CHAPTER XXXII

THE POLITICAL HISTORY FROM 1877 TO 1897

WE have now come to the history of the two great political parties within recent times. We must see how the leaders of each tried to win the elections, and in what way they governed the country when they had been successful at the polls. We shall not understand this history unless we keep in mind that each side was working, as it saw best, for the good of

The aim of the parties

Rutherford B. Hayes

the country. A fair-minded

student will see the good in the party opposed to his

could, however, without the aid of congress, and he was able to introduce a system of examinations for the appointment of clerks in the customhouse and postoffice in New York City. Carl Schurz, a member of his cabinet, acting on his own responsibility, adopted

the same system in making appointments in his department, and Hayes supported him in it. In these and other ways he managed to check the spoils

system slightly.

Hayes also withdrew the troops from the South. The soldiers in this region Hayes and had come to be em- the South ployed to enable the republicans to bring out the negro vote. Hayes thought that the Southern states should be allowed to regulate their own elections. If wrong was done, it was the people of those states and not the federal government who should right it. He believed that in due time the South would do as well as it could by the negro, and most of the people of the North agreed with him. As a result of the withdrawal of the troops, the republicans lost control of the last Southern state in which they had power.

Carl Schurz

Two factions

Some of the republicans considered Hayes's course a bad one and declared he was not true to his party. Many who had been liberal republicans in 1872 were now his supporters, and Hayes took one of them, Carl Schurz, into his cabinet. His open leaning to these men led his opponents to call his followers the half breeds, while they themselves were known as stalwarts because they stood for the stricter kind of party loyalty. To the end of Hayes's term there was much wrangling between the half breeds and the stalwarts, both claiming to be the only true republicans.

When the time for the election of 1880 approached, strong efforts were made to unite the two sides. The stalwarts were mostly for nominating General Grant again, but they were not

able to control the nominating convention. After some division Grant's opponents finally nominated James A. Garfield, of Ohio. The stalwarts were displeased at first, but after a while they smothered their anger and supported the man whom the

James A. Garfield

The election party had taken for of 1880 its candidate. The democrats nominated General W. S. Hancock, a brave officer in the civil war. He was not experienced in political affairs, and the people showed by their votes that they preferred his opponent, who had long been a prominent man in Washington. Garfield was elected by a safe majority.

His administration was a short one. July 2, 1881, he was shot by a half-crazy man,

who had been refused an office in the civil service. The wounded president lingered two months and a half and died on September 19. During his illness the newspapers published daily bulletins from his sick room, and all the people were drawn closely to him as they watched his brave fight against death. He was succeeded by Chester A. Arthur, of New York, who had been elected vice-president in 1880. Two important things happened while Arthur was president, 1881 to 1885.

The civil

First, Congress at last gave way, 1883, and passed an act for civil service reform. It provided for examinations for applicants for government positions. The names of those who passed the examinations were to be placed on a list, and when it was necessary to make an appointment, one of the three highest on the list was to be taken. When a man was once appointed, he could hold office as long as he was capable of

service law of 1883

doing the work. By this means we have gradually secured a faithful body of government clerks who do not live in fear of dismissal with every change of administration. The death of Garfield at the hands of a disappointed officeseeker showed the evil of the old system and had much to do with inducing congress to pass the civil service law.

The second important matter was the passage of a new tariff law. The years 1879 to 1882 were prosperous years. Wheat, cotton, and most other articles that we exported brought The surgood prices, and the country bought large quantities of plus foreign merchandise. The duties received on these articles as they came through the customhouses raised the federal revenue to a large sum. It was soon evident that we were getting much more money than was needed for government expenses. The surplus was used in paying the debt, but it became so large that many people began to think it would be better to lower the rates of duties and thus leave some of the surplus money in the pockets of the taxpayers.

This opinion was taken up by the democrats, who have generally favored lower tariffs, and in 1882 they carried the elections for the house of representatives. It was understood The tariff that they would pass a bill to reduce the rates as soon as of 1883 the new congress came into power. The friends of protection were alarmed and concluded that it would be better to reduce the tariff themselves, since they could do it in such a way that it would injure the protected manufactures least. Thus it happened that the tariff of 1883 was passed in the last days of the republican congress. It lowered the rates slightly, and it satisfied the popular demand for tariff reduction. When the new democratic congress came into power, late in 1883, it was not able to pass a law for further reductions.

In 1884 the parties were again arrayed in a contest to elect a president. The republicans nominated James G. Blaine, of Maine, a brilliant orator. He had been speaker of the house of represent

The candi

atives for several years and had a great many devoted friends. But he had made some very strong enemies, who would not vote for him under any conditions. He made many telling dates, 1884 speeches in the canvass. The democrats nominated Grover Cleveland, of New York, well known as a fearless reformer. He had been elected governor of the state in 1882 by a very large majority, and during the two years of his office he had shown a fearless determination to do his duty. It was believed that he could carry the state of New York, in itself a most important thing.

There were at this time a large number of independent voters. Many of them were men who had been liberal republicans in 1872,

Grover Cleveland

results

and many more were young men who believed in tariff reElection form. The independents did not like Blaine, and they turned all their strength to Cleveland. They had much influence in the important states, where a few voters could decide how the state voted. They were especially influential in New York, which went for Cleveland and thus insured his election by a small majority of the electoral vote. It was the first democratic victory since 1856.

Gloomy prophecies had been made for the country if it Cleveland should have a demoas president cratic president. To

the surprise of these prophets affairs went on under Cleveland in much the same way as under Arthur. The United States is so great