +cases in which the denial was by force and not by law. To meet the +former situation the Republican party pledged itself in 1888. A Force +Bill, placing the control of Southern elections in federal hands was +considered. It received the enthusiastic support of Henry Cabot Lodge, +and was the occasion for another waving of the "bloody shirt." It passed +the House, with the aid of Speaker Reed, but in the Senate was abandoned +by the caucus and allowed to die in 1891. The South was left alone with +its negro problem. In the words of a Southern governor, "There are only +two flags--the white and the black. Under which will you enlist?" + +The New South removed the negro from politics, but he remained, in +industry and society, a problem to whose solution an increasing +attention was paid. At the time of emancipation he was almost +universally illiterate and lived in a bankrupt community. Northern +philanthropy saw an opportunity here. The teachers sent south by the +Freedmen's Bureau stirred up interest by their letters home. In 1867 +George Peabody, already noted for his benefactions in England and in +Baltimore, created a large fund for the relief of illiteracy in the +destitute region. His board of trustees became a clearing-house for +educational efforts. Ex-President Hayes became, in 1882, the head of a +similar fund created by John F. Slater, of Connecticut. Through the rest +of the century these boards, in close coöperation, studied and relieved +the educational necessities of the South. In 1901 the men who directed +them organized a Southern Educational Board for the propagation of +knowledge, while in 1903 Congress incorporated a General Education +Board, to which John D. Rockefeller gave many millions for the +subsidizing of educational attempts. + +The negro advanced in literacy under the pressure of the new influences. +In 1880 seventy per cent of the American negroes over ten years old were +illiterate, but the proportion was reduced in the next ten years to +fifty-seven per cent; to forty-five per cent by 1900; and to thirty per +cent by 1910. As the negro advanced, his own leaders, as well as his +white friends, differed in the status to which they would raise him and +in the methods to be pursued. Some of his ablest representatives, W.E.B. +DuBois among them, resented the discrimination and disfranchisement from +which they suffered, and insisted upon equality as a preliminary. +Others, like Booker T. Washington, who founded a notable trade school in +Alabama in 1881, worried little over discrimination, and hoped to solve +their problem through common and technical education which might lead +the race to self-respect and independence. + +Friction increased between the races at the South after emancipation. +Freedom and political pressure demoralized many of the negroes, whose +new feeling of independence exasperated many of the whites. Southern +society still possessed many border traits. Men went armed and fought on +slight provocation. The duel and the public assault aroused little +serious criticism even in the eighties, and the freedmen lived in a +society in which self-restraint had never been the dominant virtue. In +Alabama, in 1880, the assessed value of guns, dirks, and pistols was +nearly twice that of the libraries and five times that of the farm +implements of the State. The distribution of the races varied +exceedingly, from the Black Belt, where in the Yazoo bottom lands the +negroes outnumbered the whites fifteen or more to one, to the uplands +and mountains, where the proportions were reversed. But everywhere the +less reputable of both races retarded society by their excesses. + +In spite of its unsolvable race problem the South was reviving in the +eighties and was changing under the influence of the industrial +revolution. Northern capital was a mainstay of its agriculture. +Transportation, manufacture, and city development found stimulation from +the same source. In 1884 the National Planters' Association promoted a +celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the export of the first +American cotton. In a great exposition at New Orleans they showed how +far the New South had gone in its development. + +In the twenty years after 1880 the South became a modern industrial +community. Its coal mines increased their annual output from 6,000,000 +tons to 50,000,000; its output of pig iron grew from 397,000 tons to +2,500,000; its manufactures rose in annual value from $338,000,000 to +$1,173,000,000, with a pay roll swelling from $76,000,000 to +$350,000,000. The spindles in its cotton mills were increased from +610,000 to 4,298,000. With the industrial changes there came a shifting +of Southern population. The census maps show a tendency in the black +population to concentrate in the Black Belt, and in the white population +to increase near the deposits of coal and iron. Factory towns appeared +in the Piedmont, where cheap power could be obtained, and drew their +operatives from the rural population of the neighborhood. Unembarrassed +by the child-labor and factory laws of the North, the new Southern mills +exploited the women and children, and were consuming one seventh of the +cotton crop by 1900. In Alabama, Birmingham became a second Pittsburg. + +The Southern railway system was completely rebuilt after the Civil War. +In 1860 it included about one third of the thirty thousand miles of +track in the United States, but war and neglect reduced it to ruin. +Partly under federal auspices it was restored in the later sixties. +After 1878 it suddenly expanded as did all the American railway systems. + +Texas experienced the most thorough change in the fifty years after the +Civil War. From 307 miles her railways expanded to more than 14,000 +miles. Only one of the Confederate States, Arkansas, had a slighter +mileage in 1860, but in 1910 no one had half as much as Texas. The +totals for the Confederate area rose from 11,000 miles in 1870 to 17,000 +in 1880, to 36,000 in 1890, to 45,000 in 1900, and to 63,000 in 1910. +After 1880 no Confederate State equaled Texas, whose vast area, suddenly +brought within reach of railway service, poured forth cotton until by +the end of the century she alone raised one fourth of the American crop. +Through the expanding transportation system the area of profitable +cotton culture rose more rapidly than the demand for cotton, and in +overproduction may be found one of the reasons for the decline in cotton +values in the early nineties. In the decline may be found an incentive +toward diversified agriculture. When cotton went down, farmers tried +other crops. The corn acreage in the ten cotton States passed the +cotton acreage before 1899, and with the diversification came no +decrease in the total cotton output, but an increase in general +agricultural prosperity. In many regions fruit culture and truck-raising +forced their way to the front among profitable types of agriculture. + +In spite of the changes in industry and transportation the South +remained in 1910 a rural community when compared with the rest of the +United States. Out of 114 cities of 50,000 population in 1910, only 15 +were in the Confederate area. But when compared with its own past the +South was developing cities at a rapid rate. Only New Orleans and +Richmond, in 1880, had 50,000 inhabitants. Atlanta, Charleston, Memphis, +and Nashville were added to this class by 1890. Texas had no city of +this size until 1900. But in 1910 she possessed four, Dallas, Forth +Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. As the cities increased in number, +bound together, and bound to the cities of the rest of the United States +by the ties of trade and society, the localisms of the South diminished. +The essential fear of negro control remained untouched, but in +superficial ways the Southerner came to resemble his fellow citizen of +whatever section. + +The sectionalism which had made a political unit of the South before the +war was weakened. In the tariff debates of 1883 and later a group of +Southern protectionists made common cause with Northern Republicans. +Sugar, iron, and cotton manufactures converted them from the old +regional devotion to free trade. A fear of national power had kept the +old South generally opposed to internal improvements at the public cost. +The Pacific railroads had been postponed somewhat because of this. But +this repugnance had died away, and in the Mississippi River the United +States found a field for work that was welcomed in the South. + +The Mississippi never fully recovered the dominance that it had +possessed before the war, but it remained an important highway for the +Western cotton States. The whimsical torrent, washing away its banks, +cutting new channels at will, flooding millions of acres every spring, +was too great to be controlled by States that had been impoverished by +war and reconstruction. In 1879 Congress created a Mississippi River +Commission. Unusual floods in 1882 attracted attention to the danger, +and thereafter Congress found the money for a levee system that +restrained the river between its banks from Cairo to the Gulf. + +The mouth of the river, always choked by mud flats, was opened by the +United States in 1879. A Western engineer, James B. Eads, devised a +scheme by which the current scoured out its own channel and converted +itself into an ocean-going highway. He had already proved his power over +the Father of Waters by building the railroad bridge that was opened at +St. Louis in 1874. In 1892 other engineers completed a bridge at +Memphis. + +The active development of the New South lessened the difference between +it and the rest of the United States, and brought it within the general +industrial revolution. By 1884 the trend was not noticeable. By 1890 +the white population had divided over a political issue like the North +and West. In the years immediately following 1890 Populism was as much a +problem in the South as anywhere. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Most of the books relating to the South are partisan. The most useful +economic analyses are to be found in the writings of W.L. Fleming, U.B. +Phillips, and A.H. Stone. Special points of view are presented in A.B. +Hart, _The Southern South_ (1911), E.G. Murphy, _Problems of the Present +South_ (1904), E.A. Alderman and A.C. Gordon, _Life of J.L.M. Curry_ +(1911), J.L.M. Curry, _A Brief Sketch of George Peabody_ (1898), J.E. +Cutler, _Lynch Law_ (1905), B.T. Washington, _Up from Slavery_ (1905), +W.E.B. DuBois, _Souls of Black Folk_ (1903), and J.L. Mathews, _Remaking +the Mississippi_ (1909). The _Annual Cyclopædia_ is full of useful +details. The Annual Reports of the Peabody Fund, the Slater Fund, and +the United States Commissioner of Education contain statistics and +discussions upon Southern society. The Civil Rights Cases (109 U.S. +Reports) give the best treatment of the legal status of the negro, and +are supplemented by J.C. Rose, "Negro Suffrage" (in _American Political +Science Review_, vol. I, pp. 17-43,--a partial sketch only), and J.M. +Mathews, _Legislative and Judicial History of the Fifteenth Amendment_ +(in Johns Hopkins University Studies, vol. XXVII). There were +interesting articles on the New Orleans Exposition, by E.V. Smalley, in +the _Century Magazine_ for April and May, 1885. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +POPULISM + + +The election of 1890 stunned and bewildered both old parties. The +Republicans lost their control of the Lower House, while the Democrats +paid for their victory the price of a partial alliance with a new +movement whose weight they could only estimate. Populism was engendered +by local troubles in the West and South, but its name now acquired a +national usage and its leaders were encouraged to attempt a national +organization. + +In a series of conventions, held between 1889 and 1892, the People's +Party developed into a finished organization with state delegations and +a national committee. At St. Louis, in December, 1889, the Farmers' +Alliance held a national convention and considered the basis for wider +growth. The outcome was an attempt to combine in one party organized +labor, organized agriculture, and believers in the single tax. The +leaders of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor +were not averse to such common action, although the latter preferred +their own Federation to any party. The dangers of political action, seen +in the decline of the National Labor Union of 1866, did not check the +desires of the Knights in 1889, although the leaders found it easier +then, as later, to promise the support of organized labor than to +deliver it at the polls. After the St. Louis Convention the name +Farmers' Alliance merged into the broader name of the People's Party, +though the attempt to win the rank and file of the unions failed. + +In December, 1890, the farmers met at Ocala, Florida, to rejoice over +the congressional victory and to plan for 1892. Since each of the great +parties was believed to be indifferent to the people and corrupt, a +permanent third party was a matter of conviction, and in May, 1891, this +party was formally created in a mass convention at Cincinnati. +Miscellaneous reforms were insisted upon here, but were overshadowed by +the demands of the inflationists. James B. Weaver, of Iowa, the old +presidential candidate of the Greenbackers, was a leading spirit at +Cincinnati. His best-known aide was Ignatius Donnelly, of Minnesota, a +devotee of the Baconian theory and of the "Lost Atlantis," who was now +devoting his active mind to the support of free silver. A national +committee was created after another meeting, at St. Louis in February, +1892, and on July 2, 1892, the party met in that city in its first +national nominating convention. + +The platform of the People's Party was based on calamity. "We meet in +the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and +material ruin," it declared. "Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the +legislature, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench. The +people are demoralized.... The newspapers are largely subsidized or +muzzled; public opinion silenced; business prostrated; our homes +covered with mortgages; labor impoverished; and the land concentrating +in the hands of the capitalists." + +The greatest of the evils in sight was "the vast conspiracy against +mankind," which had demonetized silver, added to the purchasing power of +gold, and abridged the supply of money "to fatten usurers." To correct +the financial evils the platform demanded "the free and unlimited +coinage of silver at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one," and an +issue of legal-tender currency until the circulation should reach an +average of fifty dollars per capita. Postal savings banks, a graduated +income tax, and economy in government were the subsidiary demands. + +No demand of the Populists attracted so much attention as this for free +silver, but its platform touched reform at every angle. In the field of +transportation it asked for government ownership of railroads, +telegraphs, and telephones. It asked that land monopolies be prevented, +that the public lands be in part regained, and that alien ownership be +forbidden. It wanted the Australian ballot, liberal pensions, +restriction of immigration, an eight-hour day, a single term for +President and Vice-President, direct election of United States Senators, +abolition of the Pinkerton detectives, and was curious about the +initiative and referendum. It was in many respects a prophecy as to the +workings of reform for the next twenty years. + +The People's Party entered the campaign of 1892 with this platform and +with the support of advanced reformers, with a considerable following +in the West and South, and with James B. Weaver and James G. Field as +candidates. Few of the workers for its ticket were politicians of known +standing, and its voters had a preponderance of youth. In several +Western States the Democratic party supported it with fusion tickets. In +the South it often coöperated with the Republicans. From the first the +third party found it harder to stand alone than to unite with the weaker +local party. + +The disrupting force of hard times was increased by the acts of the +Republican party. Harrison's first Congress had passed a series of laws +that provoked opposition and criticism. The Interstate Commerce Law was +still new when he took office. In quick succession in 1890 came the new +States, and Oklahoma Territory, the Dependent Pensions Bill, the Sherman +Anti-Trust Bill, the Silver Purchase Bill, and the McKinley Tariff. The +dominant majority had used arbitrary methods to enforce its will and had +given to its enemies more than one text. After 1891 the Democratic +majority in the House reduced the Administration to the political +incompetence that had prevailed from 1883 to 1889. + +Benjamin Harrison gained little prestige as the result of the +Administration. He had been nominated for his availability, and the +campaign songs had said as much of his illustrious grandfather, the hero +of Tippecanoe, as of himself. His appointments had pleased neither the +politicians nor the reformers, while there was much laughter at the +presence in the offices of numerous personal friends and relatives. The +most notable of his appointments was the most embarrassing. + +James G. Blaine, as Secretary of State, found no topic in foreign +relations as interesting as the canal had been in his earlier term. The +wranglings with Great Britain and Germany over their treatment of +naturalized Americans had subsided. The fisheries of the North Atlantic +had been temporarily settled by President Cleveland. The regulation of +the seal fisheries of Bering Sea brought no new glory to Blaine. + +There was no doubt that the seal herd of the Pacific was being rapidly +destroyed by careless and wasteful hunters from most of the countries +bordering on that ocean. On the American islands the herds could be +protected, and here they gathered every summer to mate and breed. But +the men who hunted with guns at sea, instead of with clubs on land, +could not be controlled unless the world would consent to an American +police beyond the three-mile limit. In an arbitration with Great +Britain, at Paris, Blaine tried to prove that the seals were American, +and entitled to protection on the high seas, and that the waters of the +northern Pacific were _mare clausum_. The arbitration went against him +on every material point. + +The only episode that threatened war occurred in Chile. Here Harrison +had sent as Minister Patrick Egan, a newly naturalized Irishman and +follower of Blaine. In a revolution of 1891 Egan sided with the +conservative party that lost. His enemies charged him with improper +interest in contracts and with instinctive antagonism to British +interests in Chile. After the revolution a mob in Valparaiso showed its +dislike for Americans by attacking sailors on shore leave. Egan's +extreme demands for summary punishment of the rioters were upheld by +Harrison, who prepared the navy for war. Finally the Chilean Government +was forced to make complete apologies. + +In the same year an American mob in New Orleans lynched several +Italians, and Blaine repelled with indignation the demand that indemnity +be accorded before trial and conviction. He could not even promise trial +because of the helplessness of the United States in local criminal +proceedings. The Italian Minister, Baron Fava, was withdrawn from +Washington on this account, and returned only when Congress had healed +the breach by making provision for the families of the sufferers. + +The internal relations of the Administration were not happier than the +external. Harrison chafed under the influence of Blaine, and alienated +so many of the regular Republican leaders that it became doubtful +whether he could secure his own renomination. Both Quay and Platt had +been offended, and the former had resigned his chairmanship of the +National Committee after the failure of a political bank in +Philadelphia. No one was anxious to manage the President's campaign, and +he showed little skill in managing it himself. The future was still in +doubt when, on June 4, 1892, three days before the meeting of the +convention at Minneapolis, Blaine resigned his position without a word +of explanation. Whether he was only sick and unhappy, or whether he +desired the nomination, was uncertain. + +The strength of Blaine and the rising influence of William McKinley were +apparent in the Republican Convention. Harrison was renominated on the +first ballot, but Blaine and McKinley received more than one hundred and +eighty votes apiece. The former had reached the end of his career, and +died the next winter. The latter was now Governor of Ohio. McKinley had +lost his seat in the election of 1890, but had been raised to the +governorship in the next year. He was chairman of the convention that +renominated Harrison, reaffirmed the "American doctrine of protection," +and evaded the issue of free silver. + +The Democratic party had bred no national leader but Grover Cleveland +since the Civil War, and he had earned the dislike of the organization +before his defeat in 1888. His insistence upon the tariff offended the +protectionist wing of his party, and he left office unpopular and +lonely. He retired to New York City, where he took up the practice of +law and regained the confidence of the people. Demands upon him for +public speeches in 1891 revealed the recovery of his popularity. His +friends began to organize in his behalf during 1892, and David B. Hill +aided by his opposition. + +The strength of Hill, who had been elected Governor of New York, and who +was now Senator, was based upon Tammany Hall and those elements in the +New York Democracy that reformers were constantly attacking. He was +believed to have defeated Cleveland in 1888 by entering into a deal with +the Republican machine by which Harrison received the electoral and he +the gubernatorial vote of New York. Early in 1892, as interest in +Cleveland revived, Hill called a "snap" convention and secured the +indorsement of New York for his own candidacy. The solid New York +delegation shouting for Hill was an item in Cleveland's favor at the +Democratic Convention in Chicago. With tariff reformers in control, +denouncing "Republican protection as a fraud, a robbery of the great +majority of the American people for the benefit of a few," and +reasserting Cleveland's phrase that "public office is a public trust," +the convention selected Cleveland and Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, +as the party candidates. Its coinage plank, like that of the +Republicans, meant what the voter chose to read into it. + +There were two debates in the campaign of 1892. On the surface was the +renewed discussion of the tariff, with the Republicans fighting for the +McKinley Bill all the more earnestly because there was danger of its +repeal, and the Democrats officially demanding reduction. "I would +rather have seen Cleveland defeated than to have had that fool +free-trade plank adopted," said one of the Eastern Democrats to "Tom" +Johnson after the convention. But the Democratic protectionists were +forced into surly acquiescence so long as Cleveland was the candidate +and William L. Wilson the chairman of the convention. The partial +insincerity of the tariff debate aided the Populists, who were directing +a discussion upon the general basis of reform. + +Cleveland was elected with a majority of electoral votes and a plurality +of popular votes, but the vote for Weaver and Field measured the extent +of the revolt against both parties. The Populists carried Colorado, +Idaho, Nevada, and Kansas, gained twenty-two electoral votes, and polled +over a million popular votes. Their protest, based on local hard times +and discontent, probably defeated Harrison, while their organization was +ready to receive a large following should the hard times spread. + +Harrison was not unwilling to surrender the Government to Cleveland in +March, 1893, for he had been struggling for weeks to conceal the +financial weakness of the United States and to avoid a panic. The great +surplus that had been a motive for legislation for more than ten years +had nearly become a deficit. Continuous prosperity had tempted Congress +to make lavish appropriations. The McKinley Bill had reduced the revenue +through changes in the sugar schedule. The Pension Bill had used other +millions. Internal improvements had been distributed to every section. +The surplus, which had been at $105,000,000 for 1890, fell to +$37,000,000 in 1891, and in the next two years to $9,900,000 and to +$2,300,000. In the spring of 1893 the Treasury was so reduced that any +unexpected shock might cause a suspension. Cleveland's first duty was +with causes and cures. + +The surplus had been affected both by increase in expenditures and by +decrease in revenues. The latter had been due in part to the hard times, +which had forced a curtailment of imports, with a resulting shrinkage in +tariff receipts. At the same time an increasing nervousness, based upon +the deterioration in quality of the assets of the United States, showed +itself. The fear of free silver was hastening the day of panic. + +Silver and gold had always been traditional American coins, but since +1834 little of the former had been coined or circulated, while between +1862 and 1879 neither variety of specie was ordinarily used as money. In +1873 a codification of coinage laws had omitted from the standard list +the silver dollar, which had been unimportant for nearly forty years; +and when, shortly thereafter, the decline in the price of silver made +its coinage at the ratio of sixteen to one profitable, it was +impossible. The demand for a restoration of silver coinage began with +the silver miners who desired a stimulated market for their output. Some +believed coinage would raise the price of bullion; others thought the +Government would keep up the value of the silver coins, as it did the +greenbacks, by redemption in gold. In 1878 a Free Coinage Act, pushed by +R.P. Bland, was converted into the limited Bland-Allison Act. Under this +the Treasury bought the minimum amount of silver bullion (two million +dollars' worth) every month for twelve years, and protested continually +that the silver coined from it was increasing the burden of redemption +on the gold reserve. As the price of silver fell farther, the demand of +the miners increased, and toward 1890 it was reinforced by the demands +of inflationists who desired it for another reason. + +In 1890 the free-silver movement was not political in the sense that +parties had declared for or against it. In each great party it had +supporters, and few politicians were actively opposing it. A movement in +its favor, with the support of the Senate, was reshaped under the +influence of Sherman, and became a law in July, 1890. Under this the +Treasury was forced to buy 4,500,000 ounces of silver each month, and to +pay for it in a new issue of treasury notes. For the next three years +the United States kept at par with gold the Civil War greenbacks, the +Bland-Allison silver dollars, and the treasury notes of 1890. Only by +its constant willingness to pay out any form of money at the option of +the customer could it prevent the Gresham Law from operating and the +currency from declining to the bullion value of silver. + +Every creditor feared the establishment of the silver basis because of +the loss which it would entail upon him. His dollars would shrink from +their gold value to their silver value. A depreciated currency was bad +enough when unavoidable, but the deliberate adoption of it would be +frank repudiation. Continually, after 1890, popular apprehension of this +grew more acute, discouraging the undertaking of new enterprises and +leading to the insertion of "gold clauses" in contracts. Gold was +hoarded whenever possible. The receipts at the New York Custom-House, +which had been mostly gold before 1890, contained less than four per +cent of gold in the winter of 1892-93. As the Treasury found its +expenditures nearing its receipts, and the proportion of gold in its +assets lessening, business men were badly worried over the future of the +currency, and an actual limit of available capital appeared. + +For fourteen years there had been prosperity in the United States. +Financial and economic disturbances had been relatively slight, and +every year had seen a greater business expansion than the last. +Investment for permanent improvement had passed the amount of annual +savings, and before 1893 the United States as a community had approached +the point at which its economic surplus would be exhausted and an +enforced liquidation would be due. As banks curtailed in 1893 to save +themselves, stringency became general, and depression turned to panic. +In April the gold reserve in the Treasury, on which the whole volume of +silver and paper depended, passed below $100,000,000, which business had +come to regard as the limit of safety. In the summer Great Britain +closed her Indian mints to silver and that bullion dropped farther in +value. Before July there was panic and failure everywhere in the United +States. + +Panic had been imminent before Harrison left office and remained for +Cleveland to confront. Already Cleveland had taken a solid stand against +free silver and the silver basis. He saw in the Sherman Silver Purchase +Act the most striking cause of danger, and summoned Congress to meet in +August, 1893, to repeal it, while he maintained the gold reserve for the +next two years by borrowing on bonds. For the first time since the Civil +War his party controlled every branch of the Government, yet it now met +an issue on which it had not been elected and over which it broke to +pieces. + +An angry minority opposed the Message in which Cleveland described the +financial dangers and demanded the repeal of the Sherman Law. It was a +sectional minority that included Western Representatives from both +parties and many Democrats from the South. Men who had fought the +Populists since 1890 now fraternized with them and raised their strength +beyond their hopes. The President refused compromise, even to save his +party from destruction, and found a majority for repeal among Easterners +of both parties. The Sherman Law was repealed in November, and the +liquidation following the crisis was effected during the next three +years. + +It was a bad beginning for tariff revision, to split the party at its +first session and to drive into opposition those Democrats who were most +genuinely interested in tariff reform. Cleveland had lost his influence +with Western Democrats before the repeal of the McKinley Act was +undertaken, and they, like the Populists, had decided that he was the +tool of the corporations and the "gold-bugs" of the East. The +anti-corporation feelings of the West were increased by the accident +which threw the corporations and the farmers into different sides upon +the silver question. + +A tariff for revenue had been the winning issue in 1890 and 1892, and +the Democratic organization was pledged to pass it. When Speaker Crisp +made William L. Wilson chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means his +act showed an intention to fulfill the pledge, for which purpose Wilson +brought in his bill early in the regular session of 1893-94. Like +previous bills, this tariff was passed in the House, rewritten in the +Senate, and again changed in conference committee. "The truth is," +confessed Senator Cullom long after, "we were all--Democrats as well as +Republicans--trying to get in amendments in the interest of protecting +the industries of our respective States." The surplus was no longer an +argument in favor of reduction. The free-trade arguments were flatly +contradicted by a group of Democratic Senators under whose leadership +the bill lost most of its reducing tendency. Out of doors the +Republicans attacked the measure and noisily charged it with having +produced the panic of 1893. Fourteen years later a Republican President +still described it as the measure "under the influence of which wheat +went down below fifty cents." When it finally came to the President it +was so little different from the McKinley Bill that he denounced it +violently. He had tried in vain to hold his party to an honest revision, +and now, in July, 1894, refused to sign the bill. It became a law +without his signature. It contained no novelty but an income tax, which +was a concession to the Populists and which the Supreme Court soon +declared to be unconstitutional. + +In the fight over the Wilson Bill, Cleveland affronted Eastern members +of his party as he had the Western members, in 1893, over the Sherman +repeal. In the summer of 1894 he offended the whole body of organized +labor by intervening in a Western strike. + +The panic of 1893 had unsettled labor and created a floating element +among the unemployed. These drifted toward Chicago, attracted by the +Columbian Exposition held there during that summer, and worried the +police for many months. About Easter, 1894, an "Army of the Unemployed" +marched on Washington under the command of Jacob S. Coxey. A few weeks +later a strike occurred among the employees of the Pullman Palace Car +Company. The American Railroad Union, under the leadership of Eugene V. +Debs, established a sympathetic boycott against the Pullman cars. The +Knights of Labor indorsed the strike, and railway travel was impeded +over all the West. Around Chicago there was disorder and rioting which +the Governor of Illinois, John P. Altgeld, did not suppress. He held the +militia in readiness, but had not intervened when Cleveland sent federal +troops to Chicago to remove obstructions to the carriage of the mails. + +This federal intervention offended those who still adhered to the +doctrine of state rights, and angered the strikers and organized labor +as a whole. They believed the President was a tool of the railroads, and +believed the same of the courts when a federal judge issued an +injunction to Debs forbidding him to interfere in the strike. In the end +the strikers lost, leaving Cleveland's conduct in maintaining the peace +in sharp contrast with that of the Populist Governor of Colorado, who +intervened in a great miners' strike at Cripple Creek to arrest, not the +strikers who had seized control of the mines, but the sheriff and his +posse who wished to dislodge them. "It is better, infinitely better," +Governor Waite had declared, "that the blood should flow to the horses' +bridles than that our national liberties should be destroyed." Congress +made Labor Day a legal holiday in 1894, but failed to placate the +unions. + +By the summer of 1894 Cleveland's party was split beyond repair, and his +friends were mostly among the Republicans. Consistent in his belief in +sound money, tariff revision, and law and order, he had been forced by +events to alienate the West, the East, and organized labor. His course +had aided the Populist party by widening the belief that the Democrats +had no interest in their welfare. The panic had aided it yet more, by +multiplying the discontented who might be converted to the new faith. +Every month the Populist party increased in strength, the East watching +it with mingled fear and contempt and ignorance. The comic papers +pictured as the typical Populist the raw-boned, booted, unkempt farmer, +in shirt-sleeves and with flowing beard. It could not see the foundation +of real reforms on which the movement stood. A satirist pictured the +Populist as "The Kansas Bandit," declaiming + + "The People's Party, to + Which me native instinct draws me because it + Loves the rule of mediocrity, is now on top. I + Love the rule of Ignorance." + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +F.J. Turner discussed "The Problems of the West," in the _Atlantic +Monthly_ for September, 1896, and C. Becker has interpreted a similar +point of view under the title "Kansas" in the _Turner Essays_ (1910). +Wildman and McVey are valuable guides. The external facts of the +Populist movement are accessible in the _Annual Cyclopædia_; Stanwood, +_History of the Presidency_; Annual Reports of the Secretary of the +Treasury; and Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the Presidents_. +Standard writings on the silver problem are J.L. Laughlin, _History of +Bimetallism in the United States_ (1886, etc.), and F. W. Taussig, +_Silver Situation in the United States_ (1893). Useful details are added +in the biographies of Blaine, Bland, Sherman, and Vance. W.E. Connelley, +_Ingalls of Kansas_ (1909), has included much material upon Populism, +including E. Ware's satirical verses, _Alonzo, or the Kansas Bandit_. +Light is thrown upon Governor J.P. Altgeld and his influence in the +Democratic party by B. Whitlock, "Forty Years of It" (1914), and C. +Lloyd, _Henry Demarest Lloyd_. The _Memoirs of a Varied Career_, William +F. Draper (1908), gives a glimpse of the rigid protectionist attitude. A +stimulating novel, based upon municipal politics in the nineties, is +P.L. Ford's _The Honorable Peter Stirling_ (1894). + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FREE SILVER + + +Serious students of finance are almost unanimous in their belief that +the adoption of free silver would have brought into operation the +Gresham Law and would have resulted in a reduction of the value of the +dollar. But the motives which divided the United States were less +economic law than personal interest. The creditor foresaw the shrinkage +of his property, and feared it. The debtor saw the lightening of his +debt, and easily convinced himself that the ethics of the case required +such relief for him. + +It appeared to the West that the declining prices of the eighties had +been due not so much to overproduction and mechanical invention as to an +appreciation of the dollar. The silver advocate claimed that the money +supply was inadequate to the demands of increasing business, that the +overworked dollars were acquiring a scarcity value, and that their +increase in value was placing an unfair burden upon every person with a +debt to pay. It was the old attitude of the Greenback Northwest, brought +out by a period of debt and depression. In accounting for the scarcity +of money the Act of 1873 seemed important to the West. The +demonetization of silver became a crime, and justice from the Western +standpoint demanded the restoration of the dollar to its old value,--the +value of its silver. Before 1893 the discontent was serious, but had +not come to be the primary interest of the West. Men were not yet +willing to leave their parties for the sake of silver. The panic drove +them to the final step. + +Through the campaign of 1892 the major parties had dodged the issue of +free silver by adopting evasive planks, while the general ignorance +respecting the laws of money prevented the evasion from being seen. +Until 1890 neither organization had been unfavorably disposed towards +free silver and Congressmen catered to the movement when they dared. As +its accomplishment became more probable, the selfish interests that +would be adversely affected, and the economists who saw its theoretical +danger, and the moralists who disliked repudiation, made common cause in +a wide campaign of education. + +With the exception of extreme inflationists, all had declared that they +wanted "honest" or "sound" money, and both parties insisted, in 1892, +that all dollars, of whatever sort, must remain equal in value and +interchangeable. They insisted, too, that silver must be used as well as +gold, and neither platform saw that the demands were either inconsistent +or improbable of realization. The pledge of equality pleased the +creditor East, while that of equal use of both metals satisfied the +debtor West and South. + +Bimetallism was a cry of many who disliked free silver, yet feared that +a demand for the gold standard would wreck the party. As long as the +traditional ratio of sixteen to one remained the commercial ratio, the +free use of both metals was theoretically possible, but the experience +of the United States showed that a slight variation in the commercial +ratio inevitably drove the more valuable dollar into retirement and left +the cheaper in use. The truth of Gresham's Law was believed by most +economists, who doubted whether the commercial ratio was ever +sufficiently permanent to make bimetallism possible. With the silver +declining rapidly it was out of the question. If the silver in +circulation ever got beyond the power of the government to control it +through redemption in gold nothing could avoid the silver standard. No +law of the United States could prevent it. There was only a bare +possibility that an international agreement always to regard sixteen +ounces of silver as worth one ounce of gold might establish the ratio, +but to this straw the bimetallist turned, trying to ward off the demand +for free silver with his plea for international bimetallism. + +[Illustration: The Flood of Silver + +Gold and Silver Output of the World, 1861-1911 In Ounces + +(Based on United States Statistical Abstract, 1912, pp. 796, 797)] + +The panic of 1893, the decline of silver, and the repeal of the Sherman +Law stimulated the activities of those who believed in free silver and +produced formal steps to bring it into politics. A silver convention, +held in Chicago in August, 1893, denounced the "Crime of 1873," and +Governor Waite recommended to the Colorado Legislature that it open a +mint of its own for the coinage of legal-tender silver dollars. At state +conventions, in 1893 and 1894, both parties adopted silver planks. The +Nebraska Democrats rejected such a plank in 1893, but in 1894, after a +caucus of free-silver Democrats in Omaha, they adopted a demand for the +immediate restoration of free-silver coinage "without waiting for the +aid or consent of any nation on earth." + +At the congressional election of 1894 the Republicans regained control +of both Senate and House and many of the silver candidates were left at +home. Some thirty, who had sat in the Fifty-third Congress, joined in +March, 1895, in a call for the adoption of free silver as a party +measure. To the iniquity alleged to exist in the gold standard was added +the aggravating fact that its defenders had wealth and were often +directors of corporations. The measure had become a class contest. Its +textbook was found in _Coin's Financial School_, a little book with +simple dialogue and graphic illustration, that popularized the Western +view of free silver and reached hundreds of thousands with its apparent +frankness. Free silver had by 1895 outgrown the Populists, and had +overshadowed other measures of reform before either party had taken a +frank attitude respecting it. "I have been more than usually +despondent," wrote the originator of the Wilson Bill, who had lost his +seat in 1894, "as I see how the folly of our Southern people, in taking +up a false and destructive issue, and assaulting the very foundations of +public and private credit, are throwing away the solid fruits of the +great victory, solidifying the North as it never was solid in the +burning days of reconstruction, and condemning the South to a position +of inferiority and lessening influence in the Union she has never before +reached." + +When the Fifty-fourth Congress met in 1895, Reed was again enthroned as +Speaker, but the spread of silver sentiment had undermined party +loyalty. Cleveland's annual Message contained the usual range of items +upon government and foreign relations, and devoted several pages to a +résumé of the financial operations of the Treasury and the currency +problem. It closed with an appeal to the enthusiastic multitude that +approved free coinage to reëxamine their views "in the light of +patriotic reason and familiar experience." It gave no hint that any +other topic was likely to pass free silver in the public view. Fifteen +days later, on December 17, 1895, the President sent a special Message +to Congress, in reference to an old dispute between Great Britain and +Venezuela, that startled the world, upset the stock markets, and brought +to life once more the Monroe Doctrine. + +For many years the unsettled boundary between Venezuela and British +Guiana had been a source of irritation. The pretensions of both +claimants were great and vague, while the continuous encroachment of +British miners alarmed the weaker country. For nearly twenty years +Venezuela had vainly appealed to the United States, asking that the +dispute be arbitrated. The United States had taken a mild interest in +the wrangle, but no one before Cleveland had felt vitally concerned. He +undertook, in the summer of 1895, to persuade Great Britain to accept an +arbitration, and pressed Lord Salisbury in a series of notes drafted by +Richard Olney, Secretary of State. + +The contention of Olney was that the dispute was suitable for +arbitration because of the difference in physical strength between the +two countries, and that the United States had an interest in an +equitable territorial adjustment. He stated the doctrine that John +Quincy Adams had advanced in the Administration of Monroe, that +interference with the destiny of the South American Republics affects +the United States, and asserted that this was now a part of the public +law of the United States. He listed the precedents in which it had been +advanced since 1823, finding none in which it had been flatly checked. +His long arguments upon the interests and proper supremacy of the United +States in all American questions failed to convince the British Foreign +Office, which denied both Olney's correctness in applying the Monroe +Doctrine and the binding force of the doctrine itself. Arbitration was +declined, and Cleveland, in submitting the correspondence to Congress, +urged that an American court be created to ascertain the true boundary +and that the United States afterward maintain it. "In making these +recommendations," he admitted, "I am fully alive to the responsibility +incurred and keenly realize all the consequences that may follow." + +The threat of war conveyed in the Message drove silver from the public +mind. Business was aghast, and judicious publicists either questioned +the value of the Monroe Doctrine or denied the propriety of its +application. The general public supported the President without +question, but many of his closest advisers turned against him. His +political enemies charged him with raising a foreign issue to reunite +his party, or with creating a scare to help his speculations in stocks. +Great Britain blustered in her press, but opened her archives to the +American Venezuelan Commission. In 1897 she allowed an arbitration to +take place, and the affair passed over. + +Whatever Cleveland's motive in the Venezuela Message, it did not +establish more than a transient calm in either party. His own was doubly +split by silver and the tariff, while Republican plans for 1896 had +become badly deranged. That party had organized to play upon protection, +but found interest in its chosen subject silenced for the time. + +In spite of its defeats in 1890 and 1892, the Republican organization +had kept up its fight for protection. Quay had in 1888 completed the +partnership between the manufacturers who had a cash interest in the +tariff and the Republican voters. In manufacturing communities the +doctrine had been accepted that prosperity and protection went together. +Ruin was prophesied if the Democrats should win. The panic of 1893 +seemed to prove this, and when the Democrats passed the Wilson Bill the +Republicans asserted that the fear of this had caused the panic. In +private, the leaders agreed with the president of the Home Market Club, +who wrote in his memoirs, "The bill ... was much less destructive than +there was reason to fear." "Our business was not unprofitable during +these lean years, but much less profitable than it had been and ought to +have been." Prosperity was clearly lacking and to be desired, and among +the candidates for the nomination in 1896 was the author of the McKinley +Bill, in whom an Ohio cartoonist had discovered the "Advance Agent of +Prosperity." + +Associated with the name of William McKinley, of Canton, Ohio, was that +of Marcus Alonzo Hanna, a citizen of Cleveland who had acted on the +borderland between business and politics since 1880. Hanna had been +among the earliest to see the financial interest of the manufacturers in +the tariff and to capitalize it for political purposes. For several +years he had collected money in Ohio for campaign funds, assessing the +manufacturers according to their interests and impressing upon them the +duty of paying on demand. It had been a business transaction. Hanna had +no extraordinary stake in the result, but combined a genuine interest in +politics with business standards of the prevailing type. About 1890 he +became a friend of the Ohio protectionist and worked steadily thereafter +for his election to the Presidency. + +McKinley was a tactful and successful Congressman. He believed in the +tariff, spoke convincingly in its favor, had few enemies and many warm +friends, and was widely advertised by the Tariff Bill of 1890. In public +places after 1893 he was repeatedly hailed as the next candidate, but as +the silver issue rose it appeared that there might be great difficulty +in adapting his record to the new problem. He had favored bimetallism +and free coinage in so many debates that the East, where lay the +strongholds of the party, distrusted his soundness on the currency +question. Yet if he abandoned free silver it was doubtful if he could +hold the West. For months his friends, steered by Hanna, who spent his +own money freely, endeavored to keep the tariff in the foreground, while +the candidate preserved a discreet and exasperating silence upon the +dominant issue of free silver. + +The most important rivals of McKinley for the nomination were Harrison +and Reed, but neither of these possessed a manager as shrewd and +resourceful as Hanna. McKinley was nominated on the first ballot at St. +Louis, with Garrett P. Hobart, of New Jersey, a corporation lawyer who +believed in the gold standard, as his associate. + +The nature of the Republican platform had been in debate throughout the +spring of 1896. The organization was reluctant to take up the silver +issue and the predetermined candidate was uncertain upon it. In the +Platform Committee there was a contest involving the opportunists, who +wanted to continue the policy of evasion; the Westerners, who felt that +silver meant more to them than the party; and the representatives of the +populous commercial East, who were devoted to the gold standard. +Bimetallists had progressed in their education until most of them saw +that bimetallism must be international if it could be at all. Various +committeemen later assumed the credit for the plank that was finally +adopted. After castigating the Democrats for producing the panic and +renewing the pledge for protection, the party denounced the debasement +of currency or credit. It opposed the free coinage of silver, asserted +that all money must be kept at a "parity with gold," and pledged itself +to work for an international agreement for bimetallism. + +The fight for free silver was carried by the silver state delegations to +the floor of the convention, where it was defeated by a vote of 818-1/2 +to 105-1/2. At this point, led by Senators from Colorado and Utah, +thirty-four members withdrew from the convention in protest. Even the +Prohibition party had already been broken by the new issue. The humorous +weekly, _Life_, spoke seriously when it declared that "The two great +parties in the country at this writing are the Gold party and the Silver +party. The old parties are in temporary eclipse." Few were satisfied +with the Republican result, for while the platform pointed one way and +the candidate's career pointed the other on free silver, the real +interest of the party, protection, aroused no enthusiasm. + +No Democrat was the predetermined candidate of his party when it met at +Chicago in July, 1896. Cleveland, least of all, was not given even the +scanty notice of a commendatory plank. He stood alone as no other +President had done, at issue with the Republicans on their major policy, +yet without followers in his own organization. Slow, patient, +courageous, stubborn, he had twice held his party to its promise, and he +had refused to be carried away by the transitory demand of the West for +dangerous finance. He had guided the National Administration through +eight years of expansion and reorganization, and had been a devoted +servant of civil service reform. In May, 1896, he had aggravated his +offenses in the eyes of the politicians by issuing new rules that +extended the classified service to include some 31,000 new employees, +making a total of 86,000 out of 178,000 federal employees. He passed out +of party politics at least two years before his term expired, and in +1897 he took up his final abode in Princeton. From Princeton he wrote +and spoke for eleven years, and before he died in 1908 the animosities +of 1896 were forgotten, and he looked large in the American mind as a +statesman whose independence and sincerity were beyond reproach. + +Forces beyond the control of politicians carried the Democrats toward an +alliance with Populism and free silver. As two minority parties they had +felt in 1892 a tendency to fuse against the Republicans. By conviction +they were both obliged to fight the party of Hanna and McKinley, in +which the forces of business, finance, and manufacture were assembled in +the joint cause of protection and the gold standard. It was convenient +to make this fight in close alliance, the more so because the Populist +doctrine of free silver had permeated the Democratic organization in the +West and South. In the conventions of 1896 more than thirty States, as +Nebraska had done in 1894, asked for immediate free coinage, and a +majority of the Democratic delegates were pledged to this before they +came to Chicago. They gained control of the convention on the first +vote, determined contests in their own favor, and offered a plank +demanding "the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold at the +present legal ratio of sixteen to one without waiting for the aid or +consent of any other nation." + +The debate on the silver plank was long and bitter, although its passage +was certain. It was closed by the leader of the Nebraska delegation, +William Jennings Bryan, who had been a former Congressman, and who +later said, "An opportunity to close such a debate had never come to me +before, and I doubt if as good an opportunity had ever come to any other +person during this generation." He took advantage of the moment, in a +tired convention that had been wrangling in bitterness for several days, +that had deserted the old politicians, and that had no candidate. He was +only thirty-six years old, his face was unfamiliar, and his name had +rarely been heard outside his State, but he had been preaching free +silver with religious intensity and oratorical skill. His speech had +grown through repeated speaking, and reached its climax as he pleaded +for free silver: "If they dare to come out in the open field and defend +the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost. +Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, +supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the +toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for the gold standard by +saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this +crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." +Swept off its feet by the enthusiasm for silver, and having no other +candidate in view, the convention nominated Bryan on the fifth ballot, +selecting Arthur Sewall, of Maine, as his companion. + +The Populists met in St. Louis on July 22. "If we fuse, we are sunk," +complained one of the most devoted leaders; "if we don't fuse, all the +silver men will leave us for the more powerful Democrats." Fusion +controlled the convention, voting down the "Middle-of-the-Road" group +that adhered to independence. Bryan was nominated, although Sewall was +rejected for Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia. The organization of the +People's Party continued after 1896, but its vitality was gone forever. + +The campaign of 1896 was an orgy of education, emotion, and panic. +McKinley was driven by the opposition to defend the gold standard with +increasing intensity. Protection ceased to arouse interest and other +issues were forgotten. The Bryan party attracted to itself the silver +wings of the Republicans and Prohibitionists, and absorbed the +Populists. The gold Democrats, after several weeks of indecision as to +tactics, became bolters, held a convention at Indianapolis in September, +and nominated John M. Palmer and Simon Buckner. To this ticket, +Cleveland and his Cabinet gave their support. Up and down the land Bryan +traveled, preaching his new gospel, which millions regarded as "the +first great protest of the American people against monopoly--the first +great struggle of the masses in our country against the privileged +classes." "Probably no man in civil life," said the _Nation_ at the end +of the fight, "has succeeded in inspiring so much terror without taking +life." + +As chairman of the National Committee, Marcus A. Hanna directed the +Republican campaign. He encouraged the belief that Bryan was waging a +"campaign against the Ten Commandments." He drew his sinews of war from +the manufacturers, who were used to such demands, and from a wide range +of panic-stricken contributors who feared repudiation. Insurance +companies and national banks were assessed and paid with alacrity. The +funds went into the broadest campaign of education that the United +States had seen. + +In contrast to the activity of Bryan, McKinley stayed at home through +the summer, and delegations from afar were brought up to his veranda at +Canton, Ohio. To these he spoke briefly and with dignity, gaining an +assurance that grew with the campaign. His arguments were taken over the +country by a horde of speakers whom Hanna organized, who reached and +educated every voter whose mind was open on the silver question. In the +closing days of the campaign panic struck the conservative classes and +produced for Hanna campaign funds such as had never been seen, and cries +of corruption met the charges of repudiation. + +An English visitor in New York wrote on the Sunday before election: "Of +course nothing can be done till Wednesday. All America is aflame with +excitement--and New York itself is at fever heat. I have never seen such +a sight as yesterday. The whole city was a mass of flags and innumerable +Republican and Democratic insignia--with the streets thronged with over +two million people. The whole business quarter made a gigantic parade +that took seven hours in its passage--and the business men alone +amounted to over 100,000. Every one--as, indeed, not only America, but +Great Britain and all Europe--is now looking eagerly for the final word +on Tuesday night. The larger issues are now clearer: not merely that the +Bryanite fifty-cent dollar (instead of the standard hundred-cent) would +have far-reaching disastrous effects, but that the whole struggle is one +of the anarchic and destructive against the organic and constructive +forces." + +The vote was taken in forty-five States, Utah having been admitted early +in 1896, and no election had evoked a larger proportion of the possible +vote. Bryan received 6,500,000 votes, nearly a million more than any +elected President had ever received, but he ran 600,000 votes behind +McKinley. The Republican list included every State north of Virginia and +Tennessee, and east of the Missouri River, except Missouri and South +Dakota. The solid South was confronted by a solid North and East, while +the West was divided. McKinley received 271 electoral votes; Bryan, 176. + +Education played a large part in the result, and economic opinion +believes that the better cause prevailed. But cool analysis had less +effect than emotion and self-interest at the time. The lowest point of +depression had been reached during 1894, while the harvests of 1895 and +1896 were larger and more profitable than had been known for several +years. Free silver was a hard-times movement that weakened in the face +of better crops. "Give us good times," said Reed to Richard Watson +Gilder, "and all will come out right." Inflation was not to be desired +by the citizen who had in hand the funds to pay his debts. When he +became solvent he could understand the theories of sound finance. It is +probable that nature as well as gold was a potent aid to Hanna in +procuring the result. + +William McKinley was advertised as the "Advance Agent of Prosperity," +and before he was inaugurated in March, 1897, prosperity was in sight. +His election had destroyed all fear that the currency would be upset by +legislative act, while the liquidation after the panic of 1893 had +nearly run its course. Business was reviving, crops were improving, and +the luckless farmers of the Western plains had abandoned their farms or +learned how to use them. After 1896 the financial danger was not silver +but gold inflation. In that year great mines were opened in Alaska, +drawing heavy immigration to the valley of the Yukon and, a little +later, to the beach at Nome. Other discoveries increased the gold output +and flooded the world with the more precious metal. By 1900 prices were +rising instead of falling, and public interest was turned upon the high +cost of living rather than the low prices of the previous period. The +average annual output of gold for the fifteen years ending in 1896 was +$132,000,000. For the fifteen years beginning in 1896, it was +$337,000,000. The election of McKinley was in name a victory for the +Republican party, but was in reality one for sound money. The +organization upon which he stood was an amalgamation of creditors and +manufacturers, reënforced by gold-standard men of all parties. Without +the aid of the last element he could hardly have been elected, on this +or any other issue. When he took office the Republican party had control +in both houses of Congress, had been elected on a money issue, but had a +permanent organization based upon the tariff propaganda. Before his +inauguration, Hanna declared that the election was a mandate for a new +protective tariff, and one of McKinley's earliest official acts was to +summon Congress to meet in special session, to fulfill that mandate, on +March 15, 1897. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The most popular document in the free-silver propaganda was W.H. Harvey, +_Coin's Financial School_ (_c._ 1894). This was replied to by Horace +White, _Coin's Financial Fool; or the Artful Dodger Exposed_ (_c._ +1896); and the same author, in _Money and Banking_ (4th ed., 1911), +discusses the economics of free silver. The best economic arguments for +free silver came from the pens of Francis A. Walker and E. Benjamin +Andrews. The Reports of the International Monetary Conferences (at +Paris, 1867 and 1881, and at Brussels, 1892) are useful upon the attempt +to establish a currency ratio by international agreement. There is no +good biography of William McKinley, although the external facts of his +career may be obtained in the _Annual Cyclopædia_, and in _Who's Who in +America_ (a biennial publication which, since its first issue in +1899-1900, has been the standard source of biographical data concerning +living Americans). These may be strengthened by D. Magie, _Life of +Garrett A. Hobart_ (1910). The best biography of the period is H. Croly, +_Marcus Alonzo Hanna_ (1912), which gives an illuminating survey of +Republican politics, although based on only the public printed materials +and personal recollections. The opposition may be studied in W.J. Bryan, +_The First Battle_ (1896). The platforms, as always, are in Stanwood, +and there are useful narratives in Dewey, Latané, Andrews, and Peck. +From this period the _Outlook_ (January, 1897), and the _Independent_ +(July, 1898), take on a modern magazine form and are to be added to the +list of valuable newspaper files, while the _Literary Digest_ begins to +play the part carried by _Niles's Register_ in the early part of the +century. They may generally be trusted as intelligent, honest, and +reasonably independent. The Venezuelan affair, besides stimulating +diplomatic correspondence (_q.v._, in Foreign Relations Reports), led to +the writing of W.F. Reddaway, _The Monroe Doctrine_ (1898), which is +still one of the most judicious discussions of the topic. J.B. +Henderson, _American Diplomatic Questions_ (1901), is useful also. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE "COUNTER-REFORMATION" + + +The mission of Populism did not end when free silver had been driven +like a wedge into all the parties. Its more fundamental reforms +outlasted both the hard times and the recovery from them. Although +obscured by the shadow of the larger controversy, the reforms had been +stated with conviction. The Populist party was not permitted to bring +the reformation that it promised, but it stimulated within the parties +in power a "counter-reformation," that was already under way. This +counter-reformation was largely within the Republican ranks because that +party dominated in every branch of the National Government for fourteen +years after 1897, but it was essentially non-partisan. It derived its +advocates from the generation that had been educated since the Civil +War, and many of its leaders bore the imprint of democratic higher +education. It derived its materials from historical, economic, and +sociological study of the forces of American society. + +Practical politics in America was at its lowest level in the thirty +years after the Civil War. The United States was politically fatigued +after the years of contest and turned eagerly to the business +speculations that opened in every direction. Offices were left to those +who chose to run them, while public scrutiny of public acts was +materially reduced. The men in charge, unwatched in their business, used +it often for personal advantage, and were aided in this by the character +of both the electoral machinery and the electorate. A multitude of +offices had to be kept filled in every State and city by voters who +could know little of the candidates and who accepted the recommendation +implied in the party name. Control of the nominations meant control of +the elections, and was within reach of those who were persistent in +attending caucuses and conventions and were not too scrupulous in +manipulating them. The laws against bribery at the polls did not touch +corruption at the primaries. The cities, rapidly growing through +manufactures and immigration, were full of voters who could be trained +to support the "bosses" who befriended them. + +The American "boss" made his appearance in the cities about 1870. His +power was based upon his personal influence with voters of the lower and +more numerous class. Gaining control of party machinery he dictated +nominations and policies, and used the government, as the exposures of +the Tweed Ring showed, to enrich his friends and to perpetuate his +power. Caring little for party principle, he made a close alliance with +the new business that continually needed new laws,--building laws, +transportation laws, terminal rights, or franchises. From these allies +came the funds for managing elections, and, too often, for direct +bribery, although this last was necessary only rarely. + +Exposures of the evil of boss government were frequent after 1870, and +in most cities occasional revolts of outraged citizens overturned the +machines, but in the long run the citizen was no match for the +professional politician. In the unequal contest city government became +steadily worse in America at a time when European city government was +rapidly improving. States, too, were afflicted with machine politics, +and before 1890 it appeared that the dominant national party derived its +most valuable support from organized business that profited by the +partnership. + +A minority of Americans fought continually for better and cleaner +government as the evils of boss rule became more visible. One of them, +Bishop Potter, of New York, gained wide hearing through a sermon +preached at the centennial of the Constitution, in 1887, in which he +turned from the usual patriotic congratulation to discuss actual +government. The keenest interest in the subject was aroused by the +_American Commonwealth_ of James Bryce. + +Not since Alexis de Tocqueville published his _Democracy in America_, in +1835, had any foreign observer made an equally intimate study of +American life, until James Bryce, a young English historian, began a +series of visits to the United States in the early seventies. For nearly +twenty years Bryce repeated his visits, living at home a full life in +his Oxford professorate, in the House of Commons, and in the Ministry. +In America he knew every one worth knowing, and he saw the remoter +regions of the West as well as the older society of the East. In 1888 +he brought out the result of his studies in two volumes that were filled +with admiration for the United States and with disheartening observation +upon its practices. One of its chapters cut so close that its victim +brought suit for libel, but American opinion accepted the book as a +friendly picture and regarded attacks upon it as further evidence of its +inherent truth. Probably no book in a generation so profoundly +influenced American thought and so specifically directed the course of +American reform. It became a textbook at once, teaching the truth that +corruption and misgovernment were non-partisan, and until the Populists +took them up the movements for reform were non-partisan as well. + +The power of the boss lay largely in the structure of American +governmental machinery, and though some preached the need for a reform +in spirit, others saw that only mechanical improvements could accomplish +results. A corruptible electorate, such as had long confused British and +American politics, was one defect most easily improved. The prevailing +system for conducting elections made it easy for the purchaser of votes +to see that he got value for his money. The State provided the +polling-place, but the candidate or the party provided the printed +ballot. Party agents distributed these at the polls, and the voters who +received them could be watched until the votes were cast. Intimidation +of employees or direct bribery were easy and common, while secret deals +were not unknown. The loyal party voter deposited the ballots provided +for him; the boss could have these arranged to suit his needs. It was +commonly supposed that in 1888, through an agreement between the +Democratic and Republican bosses of New York, Hill and Platt, many +Republicans were made to vote for Hill as Governor, while Democrats +voted for Harrison as President. + +A secret ballot was so reasonable a reform that once it had been +suggested it spread rapidly over the United States. In 1888 +Massachusetts adopted a system based upon the Australian Ballot Law, +while New York advertised its value in the same year when Governor Hill +vetoed a bill to establish it. Before the next presidential election +came in 1892, open bribery or intimidation of voters was rapidly +becoming a thing of the past, for thirty-three States had adopted the +Australian ballot, provided by public authority and voted in secrecy. +"Quay and Platt and Clarkson may find in this fact a fresh explanation +of President Harrison's willingness to divest himself of their +services," wrote Godkin in a caustic paragraph in 1892. + +The Australian ballot enabled the honest citizen to vote in secrecy and +safety, but it failed to touch the fact that the nominations were still +outside the law. "To find the honest men," Bryce wrote, "and having +found them, to put them in office and keep them there, is the great +problem of American politics." So long as a boss could direct the +nomination he could tolerate an honest election. The movement to +legalize the party primaries was just beginning when the ballot reform +was accomplished. The most extreme of the primary reformers saw the need +for a preliminary election conducted within each party, but under all +the safeguards of law, to the end that the voters might themselves +determine their candidates. Direct primaries were discussed by the +younger men, who were often ambitious, but helpless because of the rigor +with which the bosses selected their own candidates. In 1897 a young +ex-Congressman, Robert M. LaFollette, worked out a complete system of +local and national primaries, and found wide and sympathetic hearing for +it. The movement had to face the bitter opposition of the machine +politicians because it struck directly at their power, but it progressed +slowly. In 1901 it won in Minnesota; a little later it won in Wisconsin; +and in the next ten years it became a central feature in reform +platforms. + +The reforms of the primary and the ballot were designed to improve the +quality of public officers, and were supplemented by a demand for direct +legislation which would check up the result. In Switzerland a scheme had +been devised by which the people, by petition, could initiate new laws +or obtain a vote upon existing laws. The idea of submitting special +measures to popular vote, or referendum, was old in the United States, +for in this way state constitutions and constitutional amendments were +habitually adopted, and matters of city charters, loans and franchises +often determined. The initiative, however, was new, and appealed to the +reformer who resented the refusal of the legislature to pass desired +laws as well as the unwillingness to pass worthy ones. The Populists, in +1892, recommended that the system of direct legislation be investigated, +and they favored its adoption in 1896. A journal for the promotion of +the reform appeared in 1894. In 1898 the first State, South Dakota, +adopted the principle of initiative and referendum in a constitutional +amendment. To those who attacked the device as only mechanical it was +answered: "Direct legislation is not a panacea for all national ills. In +fact it is not a panacea at all. It is merely a spoon with which the +panacea can be administered. Specific legislation is the panacea for +political ills." + +The West was more ready than the East to break from existing practice +and take up the new reforms. It had always been the liberal section of +the United States. Between 1800 and 1830 it had led in the enlargement +of the franchise and in the removal of qualifications of wealth and +religion. It now approached the one remaining qualification of sex. With +the admission of Wyoming in 1890, full woman suffrage appeared among the +States. Colorado adopted an amendment establishing it in 1893. Utah, in +the words of the women, "completing the trinity of true Republics at the +summit of the Rockies," became the third suffrage State in January, +1896, while Idaho adopted woman suffrage in the same year. It was +fifteen years before a fifth State was added to the list, but the +women's movement was advancing in all directions. A General Federation +of Women's Clubs was organized in 1890 as a clearing-house for the +activities of the women, and through organizations like the Consumers' +League, the movement fell into line with the general course of reform. A +clearer vision of the defects in governmental machinery and of the +needs of society was spreading rapidly. Hull House, opened in 1889 by +Jane Addams, had a host of imitators in the cities, and enabled social +workers to study the results of industrial progress upon the laboring +class. + +The new reforms, mechanical and otherwise, established themselves about +1890, and were taken up by the Populist party between 1892 and 1896. +Neither great party noticed the reforms before 1896, but in each party +the younger workers saw their point. As non-partisan movements they +gained adherents before the Populist party died out, and were pressed +more and more seriously upon reluctant organizations. As a whole they +were an attempt to make government more truly representative of the +voters, and to take the control of affairs from the hands of men who +might and often did use them for private aggrandizement. They were +overshadowed in 1896 by the paramount issue of free silver, and were +deferred in their fulfilment for a decade by accidents which drove them +from the public mind. The Spanish War, reviving prosperity, and the +renewal of tariff legislation, did not check the activities of the +reformers, but did divert the attention of the public. + +William McKinley was inaugurated on March 4, 1897. He had served in five +Congresses and had been three times governor of Ohio. He "knew the +legislative body thoroughly, its composition, its methods, its habits of +thought," said John Hay. "He had the profoundest respect for its +authority and an inflexible belief in the ultimate rectitude of its +purposes." He was not likely to embarrass business through bluntness or +inexperience. He had risen through a kindly disposition, a recognition +of the political value of tact, and an unusual skill as a moderator of +variant opinions. He believed that his function was to represent the +popular will as rapidly as it expressed itself, differing fundamentally +in this from Cleveland, who thought himself bound to act in the interest +of the people as he saw it. His Cabinet reflected the interests that +secured his election. + +The trend of issues had made the Republican party, by 1897, the party of +organized business. For twelve years the alliance had grown steadily +closer. Marcus A. Hanna was its spokesman. The burlesque of his sincere +and kindly face, drawn by a caricaturist, Davenport, for Eastern papers, +created for the popular eye the type of commercialized magnate, but it +did him great injustice. Self-respecting and direct, he believed it to +be the first function of government to protect property, and that +property should organize for this purpose. Without malevolence, he +conducted business for the sake of its profits, and regarded government +as an adjunct to it. He possessed great capacity for winning popularity, +and after his entry into public life in 1897 gained reputation as an +effective speaker. He destroyed, before his death, much of the offensive +notoriety that had been thrust upon him during the campaign of 1896, but +he remained the best representative of the generation that believed +government to be only a business asset. He did not enter the Cabinet of +McKinley, but was appointed Senator from Ohio when John Sherman vacated +his seat. + +The pledge of the Republicans for international bimetallism created a +need for a financial Secretary of State, and John Sherman, though old +and infirm, was persuaded to undertake the office. The routine of the +department was assigned to an assistant secretary, William R. Day, an +old friend of the President. A magnate of the match trust, Russell A. +Alger, of Michigan, received the War Department. The president of the +First National Bank of Chicago, Lyman J. Gage, received the Treasury. +The other secretaries, too, were men of solidity, generally self-made, +and likely to inspire confidence in the world of business. + +The new Senators who appeared at this time represented the same alliance +of trade and politics. Hanna, in Ohio, and Thomas C. Platt, president of +the United States Express Company, in New York, were the most striking +instances. In Pennsylvania Quay was able to nominate his colleague in +spite of the opposition of his old associate, John Wanamaker, and +selected Boies Penrose. Only with the aid of the silver Senators could a +Republican majority be procured in the Senate. This made currency +legislation impossible, but the managers hoped that there would be a +majority for a protective tariff when Congress met in special session, +two weeks after the inauguration. + +Preparations for a revision of the tariff had been made long before +Cleveland left office. Reed was certain to be reëlected as Speaker by a +large majority. Nelson Dingley, of Maine, was equally certain to be +chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and began to hold tariff +hearings early in 1897. A rampant spirit for protection was revealed as +the manufacturers stated their wishes to the committee. It was often +told how the low rates of the Wilson Bill had caused the panic of 1893, +and a New York maker of "Oriental rugs" created amusement by asking to +be protected from the competition, not of the Orient, but of the German +manufacturers. Since 1890 the strength of the Republican organization +had been directed toward this revision, and the leaders had held back +the silver issue lest it should derange their plans. Now, though +returned to power only on the issue of the currency, they held +themselves empowered to act as though the tariff had been dominant in +1896. The call stated the need for tariff legislation, and Reed held the +House to its task by refusing to appoint the committees without which +other business could not be undertaken. + +The Dingley Bill passed the House of Representatives after a perfunctory +debate which every one regarded as only preliminary to the real struggle +in Senate and Conference Committee. In the Senate it became a new +measure at the hands of the Finance Committee, whose secretary, S.N.D. +North, was also secretary of the Wool Manufacturers' Association. +Revenue was everywhere subordinated to protection, until the Chief of +the Bureau of Statistics, Worthington C. Ford, declared that the act +would prolong the deficit which it was designed to cure. On its final +passage, the Democratic Senator, McEnery, of Louisiana, left his party +to vote for protection to sugar. He was welcomed home in August, in +spite of his "treason," by a reception committee with four hundred +vice-presidents. The silver Senators, headed by Jones, of Nevada, were +induced to support the bill. They had procured the Sherman Silver Bill +in 1890 by the same tactics, and now, holding the balance of power, +secured a group of amendments for themselves, covering hides, wool, and +ore. The measure passed the Senate early in July and became a law July +24, 1897. Senator William B. Allison, of Iowa, was largely responsible +for its final passage, although the law continued to bear the name of +its forgotten originator, Dingley. + +The Republican party was in no condition in 1897 to become the vehicle +of the non-partisan reforms that the Populists advocated and that many +young Republicans had taken up. The interest in tariff legislation drove +everything else from the national organization, while returning +prosperity destroyed the mental attitude in which reforms had +flourished. Political introspection was less easy in 1897 and 1898 than +it had been in the years of confusion and enforced economy since 1890. +The civil service and ballot reforms had been started on the upward +course, but party machines continued in control of each great +organization. + +The conduct of the Senate discouraged many of the reformers in the +spring of 1897. Cleveland had left in its hands a treaty of arbitration +with Great Britain, but no action had been taken upon it when he left +office. Arbitration had been a common international tool between Great +Britain and the United States. Boundaries, fisheries, and claims had +repeatedly been submitted to courts or commissions of varying +structure, and even the claims affecting the honor of Great Britain had +been settled by arbitration at Geneva. After the Venezuela excitement +friends of peace gathered in a convention at Lake Mohonk to discuss the +extension of the method of arbitration. When Great Britain had accepted +the principle in the case of Venezuela, Cleveland entered into a general +arbitration treaty, which was signed at Washington in February, 1897. +Public opinion received it cordially, but the Senate was slow to take it +up. Late in the spring it was ratified with amendments that destroyed +its force and showed the reluctance of Senators to accept the principle +of arbitration. International peace was thus postponed, while the rising +insurrection in Cuba drove it as well as general reform from the center +of public interest. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The _American Commonwealth_ of James Bryce (1888) is the starting-point +for the study of political conditions of the nineties, and is to be +reinforced by W. Wilson, _Congressional Government_ (1885), T. +Roosevelt, _Essays on Practical Politics_ (1888), and P.L. Ford, _The +Honorable Peter Stirling_ (1894). Among the personal narratives the most +useful are T. Roosevelt, _Fifty Years of My Life_ (1913); R.M. +LaFollette, _A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences_ (1913; also +published serially in the _American Magazine_, 1911, as +"Autobiography"); Tom L. Johnson's _My Story_ (1911; edited by E.J. +Hauser); C. Lloyd, _Henry Demarest Lloyd_ (2 vols., 1912); +_Autobiography of Thomas Collier Platt_ (1910; edited by L.J. Lang, and +highly unreliable); and Jane Addams, _Twenty Years of Hull House_ +(1910). Much light is thrown upon the mechanics of tariff legislation by +I.M. Tarbell, _The Tariff in Our Times_ (1911), and by the lobby +investigations conducted by committees of Congress in 1913, and by the +campaign fund investigations conducted by similar committees in 1912. +The progress of the Australian ballot reform must be traced through the +periodicals, as it has no good history. E.C. Meyer, _Nominating Systems: +Direct Primaries versus Conventions in the United States_ (1902), is +standard in its field, as are E.P. Oberholtzer, _The Referendum in +America_ (1893), and E.C. Stanton, S.B. Anthony, and M.J. Gage, _History +of Woman Suffrage_, 1848-1900(4 vols., 1881-1902). The Annual Reports of +the Lake Mohonk Conferences on International Arbitration are a useful +aid in tracing the principles of arbitration. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SPANISH WAR + + +Cuba broke out in one of her numerous insurrections in 1895. The island +had been nominally quiet since the close of the Ten Years' War, in 1878, +but had always been an object of American interest. More than once it +had entered into American diplomacy to bring out reiterations of +different phases of the Monroe Doctrine. Its purchase by the United +States had been desired to extend the slave area, or to control the +Caribbean, or to enlarge the fruit and sugar plantation area. The free +trade in sugar, which the McKinley Bill had allowed, ended in 1894, and +almost immediately thereafter the native population demanded +independence. + +The revolt of 1895 was defended and justified by a recital of the faults +of Spanish colonial government. Caste and monopoly played a large part +in Cuban life. The Spanish-born held the offices, enjoyed the profits, +and owned or managed the commercial privileges. The western end of the +island, most thickly settled and most under the influence of Spain, gave +least support to the uprising, but in the east, where the Cubans and +negroes raised and ground cane, or grazed their herds, discontent at the +system of favoritism and race discrimination was an important political +force. Here the insurgents soon gained a foothold in the provinces of +Santiago, Puerto Principe, and Santa Clara. From the jungle or the +mountains they sent bands of guerrillas against the sugar mills and +plantations of the ruling class, and when pursued their troops hid their +weapons and became, ostensibly, peaceful farmers. A revolutionary +government, sitting safely in New York, directed the revolt, raised +money by playing on the American love of freedom, and sent cargoes of +arms, munitions, and volunteers to the seat of war. Avoiding pitched +battles and living off the country, the patriot forces compelled Spain +to put some 200,000 troops in Cuba and to garrison every place that she +retained. + +[Illustration: ALASKA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND THE SEAT OF THE SPANISH WAR] + +Through 1895 and 1896 the war dragged on with no prospect of victory for +the authorities and with growing interest on the part of the United +States. Public sympathy was with the Cubans, and news from the front was +so much desired that enterprising papers sent their correspondents to +the scene of action. The reports of these, almost without exception, +magnified the character and promise of the native leaders and attacked +the policy of the Spanish forces of repression. + +The insurgents began, in 1895, a policy of terror, destroying the cane +in the fields of loyalists and burning their sugar mills. To protect the +loyalists and repress the rebels the Queen Regent sent General Valeriano +Weyler to the island in 1896, with orders to end the war. Weyler replied +to devastation with concentration. Unable to separate the loyal natives +from the disloyal, or to prevent the latter from aiding the rebels, he +gathered the suspected population into huge concentration camps, +fortified his towns and villages with sentinels and barbed-wire fences, +and endeavored to depopulate the area outside his lines. American public +opinion, unused for a generation to the sight of war, was shocked by the +suffering in the camps and was aroused in moral protest. Sympathy with +the insurgents grew in 1896 and 1897, as exaggerated tales of hardship +and brutality were circulated by the "yellow" newspapers. The evidence +was one-sided and incomplete, and often dishonest, but it was effective +in steering a rising public opinion toward ultimate intervention. + +The nearness of the contest brought the trouble to the United States +Government through the enforcement of the neutrality laws. There was no +public war, and Spain was thus unable to seize or examine American +vessels until they entered actual Cuban waters. It was easy to run the +Spanish blockade and take supplies to the rebel forces, which was a +permissible trade. It was easy, too, to organize and send out +filibustering parties, which were highly illegal, and which the United +States tried to stop. Out of seventy-one known attempts, the United +States broke up thirty-three, while other Powers, including Spain, +caught only eleven. Enough landed to be a material aid to the natives +and to embitter Spain in her criticism of the United States. Cleveland +issued proclamations against the unfriendly acts of citizens, and +enforced the law as well as he could in a population and with juries +sympathizing with the law-breakers. Even in Congress he found little +sympathy in his attempt to maintain a sincere neutrality. + +Congress felt the popular sympathy with the Cubans and responded to it, +as well as to the demands of Americans with investments in Cuba. In the +spring of 1896 both houses joined in a resolution favoring the +recognition of Cuban belligerency. This Cleveland ignored. In December, +1896, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations reported a resolution +for the recognition of Cuban independence, and individual members of +Congress often read from the newspapers accounts of horror, and made +impassioned speeches for recognition and intervention. But Cleveland +kept his control over the situation until he left office, as Grant had +done during the Ten Years' War and the excitement over the Virginius +affair. He left the determination of the time and manner of ultimate +intervention to his successor. + +Among the planks of the Republican platform of 1896 was one asserting +the duty of the United States to "use its influence and good offices to +restore peace and give independence to Cuba," but there is no evidence +that President McKinley contemplated a forcible intervention when he +organized his Cabinet. John Sherman had, as Senator, spoken freely in +sympathy with Cuba. As Secretary of State he recalled Hannis Taylor from +Madrid and sent out General Stewart L. Woodford, with instructions +looking toward a peaceful mediation. Not until the autumn of 1897 was it +possible to press the Cuban matter, for Spain suffered two changes of +Ministry and the murder of a Prime Minister. But by the end of +September Spain had been notified that McKinley hoped to be able to give +positive assurances of peace to Congress when it met in December. + +A Liberal Government, headed by Sagasta, took office in Spain in +October, 1897. It declined mediation by the United States, retorting +that if the United States were to enforce the law of neutrality the war +would soon cease. It recalled Weyler, however, sent out a new and milder +governor-general, modified the _reconcentrado_ orders that had so +enraged the United States, and issued, on November 25, a proclamation +establishing a sort of home rule, or autonomy, for Cuba. In the winter +of 1897 the Spanish Government was endeavoring to give no excuse for +American intervention, and at the same time, by moderate means, to +restore peace in Cuba. The Spanish population of Cuba opposed autonomy +and made the establishment of autonomous governments a farce. In January +there were riots in Havana among the loyal subjects. Outside the Spanish +lines the rebels laughed at autonomy, for they were determined to have +independence or nothing. Woodford, in touch with the Spanish Government, +believed that in the long run the Spanish people would let the Queen +Regent go beyond autonomy to independence, and that with patience Cuba +might be relieved of Spanish control. + +There was no positive news for Congress in December, 1897, but by +February the conditions in Cuba had become the most interesting current +problem. The New York _Journal_ obtained and published a private letter +written by the Spanish Minister, De Lome, in which McKinley was +characterized as a temporizing politician. The Minister had no sooner +been recalled than the Maine, a warship that had been detached from the +North Atlantic Squadron, and sent to Cuba to safeguard American citizens +there, was destroyed by an explosion in the harbor of Havana, on +February 15, 1898. There was no evidence connecting the destruction of +the Maine with any person, but unscrupulous newspapers made capital out +of it, using the catch-phrase, "Remember the Maine," to inflame a public +mind already aroused by sympathy and indignation. After February, only a +determined courage could have withstood the demand for intervention and +a Spanish war. + +The negotiations with Spain continued rapidly in the two months after +the loss of the Maine. McKinley avoided an arbitral inquiry into the +accident, urged by Spain, but pressed increasingly for an end of +concentration, for relief for the suffering population, and for full +self-government. He did not ask independence for Cuba, and every demand +that he made was assented to by Spain. Notwithstanding this, on April +11, 1898, he sent the Cuban correspondence to Congress, urged an +intervention, and turned the control of the situation over to a body +that had for two years been clamoring for forcible interference. Nine +days later Congress resolved, "That the people of the Island of Cuba +are, and of right ought to be, free and independent." On April 21 the +Spanish War began. + +The administrative branches of the Government had made some +preparations for war before the declaration. The navy was small but +modern. It dated from the early eighties, when Congress was roused to a +realization that the old Civil War navy was obsolete and began to +authorize the construction of modern fighting ships. The "White +Squadron" took shape in the years after 1893. Only two armored cruisers +were in commission when Harrison left office, but the number increased +rapidly until McKinley had available for use the second-class +battleships Maine and Texas, the armored cruiser Brooklyn, and the +first-class battleships Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Oregon. From +the beginning of the McKinley Administration these, as well as the +lesser vessels of all grades, were diligently drilled and organized. The +new Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, had foreseen +and hoped for war. He spent the contingent funds on target practice, and +had the naval machine at its highest efficiency when the Maine was lost. +On March 9, 1898, Congress, in a few hours, put $50,000,000 at the +disposal of the President for national defense, and the navy spent its +share of this for new vessels, transports, and equipment. The vessels in +the Orient were mobilized at Hongkong under the command of Commodore +George Dewey; the Oregon, on station in the Pacific, was ordered home by +the long route around the Horn; the ships in the Atlantic were assembled +off the Chesapeake. Part of the latter were organized as a flying +squadron, for patrol, under Commodore Winfield Scott Schley, while +toward the end of March Captain William T. Sampson was promoted over +the heads of many ranking officers and given command of the whole North +Atlantic Squadron, including the fleet of Schley. + +Congress debated a new army bill while the navy was being prepared for +war. Not until April 22 did it permit the enlargement of the little +regular army of 25,000. Until war had begun the volunteers, of whom some +216,000 were taken into the service, could not be called out or made +ready for the field. Some preparations were made within the War +Department, but the little staff of clerks, used to the small routine of +the peace basis, and having no plan of enlargement or mobilization +worked out, made little headway. The navy was ready to strike the day +war was declared, but the army had yet to be planned, recruited, +clothed, drilled, and transported to the front. The men of the navy knew +their duty and were ready for it; in the army thousands of civilians had +to blunder through the duties of strange offices. William J. Bryan +accepted the colonelcy in a Nebraska regiment. Theodore Roosevelt +resigned his office in the Navy Department to raise a regiment of +volunteer cavalry. Politicians struggled for commissions for themselves +and friends. Civil War veterans fought for reappointment, and enough +soldiers of the Confederacy put on the blue uniforms, or sent their +sons, to show that the breach had been healed between the North and +South. It was an enthusiastic rather than an effective army that was +brought together in the two months after the war began. + +Cuba, the cause of the war and its objective, was the center of the +scheme of strategy. The navy was called upon to protect the Atlantic +seaboard from the fleet of Spain, which was reputed to be superior to +that of the United States. It had also to maintain a blockade of Cuba +and prevent the landing of reinforcements until the army could be +prepared to invade the island. Dewey's fleet in the Pacific was ordered +to destroy the Spanish naval force in the Philippine Islands, and moved +immediately upon Manila when Great Britain issued her proclamation of +neutrality and made it impossible to remain longer in her waters at +Hongkong. + +On the morning of May 1 Dewey led his squadron past the forts, over the +submerged mines, and up the channel of Manila Bay. The Spanish forces in +the islands, already contending with a native insurrection, were +helpless before evening, having lost the whole fleet. Dewey was left in +a position to take the city when he chose, and sent home word to that +effect. He waited in the harbor until an army of occupation had been got +ready, hurried to the transports at San Francisco, and sent out under +General Wesley Merritt. He brought the native leader Aguinaldo back to +the islands, whence he had been expelled, to foment insurrection. The +first American reinforcements arrived at Manila by the end of June. On +August 13 they took the city. + +Before the news of the surprising victory at Manila reached the United +States there was nervousness along the Atlantic Coast because of the +uncertain plans of the main Spanish fleet, which had left the Cape Verde +Islands, under Admiral Cervera, on April 29, and which might appear off +New York or Boston at any time. The naval strategists knew it must be +headed for the West Indies, but seaboard Congressmen begged excitedly +for protection, and the sensational newspapers pictured the coast in +ruins after bombardment. + +To Sampson and Schley was assigned the task of guarding the coast, +keeping up the blockade, and finding Cervera's fleet before it reached a +harbor in American waters. San Juan, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, and +Havana were the only probable destinations. Sampson watched the north +side of Cuba and Porto Rico, while Schley and the flying squadron moved +to Key West, and on May 19 started around the west end of Cuba to patrol +the southern shore. On that same day, entirely unobserved, Cervera +slipped into the port of Santiago, at the eastern extremity of Cuba. +When the rumor of his arrival reached Sampson at Key West, Schley was +already well on his way and firm in his belief that Cervera was heading +for Cienfuegos. + +The flying squadron, impeded by its colliers and its tenders, moved +deliberately around Cuba to Cienfuegos, outside of whose harbor it +remained for two days. Here Sampson's orders to proceed immediately to +Santiago reached it. On May 26 the fleet was off the entrance to +Santiago Harbor, and in this vicinity it stayed for two more days. +Schley could get no news that Cervera was here; he feared that his coal +would give out and that heavy seas would prevent his getting what coal +he had out of his colliers. He decided, in spite of orders, to go back +to Key West; he started a retrograde movement, reconsidered it, and was +again on blockade when, early on Sunday morning, May 29, he discovered +the Spanish fleet at anchor in the channel, where it had been for the +last nine days. + +The blockade of Santiago was strengthened on June 1 by the arrival of +Sampson, who had rushed thither on hearing that Schley had decided to +leave the post. The two fleets were merged, and Schley, outranked by +Sampson, became a passenger on his flagship Brooklyn. By day, the +warships, ranged in a great half-circle, watched the narrow outlet of +the harbor. By night they took turns standing close in, with +searchlights playing on the entrance. For five weeks they kept this up, +not entering the harbor because of their positive orders not to risk the +loss of any fighting units, and waited for the arrival of an army to +coöperate with them against the land defenses of Santiago. + +Sampson asked for military aid early in June, and on June 7 the War +Department ordered the army that had been mobilized at Tampa to go to +his assistance. General Nelson A. Miles, in command of the army, was not +allowed to head the expedition, but was kept at home while General +William R. Shafter directed the field work. At Tampa there was almost +hopeless confusion. The single track railway that supplied the camp was +unable to move promptly either men or munitions, the Quartermaster's +Department sent down whole trainloads of supplies without bills of +lading, and when the troops were at last on board the fleet of +transports they were kept in the river for a week before they were +allowed to start for Santiago. Sixteen thousand men, mostly regulars, +with nearly one thousand officers and two hundred war correspondents, +sailed on June 14, and were in conference with Sampson six days later. + +A misunderstanding as to strategy arose in this conference. Sampson left +it believing that the army would land and move directly along the shore +against the batteries that covered the entrance to the harbor. Shafter, +however, though he issued no general order to that effect, was +determined to march inland upon the city of Santiago itself. On June 22 +and 23 the army was landed by the navy, for it had neither boats nor +lighters of its own. The first troops, climbing ashore at the railway +pier at Daquiri, marched west along the coast to Siboney, and then +plunged inland, each regiment for itself, along the narrow jungle trail +leading to Santiago. Shafter himself, corpulent and sick, followed as he +could. Before he established his control over the army on land the head +of the column had engaged the enemy at Las Guasimas, nine miles from +Santiago, on June 24. The First Volunteer Cavalry, under the command of +Colonel Leonard M. Wood, with Theodore Roosevelt as lieutenant-colonel, +had marched most of the night in order to be in the first fighting. +After a sharp engagement the Spanish retired and the American advance +upon Santiago continued in a more orderly fashion. + +The narrow trail between Siboney, on the shore, and Santiago, was some +twelve miles long. There were dense forests on both sides. Along this +the American army stretched itself at the end of June. There were few +ambulances or wagons, and they could not have been used if they had been +more numerous. Rations for the front were packed on mules or horses. The +troops, hurried to the tropics in the heavy, dark, winter clothing of +the regular army, suffered from heat, rain, and irregular rations. +Before them the San Juan River crossed the trail at right angles. Beyond +this were low hills carrying the fortifications, trenches, and wire +fences of Santiago, behind which the Spanish force could fight with +every advantage in its favor. Some five miles to the right of the line +of advance was the Spanish left, in a blockhouse at El Caney. On the +night before July 1, the American army moved on a concerted plan against +the whole Spanish line. + +Lawton, with a right wing, moved against El Caney, with the idea of +demolishing it and crumpling up the Spanish left. The main column +followed the trail, crossed the San Juan River, and stormed the hills +beyond. The fight lasted all day on July 1, leaving the American forces +to sleep in the Spanish trenches, and to re-face them the next day. +There was more fighting on July 2 and 3, after which Santiago was +besieged by land, as it had been by sea since June 1. + +Cervera watched the invading army with growing desperation. He knew the +inefficiency of his fleet, that it had left Spain unprepared because +public opinion demanded immediate action, that its guns were lacking and +its morale low, that if it stayed at anchor in the harbor it would be +taken by the army, and that if it went to sea it would be annihilated +by Sampson. His only chance was to rush out, scatter in flight, and +trust to luck. On Sunday, July 3, he led his ships out of the harbor in +single file, turned west against the Brooklyn, which guarded the +American left, and endeavored to escape. + +Sampson had already issued orders for battle in case Cervera should come +out. He had himself started with his flagship, the New York, for a +conference with Shafter, and was some seven miles east of the entrance +to the harbor when the fleet appeared and the battle began. He turned at +once to the long chase that pursued the Spanish vessels along the Cuban +shore. The Brooklyn, at which Cervera had headed, instead of closing, +circled to the right, and nearly rammed her neighbor, the Texas, before +she regained her place at the head of the pursuit. Schley was the +ranking officer in the battle, but no one needed or heeded the orders +that he signaled to the other ships. Before sundown the Spanish fleet +was completely destroyed. + +The land and naval battles at Santiago brought the Spanish War to an +end. For several weeks the army kept up the investment, with health and +morale steadily deteriorating. On July 17 the Spanish army at Santiago +was surrendered. On July 27 an invasion of Porto Rico under General +Miles took place, and on August 12 the preliminaries of peace were +signed on behalf of Spain by the French Minister at Washington. Manila +fell the next day, and the war closed with the American army in +possession of the most valuable of Spain's remaining colonies. + +The Spanish and American peace commissioners met in Paris in October to +fix a basis for settlement. An American demand that Cuba should be set +free, without debt, and left to the tutelage of the United States, and +that Porto Rico should become an American possession, was formulated +early in the autumn. There was less certainty about the retention of the +Philippines, for here the desire for expansion was checked by a +conservative opposition to the adoption of foreign colonies. The evil +effects of imperialism were already being pictured by those who had +opposed the war. The difficulties of returning the islands to Spain were +greater than those involved in their retention, and McKinley finally +determined that the cession must include the Philippine Archipelago, and +the island of Guam in the Ladrones. The chief of the American +commissioners was William R. Day, who had become Secretary of State +early in the war, and who was succeeded in that post by John Hay. Under +his direction the Treaty of Paris was signed December 10, 1898. + +The war and the conquest of the Philippines hastened another though +peaceful expansion. The Hawaiian Islands had been a matter of interest +to the United States since the American missionaries had begun to work +there in the thirties. A growing, American, sugar-raising population had +long hoped for annexation and had carried out a successful revolution +shortly before 1893. Harrison had concluded a treaty of annexation with +the provisional government, but Cleveland had refused to approve it. On +July 7, 1898, however, the Newlands Resolution accomplished the +annexation of the republic, and in 1900 a regular territorial government +was provided for the group of islands. The spectacular journey of the +Oregon around Cape Horn revived the demand for an isthmian canal. +Expansion suddenly took possession of the American mind, and a new idea +of duty, summed up by Rudyard Kipling in _The White Man's Burden_, +filled a large portion of the press. + +The United States had suddenly passed from internal debate over free +silver to war and conquest. At the end of 1898 the War Department, that +had proved its inadequacy in nearly every phase of the war, was forced +to develop a colonial policy for Porto Rico and the Philippines and to +guide Cuba to independence. It was still under the direction of General +Russell A. Alger, but was torn by dissension and criticism upon the +conduct of the war. Not until Alger was asked to retire, in 1899, and +Elihu Root, of New York, succeeded him, was the War Department made +equal to its task. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The best account of the war with Spain is F.E. Chadwick, _Relations of +the United States and Spain: Diplomacy_ (1909), and _Relations of the +United States and Spain: The Spanish American War_ (2 vols., 1911). +These works have in large measure superseded the earlier studies; J.M. +Callahan, _Cuba and International Relations_ (1899); J.H. Latané, _The +Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Spanish America_ +(1900:--so far as it relates to Cuba); H.E. Flack, _Spanish-American +Diplomatic Relations preceding the war of 1898_ (in Johns Hopkins +University Studies, vol. XXIV); and E.J. Benton, _International Law and +Diplomacy of the Spanish-American War_ (1908). Useful narratives +relating to the army are R.A. Alger, _The Spanish-American War_ (1901); +H.H. Sargent, _The Campaign of Santiago de Cuba_ (3 vols., 1907); J. +Wheeler, _The Santiago Campaign_ (1899); J.D. Miley, _In Cuba with +Shafter_ (1899); and T. Roosevelt, _The Rough Riders_ (1899). The navy +may be followed in J.D. Long, _The New American Navy_ (2 vols., 1903); +E.S. Maclay, _History of the United States Navy_ (3 vols., 1901, the +third volume containing allegations that precipitated the Schley-Sampson +controversy); G.E. Graham, _Schley and Santiago_ (1902); W.S. Schley, +_Forty-five Years under the Flag_ (1904); W.A.M. Goode, _With Sampson +through the War_ (1899). The public documents of the war are easily +accessible, especially in the Annual Reports for 1898 of the Secretaries +of War and Navy, and in the Foreign Relations volume for that year. The +controversies after the war illuminated many details, particularly the +Schley Inquiry (57th Congress, 1st Session, House Document, no. 485, +Serial nos. 4370, 4371), and the Miles-Eagan Inquiry (56th Congress, 1st +Session, Senate Document, no. 270, Serial nos. 3870-3872). + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT + + +Out of the humiliating debates upon the war, on the capacity of Alger +and Shafter, on the management of the commissary and the field +hospitals, on the failure of Sampson and Shafter to coöperate, on the +tactics and the alleged weakness of Schley, and on the diplomatic +sincerity of McKinley, only one name caught the public ear. The only +career that placed a soldier in line for political promotion was that of +Theodore Roosevelt, who was still under forty years of age, although he +had lived a keen, aggressive, and public life for nearly twenty years. +Just out of Harvard in 1880, Roosevelt entered the rough and tumble of +New York politics. He was a reform legislator when Cleveland was +governor, and an opponent of the nomination of Blaine in 1884. He did +not fight the ticket or turn Mugwump, for he had already formed a +political philosophy, that only those who stayed within the party could +be efficient in reform; but he dropped out of the ranks and took up +ranch life in the West. Harrison made him a Civil Service Commissioner +and supported him in a stern administration of the merit system. Before +he left this office in 1895, to become Police Commissioner of New York +City, the breezy and vigorous assaults of Roosevelt upon political +corruption had already marked him as a reformer of a new type, who +remained an active politician and a party man without losing his +interest in reform. As police commissioner he gained new fame and more +admirers. In 1897 he took the post of Assistant Secretary of the Navy +and prepared for war. He had already found time to write many books on +the West, reform, naval history, and outdoor life. He resigned his post +in April, 1898, on the eve of war, raised a regiment of volunteers, +which the public speedily named the "Rough Riders," kept his men in the +center of the stage while there was fighting, risked and violated all +theories of discipline to attack the sanitary policy of the +Administration in the autumn, and in October received the nomination of +his party for Governor of New York, over the ill-concealed opposition of +Thomas Collier Platt. + +During the campaign of 1898 Roosevelt carried his candidacy to the voter +in every part of the State. He spoke from rear platforms day after day. +Rough Riders, in uniform, accompanied his party and reinforced his +appeal to mixed motives of good government and patriotic fervor. He was +elected in November, and on the same day the Republican control of +Congress was assured. It was made possible for the party to fulfill the +last of the obligations laid upon it by the election of 1896. + +A currency act, passed in March, 1900, was the result of Republican +success. It established the gold dollar by law as the standard of value, +legalized the gold reserve at $150,000,000, and made it the duty of the +Treasury to keep at a parity with gold the $313,000,000 of Civil War +greenbacks, the $550,000,000 of silver and silver certificates, the +$75,000,000 of Sherman Act treasury notes, as well as the national bank +notes, which aggregated $300,000,000 in 1900. The law left the currency +far from satisfactory in that it made it dependent upon redemption, and +hence liable to sudden changes in value, but it silenced the fear of +free-silver coinage. + +In the spring of 1900 Congress was forced to consider the basis of +colonial government. Governments similar to those of the Territories +were provided for Hawaii and Porto Rico, but a troublesome revolt +prevented such treatment of the Philippine Islands. There had been a +native insurrection in these islands before the Spanish War began, and +the aid of the rebels had made it easier for the United States to +overthrow the power of Spain. Instead of receiving a pledge of +independence, as Cuba did, the islands became a territorial possession +of the United States. In February, 1899, under the native leader, Emilio +Aguinaldo, insurrection broke out against the United States and received +the sympathy of large numbers of Americans. The spectacle of the United +States subduing a spirit of independence in the Philippines aroused and +stimulated the movement of anti-imperialism that had fought against the +acquisition of the islands. The incompatibility of republican +institutions and foreign colonies, the demoralizing influence of ruling +on the ruling class, the lesson of the fall of Rome, were held up before +the public. Carl Schurz was one of the leaders in the protest, and his +followers included many whose names were already well known in the +advocacy of tariff and civil service reform. In 1901 the Supreme Court +upheld the constitutionality of expansion and imperial control. The +people had already decided in their favor in 1900. + +There was no contest for either nomination in the campaign of 1900. +Bryan had established his right to the leadership that had come to him +by chance in 1896. Although conservative Democrats still distrusted him, +their voices were drowned by the popular approval of his honesty and +humanity. "Four years ago," said Altgeld, in the Democratic Convention +at Kansas City, "we quit trimming, we quit using language that has a +double meaning.... We went forth armed with that strength that comes +from candor and sincerity and we fought the greatest campaign ever waged +on the American continent.... [For] the first time in the history of +this Republic the Democracy of America have risen up in favor of one +man." On a platform that repeated the currency demands of 1896 and +denounced imperialism, Bryan was unanimously renominated, with Adlai E. +Stevenson for the Vice-Presidency. + +The emphatic denunciation of imperialism brought to Bryan and Stevenson +the support of a group of independents,--the "hold-your-nose-and-vote" +group, as the Republican press called them,--who were strong for the +gold standard, but believed that currency was less fundamental than +imperialism. The Republican party had accepted and approved the war and +the benevolent intentions of the United States, and had renominated +McKinley at Philadelphia, without a dissenting voice. Vice-President +Hobart had died in office, or the original ticket might have been +continued. As a substitute, rumor had attacked the name of Governor +Roosevelt, while Senator Platt, preferring not to have him reëlected +Governor of New York, had encouraged his boom for the Vice-Presidency. +Repeatedly, in the spring of 1900, Roosevelt declared that he would not +seek or accept the Vice-Presidency. Hanna and McKinley did not desire +him on the ticket, but at the convention the delegates broke down all +resistance and forced him to accept the nomination. + +The policy of dignity, which McKinley had assumed in 1896, was continued +by him in 1900, but the vice-presidential candidate proved the equal of +Bryan as a campaigner. In hundreds of speeches, reaching nearly every +State, they carried their personality to the voters. The two issues, +imperialism and free silver, divided the voters along different lines, +but the Administration had an economic basis for support in the recovery +of business on every hand. The Republicans took credit for the general +and abundant prosperity, and their cartoonists emphasized the idea of +the "full dinner pail" as a reason for continued support. A smaller +percentage of citizens voted than in 1896, for the issue was less clear +than it had been then. Many who were discontented with both candidates +voted with the Prohibitionists or Socialists. The Republican ticket was +elected, with 292 electoral votes, as against 155 received by Bryan and +Stevenson. A continuance of the Republican control of Congress was +assured at the same time. + +William McKinley was the first President after Grant to receive a second +consecutive term. He made few changes in his Cabinet in 1901. Elihu Root +remained in the War Department, for the sake of which he had refused to +consider the Vice-Presidency, and strove for order in the Philippines, +in Cuba, and in the United States Army itself. John Hay, as Secretary of +State, continued his correspondence with the Powers over the Chinese +revolt, without a break. + +Only Seward and John Quincy Adams can rival John Hay as successful +American Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Born in the Middle West in 1838, +Hay served in Lincoln's household as a private secretary throughout the +Civil War. He held minor appointments after this and alternated +diplomatic experience with literary production. The monumental _Life of +Abraham Lincoln_ was partly his work. His graceful verse gained for him +a wide reading. His anonymous novel, _The Breadwinners_, was an +important document in the early labor movement. McKinley sent him to +London as Ambassador in 1897, following the tradition that only the best +in the United States may go to the Court of St. James, and had recalled +him to be Secretary of State in the fall of 1898. The Boxer outbreak in +China in 1900 gave the first opening to the new diplomacy of the United +States, broadened out of its insularity by the Spanish War and +interested in the attainment of international ideas. Hay led in the +adjustment which settled the Chinese claims, opened the door of China +to the commerce of the world, and prevented her dismemberment. He was +still engaged in this correspondence when President McKinley was +murdered by an anarchist, and Theodore Roosevelt became President of the +United States, September 14, 1901. + +In the hurried inaugural ceremony held in the Buffalo residence in which +McKinley died, Roosevelt declared his intention to continue the term as +his predecessor had begun it. He insisted that all the members of the +Cabinet should remain with him, as they did for considerable periods. He +took up the work where it had been dropped, and for some months it was +not apparent that a change had been made from a party administration to +a personal administration. The suave and cordial tolerance of McKinley +was succeeded by the aggressive certainty of his successor. Through John +Hay's skillful hand this new tone made a deeper impression on the +politics of the world than had that of any President since Washington +gave forth the doctrine of neutrality. + +Cuba was a pending problem. The American army, under General Leonard +Wood, had cleaned up the island. The medical service had learned to +isolate the mosquito, and had expelled the scourge of yellow fever. The +natives formed a constitution which became effective on May 20, 1902. On +this day the United States withdrew from the new Republic, leaving it to +manage its own affairs, subject only to a pledge that it would forever +maintain its independence, that it would incur no debt without providing +the means for settling it, and that the United States might lawfully +intervene to protect its independence or maintain responsible +government. In the winter of 1901-02 Roosevelt urged Congress to adopt a +policy of commercial reciprocity with Cuba. He was supported in this by +opinion in Cuba, and by officials of the American Sugar Trust, but was +opposed in the Senate by a combination of beet-sugar Republicans and +cane-sugar Democrats. The measure failed in 1902, creating bad feeling +between President and Congress, but a treaty of modified reciprocity was +ratified in 1903. + +In 1902 the United States became the first suitor to test the efficacy +of the new court of arbitration at The Hague. In 1898 the Czar of Russia +had invited the countries represented at St. Petersburg to join in a +conference upon disarmament. His motives were questioned and derided, +but the conference met the next summer at Huis ten Bosch, the summer +palace of the Queen of the Netherlands, at The Hague. Here the plan of +disarmament proved futile, but a great treaty for the settlement of +international disputes was accepted by the countries present. It seemed +probable that the Hague Court, thus created, would die of neglect, but +President Roosevelt, appealed to by an advocate of peace, produced a +trifling case and submitted it to arbitration. The Pious Fund dispute, +with Mexico and the United States as suitors, involved the control of +church funds in California. The suit was won by the United States, but +derived its chief importance from being the first Hague settlement. + +The pledge of the United States for Cuban independence had hardly been +fulfilled when another Latin Republic became involved in trouble. +Venezuela, torn by war, had incurred obligations to European creditors, +and had defaulted in the payments upon them. In December, 1902, Great +Britain and Germany announced a blockade of the Venezuelan ports in +retaliation, and they were soon joined by other Powers with similar +claims. Disclaiming intent to protect Venezuela in defaulting, Roosevelt +urged the European claimants to abandon force for arbitration. Under his +leadership joint commissions were finally established, and in 1903 the +legal technicalities involved were sent to The Hague. The episode +involved a new interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, making it clear +that unless the United States wished to protect the South American +Republics in the evasion of their debts it must assume some +responsibility for the honest settlement of them. + +The boundary of Alaska next became a subject for arbitration. Since the +valley of the Yukon had attracted its first great migration in the +summer of 1897 the mining-camps had steadily increased in importance. +Many of these were on the Canadian side of the meridian of 141°, and all +were reached either by the river steamers or the trails from the south. +The most important ports of entry were Dyea and Skaguay, at the head of +the Lynn Canal, a long fiord projecting some ninety miles into the +continent. From these ports the prospector plunged inland, climbed the +Chilkoot or the Chilkat Pass, and followed one of several overland +trails to the Upper Yukon. + +The importance given to Dyea and Skaguay revived the question of their +ownership and with this the boundary of Alaska. When Seward bought +Alaska for the United States in 1867 he received it with the boundaries +agreed upon at St. Petersburg between England and Russia in 1825. These +followed the meridian of 141° from Mount St. Elias to the Arctic Ocean, +and followed the irregularities of the shore-line southeast from that +mountain to the Pacific at 54° 40´, North Latitude. The narrow coast +strip was described as following the windings (_sinuosités_) of the +shore, bounded by the shore mountains if possible, but in no case to be +more than thirty miles wide. The narrow Lynn Canal pierces the +thirty-mile strip, and the dispute turned chiefly upon interpretation: +whether the canal should be regarded as a _sinuosité_ of the shore, +around which the boundary must go, or as a stream which it might +properly cross. + +For thirty years after 1867 the British and Canadian government maps +treated the Lynn Canal and other similar fiords as American, but it +became convenient for Canada, after 1897, to urge that the boundary +should cross the canal and leave Dyea and Skaguay on British soil. A +Canadian and American Joint High Commission, meeting in 1898, had been +unable to adjust the controversy. In 1903 it was submitted to a +tribunal, three to a side, which sat in London. It was doubtful whether +the three American adjudicators, Root, Lodge, and Turner, were all +"jurists of repute," as the treaty provided, but the arguments of the +American counsel convinced Lord Chief Justice Alverstone, one of the +British adjudicators, and his vote, added to the American three, gave a +verdict that sustained most of the claims of the United States. + +In Cuba and Venezuela, at The Hague, and in the Alaskan matter, +Roosevelt and Hay showed at once a firmness and a reasonableness that +attracted European attention to American diplomacy as never before. The +subject of American diplomacy became a common study in American +universities. England and Germany appeared to be desirous of +conciliating the United States. The German Emperor bought a steam yacht +in the United States, sent his brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, to +attend the launching, and sent as Ambassador a German nobleman who had +long been a personal friend of the President. The reputation for +firmness was enhanced, but that for fairness was lessened by the next +episode, which involved the Colombian State of Panama. + +The dangerous voyage of the Oregon in 1898 completed the conviction of +the United States that an isthmian canal must be constructed, and that +the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was no longer adequate. The activity of De +Lesseps and his French company at Panama had raised the question about +1880, but nothing had been done to weaken the treaty that obstructed +American construction and control until Hay undertook a negotiation +under the direction of McKinley in the fall of 1899. Congress was in the +midst of a debate over a Nicaragua canal scheme when it was announced +that on February 5, 1900, Hay and Lord Pauncefote had signed a treaty +opening the canal to American construction, but providing for its +neutralization. The treaty forbade the fortification of the canal or its +use as an instrument of war. It was killed by amendment in the Senate, +but on November 18, 1901, Lord Pauncefote signed a second treaty, by +which Great Britain waived all her old rights save that of equal +treatment for all users of the canal, and left the future waterway to +the discretion of the United States. With the way thus opened,--for the +Senate promptly confirmed this treaty,--a new study of routes and +methods was hurried to completion. + +An Isthmian Commission, created by the United States in 1899, was ready +to report upon a route when the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was +concluded. The practicable routes had been reduced in number to two, at +Panama, and through Nicaragua. The former was under the control of the +French company, which placed so high a price upon its concession that +the commission recommended the Nicaragua route as, on the whole, more +available. In Congress there was a strong predisposition in favor of +this same route, but during 1902 this was weakened. Senator Hanna +preferred the Panama route and worked effectively for it. The French +Panama Company, frightened by the popularity of the Nicaragua route, +reduced its price. The earthquake and volcanic eruption on the Island of +Martinique reminded the world that Nicaragua was nearer the zone of +active volcanic life, and hence more exposed to danger, than Panama. In +June Congress empowered the President to select the route and build a +canal at once. + +Negotiations with Colombia for the right to build at Panama dragged on +through 1902 and 1903. Weakened by continuous revolution, that Republic +realized that the isthmian right of way was its most valuable asset. +Only after prolonged discussion did its Government authorize its +Minister at Washington to sign a treaty reserving Colombian sovereignty +over the strip, but giving to the United States the canal concession in +return for $10,000,000 in cash and an annuity of $250,000. This treaty +was signed in Washington in January, 1903, and was received as a triumph +for the diplomacy of Hay and Roosevelt. It was ratified in March by the +Senate, in spite of a last filibuster by the friends of Nicaragua, but +the Colombian Congress rejected the treaty and adjourned. + +By the autumn of 1903 Roosevelt had determined upon the route at Panama, +the French company had become eager to sell, and the Colombians living +on the Isthmus were anxious to have the negotiations ended and the +digging begun. In October the President wrote to an intimate friend +hoping that there might be a revolt of the Isthmus against Colombia, +though disclaiming any intent to provoke one. The friend made the wish +public over his own name, but before it appeared in print the revolt had +taken place. It was known in advance to the State Department, which +telegraphed on November 3, 1903, asking when it was to be precipitated. +It took place later on this day, the independence of the Republic of +Panama was proclaimed, the United States prevented Colombia from +repressing it by force, recognized the new Republic by cable, and on +November 18 signed at Washington a treaty with Panama granting the canal +concession. "I took Panama," boasted President Roosevelt some years +later, when critics denounced his policy as a robbery of a weak +neighbor. + +The construction of a canal proceeded rapidly, once the diplomatic +entanglements had been brushed away. The incidental problems of +sanitation, labor, supplies, and engineering were solved promptly and +effectively. Congress poured money into the enterprise without +restraint, the first boats were passed through the locks in 1914, and in +1915 the formal opening of the canal was celebrated by a naval +procession at the Isthmus and an Exposition at San Francisco. + +Vigor and certainty of purpose marked the conduct of domestic affairs as +well as foreign, but the necessity for the concurrence in these by +Congress made the former results less striking than the latter. The +appointments of President Roosevelt were such as might be expected from +one who had himself devoted six years to the Civil Service Commission. +Few of them met with opposition from the reform element. In the South he +became involved with local public opinion, especially in the cases of a +negro postmistress at Indianola, Mississippi, and the negro collector of +the port of Charleston, in which he maintained that although federal +appointments ought generally to go to persons acceptable in their +districts, the door of opportunity must not be shut against the negro. +Within a few weeks of his inauguration he precipitated a severe +discussion upon the status of the negro by entertaining Booker T. +Washington at the White House. He disciplined Republican leaders in the +South who endeavored to exclude negroes from the party organization and +to build up a "lily-white" Republican machine. + +The administrative duties of the United States expanded rapidly after +the Spanish War. The extension of scientific functions beginning in the +eighties continued until the volume of work forced the creation of new +offices. Federal civil employees numbered 107,000 in 1880, 166,000 in +1890, 256,000 in 1900, and 384,000 in 1910. Among the newer scientific +activities was included that of the reclamation of the arid or semi-arid +lands of the Southwest. + +The region between the Missouri River and the Sierra Nevada had been +regarded as uninhabitable since the days of Pike. Known as the "American +Desert," it figured in the atlases as a place of sand and aridity, and +became the home chosen for the Indian tribes between 1825 and 1840. +Under the influence of migration to Oregon and California the real +character of the Far West became known, but not until the continental +railways were finished did many inhabitants enter it. In 1889 and 1890 +the "Omnibus" States were admitted, embracing all the northwest half of +the old desert. Utah followed in 1896. Arizona and New Mexico and +Oklahoma developed rapidly after 1890 and were all demanding statehood +in 1902. + +The advance of population into the Far West revealed the existence of +large areas in which an abundant agriculture could be produced through +irrigation. Private means were inadequate for this and the land laws +discouraged it. A demand for federal reclamation appeared in the +eighties. In 1889 a survey of available sites for reservoirs was made by +government engineers, and in 1902 Roosevelt coöperated with the +Far-Western Congressmen in securing the passage of the Newlands +Reclamation Act. By this bill the proceeds of land sales in the arid +States became a fund to be used by the reclamation service for the +construction of great public irrigation works. In the succeeding years +dams, tunnels, and ditches were undertaken that were rivaled in +magnitude only by the railroad tunnels at New York and the excavations +at Panama. + +The aggressive assurance with which the Roosevelt Administration handled +the problems of diplomacy and administration created for the President a +wide and unusual popularity, which was strongest in the West. Many +critics, also, were created, who distrusted personal influence when +injected into government, and who doubted the solidity of Roosevelt's +judgment. Personal altercations, in which the President was often the +aggressor, were numerous. Among professional politicians dislike was +mingled with fear because the President had established personal +relations immediately with their constituents. Under President McKinley +the state delegations in Congress had controlled the appointive federal +offices of their States, and had been secure in their personal standing; +under Roosevelt their control of appointments was less secure. When +matters of legislation were taken up, this dissatisfaction among +members of Congress was a serious obstacle to the attainment of +constructive laws. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +After the Spanish War the secondary materials for the history of the +United States become fragmentary and unsatisfactory. Peck, Andrews, and +J.H. Latané, _America as a World Power, 1897-1907_ (in _The American +Nation_, vol. 25, 1907), are the best general guides. The facts of +campaigns are contained in E. Stanwood's second volume,--_History of the +Presidency from 1897 to 1909_ (1912, with an appendix containing the +platforms of 1912), but the Annual Cyclopædia stopped publication after +1902, and left no good successor. The various year-books should be +consulted, and the files of the magazines, which steadily improve in +historical value: _Nation_, _Harper's Weekly_, _Collier's Weekly_, +_Independent_, _Outlook_, _Literary Digest_, and the _Review of +Reviews_. Articles in these and other periodicals, dealing with episodes +occurring after 1898, may be reached through Poole's Indexes. _The +American Journal of International Law_ and the _American Political +Science Review_ are typical of the new technical periodicals. Extensive +contributions to the history of international arbitration have been made +by F.W. Holls, J.B. Scott, and W.I. Hull. There is, of course, no +critical biography of Theodore Roosevelt, although there are numerous +panegyrics by F.E. Leupp, J.A. Riis, J. Morgan, and others, and some +autobiographical papers which appeared first in the _Outlook_ (1913), +and later as _Fifty Years of My Life_ (1913). The later Messages of +McKinley and those of his successors are scattered among the government +documents, which are to be found in many libraries. _The Second Battle_ +(1900), by W.J. Bryan, is autobiographic, as is A.E. Stevenson, +_Something of Men I Have Known_ (1909). + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BIG BUSINESS + + +The panic of 1893 ended the first period of the trust problem. The +preceding years had been years of formation and experiment. They had +been accompanied by an increasing popular distaste for combinations of +capital and a growing activity in the organization of labor. The Sherman +Law of 1890 had temporarily quieted the anti-trust movement, while +economic depression had checked the extravagance of speculation that had +been prevalent everywhere. During the years of depression attention was +shifted to tariff and currency, but a new era began with the recurrence +of prosperity about 1897. + +The industrial revival was marked by an extension of the scope of +industry, as every similar period had been. After the panic of 1837 the +railroad had appeared among the important new activities of American +society. Improvements in manufacturing technique followed the panic of +1857. After 1873 the varied applications of electricity to industry and +communication gave a new direction to investment. After 1893, with every +preceding activity stimulated and extended, there came the first +successful construction of a trackless engine--the motor-car--and the +rebuilding of the physical plants of cities, railways, and suburban +residences. The recovery of confidence came after 1896, and before the +end of the century speculation was at full blast. + +The drift toward monopoly was marked. The trusts had already shown their +profitable character. Concentration had been made possible by the +development of communication in the eighties, and grew now on a larger +scale than the eighties had imagined. Within the field of transportation +the promoters reorganized the railroads after the panic, reduced their +number, and gathered their control into the hands of a few men. + +The railway system by 1900, with 198,000 miles of track, was directed by +a few powerful groups of roads. In the East the New York Central and +Pennsylvania systems were dominant. In the West the continental railways +formed the basis of new organizations. The keenest interest gathered +round the reconstruction of the Union Pacific by Edward H. Harriman, who +reorganized its finances after 1897. The Union Pacific had been forced +into combination by its location and its neighbors. Running from Omaha +to Ogden it was dependent for through traffic upon the Central Pacific +that ran from Ogden to San Francisco. When the latter came under the +control of the California capitalists who owned the Southern Pacific +lines, the Union Pacific was driven to build or buy outlets of its own, +and extended into Oregon and Texas as the result. Jay Gould had begun +the consolidation in the eighties and Harriman continued it after the +panic of 1893. He rebuilt the main line and improved the value and +credit of his property. In 1901 his road borrowed money with which to +buy a controlling interest in the Central Pacific and Southern +Pacific--the Huntington lines,--and thereafter the Harriman system, with +two complete railroads from the Mississippi to the Pacific, was beyond +the reach of hostile competition. + +The Interstate Commerce Law of 1887 stimulated combination among the +railroads, since it made pools and rate agreements illegal. The +alternative to such agreements was destructive competition, since no two +lines were of exactly equal strength. To avoid this, the stronger lines +bought or leased the weaker, with which they might not coöperate, but +which they might buy outright. Harriman, successful with his +Southwestern system, tried in 1901 to buy the Northern Pacific, too, and +came into direct conflict with another group of railway owners. + +The Northern Pacific had been supplemented after 1893 by the Great +Northern, which James J. Hill had built without a subsidy. These two +roads, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, covered the Northwest as +Harriman's lines covered the Southwest. They were so placed that with +common management they could be more effective than with rivalry. The +owners of the Great Northern and the Burlington, James J. Hill and J. +Pierpont Morgan, were on the verge of a general consolidation when +Harriman tried to buy a control of the Northern Pacific. They struggled +to retain it and succeeded, but their competition raised its stock to +one thousand per share, causing a stock exchange panic on May 9, 1901. +Only the speculators suffered by the panic, but public attention was +drawn by it to the gigantic size of the combinations which held +arbitrary control over nearly half the United States. + +Minor consolidations followed these in 1902 and 1903, but none aroused +so much fear as the Northern Securities Company of New Jersey, the +holding company in whose hands Hill and Morgan determined to put the +control of their lines. The fate of any single company could be +determined by the ownership of not over fifty-one per cent of its stock. +If this was owned by another corporation, a similar proportion of the +stock of the latter would control the whole. The holding company was a +machine whereby capital could control property several times its bulk. +The Governors of the Northwest States, alarmed at the monopolization of +their railways, protested and started suits. It was claimed that this +sort of merging of railroads was, after all, a conspiracy in restraint +of trade. In March, 1902, President Roosevelt instructed his +Attorney-General, Philander C. Knox, to test the Sherman Act of 1890, +and bring suit under it for the dissolution of the Northern Securities +Company. For several years after 1897 foreign affairs and big business +had been dominant in the American mind, which had admired their bigness +and activity, but now the social consequences of big business aroused +the fears of the nation. In 1903 Congress passed the Elkins Law, +forbidding railroads to give rebates to favored customers, and an +Expedition Law, to make the wheels of justice move more rapidly when +prosecutions under the Sherman and Interstate Commerce Laws were under +way. + +Industrial consolidation, like that of the railways, began again in +1897, and many of the new corporations assumed a type that marked an +evolution for the trust. In the earlier period the aim of the trust had +been to eliminate competition by gathering under a single control the +whole of a given business. Oil, sugar, steel, whiskey, and tobacco were +notable instances in which extreme consolidation had been reached. +Competition changed its character as consolidation increased. It ceased +to mean a struggle between rivals in the same trade, and came to mean a +struggle between successive processes of manufacture. The mine-owner +struggled for his profits with the smelter who used his ore. The smelter +struggled with the steel manufacturer in the same way. Control of single +industries left untouched this newer competition, but an integration of +great groups of related processes promised to avoid it. + +In 1901 the greatest of the integrated trusts, the United States Steel +Corporation, was created. The iron and steel industry had been expanding +since the Bessemer and other commercial processes for the manufacture of +steel had made it available for railway, bridge, and architectural +construction. Andrew Carnegie, with his Pittsburg mills, was the most +successful producer. His partnership controlled by 1901 about +twenty-five per cent of the output of finished steel. He already +included many related and successive processes, but now he allowed his +works to be merged with those of his rivals into a large company. The +resulting United States Steel Corporation owned and operated the ore +deposits and the mines, the necessary coal fields, the local railways +and freight steamers, the smelters and the blast furnaces, the rolling +mills and the factories in which iron and steel were manufactured into a +multitude of shapes for sale. With a New Jersey charter it was +capitalized at $1,100,000,000, and drew attention to the industrial +phase of the trust problem much as Harriman, Hill, and Morgan had drawn +it to the railroads. + +Promotion of new trusts, with billions of aggregated capital, was the +order of the day from 1897 to 1902. The fear of monopoly was speedily +aroused, and in 1898 Congress created an Industrial Commission, whose +nineteen volumes of reports contain the facts upon which the history of +the trusts must be based. In the fall of 1899 there met in Chicago a +great conference on the trusts, where business men, economists, and +politicians discussed the economic and social possibilities of the +movement. A willingness to hear and perhaps to rely on the judgment of +experts was shown in the discussions over the trusts. It marked a change +in the American attitude toward government. By 1902 the demand for a +solution of the trust problem was heard repeatedly, but there was little +agreement as to whether the trusts were good or bad, or whether they +should be abolished, regulated, or owned outright by the Government. It +was not even certain what powers the United States possessed to regulate +general industry, but a group of Supreme Court cases suggested that the +power could be found. In the Trans-Missouri Freight Case (1897), the +Supreme Court declared that the Sherman Law applied to railway +conspiracies, and in the Addystone Pipe Case (1898), a decision against +an industrial combination, written by Circuit Judge William H. Taft, was +upheld by the court of last appeal. The Northern Securities Case, +started in 1902, was pushed to a successful end in 1904, when it became +apparent that legal control could be exercised if Congress so desired. + +Labor followed the course of industry and transportation, becoming +stronger and better united, and showing a keen jealousy of centralized +control. The years of trust promotion were years of notable strikes and +of episodes which drew attention to the social results of industrial +concentration. Sometimes the trust had labor at a disadvantage, as was +shown in the strike against the Steel Corporation by the Amalgamated +Association in 1901. In 1892 this union had conducted a great strike +against the Carnegie Works and had lost public sympathy and the strike. +Its men had committed open violence, and an anarchistic sympathizer had +tried to murder Carnegie's representative at Homestead, Henry C. Frick. +In 1901 the strike affected the unionized mills of the Steel +Corporation, but that trust had only to close down the mills involved +and transfer pending contracts to other mills, remote and non-unionized. +The strike collapsed because of the superior organization of the trust. + +More important than the steel strike in its effect upon the public was +the strike of the miners in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. +In 1900 these workers were organized by the United Mine Workers of +America, under the leadership of John Mitchell. They gained concessions +in a strike in this year, partly because the strike threatened to +disturb political conditions and embarrass the Republican national +ticket. The mine-owners, most of whom were Republicans, were persuaded +by Hanna and others to end the quarrel. + +In the spring of 1902 the strike broke out again, turning largely upon +the question of the formal recognition of the union. All through the +summer John Mitchell held his followers together, gaining an unusual +degree of public sympathy for his cause. In the autumn, with both sides +obstinate, a third party, the public, took an interest in the strike. +The prospect of a coalless winter alarmed political leaders and citizens +in general. It was felt that public interest was superior to the claims +of either contestant, but there was neither law nor recognized machinery +through which the public could protect itself. At this stage, in +October, 1902, President Roosevelt secretly reached the intention "to +send in the United States Army to take possession of the coal fields" if +necessary. He called the operators and Mitchell to a conference at the +White House, spoke to them as a citizen upon their duty to serve the +public, and with rising public opinion behind him and supporting him, +forced the owners to consent to an arbitration of the points at issue. +The men returned to work, pleased with the President, to whose +interference they and the public owed industrial peace. + +In 1903 another miners' union, the Western Federation of Miners, +conducted a great strike in the mines of Cripple Creek. Public opinion +in Colorado knew no middle class. The miners and the operators +represented the two chief interests of the section. Hard feeling and +violence accompanied the strike. The malicious murder of non-union men +added to the bitterness, which the presence of the militia and a series +of arbitrary arrests could not allay. The strike was complicated by the +presence among the workers of a strong element of Socialists, whose ends +were political as well as economic. The leaders of the Federation, Moyer +and Haywood, were Socialists, and for them the strike was only a +beginning of political revolution. The strike lasted until the outraged +citizens of Cripple Creek formed a vigilance committee and deported the +chief agitators to Kansas. + +Socialism played an increasing part in labor discussions after 1897. A +Socialist Labor party had presented a ticket and received a few votes in +1892 and 1896, but socialism had not taken a strong hold on the American +imagination. The swelling immigration that followed the new prosperity +brought new life to socialism. In 1900 a Social Democratic party polled +94,000 votes for Eugene V. Debs for President. In 1904, with the same +candidate, it received 402,000 votes. Society was reorganizing amid the +industrial changes, while the discontented classes were growing more +coherent and constructive. + +President Roosevelt met the changes in transportation, industry, and +labor with vigor. He invoked the Sherman Law against the Northern +Securities Company. He brought suits against certain of the trusts +which he stigmatized as the "bad trusts." Not all concentration, he +urged, was undesirable. Capital, like labor, had its rights, but it must +obey the law. Partly through his efforts Congress created in 1903 a new +administrative department of Commerce and Labor. George B. Cortelyou +became the first Secretary of this department. Through its Bureaus of +Corporations and of Labor there was new activity in the investigation of +the facts of the industrial movement. + +The vigor with which the President directed foreign relations, +interfered in big business, and espoused the cause of labor produced a +breach between him and many of the regular leaders of the party. Through +two campaigns Marcus A. Hanna had worked on the theory that the +Republican party was the party of business, and had attracted to its +support all who believed this or had something to make out of it. Many +of these Republicans could not understand what Roosevelt was trying to +do, and maintained an opposition, silent or open, to his policies. + +The popularity of Hanna was used by many Republicans to offset the +popularity of Roosevelt. Before 1896 Hanna had taken little part in +public politics. Entering the Senate in 1897, he developed great +influence. By 1900 he began to speak in public with directness and +effect, and to undo the work of the cartoonists who had misrepresented +his character. He interfered to bring peace in the anthracite regions in +1900, became interested in the labor problem on its own account, and +discovered that he was popular. He was essentially a direct and honest +man, who had had no reason to doubt that it was the chief end of +government to conserve business. As he came into touch with public +affairs he broadened, saw new responsibilities for capital, and had a +new understanding of the wants of labor. The only personality that even +threatened to rival that of Roosevelt in 1904 was that of "Uncle Mark" +Hanna. + +Roosevelt had been made Vice-President to get rid of him in New York. +The single life that stood between him and the White House was removed +by an assassin, and as a President by accident he desired to establish +himself and secure a nomination on his own account in 1904. By the +summer of 1902 he appreciated the growing interest in the problems of +capital and labor. A speaking tour in 1902 gave him a chance to demand a +"square deal" for all, and the control of the trusts. From some sections +of the West came the suggestion that the way to approach the trusts was +through the tariff. + +The Dingley Tariff was unpopular with the Republican farmers of the +Northwest, and for some years they tolerated it in silence as a test of +party loyalty. In 1902 a liberal faction, controlled by Governor Albert +B. Cummins, captured the Iowa convention and demanded a revision of the +more extreme schedules. The belief that the tariff was the "mother of +trusts" was spreading, and the Iowa idea gained wide acceptance. In +Congress, in the session of 1902, the Republican organization had shown +the stubbornness with which any opening in the tariff wall would be +opposed. + +Cuba was set free in the spring of 1902, her government having been +formed under the guidance of the United States. The duty to aid the +young Republic, and in particular to mitigate the severities of the +Dingley Tariff impressed the President, who used all his influence to +get such legislation from Congress. He failed signally, raising only a +new issue by his attempt to coerce Congress. His speeches in the summer +showed a willingness to revise the tariff, while his interference in the +coal strike in the autumn showed his willingness to oppose the ends of +capital. How far he would go in breaking with the leaders of his party +was unknown, but their disposition to "stand pat" and do nothing with +the tariff was marked before the end of 1902. + +In 1902 it became a habit of Republican state conventions to demand the +renomination of Roosevelt in 1904. Whatever his effect upon the party +leaders, the rank and file liked him and believed in him, while his +personal popularity among Democrats led many to think his strength +greater than it was. His candidacy was formal and authorized, but his +opponents hoped that Hanna might be induced to try to defeat him. In +1903 the Ohio convention, with the consent of Hanna, approved the +candidacy of Roosevelt, and early in 1904 the death of Hanna removed the +last hope of Roosevelt's Republican opponents. The delegates went to a +national convention in Chicago, for which the procedure had all been +arranged at the White House, where it had been determined that Elihu +Root should be temporary chairman, and that Joseph G. Cannon, the +Speaker, should be permanent chairman. Through these the convention +registered the renomination of Roosevelt and selected Charles W. +Fairbanks, of Indiana, as Vice-President. + +In the Democratic party the forces that had dominated in 1896 and 1900 +had lost control. William Jennings Bryan, after two defeats, was not a +candidate in 1904. He had become a lay preacher on political subjects, +lecturing and speaking constantly in all parts of the United States, and +reinforcing his political views in the columns of his weekly _Commoner_, +which he founded after his defeat in 1900. Roosevelt had adopted many of +his fundamental themes, but Bryan retained an increasing popularity as +did the President, and, like the latter, had relations of doubtful +cordiality with the leaders of his own party. The Cleveland wing of the +Democrats still believed Bryan to be dangerous and unsound upon +financial matters, and some of them made overtures to Cleveland to be a +candidate for a third term himself. His emphatic refusal to reënter +politics compelled the conservatives to find a new candidate. Judge +Alton B. Parker, of New York, was their choice. The owner of the most +notorious of the sensational newspapers, William Randolph Hearst, +offered himself. Several other candidates were presented to the +Democratic Convention at Chicago, but Parker received the nomination, +over the bitter opposition of Bryan. When a doubt arose as to his status +on the silver issue, Judge Parker telegraphed to the convention that he +regarded "the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established." +Bryan supported the ticket, Parker and Henry G. Davis of West Virginia, +but without enthusiasm. + +There was no issue that clearly divided the parties in the campaign of +1904. Roosevelt asked for an indorsement of his Administration and for +approval of his general theory of a "square deal," but it was obvious +that his party associates were less enthusiastic for reform than he, and +that only his great personal popularity prevented some of them from +withdrawing their support. The Bryan Democrats were drawn more toward +Roosevelt than toward their own party candidate. It was clear that +Parker represented, on the whole, the weight of conservatism, while +Roosevelt embodied the spirit of progress, and that neither was typical +of his party. Parker was driven by the progressive Democrats to insist +upon a regulation of the trusts; Roosevelt acquiesced in the desire of +the "stand-pat" Republicans and refrained from advocating a lowering of +the tariff. + +The result of the election was proof of the public confidence in +Roosevelt. He carried every State outside the South, and Missouri and +Maryland besides. His popular vote was over 7,500,000, while his +plurality over Parker was more than 2,500,000. In the last week of the +canvass Parker charged that the trusts were supporting Roosevelt, and +that the reform demands were only a pose. He pointed out that the +Chairman of the Republican National Committee, who had succeeded Hanna, +George B. Cortelyou, had been Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and thus +in a position to examine the books of corporations. He hinted at a +political blackmail of the trusts, and many of the papers that +supported him were outspoken in their charges. An indignant denial of +blackmail appeared over the President's signature the Saturday before +election. Later investigation proved that many of the great corporations +had, as usual, contributed to the campaign fund, and that Roosevelt had +urged the railroad magnate, Harriman, to contribute toward the campaign +in New York. + +As soon as the results of the election were known, Roosevelt answered a +question that was on the lips of many. His three and a half years +constituted his first term. He was now elected for a second term, and he +characterized as a "wise custom" the limiting of a President to two +terms. "Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept +another nomination," he declared. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The history of the recent trust movement may be followed in the writings +upon the United States Steel Corporation by E.S. Meade and H.L. Wilgus. +There is a detailed and gossipy _Inside History of the Carnegie Steel +Company_ (1903), by J.H. Bridge. W.F. Willoughby has made searching +analyses of Concentration and Integration, which may be found in the +_Yale Review_, vol. VII, and the _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, vol. +XVI. The prosecution of the Northern Securities Company brought out many +typical facts of railroad consolidation, and is best described in B.H. +Meyer, _A History of the Northern Securities Case_ (in University of +Wisconsin Bulletin, no. 142). More general material upon these topics +may be found in E.R. Johnson, _American Railway Transportation_ (1903, +etc.); F.A. Cleveland and F.W. Powell, _Railway Promotion and +Capitalization in the United States_ (1909, with an admirable +bibliography); Poore's _Railroad Manual_; and the files of the +_Commercial and Financial Chronicle_. The voluminous Report of the +Industrial Commission (19 vols., Washington, 1900-02) is a storehouse of +facts upon industry; labor conditions are illustrated in the Annual +Reports of the United States Commissioner of Labor, who has also special +reports upon individual strikes, including that at Cripple Creek in +1903. The history of the campaign fund in 1904 was partially revealed in +an investigation in 1912. H. Croly, _Marcus A. Hanna_, is invaluable for +these years. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE "MUCK-RAKERS" + + +Before Roosevelt was inaugurated for his second term, the national +"revival," in which he and Bryan and other preachers of civic virtue had +played the speaking parts, was sweeping over the country. The menace of +the trusts was seen and exaggerated as railways, corporations, and labor +availed themselves of the means of coöperation. The connection between +the great financial interests and politics was believed to be dangerous +to public welfare. All the mechanical reforms for the recovery of +government by the people, that had been originated between 1889 and +1897, were revived once more, and there was added to confidence in them +a widespread belief in the existence of a malevolent, plundering class. + +It was not enough that the trust movement should be explained as an +unavoidable development from modern communication. It was believed to +constitute more than an economic evolution. The public was prone to +place an ethical responsibility upon an individual or groups of +individuals, and there came a series of revelations or exposures that +appeared, in part, to fix the blame. All the old uprisings against +boss-rule were revivified, and capitalistic control was placed upon the +Index. + +Miss Ida M. Tarbell, an historical student who had gained an audience +through popular and discriminating lives of Napoleon and Lincoln, +published a history of the Standard Oil Company in _McClure's Magazine_ +during 1903. She showed conclusively the connection between +transportation and monopoly in the oil industry, revealing the mastery +of the tools of transportation, by rebates, by control of tank cars, or +by pipe lines, that had enabled John D. Rockefeller to establish his +great trust. She showed also the unlovely methods of competition, long +common to all business, but magnified by their use in the hands of a +monopoly to establish itself. "What we are witnessing," wrote Washington +Gladden a little later, "is a new apocalypse, an uncovering of the +iniquity of the land.... We have found that no society can march +hellward faster than a democracy under the banner of unbridled +individualism." + +Three years before Miss Tarbell displayed the tendency of the trusts, +President Hadley, of Yale, had suggested that social ostracism, or +social stigma, might be made an efficient tool for reform. Other writers +used the tool. Lincoln Steffens, in a series of articles on "The Shame +of the Cities," exposed the connection between graft and politics. +Thomas Lawson, with spectacular exaggeration, laid the troubles of +society at the feet of "Frenzied Finance." _Collier's Weekly_ undertook +to reveal the worthlessness and fraud in the trade in patent medicines. +Many of the exposers encroached upon the fields of fiction in their +work, while books of avowed fiction exploited the conditions they +portrayed. _Coniston_, by Winston Churchill, was based upon the control +of a State by a railroad boss. Upton Sinclair wrote _The Jungle_ to +expose the meat-packers. + +A new journalism aided and was aided by the zeal to expose and the greed +of the public for literature of exposure. In the later nineties city +journalism was reorganized under the influence of the "yellow" papers, +and sensational news was made a profitable commodity as never before. +The range of the daily paper was, however, limited by a few hundred +miles, and its influence could not become national. A new periodical +literature, resembling the old literary monthlies, but using many timely +and journalistic articles, sprang into life and gained national +circulation and influence. S.S. McClure was one of its pioneers. +_Everybody's_, the _Cosmopolitan_, _Munsey's_, the _American_, and +weeklies like _Collier's_, the _Outlook_, and the _Independent_ were +among the journals that helped to spread the conclusions and advocate +reforms. Besides these a horde of imitators fattened for a time upon +exposure. + +Journalism had a large part in directing the American revival, and +private investigators furnished many of the facts. Public suits marked +an attempt to act upon the facts and remedy them. In Missouri Joseph W. +Folk conducted a series of prosecutions against grafters in St. Louis +that elevated him in a few months to the head of his party and the +governorship of his State. The Bureau of Corporations, attached to the +new Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903, made a series of reports +the most notable of which showed that the charges against the Standard +Oil Company for extorting rebates, and against the meat-packers for +unsanitary conditions, were founded upon fact. + +The most notable public exposure of indiscretion and wrongdoing in high +finance occurred in New York. Here, during 1905, a quarrel over the +management of the Equitable Life Insurance Company led to a legislative +investigation by a so-called Armstrong Committee. One of the attorneys +employed by the committee, Charles E. Hughes, soon became the spirit of +the examination. One by one he called insurance officers to the witness +stand, and drew from their reluctant lips the story of their relation to +banking, to speculative finance, and to politics. He revealed the +existence of a group among the bankers not unlike a money trust. He +proved that for at least three national campaigns the insurance +companies, like other corporations, had given heavy subsidies to the +campaign funds, sometimes of both but always of the Republican party. + +Whenever an investigator rose above the level and established his +reputation for honesty and competence, the aroused public seized upon +him for use in politics. In September, 1906, the Democrats of New York +nominated the most successful of the sensational journalists, Hearst, +for governor. On the same day the Republican Convention, in which no +delegate had been instructed for him, nominated Hughes as governor of +New York, because public opinion in the party would take no other +candidate. Hughes was elected in 1906 and again in 1908, in spite of the +hostility of Republican party leaders. His administrations were +prophetic of the new spirit that was entering politics. + +Many of the problems raised by the investigations were old and presented +only a need for an honest enforcement of the law against law-breakers. +Others were simple and prescribed their own methods of treatment. The +evil of corporation contributions to campaign funds was met in 1907 by a +law forbidding national banks to contribute to any election, or any +corporations to contribute to a presidential or congressional election. +In 1906 the gift of free railroad passes upon interstate railroads was +prohibited by law. The presidential candidates in 1908 pledged +themselves to publicity in the matter of contributions, while the +complaints of poverty-stricken campaign managers in 1908 and 1912 +indicated that the laws were generally obeyed. Still other problems +raised large questions of scientific investigation and legislation. + +The reaction from the carelessness revealed by the investigation of the +meat-packers stimulated a pure-food movement that had had its advocates +for many years. With the concentration of food manufacture and the +increase in the consumption of "package products," the consumer had +given up the preparation of his own food and thrown himself upon the +dealer. The numerous domestic industries typical of the American family +in 1880 had been sorted out. The sewing had gone to the sweat shop and +the factory, the baking had gone to the public baker, the laundry was +going, the killing and preservation of meat and the preparation of +canned vegetables and fruits were nearly gone. Population followed the +industries to work in the factories. Country life lost much of its +variety and interest, while the congested masses in the cities were made +dependent for their health and strength upon private initiative. +Rigorous bills for the inspection of meats at the slaughter houses, and +for the proper labeling of manufactured foods and medicines, were +carried through Congress in 1906 on the strength of the popular +revulsion against the manufacturers. Hereafter the Department of +Agriculture stood between the people and their food. James Wilson, of +Iowa, had been Secretary since 1897 and remained in the office until +1913. He and his subordinates, notably Dr. Harvey Wiley, in charge of +the pure-food work, administered the law amid the proddings of consumers +and the protests of manufacturers. With much complaint, but with little +difficulty because of the consolidation of control, business adjusted +itself to the new requirements and labels in the next few years. + +The anti-railroad movement reminded the public that the Interstate +Commerce Law of 1887 was an imperfect statute. It had always done less +than its framers had intended. Judicial interpretation had limited its +scope. The commission did not have power to fix a rate or to compel in +the railroads the uniformity of bookkeeping without which no scientific +rates could be established. After Roosevelt had directed his speeches of +1903 and 1904 to the subject, Congress responded to the public interest +thus aroused with a flood of projected railroad bills. One of these +passed the House of Representatives in 1905, but was held up in the +Senate while a new investigation of interstate commerce, the most +exhaustive since the Cullom investigation of 1885, was undertaken. In +1906 the Hepburn Railway Bill was passed. In its chief provisions it +gave the Interstate Commerce Commission power to fix rates and to +prescribe uniform bookkeeping, and it forbade railways to issue free +passes or to own the freight they carried. The long railroad debate was +made notable by the speeches of a new Senator, Robert M. LaFollette, of +Wisconsin, who had fought his way to the governorship on this issue and +gone through a prolonged fight with the railroads of his own State. He +insisted that public rate-making could not succeed without a preliminary +physical valuation of the roads that would show the extent of their real +capitalization. He talked, often, to empty chairs in the Senate, but he +prophesied that the people had a new interest in their affairs, and that +many of the seats, vacant because of the indifference of their owners, +would soon be filled with Senators of a new type. In vacations he spoke +to public audiences on the same subject, reading his "roll-call," and +telling the people how their representatives voted for or against +commercial privilege. With its enlarged powers the Interstate Commerce +Commission made rapid headway against rebates and discrimination. + +The popular revival was well advanced by 1905, but was becoming more +sensational every month. Led on by an expectant public, the magazines +manufactured exposures to supply the market, and hysteria often took the +place of investigation. The real needs of reform were in danger of +being lost in a flood of denunciation. In the spring of 1906 President +Roosevelt spoke out to check the indiscriminate abuse. He drew his topic +from Bunyan's "Man with the Muck-Rake," pointed out that blame and +exposure had run its course, and demanded that enforcement of the law be +taken up, and that efforts be turned from destruction to construction. +He had done much himself to "arouse the slumbering conscience of the +nation," and turned now to direct it toward a permanent advantage. + +The trend of criticism injured the party under whose administration +corporate abuse had grown up. The personal popularity of Roosevelt, and +his associates, Root, Taft, Knox, and Hughes, saved the party from +defeat. In 1906 the congressional campaign was fought on the basis of +holding on to prosperity, enforcing the law against all violators, and +strengthening the hands of government. Roosevelt wrote the substance of +the platform, and his party gained control of its sixth consecutive +Congress since 1896. The canvass over, Roosevelt departed from an old +precedent, left the territory of the United States, and visited the +Isthmus of Panama to inspect the work on the canal. + +Six months after the signing of the Panama Treaty in 1903 the United +States took possession of the Canal Zone and began to dig. It had to +learn lessons of both management and tropical engineering. One by one +its chief engineers deserted the enterprise. The choice between a +sea-level and a lock canal divided the experts. The legislation by +Congress was inadequate. In the spring of 1906 Roosevelt, with the +approval of Taft, who had been recalled from the Philippines to be +Secretary of War, determined to build a lock canal. The President +tramped over the workings in November, 1906, and sent an illustrated +message about them to Congress on his return. In 1907 Major George W. +Goethals was detailed from the army to be benevolent despot and engineer +of the Canal Zone. Inspired and encouraged by repeated visits from Taft, +the work now made rapid progress toward completion. Sir Frederick +Treves, the great English surgeon, visited the canal in 1908, and found +there not only gigantic engineering works, but a triumph for the +preventive medicine of Colonel William C. Gorgas, chief of the sanitary +officers. + +The attention of the world, directed toward the United States since +1898, was held by the canal and by a continuation of a vigorous and open +diplomacy. In February, 1904, Russia and Japan, unable to agree upon the +conduct of the former in Manchuria, had gone to war. Hostilities had +continued until Russian prestige was shattered and Japanese finance was +wavering. In June, 1905, the United States directed identical notes to +the belligerents, offering a friendly mediation. The invitation was +accepted, and during the summer of 1905 the envoys of Russia and Japan +met in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to conclude a treaty of peace. In 1906 +the Nobel Committee awarded to Roosevelt the annual prize for services +to peace. + +Relations with all the world were friendly between 1905 and 1909. Great +Britain contributed to the cordiality by sending to the United States +as her ambassador the best-fitted of her subjects, James Bryce. Under +his tactful management the next five years were a period of +unprecedented friendship. The South American republics, always sensitive +about the headship of the United States, were brought to kindlier +feelings. There had been two congresses of all the Americas, one in +1889, at the instigation of Blaine, the next in Mexico in 1901. In 1906 +the American republics convened at Rio de Janeiro in July. Secretary of +State Elihu Root made a plea for friendship before this congress. From +Rio he went to other capitals of South America, achieving notable +triumphs in his public speeches. + +The Pan-American Conference at Rio was an American preliminary to a +larger meeting in which the United States played an important part in +1907. During 1904 Roosevelt had agreed to start a movement for a second +conference at The Hague. He took up the negotiation during the +Russo-Japanese War, deferred it at the instance of the Czar, and then +stood aside to let the latter issue the formal invitation. The American +delegation at the Second Hague Conference was led by Joseph H. Choate, +leader of the American Bar and former ambassador to Great Britain. It +forced the discussion throughout the session, tried in vain to produce +an agreement to abolish the right of capture of enemy property on the +high seas in time of war, and helped to strengthen the permanent court +of arbitration. In January, 1906, the United States had sat in +conference at Algeciras, over the affairs of Morocco. It had mediated +in the Oriental war. It had strengthened its position at home. It was no +longer true that the United States was entirely disinterested in the +affairs of Europe, for it had become a world power. + +A visible emblem of power was afforded to the world in 1907. Since the +Treaty of Portsmouth there had been friction with Japan over the +treatment of Japanese subjects on the Pacific Coast, and alarmists had +drawn pictures of a possible war. Late in 1907 the President announced a +practice voyage for the whole effective navy that would carry it around +South America and into the Pacific. In December he reviewed the fleet, +and saw it off from Hampton Roads. From the Pacific it was ordered round +the world, visited Japan and China, and was received with keen interest +everywhere. It came home early in 1909, having made a record for holding +together without breakdown or accident. + +While the fleet was going round the world and business was adjusting +itself to the new constructive laws, an old problem was formally ended. +The tribal sovereignty, which had made the Indians a problem, was +terminated. The Dawes Act of 1887 had substituted severalty for tribal +landholdings among the Indians. Out of the first cessions which followed +the act Oklahoma Territory had been made in 1890. This had developed +more rapidly than any previous Territory because of the railroads that +crossed it in every direction. By 1900 it demanded statehood. In 1906 it +was enabled, and during 1907 it was admitted, with the longest and most +radical of state constitutions. Fear of the activities of corporate +wealth and distrust of the agents of government were written into nearly +every article. + +In the spring of 1908 nearly all of the forty-six governors met with +President Roosevelt in the White House and registered another problem +upon which agitation and revelation had led to public reflection. The +coal strikes of 1900 and 1902 had drawn attention to the possible +relation of government to the coal supply of the people. The beginnings +of reclamation in 1902 had revealed the fact that public reclamation was +impeded by large private and corporate water rights. The natural +resources of the country were seen to be following the course of all +business and settling into the control of great corporations. The waste +of coal and timber and water and land itself was unreasonable. The +denudation of the hills led to terrible floods along the rivers. The +future was being darkened by the organized selfishness of the present. A +movement for conservation grew out of the conference of governors, but +Congress for the present would not encourage it. + +In popular education, in initiation of new administrative policies, and +in the passage of constructive laws efforts were being made to adjust +government to the needs of modern industry and to safeguard society. The +business interests affected by the changes obstructed the process when +they could, and were intensified in their opposition by the series of +prosecutions brought by Attorney-General Knox, and his successor Charles +J. Bonaparte, under the Sherman Law. At no time in the earlier history +of this law had there been a strong disposition to test its merit, and +no one of the notorious trusts had been attacked before the Northern +Securities case. In later years it was turned against the Standard Oil +Company, the beef-packers, the Tobacco Trust, the Sugar Trust, and the +United States Steel Corporation, while railways and smaller +corporations, in great number, were prosecuted. The enforcement of the +law aroused blind opposition among many of the victims, and stimulated +queries as to whether or not any attempt to limit the size of business +was sound public policy. The debate upon regulation, as against +prohibition of trusts and monopolies, ran on with no sign of victory for +either side of the argument. Personal hostility against the +Administration for applying the law gave color to the last two years of +Roosevelt's Administration. + +By 1907 there had been ten years of the prosperity that had begun with +the election of McKinley. Finance had developed with industry and trade. +The needs of corporations dealing in millions and hundreds of millions +of capital had induced the consolidation of banks and the concentration +of financial power in the hands of a small group of men. The holding +companies were great aids in the furtherance of this concentration. J. +Pierpont Morgan and John D. Rockefeller were best known as +representative of the inner circle. Their speculations and investments +were embarrassed by the weakening of public confidence. It was certain +there would come a time when the whole surplus capital of the United +States would be invested in permanent improvements. Such periods had +followed eras of boom in 1837, 1857, and 1873. It was too probable that +some accident occurring in the period of liquidation would create a +panic. Suspicion had been directed against the controlling agents of +business by the revelations of 1902-07. It was exaggerated by +sensational journalism. It reached a climax in the fall of 1907 when a +group of banks, reputed strong, failed through dishonesty and +speculative management. The failure of the Mercantile National Bank and +the suspension of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in New York brought +the crisis on October 22, 1907. The loss to the public was lessened by +resolute and sympathetic coöperation among the clearing-houses, Morgan, +Rockefeller, and the United States Treasury, but a period of enforced +economy was begun for all. + +The managers of big business attributed the panic to "Theodore the +Meddler." They claimed that business was sound and honest, and the +upheaval was caused by the agitation of demagogues. The President, they +asserted, had destroyed confidence by his attack on the commercial +class. Federal prosecutions, new laws, and the enforcement of +inquisitorial pure-food regulations had made it impossible for business +to live. "Let us alone," they cried. + +They convinced only themselves, a small minority of the people of the +United States. Since 1902 the people as a body, regardless of the great +parties, had opened their eyes to the trend of business and had decided +that public authority must be summoned to the defense of democracy. The +independent vote broke away from each party in increasingly numerous +cases. The old American view that democracy meant unrestrained +individualism had given way to the newer view that democratic +opportunity was dependent upon the restriction of monopoly. The +ostensible leaders, from the President down, were only the mouths that +spoke the new language. Without them the same condition would have +existed in large degree. The attack of the financial interests and Wall +Street upon the President only convinced the people that the Roosevelt +policies were, on the whole, their policies, and that individual +interest and party machinery must give way to their attainment. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The periodicals and special articles alluded to in this chapter +constitute the best sources as yet available for the period. There were +numerous investigations by committees of Congress that furnished facts +in their reports. Certain of the departments of government, notably the +Bureau of Corporations and the Department of Agriculture, were active in +the publication of facts. Thoughtful surveys of society in the United +States may be found in E.A. Ross, _Changing America_ (1912); H. Croly, +_The Promise of American Life_ (1909); A.B. Hart, _National Ideals +Historically Traced_ (in _The American Nation_, vol. 26, 1907). The +autobiography of R.M. LaFollette is of considerable value. A great +number of books upon America by foreign visitors bring out special +viewpoints. Among these are F. Klein, _In the Land of the Strenuous +Life_ (1905); A. Bennett, _Your United States_ (1912); W. Archer, +_America To-Day_ (1899); Anon., _As a Chinaman Saw Us_ (1904); and James +Bryce has revised and brought down to date his _American Commonwealth_. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +NEW NATIONALISM + + +The process of adjusting national administration and laws, to meet the +needs of life and business that knew no state lines, had been begun +during the Roosevelt period. For its completion it was necessary that a +successor be found, convinced of the Roosevelt policies and able to +carry them out. Three Republicans of this type were often mentioned for +the Presidency in 1908. Elihu Root had been the legal mainstay of three +administrations, and had received the public commendation of Roosevelt +often and without restraint. His availability for the elective office +was, however, weakened by his prominence as a corporation lawyer, which +would be urged against him in a campaign. William H. Taft, Secretary of +War, had a wider popularity than Root; had, as federal judge, long been +identified with the enforcement of law, and had been used repeatedly as +the spokesman of the President. He knew the colonies as no other +American knew them, and was in touch with every detail of the Panama +Canal. Neither he nor Root had won a leadership in competitive politics +as had the third candidate, Charles E. Hughes, who, as Governor of New +York, had shown his capacity to fight professional politicians on their +own ground. + +In 1907, President Roosevelt announced his preference for Judge Taft, +and fought off, as he had often done, suggestions that he accept +another term himself. He controlled the Republican convention at +Chicago, where his candidate was nominated on the first ballot. A +Republican Representative from New York, James S. Sherman, was nominated +for the Vice-Presidency, and the party leaders were driven to a platform +of enthusiastic indorsement of the Roosevelt policies. + +The Democratic party, meeting at Denver in 1908, was again under the +control of the radical element, and nominated William J. Bryan for the +third time. The career of Roosevelt had modified the emphasis of the +Bryan reforms. "Any Republican who, after following Roosevelt, should +object to Bryan as a radical, would simply be laughed at consumedly," +said one of the weeklies. In the ensuing campaign both candidates +professed ends that were nearly identical, and their advocates were +forced to explain whether the Roosevelt policies would have a better +chance under Bryan or Taft. There was no clear issue, and in each party +there was a powerful minority that wanted neither of the candidates. The +election of Taft had been discounted throughout the campaign, but it was +accompanied by a demonstration of independent voting that revealed the +weakness of party ties. Four Democratic governors were elected in States +that were carried by the Republican national ticket. + +The Administration of President Taft was greeted with cordial good will +by the progressive elements in both parties. His courage and sincerity +had never been questioned. Roosevelt was unlimited in his praise. His +judicial training made impossible for him types of political activity +that had made enemies for his predecessor among many conservatives, yet +his devotion to policies of administrative reform was beyond dispute. He +immediately fulfilled one pledge of the Republican platform by summoning +Congress to meet on March 15, 1909, to revise the tariff, and on this +subject he had for several years avowed a desire that revision should be +downward, to remove all trace of special tariff privilege. + +The movement for tariff reform had begun in the Middle West about 1902, +and had spread with the feeling against the trusts. Roosevelt had +indicated a sympathy with it in 1902 and 1903, and had fought Congress +for tariff modification in the interest of Cuban reciprocity. But most +of the party leaders had opposed tampering with the protective system. +Speaker Cannon was an avowed protectionist and defended the attitude of +the stand-pat tariff advocates. After 1904 the President had ceased to +discuss the tariff, confining himself to other schemes for reform. He +left the problem of revision to his successor. + +The tariff of 1909 bore the names of Sereno E. Payne, of New York, +chairman of the House Committee of Ways and Means, and Nelson W. +Aldrich, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance. As it passed the +House it embodied numerous reductions from the Dingley rates. In the +Senate it was reframed and became an instrument of even greater +protection than the existing law. It was debated in a stronger glare of +public interest than any other tariff, and its details were explained +and fought by a group of Republicans who refused to accept the control +of the inner circle of the party, and who were determined that the +revision should be downward and sincere. They did less to affect the +bill, however, than President Taft, who forced the conference committee +to accept a few reductions in the rates, notably on hides and lumber, +and to include a provision for levying an income tax on corporations. A +constitutional amendment, authorizing a general income tax, was a part +of the agreement. The bill became a law in August, 1909. "The bill, in +its final form," said the _Outlook_, which inclined toward free trade, +"is by far the most enlightened protectionist measure ever enacted in +the history of the country." "I think that the present tariff," wrote +Roosevelt, who had returned to private life, "is better than the last, +and considerably better than the one before the last." + +Whatever its relation to earlier tariffs the Payne-Aldrich Act was +distasteful to the country, which had since 1897 become critical of the +methods of tariff legislation. Seven Republican Senators and twenty +Representatives voted against it on its final passage. These represented +the Middle West and the new generation, and returned home to find their +constituents generally with them in denouncing the measure as an +instrument of privilege. Some of them had broken with President Taft +during the debate, and the breach was deepened when the latter spoke in +the West, at Winona, Minnesota, and defended the act as a compliance +with the party pledge. It became apparent that the new President was +unable to procure party legislation and to maintain at the same time an +appearance of harmony in the party. Roosevelt had dissatisfied but had +overriden the conservative wing; Taft failed to satisfy the most +progressive wing and failed to silence them. + +In the autumn of 1909 began a series of administrative misunderstandings +that greatly embarrassed the Taft Administration. A prospective minister +to China was dismissed abruptly before he left the United States, on +account of a supposed indiscretion. In the Department of Agriculture +there was dissension between the Secretary, James Wilson, and the +chemist engaged in the enforcement of the Pure Food Law, Harvey W. +Wiley. The chief of the forestry service, Gifford Pinchot, quarreled +openly with the Secretary of the Interior, Richard A. Ballinger, and +raised the question of the future of the policy of conservation. + +The work of the forestry and reclamation services was at the center of +the scheme for conservation of natural resources that had grown out of +Roosevelt's conference with the governors in 1908. A subordinate of the +forestry service attacked the Secretary of the Interior in 1909, +charging favoritism and lack of interest in conservation. He was +dismissed in September, upon order of President Taft, whereupon +_Collier's Weekly_ undertook an attack upon the President as an enemy of +conservation, receiving the moral support of many of the progressives +who disliked the tariff act. In January, 1910, the growing controversy +led the President to dismiss Pinchot from the service, for +insubordination, and Congress to erect a joint committee to investigate +the Pinchot-Ballinger dispute. + +The Ballinger committee ultimately vindicated the Secretary of the +Interior, but the testimony taken brought out a fundamental difference +between the theory of Taft, that the President could act only in +accordance with the law, and that of Roosevelt, that he could do +whatever was not forbidden by law. Although Taft stood by his +subordinate, claiming that he and Ballinger were both active in +conservation, a large section of the public believed that the aggressive +movement for reform had lost momentum. What Roosevelt thought of it was +impossible to learn, since he had gone to Africa in 1909, and remained +outside the sphere of American politics until the summer of 1910. + +The progressive Republicans revolted in 1909 and 1910 against the +domination of the "stand-pat" group, and received the name "Insurgents." +Senators LaFollette and Cummins, both of whom desired to be President, +were the avowed leaders. In the House of Representatives, in March, +1910, the Insurgents coöperated with the Democratic minority, defeated a +ruling of Speaker Cannon, and modified the House rules in order to +curtail the autocracy of the presiding officer. They asked the country +to believe that Taft had ceased to be progressive and had become the +ally of the stand-pat interests. The split in the Republican party +enabled the Democrats to carry the country in 1910, and to obtain a +large majority in the House of Representatives. Champ Clark, of +Missouri, and Oscar Underwood, of Alabama, both aspirants for the +Democratic presidential nomination, became, respectively, Speaker and +chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the new House. No one man +controlled or led either party by his personality as Theodore Roosevelt +had done; the rivalry of lesser leaders destroyed the harmony of both +parties, and neither party even approached unanimity in regard to the +great policies of the future. In January, 1911, the Insurgent +Republicans organized a Progressive Republican League for the purpose of +capturing the nomination in 1912 for one of their number, presumably +Senator LaFollette. + +The Taft policies differed from those of his predecessor chiefly in the +method of their advocacy. Like Roosevelt, Taft had trouble in getting +them enacted, and unlike Roosevelt, he failed to magnetize the people +and carry them with him. He procured, however, funds for the creation of +a board of tariff experts to aid in future revisions of schedules, and +for a commerce court, to handle appeals in interstate commerce cases. +The income tax amendment secured his support. He used his influence to +prevent the seating of William Lorimer, a Senator elected from Illinois +under conditions of grave scandal. The Interstate Commerce Law was +revised and strengthened in 1910. An enabling act for Arizona and New +Mexico was passed in 1910, under which both of these Territories became +States in 1912. He continued the series of anti-trust suits begun under +Roosevelt, and procured decisions ordering the dissolution of the +Southern Pacific merger, the Standard Oil Company, and the Tobacco +Trust, and the penalizing of many others. + +In the field of administration President Taft showed an instinct for +orderly and economical government. He urged upon Congress the adoption +of a budget system for expenditures, and employed a body of experts to +aid in reducing the cost and inefficiency of the executive departments. +He extended the civil service until in 1912 only 56,000 of the 334,000 +federal employees were still outside the classified service. + +The foreign negotiations of the Taft Administration were most +distinguished in respect to Latin-American trade, to arbitration, to +neutrality, and to reciprocity. With the Latin-Americas he continued the +policy of friendly support, through Philander C. Knox, his Secretary of +State. The critics of this policy stigmatized it as "dollar diplomacy," +but Taft and Knox defended it as leading these republics through sound +finance to stable government. A protracted revolution in Mexico led to +the expulsion of President Porfirio Diaz in 1911, and was followed by +counter-revolutions in 1912. Throughout the disturbance Taft maintained +a rigid neutrality, and induced Congress to permit him to prohibit the +export of arms for sale to the belligerents. This constituted an advance +upon the customary practice of neutrals, who are permitted under +international law to sell munitions of war to either belligerent. + +In 1908, Roosevelt had signed general arbitration treaties with Great +Britain and other countries, containing the usual reservations of cases +involving honor or national existence. In 1911, Taft signed yet broader +treaties with Great Britain and France, providing for the arbitration of +all justiciable disputes, and for a commission to determine whether +disputed cases were justiciable or not. The Senate declined to ratify +these agreements. + +Canadian reciprocity was a part of Taft's tariff program. In 1911, he +called Congress in special session to approve an agreement for a +modification of the Payne-Aldrich rates with Canada. The Democratic +majority in the House of Representatives supported this measure, as did +enough of the regular Republicans to insure its passage. But the +Insurgents opposed it as likely to injure the interests of the farmer. +In September, 1911, Canada rejected the whole measure after a general +election in which a fear of annexation by the United States was an +important motive. + +The Taft policies failed to thrill the party or the people. They were +less spectacular than the evils which the muck-rakers had portrayed. +They were constructive and detailed, and aroused as opponents many who +had joined in the general clamor for reform. They interested the party +leaders little, for these were more concerned with their own personal +fates, and were not overshadowed by the President as they had been for +eight preceding years. They were all conceived in the spirit of a lawyer +and judge, and were passed in an alliance with the wing of the +Republican party that was most impervious to the new reforms, and were +hence open to the attack that they were in spirit and intent +reactionary. + +In June, 1910, with the Republican schism well advanced, Theodore +Roosevelt returned to the United States. A few weeks later he made a +speaking trip in the West, and at Osawatomie, Kansas, he laid down a +platform of reform that he called "New Nationalism." This was in +substance an evolution from the history of forty years. It assumed the +fact of the development of business and society along national lines, +and demanded that the Government meet the new problems. It believed that +constitutional power already existed for most of the needed functions of +government, and demanded that where the power was lacking it should be +obtained by constitutional amendment. The platform was received with +equally violent commendation and attack. Many Progressives hailed it as +an exposition of their faith. Conservatives were prone to call it +socialistic or revolutionary. It restored Roosevelt to a position of +consequence in public affairs, and emphasized the fact that Taft had +developed no power of popular leadership comparable to that of his +friend and predecessor. It gave the Progressives hope that Roosevelt, +debarred from the Presidency by his pledge and by the unwritten +third-term tradition, would aid them in forcing the Republican party to +nominate a Progressive in 1912. + +The concrete principles of the Progressive group embraced a series of +policies looking toward the destruction of ring-controlled politics. +They demanded and generally concurred in the initiative and referendum, +the direct primary, and the direct election of delegates to national +conventions, and the direct election of United States Senators. Many of +them believed in a new doctrine, the recall, which was to be applied to +administrative officials, to judges, and even to judicial decisions. +Woman suffrage was commonly acceptable to them. + +The cause of woman suffrage had made great progress since Idaho became, +in 1896, the fourth suffrage State. A modified form of suffrage in local +or school elections had been allowed in many States. A new period of +agitation for unrestricted woman suffrage had begun in England about +1906, and had been given advertisement by the deliberate violations of +law and order by the militant suffragettes. The agitation, though not +the excess, had spread to the United States. In 1910, Washington, and in +1911, California, had become woman suffrage States. By 1914, the total +was raised to twelve by the addition of Arizona, Kansas, Oregon, +Illinois,[2] Nevada, and Montana. + +In the winter of 1911-12, the prospect of Republican success in the next +national campaign was slight. The Democrats had gained the House in +1910, and they, with the aid of Progressive Republican votes, had passed +and sent up to the President several tariff bills, reducing the rates, +schedule by schedule. Everyone of these had been vetoed, each veto +tending to convince the Progressives that Taft was conservative, if not +stand-pat in his sentiments. The Progressive Republicans were pledged to +work against the renomination of Taft, and were unlikely to support him +vigorously, if renominated. Many regular Republicans believed he could +not be reëlected. The section of the party that desired a Progressive +President became larger than the group that believed in LaFollette, and +demands that Roosevelt return were heard from many sources. + +[Footnote 2: In Illinois the right was somewhat restricted, yet included +the voting for presidential electors and for local officials.] + +In February, 1912, an appeal signed by seven Republican governors, all +of whom dwelt in States now likely to go Democratic, urged Roosevelt to +withdraw his pledge and become a candidate for the nomination. The +demand was concurred in by admirers who believed that only he could +bring about the new nationalism, by Progressives who distrusted +LaFollette's capacity to win, and by Republicans who wanted to win at +any price and saw only defeat through Taft. On February 24, Roosevelt +announced his willingness to accept the nomination, explained that his +previous refusal to accept another term had meant another consecutive +term, and entered upon a canvass for delegates to the Republican +National Convention. + +The campaign before the primaries was made difficult because in most +States the Republican machinery was in the hands of politicians who +disliked Roosevelt, whether they cared for Taft or not. It began too +late for the voters to overturn the state and national committees, or to +register through the existing party machinery their new desire. It +brought out the defects in methods of nomination which direct primaries +were expected to remedy, and in some States public opinion was strong +enough to compel a hasty passage of primary laws to permit the overturn +of the convention system. The LaFollette candidacy was deprived of most +of its supporters, through the superior popularity of Roosevelt. + +When the convention met at Chicago on June 18, 1912, there were some 411 +Roosevelt delegates among the 1078, and more than 250 more who, though +instructed for Taft, were contested by Roosevelt delegations. When the +national committee overruled the claims of these, Roosevelt denounced +their action as "naked theft." He had definitely allied himself with the +wing of the party that opposed Taft. When the convention, presided over +by Elihu Root, and supported by nearly all the men whom Roosevelt had +brought into public prominence, finally renominated Taft and Sherman, +Roosevelt asserted that no honest man could vote for a ticket based upon +dishonor. The Roosevelt Republicans did not bolt the convention, but +when it adjourned they held a mass convention of their own, were +addressed by their candidate, and went home to organize a new +Progressive party. + +The Democratic counsels were affected by the break-up of the Republican +party and the success of its conservative wing at Chicago. They met at +Baltimore the next week, with Bryan present and active, but not himself +a candidate. They had to choose among Clark, the Speaker, Underwood, the +chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and Governors Harmon, of +Ohio, Marshall, of Indiana, and Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey. + +The last of these had risen into national politics since 1910. He had +long been known as a brilliant essayist and historian. He was of +Virginian birth, and had left the presidency of Princeton University to +become Democratic candidate for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. He had +shown as governor great capacity to lead his party in the direction of +the progressive reforms. He differed in these less from Roosevelt and +LaFollette than he or they did from the reactionaries in their own +parties. "The President is at liberty, both in law and conscience," he +had written long ago, "to be as big a man as he can. His capacity will +set the limit.... He has no means of compelling Congress except through +public opinion." Unembarrassed by previous attachment to any faction of +the Democratic party, with a clear record against special privilege and +corporation influence in politics, and supported obstinately by Bryan +and the young men who had urged his candidacy, Woodrow Wilson was +nominated on the forty-sixth ballot, with Governor Thomas Marshall for +Vice-President. The conservative nomination by the Republicans had +thrown the Democrats into the hands of their radical wing. + +The Progressives held a convention in Chicago on August 5, and nominated +Theodore Roosevelt and Governor Hiram Johnson, of California. Their +platform included every important reform seriously urged, and was built +around the idea of social justice and human rights. They denied that +either of the old parties was fitted to carry on the work of progress. +In the campaign their candidates and speakers revealed the vigor and the +bitterness of the former Insurgents. + +The schism threw the election into the hands of the Democrats, who +retained the House, gained the Senate, and elected Wilson, though the +latter received fewer votes than Bryan had received in each of his three +attempts. The struggle was one of personalities, since few openly +attacked the avowed aim of progressive legislation. The popularity of +Roosevelt detached many Democratic votes from Wilson, but his +unpopularity among Republicans who feared him and Progressive +Republicans who resented his return to politics, drove to Wilson votes +that would otherwise have gone to Taft. Taft received only eight +electoral votes in November, and ran far behind both his rivals in the +popular count. More than four million votes were polled by the new third +party in an independent movement that was without precedent. The +Socialist vote for Debs rose from 420,000 in 1908 to 895,000 in 1912. + +The last year of the administration of President Taft was overshadowed +by the party war, and reduced in effectiveness by the Democratic control +of the House. The prosecutions of the trusts were continued, a parcel +post was established as a postal savings bank had been, the income tax +amendment became part of the Constitution, and an amendment for the +direct election of Senators made progress. + +When Woodrow Wilson succeeded to the Presidency he formed a cabinet +headed by William J. Bryan as Secretary of State, and including only +Democrats of progressive antecedents. He called Congress in April, 1913, +to revise the tariff once more, and overturned a precedent of a century +by delivering to it his message in person. With almost no breathing +space for eighteen months, he kept Congress at its task of fulfilling +his party's pledges as he interpreted them. + +Tariff, currency, and trust control were the main topics upon which the +Democrats had avowed positive convictions, and upon which the great mass +of progressive citizens, regardless of party affiliation, demanded +legislation. One by one these were taken up, the President revealing +powers of coercive leadership hitherto unseen in his office. Only the +fact that non-partisan opinion was generally with him made possible the +mass of constructive legislation that was placed upon the books. The +tariff, which became a law on October 3, 1913, was a revision whose +downward tendency was beyond dispute. The Federal Reserve Act, revising +the banking laws in the interest of flexibility and decentralization, +was signed on December 23 of the same year. In January, 1914, President +Wilson laid before Congress his plan of trust control, advocating a +commission with powers over trade coördinate with those of the +Interstate Commerce Commission, and an elaboration of the anti-trust +laws to deal with unfair practices and interlocking directorates. The +Federal Trade Commission and Clayton Anti-Trust bills fulfilled these +recommendations in the autumn of 1914. The Panama Canal Act of 1912 had +meanwhile been revised so as to eliminate a preference in rates to +American vessels which the President believed to be in violation of the +guaranty of equal treatment pledged in the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. With a +more portentous list of constructive laws than had been passed by any +Congress since 1890, the Democratic majority allowed an adjournment on +October 24, 1914, and its members went home to sound their constituents +upon the state of the Union. + +The passage of economic laws had called for tact and force upon the part +of the President, whose party, like the Republican party, was without a +clear vision of its policy and included many reactionaries. Added +embarrassments were found in the continuance of civil strife in Mexico. +Here, shortly before the inauguration of President Wilson, there had +been another revolution, followed by the elevation by the army of +General Victoriano Huerta to the Presidency. The followers of the +deposed Madero went into revolt at once, and the new Government was +refused recognition by the United States on the ground that it was not a +Government _de facto_, and that its title was smirched with blood. +Patiently and stubbornly the United States held to its refusal to +recognize the results of conspiracy in Mexico. In April, 1914, Vera Cruz +was occupied by American forces in retaliation for acts of insult on the +part of the Huerta régime, and in July the steady pressure of "watchful +waiting" brought about the resignation of the dictator. The +Constitutionalists, succeeding him, quarreled shortly among themselves, +but the danger from Mexico appeared to be lessening as the year +advanced. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: NORTH AMERICA + +IN 1915] + +From Europe came other embarrassments in August. Here, the policy of +national armament which had been adopted in the middle of the +nineteenth century, reached its logical outcome in a great war +which was precipitated by Austria in an attack upon Servia. Russia +immediately came to the aid of her Slavonic kinsmen, and upon her +Germany declared war on August 1. In a few more days Great Britain and +France had joined Russia against the German-Austrian alliance, and most +of Europe was at war. To bring home the thousands of American tourists +whom the war had reduced to suffering was the first work of the +administration. The American ministers in Europe became the custodians +of the affairs of the belligerents in every enemy country, and with the +aid of all the belligerent nations Americans were carried home. After +this came the problems of neutrality and American business. Suffering, +due to the stoppage of the export trade, particularly that of cotton, +brought wide depression throughout the United States. A new law for the +transfer of foreign-built vessels to American registry, and another for +federal insurance against war risks, were hurriedly passed, and the +question of a public-owned line of merchant ships was discussed. All +these problems were distracting the attention of the United States when +Congress brought to an end its prolonged labors, and adjourned. + +The congressional election of 1914 was profoundly affected by the +European war. Early in the year it appeared that conservative opposition +to the Democratic program was growing, and that the Democratic majority +was likely to be cut down. The Progressive party appeared to be +weakening, and the control of the Republican party was settling back +among those Republicans against whom the Insurgents had made their +protest. But President Wilson's precise neutrality won the confidence of +all parties, and although conservatives like Cannon, of Illinois, and +Penrose, of Pennsylvania, won over Democrats and Progressives alike in a +few cases, he retained for the Sixty-fourth Congress a working majority +in the House and an enlarged majority in the Senate. His election in +1912 had been, in part, due to the dispersion of Republican strength +caused by the Progressive schism; in 1914, the influence of the +Progressives was negligible and the Democrats retained their power in +the face of the whole Republican attack. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Between 1909 and 1914, the _Outlook_, to which Theodore Roosevelt had +been an occasional contributor, and which had been a strong supporter of +Republican policies since 1898, was the regular organ through which Mr. +Roosevelt addressed the public, over his signature as Contributing +Editor. In a similar way William J. Bryan reached his followers through +the _Commoner_ (1900-), and Robert M. LaFollette through his +_LaFollette's Weekly_ (1909-). _Collier's Weekly_ became a center of the +adverse criticism of President Taft. All of these, as well as the more +general periodicals, are indispensable sources for the period, but are +so highly partisan as to need constant correction for prejudice. The +election of 1908 is treated in Stanwood's _History of the Presidency +from 1897 to 1909_, while that of 1912 is excellently described in the +_New International Year Book_ for 1912. The theories of the new +nationalism are in T. Roosevelt, _The New Nationalism_ (1910). + + + + +INDEX + +Adams, Charles Francis, 55, 56. + +Agricultural colleges, beginning of, 17. + +Agriculture, changes in, 14, 15; + in the South after the War, 39, 40; + Department of, created, 142, 157; + main reliance of Western pioneers, 149, 151; + discontent in North and West, 178, 179, 184; + depression of, in South, 195; + diversified by decline of cotton values, 204, 205. + +Aguinaldo, Emilio, 267, 278. + +Alabama Claims, the, 55, 56. + +Alaska, gold mines in, 241; + settlement of boundary, 284, 285. + +Aldrich, Nelson W., 118, 326. + +Algeciras, United States in conference at, 318. + +Alger, Russell A., 253, 274. + +Allison, William B., 89, 255. + +Altgeld, Gov. John P., 222, 279. + +Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice, 285, 286. + +Amendment, the Thirteenth, 33, 42, 48. + +Amendment, the Fourteenth, 42, 43, 48, 196, 197. + +Amendment, the Fifteenth, 46, 47, 48, 196, 198. + +American diplomacy, 286. + +American Federation of Labor, 121, 183, 208. + +American Railroad Union, 222. + +Ames, Adelbert, 47. + +Angell, James B., 60. + +Anti-Contract Labor Law, 135. + +Anti-imperialism, 278, 279. + +Anti-monopolists, 168, 169. + +Anti-trust literature, 166. + +Arbitration, 255, 256; + treaties refused by Senate, 331, 332. + +Arizona, a Territory, 21, 152, 154; + becomes a State, 330. + +Army of the United States, at outbreak of Spanish War, 266; + in poor condition during the war, 269-72, 274; + later service in Cuba, 282. + +Arrears of Pension Act, 137. + +Arthur, Chester A., removed from office by Hayes, 87, 98, 103; + Vice-President with Garfield, 99; + opposes Garfield, 103; + as President, reorganizes his Cabinet, 106, 109; + his first message, 109, 110; + recommends civil service reform, 113, 114; + approves revision of the tariff, 114; + vetoes River and Harbor Bill, 117, 127; + hopes for renomination, 126; + reasons for failure of his candidacy, 126, 127; + and the Panama Canal, 144. + +Australian ballot, 248. + + +Ballinger, Richard A., 328, 329. + +Ballot reform, 248, 249. + +Bayard, Thomas F., 134. + +Belknap, William W., 62. + +Bellamy, Edward, 167, 168, 188. + +Benton, Thomas H., 21. + +Bimetallism, 226; + plea for international, 227, 234. + +Black Belt, the, 202, 203. + +Blaine, James G., improper official conduct of, 62, 81; + the Mulligan letters, 82; + and the proposal to extend pardon to Jefferson Davis, 83; + candidate for Presidential nomination (1880), 98; + his personal following large, 102; + Secretary of State under Garfield, 102, 103, 106; + plans for Pan-American Congress, 106; + his large following among Irish, 124, 133; + nominated for President (1884), 127, 128; + and the Mugwumps, 130; + caricatures of, 132; + defeated, 133; + replies to Cleveland's message on tariff reduction (1887), 169; + refuses to be Presidential candidate again, 169; + Secretary of State under Harrison, 171, 172; + urges reciprocity, 175; + exchanges views with Gladstone on protective tariff, 189; + in the seal fisheries controversy, 212; + resigns Secretaryship, 213; + death, 214. + +Blair, Francis P., Jr., 31. + +Bland, Richard P., 88, 89, 173, 217. + +Bland-Allison Bill, 181, 217, 218. + +"Bloody shirt," the, 83, 100, 201. + +Bonaparte, Charles J., 320. + +"Boss," the, 245, 246; + power of, 247, 248. + +Boxer outbreak in China, 281. + +Brady, Thomas J., 104, 105. + +Bristow, Benjamin, 81. + +Brown, B. Gratz, 56. + +Bryan, William Jennings, nominated for President, 237; + wages vigorous campaign, 238; + defeated, 240; + colonel in Spanish War, 266; + renominated for President, 279; + denounces imperialism, 279; + again defeated, 280; + a lay preacher on political subjects, 305; + nominated for Presidency third time, 325; + made Secretary of State by Wilson, 338. + +Bryce, James, his _American Commonwealth_, 188, 189, 246; + influence of, 247; + ambassador from Great Britain, 318. + +Buckner, Simon B., 238. + +Burchard, Rev. Samuel D., 133. + +Bureau of Corporations, valuable reports of, 311, 312. + +Butler, Benjamin F., advocates the Greenback movement, 30, 66; + aims at Governorship of Massachusetts, 61; + his relation to the "salary grab," 62; + Anti-Monopoly candidate for Presidency, 131, 132. + + +Canadian reciprocity, 332. + +Cannon, Joseph G., defeated for Congress, 185; + Speaker of the House, 304, 305; + a stand-pat protectionist, 327; + ruling as Speaker defeated, 329; + returned to Congress, 342. + +Carlisle, John G., 138, 139. + +Carnegie, Andrew, 297. + +"Carpet-baggers," 43, 45, 49, 194. + +Centennial Exposition, at Philadelphia, 73. + +Cervera, Admiral, 267, 268, 271, 272. + +Chase, Salmon P., wishes to be President, 3, 4, 31, 56; + urges creation of bonded debt to provide for war expenses, 5; + inaugurates a system of national banks, 27. + +Chile, threatened war with, 212, 213. + +Chinese, coolies imported into California, 25; + and Irish, 94; + harried, 122. + +Chinese Exclusion Bill, 122, 127. + +Choate, Joseph H., 318. + +Christian Science, rise of, 190. + +Churchill, Winston, writes _Coniston_, 310, 311. + +Cities, growth of, 14; + in the New South, 205; + government of, 246. + +Civil Rights Bill, 196, 197. + +Civil Service Act, 113, 117. + +Civil Service reform, 86, 110; + growth of, 112, 113, 114; + further extended by Cleveland, 134, 235; + and by Taft, 331. + +Civil War, the, influence of its military successes, 1; + benefits of the four years of, 18; + new type brought into politics by, 78; + veterans of, 136. + +Clark, Champ, 329, 330, 336. + +Clayton Anti-trust Bill, 339. + +Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 134, 144; + inadequate, 286. + +Cleveland, Grover, Mayor of Buffalo and Governor of New York, 130; + favored by the Independents, 130, 131; + nominated for Presidency, 131; + his character attacked, 132; + elected and inaugurated, 133; + his Cabinet, 133; + Lowell's tribute to, 134; + meets new problems, 135; + vetoes pension bills, 137; + troubled by divided administration, 138, 139, 140; + signs "omnibus" bill for new States, 152; + his emphasis on tariff reduction, 169; + renominated, 170; + defeated by Harrison, 171; + again nominated for Presidency, 214, 215; + and elected, 215; + opposes free silver and the silver basis, 219, 229, 230; + loses influence with Western Democrats, 220; + refuses to sign Wilson Bill, 221; + sends federal troops to Chicago, 221, 222; + splits Democratic party, 223; + in Venezuela boundary dispute, 230, 231; + abandoned by his party, 235; + dies in Princeton, 236; + tries to maintain neutrality in Cuban revolt, 261, 262. + +Cobden Club, and British gold, 139. + +_Coin's Financial School_, 229. + +Colfax, Schuyler, Vice-President with Grant, 37, 57, 61. + +Colorado, Territory, 20; + becomes a State, 73, 74, 149. + +Commissioner of Labor, 122. + +Conkling, Roscoe, 81, 87; + disciplined by Hayes, 98; + fights for Grant, 99; + resigns from Senate, 103. + +Conservation movement, 320, 328. + +Consumers' League, the, 250. + +Cooke, Jay, his connection with panic of 1873, 62, 63, 64. + +Cornell, Alonzo B., 98, 103. + +Cortelyou, George B., 302, 306. + +Cotton, the staple crop of the Old South, 149; + hundredth anniversary of first export celebrated, 203; + overproduction, 204. + +Cowboys, develop a folk-song literature, 150. + +Coxey, Jacob S., 222. + +Crédit Mobilier, scandal of, 61. + +Cripple Creek, great miners' strike at, 301. + +Crisp, Charles F., 186, 220. + +Cuba, insurrections in, 258; + revolutionary government in New York, 260; + number of Spanish troops in, 260; + filibustering parties, 261; + Congress favors recognition of belligerency, 262; + autonomy proposed, 263; + Congress recognizes independence of, 264; + blockaded, 267, 268; + freed from Spain, 273; + sanitary improvement in, 282; + adopts a constitution, 282; + makes reciprocity treaty with United States, 283. + +Cullom, Shelby M., 158, 221. + +Cummins, Gov. Albert B., 303; + leader of Insurgent Republicans, 329. + +Curtis, George William, leader in civil-service reform, 112, 128; + a Mugwump, 129. + +Custer, Gen. George A., 86. + +Czar of Russia, calls conference on disarmament, 283. + + +Dakota Territory, 21; + made into two States, 152. + +Darwin, Charles, his influence on religious thought, 190. + +Davenport, Homer C., 252. + +Davis, Judge David, 109. + +Davis, Henry G., 306. + +Davis, Jefferson, 83, 106. + +Dawes Act, the, awarding lands to Indians in severalty, 142, 151, 319. + +Day, William R., 253, 273. + +Debs, Eugene V., 222; + Social Democratic candidate for President, 301, 338. + +De Lesseps, Ferdinand M., 144. + +DeLome, Señor, criticizes McKinley, 263, 264. + +Democratic party, the, differences in, during the Civil War, 2, 3; + Chicago convention (1864), 4, 5; + nominates Seymour (1868), 31; + gains control of readmitted Southern States, 52, 54; + nominates Greeley (1872), 57; + weakened by its past, 79; + nominates Tilden (1876), 80, 81; + gets plurality of popular vote, 83; + gains control of the House (1874), 87; + nominates Hancock (1880), 99; + gains the Senate (1878), 108; + loses the House (1880), 108; + regains it (1882), 117; + elects Cleveland (1884), 130-133; + on tariff revision, 138, 220, 221; + resists demands for statehood, 152; + casts plurality of votes in 1888, but loses all branches of government, 171; + regains the House (1890), 186; + reëlects Cleveland and wins the Senate (1892), 215; + split by free silver and tariff questions, 228, 229, 232; + loses both Senate and House (1894), 229; + nominates Bryan on free-silver platform (1896), 237; + denounces imperialism and renominates Bryan (1900), 279; + nominates Parker on conservative platform (1904), 305, 306; + nominates Bryan for third time (1908), 325; + regains the House (1910), 329, 330; + elects Wilson (1912), 337, 338. + +Department of Agriculture, 142, 157. + +Department of Commerce and Labor, 122, 302. + +Dependent Pension Act, 174. + +Dewey, Commodore George, 265; + destroys Spanish fleet at Manila, 267. + +Diaz, Porfirio, expelled from Mexico, 331. + +Dingley, Nelson, 253, 254. + +Dingley Bill, the, 254, 255, 303, 304. + +Dollar diplomacy, 331. + +Donnelly, Ignatius, 209. + +Dorsey, Senator Stephen W., in star route frauds, 104, 127. + +Du Bois, W.E.B., 202. + + +Eads, James B., 206. + +Eaton, Dorman B., 113. + +Edmunds, George F., 99, 128. + +Education Board, General, incorporated by Congress, 201. + +Educational Board, Southern, organized, 201. + +Egan, Patrick, Minister to Chile, 212, 213. + +Eight-hour day, 135, 136. + +Electoral Commission, the, 84. + +Eliot, Charles W., 60. + +Elkins, Stephen B., 127, 128. + +English, William H., 99. + +Equitable Life Insurance Company, investigation of, 312. + + +Factories, American, growth of, 14, 15, 16; + influenced by inventions, 95. + +Fairbanks, Charles W., Vice-President with Roosevelt, 305. + +Farmers, condition of, in North and South, contrasted, 178; + discontent keenest in West, 179; + experimental, 180; + demand cheaper money, 181; + desire coöperation, 182; + believe charges against both political parties, 185; + value of vote of dissatisfied, 193. + +Farmers' Alliance, the, in South and West, 183, 184, 192, 193; + undermines Republicans in West, 185; + attempts union with Knights of Labor, 186, 187; + splits white vote in the South, 192, 193, 196; + used to express Southern discontent, 195; + holds national convention at St. Louis, 208; + merged in People's Party, 209. + +Farms, American, size of, 40, 41, 95; + increase in number, 149, 150; + decrease in size of Southern, 194; + number of, 194. + +Farragut, Admiral David G., 5. + +Fava, Baron, Italian Minister at Washington, 213. + +Federal Reserve Act, 339. + +Federal Trade Commission, 339. + +Field, James G., 211. + +Fisk, James, Jr., 60. + +Folger, Charles J., 127. + +Folk, Joseph W., 311. + +Force Bill, the, 200, 201. + +Ford, Paul Leicester, _The Honorable Peter Stirling_, 132. + +Ford, Worthington C., 254. + +Forestry service, 328. + +Free lands, disappearance of, marks new period, 154, 155. + +Free passes, on interstate railroads, forbidden by law, 313. + +Free silver, demanded by Populists, 209, 210; + agitation for, 226, 228; + textbook of, 229; + fight for, in Republican convention (1896), 234, 235; + demanded by Democratic convention, 236. + +Freedmen's Bureau, 34, 201; + work of, 42, 43, 45. + +Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., 106, 109, 134. + +Frémont, John C., candidate for the Presidency, 3, 4; + arrested in France, 60; + charged with land frauds, 60, 61. + +"Frenzied finance," 310. + +Frick, Henry C., 299. + +"Full dinner pail, the," 280. + + +Gage, Lyman J., 253. + +Garfield, James A., nominated for Presidency (1880), 99; + forged letters against, 101, 104, 105, 122; + sketch of, 101; + his Cabinet, 102; + trouble with Conkling, 103; + death of, 105, 108; + and the Panama Canal, 144. + +Garland, Augustus H., 133. + +George, Henry, 188. + +Georgia, difficulties with Congress, 47, 48. + +Gilman, Daniel Coit, 60. + +Gladden, Washington, 310. + +Gladstone, William E., 189. + +Godkin, Edwin L., editor of the _Nation_, 59, 67, 85; + and civil service reform, 112. + +Goethals, Major George W., engineer of Canal Zone, 317. + +Gold, at a premium, 27; + hoarded, 218; + great increase in production of, 241. + +Gold dollar, ratio to silver, 9; + value in greenbacks, 10, 29. + +Gorgas, Col. William C., chief sanitary officer of Canal Zone, 317. + +Gould, Jay, 60, 294. + +Grand Army of the Republic, used for procuring pensions, 136, 137. + +Grandfather clause, the, 200. + +Granger Laws, the, 68, 70, 157; + constitutionality of, 71, 72. + +Granger movement, the, 67, 68, 183; + relations with the panic of 1873, 72; + doctrine established by, 157. + +Grant, Ulysses S., the coveted candidate of both parties, 36; + general rejoicing in his election, 37; + inaugurated in 1869, 46; + his first term ends unsatisfactorily, 55; + success with the Alabama claims, 55, 56; + renominated, 57; + various unsavory episodes of his years as President, 60, 62; + vetoes the Inflation Bill, 66; + reëlection of (1872), 75; + receives scanty support for a third term, 81, 98, 99; + and civil service reform, 112. + +Greeley, Horace, nominated for President by Liberal Republicans, 56; + a quaint political figure, 57; + quoted, 89. + +Greenback movement, the, advocates of, 30, 65, 66; + Eastern opinion of, contrasted with Western, 68; + and silver inflation, 88, 180, 181. + +Greenbacks, 9; + value of, 10; + depreciation of, 27; + withdrawal of, 28; + further retirement of, forbidden by law, 30; + rising in value, 65; + issued during panic of 1873, 66. + +Guam, ceded to United States, 273. + +Guiteau, William B., 105. + + +Hadley, Pres. Arthur T., 310. + +Hague, the, court of arbitration at, 283; + Venezuelan claims referred to, 284; + second conference, 318. + +Hancock, Gen. Winfield Scott, 80, 99, 100, 101. + +Hanna, Marcus Alonzo, raises funds for Republicans, 102, 233, 238, 239; + appointed Senator, 252; + helps settle coal strike, 300, 302; + grows in popularity, 302, 303; + death, 304. + +Harmon, Gov. Judson, 336. + +Harriman, Edward H., 294, 295. + +Harrison, Benjamin, nominated for Presidency, 169; + elected as a minority President, 171, 211; + friction with Chile, 212, 213; + renominated, 214; + defeated, 215, 216. + +Hawaiian Islands, 273, 274, 278. + +Hay, John, on McKinley, 251; + Secretary of State, 273, 282; + career of, 281. + +Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, for Isthmian canal, 286, 287. + +Hayes, Rutherford B., receives nomination for President, 82; + difficulties of his election, 83, 84; + alienates many Republicans by his attitude toward the South, 85; + his troubles with Democratic congress, 87; + removes Chester A. Arthur from office, 87, 98, 103; + financial policy of his administration, 89, 90; + a new period of growth begun during his term of office, 90, 92; + end of his term, 97, 102; + and the Panama Canal, 144; + becomes head of Slater fund, 201. + +Hearst, William R., 305, 312. + +Hendricks, Thomas A., candidate for Vice-President, 80, 81, 131. + +Hepburn Railway Bill, the, 315. + +Hill, Gov. David B., 214, 215, 248. + +Hill, James J., 295, 296. + +Hobart, Garrett P., Vice-President with McKinley, 234; + dies in office, 280. + +Homestead Act, the, 21, 155. + +Hopkins, Johns, 60. + +Howells, William Dean, 188. + +Huerta, Victoriano, President of Mexico, 340. + +Hughes, Charles E., exposes wrongdoing of insurance companies, 312; + mentioned for Presidency, 324. + +Hull House, 251. + +Humphreys, Benjamin G., 46. + +Husbandry, Patrons of, 193. + + +Idaho, becomes a Territory, 21; + admitted to the Union, 152. + +Immigration movement, the, influences of, 123, 124. + +Income tax, 221, 327, 338. + +Indians, removal of, 22, 25; + outbreaks of, 25, 86; + Dawes Bill, 142, 151, 319. + +Industrial Commission, 298. + +Industrial consolidation, evolves new type of trust, 297, 299. + +Industrial revival, after 1897, 293, 294. + +Industrial revolution, effects of, 95. + +Inflation Bill, the, 66. + +Ingersoll, Robert G., quoted, 92. + +Initiative and referendum, 249, 250. + +Interstate Commerce Act, the, 142, 158, 159; + commission created, 159, 160; + influence of rebate system on, 165; + had little immediate effect, 180; + an imperfect statute, 314; + strengthened by Congress, 315, 330. + +Irons, Martin, 135. + +Irrigation, 142, 291. + +Italians, lynched in New Orleans, 213. + + +Jackson, Andrew, 8, 111. + +James, Thomas L., 102, 103, 104. + +Japan, at war with Russia, 317. + +Johnson, Andrew, candidate for the Vice-Presidency, 4; + becomes President upon death of Lincoln, 32; + opposition of Congress to, 33, 34; + impeached by House, 35; + acquitted, 36; + vetoes arbitrary acts of Congress, 48. + +Johnson, Gov. Hiram, 337. + +Johnson, Reverdy, 55. + +Journalism, expansion of, 162; + reorganized in the later nineties, 311. + + +Kansas City, important as meeting place of railways, 150, 151. + +Kearney, Dennis, 94, 124. + +Keifer, J. Warren, 108. + +Kelly, John, 131. + +Kerr, Michael C., 108. + +Kipling, Rudyard, _The White Man's Burden_, 274. + +Knickerbocker Trust Company, suspension of, 322. + +Knights of Labor, secret society in the East, 94; + meet with disfavor, 121; + demands of, 122; + fight the Gould railways, 135; + success of, 183; + union with Farmers' Alliance, 186, 187; + in Pullman strike, 222. + +Knox, Philander C., 296, 320, 331. + +Ku-Klux Klan, the, 52. + + +Labor, tariff supposed to protect, 119; + Commissioner of, 122; + Bureau of, 135; + danger from European pauper, 139; + becomes better united, 299. + _See also_ Knights of Labor, Strikes. + +La Follette, Robert M., defeated for Congress, 185; + works out a system of primaries, 249; + in the Senate debate on railroads, 315; + leader of Insurgent Republicans, 329; + possible Presidential candidate, 330, 335, 336. + +Lamar, L.Q.C., 133. + +Land grants, to railroads, 22, 24, 148, 156; + discontinued, 143. + +Land laws, difficulty in enforcing, 155, 156. + +Lawson. Thomas W., 310. + +Lawton, Gen. Henry W., 271. + +Liberal Republicans, secede in 1872 and nominate Greeley and Brown, 56; + platform of, 56, 57; + in Garfield's administration, 102; + favor civil service reform and tariff revision, 112, 116, 126; + put Edmunds forward for Presidential candidate (1884), 128. + +Lincoln, Abraham, his view in regard to the spoils system, 2; + aims to develop a Union sentiment, 2, 3; + aided by excesses of Democrats, 4, 5; + his use of offices, 111, 112. + +Literature in United States, 187, 188; + periodical, 189, 190; + religious, 190. + +Lloyd, Henry D., 116, 166, 167. + +Lodge, Henry Cabot, as an independent, 128; + supports Blaine, 130; + approves the Force Bill, 200, 201. + +Logan, John A., 128. + +Lorimer, William, 330. + +Lowell, James Russell, quoted, 54, 59; + on Cleveland, 134. + + +McClellan, Gen. George B., 3, 5. + +McClure, S.S., 311. + +McCulloch, Hugh, 28, 29. + +McEnery, Samuel D., 254. + +McKinley, William, his Tariff Bill, 172, 173, 174, 175; + accepts principle of reciprocity, 175; + defeated for Congress, 185; + Governor of Ohio, 214; + "advance agent of prosperity," 232, 241; + a tactful Congressman, 233; + nominated for President (1896), 234; + makes no personal campaign, 239; + elected, 240; + his election a victory for sound money, 241; + calls special session of Congress for new tariff, 242; + inaugurated as President, 251; + his theory of the office, 252; + action in the Cuban matter, 262, 264; + reëlected President, 280; + murdered, 282. + +McKinley Bill, the, 173, 174, 215, 216; + sugar clause a notable feature of, 175; + opposition to, 184. + +MacVeagh, Wayne, 102. + +Machinery, influence of, 15, 16, 95. + +Mahone, William, 109. + +Maine, the, blown up in Havana harbor, 264. + +Marshall, Thomas R., nominated by Democrats for Vice-Presidency, 337. + +Merritt, Gen. Wesley, 267. + +Mexico, revolutions in, 331, 340. + +Miles, Gen. Nelson A., on the results of drought, 182; + commander of army in Spanish War, 269; + invades Porto Rico, 272. + +Mills, Roger Q., tariff leader, 139. + +Mills Bill, the, 139, 140, 169, 170. + +Mining camps, rapid development of, 20, 21, 22. + +Mississippi, the process of reconstruction in, 46, 47; + disqualifies negroes, 198, 199. + +Mississippi River Commission, 206. + +Mitchell, John, 300. + +"Molly Maguires," 94, 121. + +Monroe Doctrine, in Venezuela case, 230, 231, 284. + +Montana, created a Territory, 21; + becomes a State, 152. + +Morgan, J. Pierpont, 295, 321. + +Mormons, 20; + make a prosperous Territory in Utah, 154. + +Morton, Levi P., Vice-President with Harrison, 169. + +Morton, Oliver P., war Governor of Indiana, 81. + +Muck-raking, 315, 316. + +Mugwumps, 129, 130. + +Mulligan letters, the, 82. + +Murchison letter, the, 170, 171. + + +Nast, Thomas, cartoonist, 50, 57, 86, 132. + +National Labor Union, 208. + +National Planters' Association, 203. + +Navy, of the United States, at outbreak of Spanish War, 265; + sent round the world without mishap, 319. + +Negro, the, would not work at close of war, 40; + a social and economic problem, 41, 42; + made a voter by Congress, 43, 45, 48; + elimination of control by, 51, 52, 54; + a factor in Republican national convention, 98, 99; + becomes a farm owner, 194; + suppressed outside the law, 196; + bad qualities of, 198; + practically disfranchised in South, 199, 200; + advances in literacy, 202; + distribution of, 202, 203; + Roosevelt's attitude toward, 289, 290. + +Newlands Reclamation Act, 291. + +New Mexico, 152, 154; + becomes a State, 330. + +New South, the, has but one political party of consequence, 192; + dissatisfied farmer vote in, 193; + disintegration of plantations, 194; + oppressed by its agricultural system, 195; + practically disfranchises negroes, 196-200; + education in, 201, 202; + border traits of, 202; + a modern industrial community, 203; + development of cities, 205. + +Nez Percés, outbreak of, 86. + +Nicaragua Canal, 134, 286. + +North, S.N.D., and the Dingley Bill, 254. + +North Dakota, admitted to Union, 152. + +Northern Pacific Railroad, 143, 295; + and panic of 1873, 63, 65; + finished under direction of Henry Villard, 144. + +Northern Securities Company, 296, 299. + + +Oklahoma, Indians colonized in, 151; + opened to white settlers, 151; + becomes a State, 319. + +Olney, Richard, 230, 231. + +Oregon, the, spectacular voyage of, 274, 286. + +Overproduction, menace of, 96. + + +Palmer, John M., 238. + +Panama, Republic of, 288. + +Panama Canal, begun by De Lesseps, 144, 286; + determined on by Congress and President Roosevelt, 287, 288; + Panama grants concession, 289; + first boats pass through, 289; + dispute over sea-level and lock systems, 316-17. + +Pan-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro, 318. + +Pan-American Congress, 106, 109. + +Panic of 1857, the, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12. + +Panic of 1873, the, 62-74; + Jay Cooke's connection with, 62-65; + real causes of, 64, 65; + reduces revenues, 115; + often attributed to low rates of Wilson Bill, 254. + +Parker, Judge Alton B., Democratic candidate for President (1904), 305; + defeated, 306. + +Payne, Sereno E., 326. + +Peabody, George, creates fund to relieve negro illiteracy, 201. + +Pendleton, George H., 30, 31. + +Penrose, Boies, 253, 342. + +Pension Bureau, 137; + important through alliance with the soldiers, 172. + +Pensions, influence of soldier vote on, 136; + for service only, 137; + amounts spent on, 137, 138; + system criticized by Southern farmers, 178; + used millions of the national surplus, 216. + +People's Party. 184; + to right all wrongs of the plain people, 186, 187; + becomes a finished organization, 208, 209; + demands of, 210. + +Petroleum trust, 164, 165. + +Philippine Islands, ceded to United States, 273; + revolt in, under Aguinaldo, 278. + +Pierpont, Francis A., 47. + +Pike, James S., author of _The Prostrate State_, 51. + +Pinchot, Gifford, 328. + +Pious Fund dispute, the, 283. + +Platt, Thomas C., resigns from Senate, 103; + claims promise of Secretaryship under Harrison, 172; + offended by Harrison, 213; + Senator from New York, 253; + opposes nomination of Roosevelt for governor, 277; + aids Roosevelt boom for Vice-Presidency, 280. + +Polygamy, in Utah, 154. + +Populism, origin of, 208. + +Populists, demands of, 210; + carry four States in Presidential election (1892), 216; + caricatures of, 223; + fuse with Democrats, 237, 238; + favor direct legislation, 249, 250. + +Porto Rico, invaded by United States troops, 272; + ceded to United States, 273; + Territorial government provided, 278. + +Post-office, the, corruption in, 103, 104, 105, 113, 114. + +Potter, Bishop Henry C., 246. + +Powderly, Terence V., 121, 122, 135. + +Practical politics, 110. + +Preëmption Law, the, 21, 155, 156. + +Presidential Succession Act, 105. + +Primaries, direct, 249, 335. + +Progressive Republicans, revolt, 329; + organize a League, 330; + principles of, 333; + oppose renomination of Taft, 334; + urge Roosevelt to run, 335; + organize Progressive Party, 336; + nominate Roosevelt and Johnson, 337; + popular vote of, 338; + influence negligible in 1914, 342. + +Protection, in Republican platform (1888), 170, 171; + earnestly discussed by both parties, 170; + enlarged by McKinley Bill, 174, 176; + of unborn industries, 175; + strongest in East, 177; + rampant spirit for, in 1897, 254. + +Pure food movement, 313, 314, 328. + + +Quay, Matthew S., chairman of Harrison campaign committee, 170, 171, 174; + offended by Harrison, 213; + completes partnership of manufacturers and voters, 232; + selects Penrose for Senator, 253. + + +Railroads, development of, 10, 12, 68, 69, 92, 93; + importance of, 16, 69; + land grants to, 22, 24, 148; + continental, 22, 25, 26, 143, 144, 145; + hostility of the Grange, 68, 70; + rate laws, 71, 72; + agree upon standard time, 148; + encourage immigration and colonization, 148, 149; + regarded as quasi-public, 157, 159; + national control of, 158; + bargaining in rates, 165; + and the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, 173; + promote new settlements, 179; + in the South after the Civil War, 204; + controlled by a few men, 294. + +Rainfall, importance of, 150, 179, 180, 182, 186. + +Randall, Samuel J., 108, 138. + +Rebates, railroad, forbidden by Elkins Law, 296. + +Reciprocity, favorite scheme of Blaine, 175. + +Reclamation of arid lands of the Southwest, 290, 291, 320. + +Reconstruction, an inappropriate name for what took place, 39; + no constitutional theory adequate to meet problems of, 44; + must be judged by results, 44, 45; + completion of, in formal sense, 46; + not far advanced by 1870, 49; + dominant type of leaders, 78; + political superseded by constitutional, 85. + +Reconstruction Acts of 1867, the, 43, 45, 47. + +Reconstruction Governments, evils of, 50, 51, 61. + +Reed, Thomas B., 172, 229, 240. + +Referendum and initiative, 249, 250, 333, 334. + +Regan, John H., 193. + +Reid, Whitelaw, 56, 130. + +Republican party, the, during the Civil War, 1, 2; + called itself Union, 4, 32; + paid for its disguise, 32; + in the South after 1876, 54; + new men in control, 78, 79; + regains control of the House (1880), 108; + but loses it again (1882), 117; + dissensions in, 128; + defeated in 1884, 133; + elects President and majority in both houses in 1888, 171; + suffers a landslide (1890), 185, 186; + regains control of Senate and House, (1894), 229; + platform in 1896, 234; + dominates every branch of National Government for fourteen years, 244; + the party of organized business, 252; + approves the Spanish War, 279; + elects Taft President (1908), 324, 325; + revises tariff, 326, 327; + dissatisfaction in, 327, 328; + loses the House (1910), 329; + renominates Taft (1912), 336. + +Revels, Hiram R., negro Senator from Mississippi, 47. + +River and Harbor Bill, 117. + +Rockefeller, John D., gains chief control of petroleum traffic, 165, 166; + aids cause of education in South, 201; + methods of, 310, 321. + +Roosevelt, Theodore, 128; + steps out of Blaine campaign, 130; + Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 265, 277; + raises a regiment for Spanish War, 266; + in Cuba, 270; + early public career of, 276; + Governor of New York, 277; + a reformer of a new type, 277; + Vice-President with McKinley, 280; + succeeds to Presidency, 282; + and the Hague Court, 283, 284; + activity in securing Panama Canal, 286, 288; + questionable course toward Colombia, 286, 288; + attitude toward negroes, 289, 290; + widely popular, 291; + disliked by professional politicians, 291; + dissolves Northern Securities Company, 296, 299; + settles coal strike, 300; + alienates party leaders, 302; + wants nomination on his own account, 303; + tries to modify Dingley Tariff, 304; + nominated for President, 305; + and elected, 306; + declares he will not accept another nomination, 307; + goes outside of United States territory, 316-17; + receives the Nobel prize, 317; + promotes second Hague Conference, 318; + sends navy round the world, 319; + holds conference of state governors at White House, 320; + called "Theodore the Meddler," 322; + his policies those of the people, 323; + secures nomination of Taft for Presidency, 324, 325; + goes to Africa, 329; + formulates New Nationalism, 333; + defeated in Republican convention, 336; + nominated by Progressives, 337. + +Root, Elihu, becomes Secretary of War, 274, 281; + Secretary of State, 318; + mentioned for Presidency, 324; + presides over Chicago convention, 336. + +Rough Riders, the, 266, 270, 277. + +"Rum, Romanism, and rebellion," 133. + +Rusk, Jeremiah M., 136, 157. + +Russia, at war with Japan, 317. + + +Sackville-West, Sir Lionel, 170. + +Salary grab, in Congress, 62. + +Salisbury, Lord, in Venezuela case, 230, 231. + +Sampson, Capt. William T., in blockade of Cuba, 265, 268, 269, 270, 272. + +Schenck, Robert C., 55, 61. + +Schley, Commodore Winfield Scott, in blockade of Cuba, 265, 268, 269, 272. + +Schurz, Carl, leader of the Liberal Republicans, 56; + introduces merit system, 86; + reorganizes the Indian service, 86, 87; + supports civil service reform, 112, 113; + an anti-imperialist, 278. + +Seal fisheries, 212. + +Sewall, Arthur, 237. + +Seymour, Horatio, 4; + nominated for Presidency, 31; + loyalty above question, 79. + +Shafter, Gen. William R., 269, 270. + +Sherman, James S., nominated for Vice-Presidency, 325, 336. + +Sherman, John, Senator from Ohio, 66; + Secretary of the Treasury, 89; + proposed for the Presidency, 98, 99, 128; + Secretary of State, 253. + +Sherman, Gen. William T., 5. + +Sherman Anti-Trust Law, the, enacted, 172, 173, 293; + enforced under Roosevelt, 320, 321. + +Sherman Silver Purchase Bill, 174, 218, 219, 220. + +Silver, fall in value of, 88, 228; + free coinage demanded, 181, 182; + mines, output of, 181; + coinage of, 217; + demonetization of, called a crime, 225. + +Sinclair, Upton, 311. + +Slater, John F., creates fund for education of negro, 201. + +Social Democratic party, 301. + +Socialist Labor party, 301, 338. + +South, the, before the war, 11, 12; + price of its attempt at independence, 39; + stubbornness of, 40; + decrease in size of farms, 40, 41; + government of, by army, 42; + divided into five military districts, 43; + new constitutions of its States, 46; + readmission to Union, 47, 49; + repudiation of debts, 51; + normal politics Democratic, 52, 54, 79. + _See also_ New South. + +South Dakota, admitted to Union, 152; + first State to adopt initiative and referendum, 250. + +Southern Pacific Railroad, 145, 148; + passes into control of Union Pacific, 294, 295; + merger dissolved, 330. + +Spain, sends Gen. Weyler to Cuba, 260; + embittered against United States by filibustering parties, 261; + changes of Ministry in, 262; + declines mediation, but recalls Gen. Weyler, 263; + establishes a sort of autonomy for Cuba, 263; + war with United States begun, 264; + loses fleet at Manila, 267; + and another at Santiago, 272; + army at Santiago surrenders, 272; + loses Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and Guam, 273. + +Squatters, 21, 155. + +Stalwarts, the, support Conkling against Garfield, 103; + claimed as friends by Guiteau, 105; + relations with Arthur, 109, 126. + +Standard Oil Company, the, 166, 167; + suit against, brought by Ohio, 168; + history of, 310; + charges of extorting rebates, 311, 312; + dissolved, 330, 331. + +Standard time, adopted by American railroads, 148. + +Stanford, Leland, 25. + +Stanton, Edwin M., 3, 35. + +Star route frauds, 103, 104, 105, 113. + +Steel industry, the, 16, 297, 298. + +Steffens, Lincoln, 310. + +Stevens, Thaddeus, 30, 34. + +Stevenson, Adlai E., Vice-President with Cleveland, 215; + nominated with Bryan, 279. + +Strathcona, Lord, interested in Canadian railways, 148. + +Strikes, 121; Pullman, 222; + at Cripple Creek, 222, 301; + at Homestead, 299; + in Pennsylvania coal fields, 299, 300. + +Sumner, Charles, 34, 55. + +Surplus, embarrassing, 93, 173; + an incentive to extravagance, 116, 136, 138; + easily relieved, 174; + nearly exhausted, 216. + + +Taft, William II., decision as Circuit Judge against an industrial + combination, 299; + recalled from Philippines to be Secretary of War, 317; + Roosevelt's choice for Presidency, 324; + nominated and elected (1908), 325; + urges tariff revision, 326, 327; + alienates some of the Republican lenders, 327, 328; + in the Pinchot-Ballinger dispute, 328, 329; + pushes anti-trust suits, 330, 331; + extends civil service, 331; + negotiates arbitration treaties with Great Britain and France, 331, 332; + renominated (1912), 336; + badly defeated, 338. + +Tanner, James ("Corporal"), 172. + +Tarbell, Ida M., writes history of Standard Oil Company, 309, 310. + +Tariff, the favorite national tax, 6, 7; + basis of the rate of, 7; + at the end of the war, 8; + different views of, 97; + influence of, in Presidential campaigns, 100; + revision of, 114, 116, 117; + as a source of revenue, 114, 115; + attacks upon, 115, 116; + commission created to investigate needs of, 117, 118; + difficulties of constructing, 118, 119, 140; + revision demanded, 169; + McKinley Bill, 172-75; + opposition to the new law, 184; + a factor in political landslide of 1890, 186; + McKinley Bill in danger, 215; + tariff for revenue the winning issue in 1890 and 1892, 220; + financial interest of manufacturers in, 233; + the Dingley Bill, 253, 254, 255; + the "mother of trusts," 303; + revised by Republicans, 326, 327; + reduced by Democrats, 339. + +Taxes, as means of raising money, 6, 114, 115; + authorized more reluctantly than loans, 6; + often revised and increased, 7; + difficulties of Congress with, 115. + +Taylor, Hannis, 262. + +Tennessee, readmitted to the Union, 45; + escapes negro domination, 54. + +Tenure-of-Office Act, 34, 35. + +Texas, readmitted to Union, 47; + through change in, after the Civil War, 204, 205. + +Thurman, Allen G., 170. + +Tilden, Samuel J., prosecutes the Tweed ring, 80; + Democratic candidate for President in 1876, 80, 81; + doubtful result of the election, 83, 84; + unwilling to run in 1880, 99. + +Timber Culture Laws, 155. + +Tobacco Trust, 330, 331. + +Transportation, a fundamental factor, 162; + creates new standards of living, 162, 163; + relation to the trusts, 164, 165; + vital to frontier life, 180. + +Treves, Sir Frederick, praises work in Canal Zone, 317. + +Trusts, formation of, 163, 164; + logical outcome of, 164; + influence of transportation, 164, 165; + whiskey and sugar, 166; + evils of, social or political, 167; + difficulty of regulating, 168; + investigation ordered, 169; + the aim of, 297; + Chicago conference on, 298; + and strikes, 299, 300; + not all "bad," 302; + tariff the mother of, 303; + the menace of, 309; + prosecution of, 320, 321. + +Tweed, William M., 50, 60. + + +Underwood, Oscar W., 329, 330, 336. + +Union League, of freedmen, 45. + +Union Pacific Railroad, building of, 22, 24, 25; + celebration of completion, 25; + scandals of, 61; + extended to Denver, 74; + a national project, 142, 143; + extended to the Gulf and into Oregon, 145; + reconstructed by Harriman, 294. + +United Mine Workers of America, 300. + +United States Steel Corporation, 297, 298. + +Utah, polygamy in, 154; + admitted to the Union, 240, 290. + + +Vallandigham, Clement L., 4. + +Venezuela, boundary dispute with Great Britain, 230-32; + before the Hague Court, 284. + +Villard, Henry, 144, 145. + +Virginia, readmitted to Union, 47. + + +Waite, Gov. Davis H., 222, 228. + +Wanamaker, John, 172, 253. + +Washington, becomes a State, 152. + +Washington, Booker T., 202, 290. + +Watson, Thomas E., 193, 238. + +Watterson, Henry, 56. + +Weaver, James B., Greenback-Labor candidate for the Presidency, 101; + leader in the People's Party, 209; + Presidential candidate, 211, 216. + +Wells, David A., 116. + +Western Federation of Miners, in Cripple Creek strike, 301. + +Weyler, Gen. Valeriano, 260, 261, 263. + +Wheeler, William A., Vice-President with Hayes, 83. + +Whiskey Ring, the, 62, 81. + +Whiskey and Sugar Trusts, 166. + +Wiley, Dr. Harvey, 314, 328. + +Wilson, Henry, Vice-President in Grant's second term, 57. + +Wilson, James, 314, 328. + +Wilson, William L., 215; + leader in tariff revision, 139, 220, 221; + on free silver, 229. + +Wilson, Woodrow, career of, 336, 337; + nominated by Democrats for Presidency, 337; + elected, 338; + delivers message to Congress in person, 339; + a coercive leader, 339; + attitude toward Mexico, 340; + neutrality in European war, 341, 342. + +Windom, William L., 102, 172. + +Woman suffrage, adopted by several States, 250, 334. + +Wood, Gen. Leonard, 270, 282. + +Woodford, Gen. Stewart L., Minister to Spain, 262, 263. + +Wright, Carroll D., Commissioner of Labor, 122. + +Wyoming, made a Territory, 149; + a State, 152, 250. + + +Yellow fever, suppressed in Cuba, 282. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The New Nation, by Frederic L. Paxson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEW NATION *** + +***** This file should be named 27953-8.txt or 27953-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/9/5/27953/ + +Produced by G. 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