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The Republican Party: 
 
 ITS 
 
 HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND POLICIES. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 HON. JOHN D. LONG, 
 
 CONTRIBUTORS: 
 THE EDITOR ; Hon. EDWARD MCPHERSON, of Pa. ; Hon. L. E. PAYSON, 
 of 111.; Hon. EDMUND N. MORRILL, of Kansas; Senator WM, P. FRYE, 
 of Maine; Senator WM. E. CHANDLER, of N. H.; Senator JOSEPH R. 
 HAWLEY, of Conn.; Hon. NELSON DINGLEY, Jr., of Maine ; Hon. 
 J. C. BURROWS, of Mich.; Hon. GREEN B. RAUM, of 111.; Hon. 
 WM. MCKINLEY, Jr., of Ohio; Hon. BEN J. BUTTER- 
 WORTH and F. D. MUSSEY, Esq., of Ohio ; Hon. JOHN 
 S. WISE, of Va. ; Hon. HENRY CABOT LODGE, of 
 Mass.; Hon. JOHN J. INGALLS, of Kansas; 
 And Others. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 THE M. W. HAZEN CO.,, 
 (k- 
 
Copyright, 1892.1896. 
 
 BY 
 
 M. W. HAZE^f. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 While this work will serve a useful purpose in the Presi- 
 dential campaign of the present year, it has also a higher and 
 permanent value as a concise yet substantial history of the 
 Republican party, and a comprehensive discussion of the most 
 important political questions now pending. 
 
 The object of its preparation has been to give alike to the 
 student and to the busy man an authoritative statement, first, of 
 the great work achieved by that party for human freedom and 
 the people's welfare ; and, second, of the great economic and 
 beneficent principles on which it has insured and will continue 
 to insure the development of the Republic along every line of 
 prosperity and progress. 
 
 The names of the historian and of the contributors who 
 follow him are the best earnest of its contents, each of them 
 an authority upon every question he treats, and all holding 
 commanding places in national councils. They have been 
 actuated by a desire to impress the truth of history and the 
 foundations of political principle, and to responsibly instruct 
 the popular mind. The result, therefore, is not an ephemeral 
 work, prepared as a part of the shout of a campaign, but a sub- 
 stantial contribution to political literature. 
 
 Parties, like individuals, sometimes suffer from the very un- 
 broken sequence of their own good record. It at last becomes 
 tiresome to hear Aristides always called the Just. No political 
 party in any age or quarter of the civilized world ever had so 
 brilliant and beneficent a career or lived up to its own standards 
 so faithfully as the Republican party of Lincoln and Harrison. 
 Yet perhaps for that very reason the new generation of voters, 
 who since its birth have come to the ballot-box, hardly ap- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 preciate for what an advance and achievement it has stood and 
 still stands, and how vital are its principles to the safety and 
 progress of the country. There has been at times a tendency 
 rather to fling at its grand old record than to count the value of 
 its work. It is especially important, therefore, that the popular 
 mind be instructed to look beyond the catchwords and party 
 cries of the hour, and to comprehend the principles that are at 
 stake. 
 
 Happily, too, a reaction has already begun in consequence 
 of the present Democratic supremacy, with its painful back- 
 sliding from the pretense of civil-service reform ; the acknowl- 
 edged inability of its chief to rise above its own level, either of 
 reform or of administration ; its humiliating abandonment of 
 American rights in all its negotiations with foreign powers ; and 
 its now unconcealed surrender of the protection of American 
 industries and labor. 
 
 The Republican party has not only made a Presidential 
 nomination which commands the universal respect due to a 
 loyal soldier, a wise statesman, and an honest, unspotted man, 
 but its platform is a fearless, outspoken statement of its faith, 
 evading nothing, inviting discussion, patriotic, progressive, 
 American. 
 
 The following pages will not have been written in vain if 
 they shall cooperate with the efforts of a party which puts 
 such leaders at its front and so boldly enunciates its principles ; 
 or if they shall help to reawaken the spirit which in 1861 
 sprang, at the risk of life itself, to the rescue of freedom and 
 the Union, and which in 1888 is again summoned to the battle 
 of the people — the battle of an honest vote against a corrupt 
 ballot-box; of education and temperanceagainst the grog-shop ; 
 of protected labor against pauperism ; and of a country de- 
 veloped, defended, prosperous, against national humiliation on 
 the one hand or an " innocuous desuetude" on the other. 
 
 The Editor. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface, 4 
 
 PART I.— HISTORICAL. 
 
 Political Parties: 1789 to 1856. The Editor, . . . 11 
 Origin, of Parties in the United States — Formation and Adoption of 
 the Constitution under the Guidance of the Federal Party — Washington's 
 Administration — Settlement of the Government — Commerce and 
 Tariff — Hamilton's Doctrines — The First National Bank — Our First 
 Foreign Policy — Rise of the Republican (Democratic) Party — Federal 
 and Republican Policies — Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 
 and 1799 — The Republican Party in Power — Internal Improvements — 
 Party Measures — War of 1812-14 — Political Results — Demise of the 
 Federal Party — A New National Bank — The Era of Good Feeling — 
 Beginning of the Slavery Agitation — Missouri Compromise — Clay's 
 " American System" — The Tariff of 1824 — The "Monroe Doctrine" — 
 Formation of the National Republican (Whig) and Democratic Parties 
 — The Tariff of 1S28 — The Democrats under Jackson — The "Spoils 
 System" — Surplus Revenue — Panic of 1837 — Overthrow of the 
 Democracy in 1840 — Tariff of 1842 — War with Mexico — The Tariff 
 of 1846 — Wilmo't Proviso — Popular Sovereignty — Kansas and Nebraska 
 Bill — Native American Party — Divisions on the Slavery Question 
 — The Political Situation. 
 
 Rise and Progress of the Republican Party, 1856-88. 
 Hon. Edward McPherson, ex M. C. and ex Sec. U. S. 
 House of Representatives, 36 
 
 The Political Situation — Clay Compromise Measures of 1850 — Re- 
 peal of the Missouri Compromise — The Struggle in Kansas — Organ- 
 ization of the Republican Party — Party Platforms— Buchanan's Election 
 — The Dred Scott Decision — It intensifies the Slavery Agitation — 
 Presidential Election of i860 — Position of Parties — Lincoln's Election 
 — The Secession Movement — Buchanan's Message — Contrast with 
 Jackson's Policy in 1832 — The Resolutions of '98 — The Confederate 
 Constitution — Its Interpretation by A. H. Stephens — "Peace Con- 
 gress" at Washington — President Lincoln's Inauguration — Lincoln and 
 Slavery — The Emancipation Proclamation^The Thirteenth Consti- 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGH 
 
 tutional Amendment-Lincoln's Re-election in 1864— The Political 
 Situation-The Anti-Slavery Amendment-President Johnsons 
 Restoration Policy-" Freedmen's Codes" in the South-Action of 
 the Thirty-ninth Congress-The IMilitary Reconstruction Act— The 
 Presidential Election of i86S-The Fifteenth Amendment— Lincoln's 
 Probable Action-A Retrospect— The Financial Record of the Parties 
 —Treasury Notes— Internal Revenue Laws— The "Legal Tender" 
 Act— The National Banking Law— Rapid Decrease of the Enormous 
 War Debt— Resumption of Specie Payments— Recent Political History 
 — A Summary. 
 
 PART II.— VITAL QUESTIONS. 
 Public Lands. L. E. Payson, M. C. from Illinois, . .115 
 
 Our Original Land Policy— Pre-emption Laws— Origin and Results 
 of the Homestead Law— Land Grants in Aid of Railroads and Canals — 
 Reclamation of Unearned Lands — Alien Ownership. 
 
 Pensions. E. N. Morrill, M. C. from Kansas, . .12+ 
 
 Our Pension System — Growth of the Pension List — Pension Office 
 Administration — Spirit and Aims of Parties — Pension Vetoes — Action 
 of Congress. 
 
 Our Fisheries. Senator Wm. P. Frye, of Maine, . . 144 
 
 Original Fishing Rights: How Acquired— Treaties of 17S3, 1818, and 
 1S71 — Canadian Outrages — Evident Purpose of the Canadian and 
 English Governments — The Retaliatory Law and its Non-enforcement 
 — Treaty of iS83 — Importance of the Fishing Industry. 
 
 The Ajierican Navy. Senator William E. Chandler, of 
 New Hampshire, ........ 165 
 
 Condition in 1861 — Wonderful Increase in Power — Brilliant Exploits 
 during the Rebellion^Naval Policy immediately after the War — Rev- 
 olution in Naval Construction — Reconstruction of our Navy begun in 
 1882 — Conduct of the Navy Department under President Cleveland. 
 
 Our Coast Defenses. Senator Joseph R. Hawley, of 
 Connecticut, . , . . . . . . .182 
 
 Our Strength on Land — Condition of our Sea-coast Defenses — Want 
 of Congressional Action — Modern Heavy Ordnance — The British Navy 
 — Our Northern Frontier — On the East and West — Short Distances to 
 Europe — Value of Destructible Property exposed to an Enemy — Our 
 Defenseless Condition — Party Policies. 
 
 The American Merchant Marine. Nelson Dingley, Jr., 
 M. C. FROM Maine, ....... 207 
 
 Early Maritime Spirit — Growth and Decline of our Carrying Trade 
 
 Decadence of Ship-building — Our Coastwise Tonnage— Some Delusive 
 Theories Refuted — Why we do not Compete with British Vessels 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Wages, Maintenance of Crews, and Cost of Vessels— Objections to Free 
 Ships — Government Aid — Party Policies. 
 Our Forfign Trade. Hon. J. C. Burrows, of Michigan, 219 
 
 Grow;h of our Exports and Imports, 1790 to 1887 — Balance of 
 Trade— Promotion of Foreign Commerce by Establishing Postal Facili- 
 ties—Results of Restricting Mail Service— Liberal Subsidies granted 
 by other Nations — Our True Policy. 
 
 Internal Revenue. Hon. Green B. Raum, of Illinois, 231 
 
 Fiscal Policy adopted in i86i — Direct and Internal Taxation a War 
 Measure — Comprehensive Character of the System — The Enormous 
 Sums Collected — Tax Reductions since the War— Probable Total Re- 
 peal of the System in Time. 
 
 A Protective Tariff. President William McKinley, 
 
 OF Ohio, ........ . 241 
 
 The Higher Considerations of the Subject— A Question of Industrial 
 Independence — What Free Trade Means — Meaning of a Tariff for Pro- 
 tection, and a Tariff for Revenue Only — Freedom of Exchange among 
 our own Sixty Million People, Reasonable Restramt upon Outsiders 
 — The Value of Protection — Disastrous Results of a Tariff for Revenue 
 Only — Magnificent Results of 27 Years of Protection — Other Nations 
 coming to its Adoption. 
 
 Internal Development. Benjamin Butterworth, of 
 
 Ohio, and F. D. Mussey, ...... 257 
 
 Agricultural Gtowth — Decrease in Size, and Increase in Number and 
 Value of Farms — The Cereals — Hay, Cotton, Tobacco, and Other Great 
 Staples — Live Stock, Number and Value — Dairy Products — Wool-clip. 
 
 Manufactures — Number, Capital Invested, and Value of Products — 
 Influence on National Growth and Prosperity — Great Possibilities of the 
 Future. 
 
 Commetce — Rapid Growth — Inland — Coastwise — Foreign — Trans- 
 portation. 
 
 Railroads — Rise, Growth, and Present Condition of our Railway 
 System — Influence on National Development. 
 
 Waterways — Mining — The Precious Metals — Useful Minerals — 
 Petroleum — Natural Gas — Conclusion. 
 
 The Civil Service. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, of 
 
 Massachusetts, 294 
 
 The "Spoils System'' — Origin of the Reform Movement — Progress 
 under Republican Administrations — History of the "Reform" under 
 President Cleveland— Future of the New System. 
 
 The New South. John S. Wise, of Virginia, ex M. C, . 307 
 Early Political Sentiment— The National and States-rights Ideas— 
 The South under Slavery— Revolution in the Domestic Economy 
 
lO 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 wrought by Emancipation— Changed Conditions and Opinions— Old 
 Prejudices Passing Away— Acceptance of Republican Doctrines- 
 Material and Social Progress — A Bright Future. 
 
 A Fair Vote and an Honest Count. Hon. John J. 
 
 Ingalls, of Kansas, ...••■• S^S- 
 
 Republicans Favor Honest Elections— Democratic Crimes against the 
 Suffrage- Southern Elections— Election cf 1876— Recent Frauds in Va- 
 rious iNorthern States— An Honest Universal Suffrage the Foundation- 
 stone of our Political System— Our Liberties Endangered. 
 
 The Future Mission of the PartV. Senator Geo. F. 
 
 Hoar, of Massachusetts. ...... 339 
 
 Past Achievements — Constituent Elements of the Two Great 
 Parties— The Republican Faith — Important Objects to be Accomplished 
 — Forward. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Rise and Progress of the Republican Party, 1884 to 
 
 Date. J- Harris Pattox, Ph.D., of New York, . 344 
 
 The Campaign of 1884 — Cleveland's Election — Weakness and Failure 
 of his Administration — Democratic Attempts to injure Labor and unsettle 
 Business — The Campaign of 1888 — Election of Harrison — Four prosper- 
 ous Years — Successful Diplomacy — Samoan Affair — Behring Sea Contro- 
 versy — South American Matters — Act to encourage Ship Building — 
 Monetary Conference — Civil Service — McKinley Tariff — Reciprocity — 
 Appropriations — Foreign Opposition to Tariff — Canvass of 1892 — Elec- 
 tion of Cleveland — Business unsettled — Wilson-Gorman Tariff — Bond 
 Issues — Indebtedness — Monroe Doctrine — Bad Foreign Policy — Hawaii 
 — Venezuela — The Money Question — Canvass of iSq6 — Election of Mc- 
 Kinley — Success of his Administration. 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, 
 
 Alexander Hamilton 
 
 Henry Clay, 
 
 Daniel Webster, 
 
 Wm. Henry Harrison 
 
 Ulysses S. Grant, 
 
 Rutherford B. Hayes, 
 
 James A. Garfield, 
 
 Chester A. Arthur, 
 
 Gen. Benjamin Harrison, 
 
 Home and Birthplace of Gen. Harrison, 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 Page 14. 
 34 
 74 
 114 
 
 154 
 194 
 244 
 294 
 3S8 
 363 
 
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 POLITICAL PARTIES: 1789-1856. 
 By the Editor. 
 
 During the Revolution there were two parties — the Whig 
 and the Tory. The former contended for independence from 
 Great Britain ; the latter for continued allegiance to that 
 power. The patriots triumphed, and the Tories either fled 
 the country or accepted the situation and submitted. 
 
 For a time thereafter no organized political parties existed. 
 Under the Articles of Confederation, however, earnest move- 
 ment soon began for a stronger common government. There 
 was no executive power. Congress could recommend action 
 to the States, but it had no power to enforce action. It was a 
 political condition of national helplessness. Its continuance 
 was certain to result in resolving the Union back into its orig- 
 inal elements of thirteen independent sovereignties. There 
 was a general recognition of the necessity of a more vigorous 
 national constitution; but when the question came of its forma- 
 tion, then began the differences which have ever since distin- 
 guished parties in this country. On one side were those who 
 emphasized the Nation, demanded sovereign federal power, 
 and insisted on liberal provision for national development and 
 forthputting ; while on the other were those who emphasized 
 the States, demanded the reservation of their sovereignty, and 
 insisted on restricted national powers. The Constitution was 
 a compromise of these conflicting forces. And as the conflict 
 was waged in its promotion, so has it since been waged in 
 its interpretation and apphcation. The question of its adop- 
 tion by the several States turned each one of them into two con- 
 
12 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 tending camps— Federalist and Anti-federalist. Nothing but 
 the absolute necessity of a national government gave us our 
 present Federal Constitution. 
 
 Once in operation, there was so far a suspension of party 
 organization (but never of fundamental difference of opinion) 
 that Washington was the unanimous choice of the people as 
 their first president. Hardly, however, had his administration 
 begun — the first administration of the Federalists — before an 
 opposition party asserted itself. The French Revolution had 
 just overthrown monarchy and set up a republic. The Ameri- 
 can people were at once touched with sympathy with this new 
 cause of freedom and shocked at the atrocities that marked its 
 career. As one or the other sentiment predominated, so did 
 it array our people on one side or the other. Wisely refrain- 
 ing from interference with the quarrels in which the French 
 Republic was engaged with its neighbors, Washington and his 
 cabinet arrayed the Federalists upon the neutral ground which 
 has since then been the American policy as to European com- 
 plications. On the other hand, Jefferson, leaning towards 
 French radicalism, was gathering those who sympathized with 
 the French movement around the banner of popular democ- 
 racy with which he was then and thenceforth identified, and 
 under which he began to marshal the great part}- that has from 
 that time looked to him as its founder. 
 
 Washington issued a proclamation announcing that the 
 United States government would remain neutral in the wars 
 then going on in Europe. This document roused the anger of 
 the Anti-federalists, who seized upon the occasion to organize 
 a systematic and general opposition to the administration, but 
 especially to the policy of neutrality. Then followed the for- 
 mation of a series of clubs, modeled after the radical Jacobin 
 Clubs of Paris ; the object of the latter being to oppose the 
 existing government of that city by secret measures and in- 
 trigues. The " Democratic Society " was formed in Phila- 
 delphia, at that time the seat of the National Government. 
 Similar clubs were organized extensively in Pennsyh-ania and 
 in other States. ^Meanwhile these associations attracted the 
 attention of the Parisians, and one, " the Society of Charleston 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES: 1789-1856. I3 
 
 South Carolina, on its own application was recognized by the 
 Jacobin Club in Paris as an affiliated branch." There was some 
 difficulty in adopting a party name. The first used was Demo- 
 cratic-Republican ;\ but the latter word, though preferred by 
 Jefferson, was after some time dropped, and the simple desig- 
 nation " Democratic " retained. 
 
 Immediately after the adoption of the Constitution differ- 
 ences of opinion arose as to its proper interpretation. The orig- 
 inal Anti-federalists wished to have it interpreted "strictly," 
 while the Federalists believed that the Constitution should be 
 so interpreted as to make the operation of its principles most 
 effectual in national development. Alexander Hamilton em- 
 phasized the " implied powers of the Constitution " — meaning \ ^- 
 that if the Constitution authorizes a certain thing to be done, it 
 impliedly authorizes the use of the appropriate means to do it. 
 The former class of expounders were known in the phrases of 
 the times as "strict constructionists," and the latter as "loose 
 or broad constructionists." 
 
 The doctrine of the implied powers of the Constitution has 
 become the settled policy of the land ; to this result the strict 
 constructionists themselves have materially aided. For in- 
 stance : The Constitution authorizes Congress " to make all 
 laws which shall be necessary and "proper for carrying into exe- 
 cution the foregoing powers," meaning those expressly given it 
 by the Constitution. Among these is authority " to regulate 
 commerce among the several States." As trade cannot be car- 
 ried on properly without facilities for exchange, Congress char- 
 tered a " National Bank for twenty years, with the privilege to 
 establish branches in the States" (1789). This bank was estab- 
 lished at the suggestion of Hamilton. The strict construction- 
 ists bitterly opposed the proposition. They took special 
 umbrage at the last clause, which permitted branches to be 
 organized within the States. They thus discouraged a measure 
 that would seem to have the effect of uniting the States in a 
 bond of Union. The chief opposition in this case came from 
 the Virginia school of constructionists. At this early day we 
 see cropping out the theory that afterwards developed into the 
 extreme States-right doctrine. 
 
14 THE REPUELICAN PARTY. 
 
 Akin to this was the question of Internal Improvements. 
 Congress, for example, is authorized by the Constitution " to 
 establish post-offices and post-roads." It was very important 
 to make the valley of the Ohio more accessible to the Atlantic 
 slope by means of a suitable road across the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains. In consequence the famous National or Cumberland 
 road was proposed to be built by the National Government. 
 The " strict constructionists" proclaimed the project unconsti- 
 tutional, yet when in authority they voted appropriations for 
 it till it was finished (1806-1820). The road was too important 
 to permit fine-spun theories of interpretation to frustrate the 
 work. 
 
 The Constitution says : " New States may be admitted by 
 Congress into the Union." The authority is given and Con- 
 gress is at liberty to devise the means ; neither is there any re- 
 striction as to how the proposed territory shall be obtained. 
 Here is an occasion wherein the " implied powers" can be util- 
 ized. The important question as to the purchase of Louisiana 
 presented itself, and President Jefferson, the chief of the strict 
 constructionists, was put to the test of his own theories. Of 
 course he yielded, and made the purchase (1803), but apolo- 
 gized for the act by characterizing it as extra-constitutional. 
 
 These inconsistencies of the prominent strict constructionists 
 did much to neutralize the influence of their theory, and cause 
 that of the " implied powers" to become the policy of the Na- 
 tion. The power of Congress to charter National banks, or to 
 make appropriations for internal improvements, has long since 
 been unquestioned ; while Congress is untrammeled in obtain- 
 ing territories, and in due time, as the case may be, admitting 
 them as States. 
 
 The Federal party was in power during the administration 
 of Washington, and that of John Adams. During this time its 
 policy was subjected to the continual and unscrupulous assaults 
 of the opposition, whose leaders resisted nearly every measure 
 proposed in Congress by the Federalists. 
 
 The " clubs" being modeled after those of Paris, partook of 
 the. traits of the latter, and the turbulent and violent men of 
 the times found in them congenial elements. Says Prof. Sum- 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES : 1789-1856. I5 
 
 ner, in his life of Jackson : " The Republican (Democratic) par- 
 ty in 1 796 was filled with ill-informed and ill-regulated sympathy 
 for the French Revolutionists, and if it could have had i^s way 
 it would have committed the United States to close relations 
 with France, and, by importing Jacobinism into this country, 
 have overthrown constitutional liberty here." 
 
 The principles of his predecessor governed the administra- 
 tion of John Adams, and the opposition was still indefatigable 
 in assaults upon his policy, which on the whole has since be- 
 come the policy of the Union. It is remarkable that though 
 the Federalists were defeated in the election that chose Jeffer- 
 son President, yet the main features of their interpretation of 
 the Constitution have since been accepted. One of the best 
 appointments made by John Adams was the most important 
 in its influence ever made by a President. It was the appoint- 
 ment of John Marshall, of Virginia, to the office of Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The 
 Federal party, though dead, spoke through him for thirty-five 
 years, sustaining the integrity of the Constitution of an integral 
 Nation in contradistinction to that of a confederation or league 
 of States ; repelling the continuous assaults of those who, if 
 their theories had been carried out, would have disintegrated 
 the Union ; and dissipating the ominous shadows of the fa- 
 mous resolutions of '98, which culminated in the attempt at 
 nullification and afterward in the effort to break up the Union 
 by force of arms. The gist of these resolutions is that the 
 States, having formed the Union, are still sovereign and inde- 
 pendent, and have a right, of their own separate motion, to 
 nullify any act of the Federal Government which they, of their 
 own separate judgment, regard as unconstitutional, thus mak- 
 ing anyone State more potent than the Union of them all. It 
 was a departure from Madison's former faith. It was the doc- 
 trine of " States' Rights," which later found its great advocate 
 in Calhoun, whom Webster overthrew in debate, and its last 
 defense in the intrenchments of the rebellion of 1861, which 
 the soldiers of the North forever leveled under the resistless 
 sweep of their victorious battalions. The Federals survived as 
 a party organization till the second election of Jefferson in 
 
l6 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 1804; he then had 162 electoral votes, while the Federal candi- 
 date, Charles C. Pinckney, had only 14. 
 
 The relative material prosperity of the country for twelve 
 consecutive years under Washington and Adams has never 
 been excelled when viewed in the light of the circumstances of 
 the time, and compared with other prosperous periods of our 
 Nation. Commerce throve. An immense carrying trade was 
 promoted, owing to the wars then in progress in Europe. The 
 revenue was ample for the current expenses of the Govern- 
 ment. Industrial pursuits were encouraged to a remarkable 
 extent. But the masses were led to beheve by the harangues 
 and ludicrous clamor of native demagogues and the newspaper 
 writings of foreign refugee editors, that the Nation was rush- 
 ing headlong to destruction. 
 
 After the second election of Jefferson (1804) the Federal 
 party virtually disbanded as a political organization, except in 
 the New England States ; yet its leading minds maintained in 
 Congress a dignified support of their distinctive principles 
 whenever occasion required. 
 
 The wars continuing in Europe, a number of questions 
 came up in Congress during Jefferson's administration, which 
 were debated with great power and eloquence. Some of the 
 measures proposed by the President met with much opposition 
 from a portion of his own party, who joined with the Federal- 
 ists from the North, especially Massachusetts. These bolting 
 Democrats were contemptuously nicknamed " Quids" by their 
 former associates. They were led by John Randolph, of Vir- 
 ginia, and without doubt caused the modification of some ob- 
 jectionable measures. One of these was the gunboat scheme 
 in which the President, on the plea of economy, recommended 
 to be built and equipped a number of gunboats, which were to 
 be anchored in the harbors as a means of defense against an 
 enemy's warships, instead of having men-of-war of our own. 
 As soon as he entered upon ofifice he had commenced cutting 
 down expenses by stopping work on the six ships of the line 
 then in construction for the defense of our coasts and our com- 
 merce. The money had been appropriated and the work be^un 
 during John Adams' administration, but Jefferson ordered their 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES: 1789-1856. 17 
 
 frames to be cut up and the timber made into gunboats. The 
 latter came to nothing in the way of defense, and were the 
 subject of ridicule, especially among naval men. 
 
 As another expedient Jefferson proposed the famous em- 
 bargo, which his majority in Congress, having implicit faith in 
 the wisdom of the executive, passed. It proved equally futile 
 in annoying the belligerents, who were boarding and searching 
 American merchantmen, ostensibly for goods contraband of 
 war, and ruining the Nation's commerce, especially that of the 
 New England States, in which at that day the principal ship- 
 ping interests of the country was concentrated. These irrita- 
 tions between England and the United States continued, and 
 the commander of the British frigate Leopard, emboldened 
 by the defenseless condition of our coast, fired upon, boarded, 
 and took from the deck of the United States frigate Chesa- 
 peake four men, whom he claimed as deserters from another 
 British vessel. This incident served to unite both political 
 parties in condemning such outrages, but owing to the parsi- 
 mony of the administration the country was virtually defense- 
 less, and consequently was contemptuously treated by the 
 belligerents of Europe. 
 
 In 1808, the Democrats nominated James Madison, of Vir- 
 ginia, for the office of President, and the Federalists, now 
 joined by the Quids, renominated their previous candidate, 
 Charles C. Pinckney — Madison receiving 122 electoral votes, 
 and Pinckney 47. 
 
 When Madison assumed office our difficulty with foreign 
 nations yet continued, and with England they were still more 
 complicated. From 1803 to 1811, it is said that 900 Amer- 
 ican merchant vessels were captured by the belligerents with 
 corresponding loss to the- owners, but the Government at 
 Washington could hardly be roused into an attitude of self- 
 respecting resistance. 
 
 Congress, on the recommendation of President Madison, 
 finally declared war against England, June 18, 1812. The 
 effect of the declaration was in the main to unite all parties 
 in defense of the country, but of course there were different 
 opinions in respect to the manner in which the war should be 
 
IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 conducted. The remarkable success of the little navy in cap- 
 turing British vessels of equal power, and the skill and daring 
 of the American officers, elicited praise from friend and foe, 
 and had the effect of greatly encouraging the Nation and de- 
 veloping a vigorous war sentiment. After the war the whole 
 people were virtually united in one party. " The cardinal prin 
 ciple of the Federal party, the preservation and perpetuity of 
 the Federal Government, had been quietly accepted and 
 adopted by the Democrats, while the Democratic principle of 
 limiting the Federal Government's powers and duties had been 
 adopted by the Federalists." 
 
 In the presidential election of 1816, James Monroe, of 
 Virginia, was elected President. So great was the unanimity 
 of sentiment now manifested throughout the Union that a 
 part of the time of this administration was characterized as 
 the '' era of good feeling." 
 
 Meanwhile elements were at work preparing the way for 
 new political organizations. The spirit of enterprise was 
 abroad in respect to mechanical industry, and at the same time 
 there was growing up within the Democratic party itself a 
 more liberal construction of the Constitution, in contrast with 
 the views of the strict constructionists which formerly pre- 
 vailed. Congress passed a tariff designed for revenue, but also 
 involving further protection to our "infant industries." 
 
 The movement did not stop there, but went still further, 
 and chartered a National Bank for twenty years (1816). Alex- 
 ander Hamilton's famous argument in favor of such a bank 
 was now published in leading newspapers throughout the 
 country with warm approval. Almost a complete change had 
 taken place from the narrow theory held by the earl}- Demo- 
 cratic leaders. The number holding these liberal views, with 
 which the former Federalists fully sympathized, were now 
 sufficient to become the germ of a new political organization. 
 Henry Clay was the inspiring spirit. He was the first to stand 
 forth and encourage every movement that would promote 
 American industry and progress. He had been aggressive 
 during the war of 1812, and was the chosen leader of the 
 young and progressive American element. 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES : 1789-1836. I9 
 
 Just as party lines were about to be drawn on these ques- 
 tions another element cropped out, which suddenly made two 
 parties clear and distinct, but they were on a geographical 
 line — that of the free-labor and the slave-labor States. 
 
 The question of slavery came into our politics as a disturb- 
 ing cause in the relations between these great sections of the 
 Union. The occasion was when the Territory of Missouri 
 (1819) presented itself to be received into the Union as a State. 
 Congress granted the request, but insisted on an amendment 
 to its constitution in the form of a clause forbidding slavery. 
 The Territory belonged to the Louisana purchase, all of which 
 was reckoned free soil, but it had been settled largely from the 
 States of Virginia and Kentucky. The settlers had taken with 
 them their slaves, and wished to perpetuate the system of 
 negro servitude. In the House the members from the free- 
 labor States, having a majority, voted for the clause prohibiting 
 slavery, while those from the slave-labor States voted against 
 it. But the amendment failed to pass the Senate. 
 
 Congress adjourned (March 3, 1819), and the question 
 passed over to a new Congress which met on the 6th of 
 the following December. This was the commencement of an 
 agitation that lasted for forty-five years, and was only allayed 
 after a bloody war lasting four years. During all these years 
 slavery was a disturbing element, its advocates uniting in their 
 efforts to preserve the system, and also to extend it by acquir- 
 ing Territories for that express purpose. Its guardians watched 
 every movement that had a tendency either to benefit or 
 injure it. This spirit penetrated business relations North 
 and South; it influenced the education of the people; tram- 
 meled the intercourse between the two sections; stood in the 
 way of a free expression of opinion or interchange of thought 
 on the subject; invaded the churches and created divisions; 
 and made even the teaching of the slaves to read a penal 
 offense. Financial questions and tariff legislation were made 
 subordinate to the advancement and stability of the slave sys- 
 tem ; the Nation was disgraced by filibustering expeditions 
 against our Southern neighbors in order to make room for its 
 extension. Party lines to a certain extent on subjects not con- 
 
20 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 nected with slavery, directly or indirectly, were found in the 
 free as well as in the slave labor States, but on slavery the geo- 
 graphical line was definitely drawn. 
 
 The following year Missouri again applied for admission to 
 the Union, and at the same session Maine, formerly a part of 
 Massachusetts, also applied. The latter was granted admission 
 by the House without opposition, but the former was again re- 
 fused because the amendment prohibiting slavery was insisted 
 upon. When the matter came before the Senate, it joined the 
 two interests in one bill and passed it. It was the first instance 
 of the policy initiated for the purpose of having the increase 
 of the Senate equally divided between the free and slave 
 States. When the Senate bill came to the House it was re- 
 jected. A compromise followed, known as the famous Mis- 
 souri Compromise (1820). By this, Missouri was admitted to 
 the Union, but it was provided that thenceforth slavery 
 should be prohibited in all Territories lying north of the line 
 36° 30' and west of the State line of Missouri. 
 
 President Monroe was elected for a second term (1820), with 
 only one electoral vote against him. The tendency to a more 
 liberal construction of the Constitution was manifest from the 
 fact that the House elected John W. Taylor of New York its 
 Speaker. He was in favor of a Protective Tariff, of a system 
 of internal improvements, and also of limiting the extension of 
 slavery. The Southern members took umbrage at the action 
 of the House ; already were heard mutterings about the disso- 
 lution of the Union. 
 
 The strict constructionists were, however, able to defeat an 
 attempt to enlist government aid in favor of a national canal 
 system, and also a tariff having more protective features. 
 
 During the first session of the last Congress (XVHIth) of 
 Monroe's administration mention was made by him in one of 
 his messages of the revolt of the Spanish colonies on this con- 
 tinent against that country. It was then that he announced as 
 the policy of the United States that they would not interfere 
 in European affairs, neither would they tolerate any European 
 power obtaining a controlling influence on this continent. 
 This declaration has passed into historj' as the Monroe Doctrine • 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES: 1789-1856. 21 
 
 but its inspiring spirit was John Quincy Adams, Secretary of 
 State. 
 
 Tlie tariff of 1824 was an advance in its protective features. 
 It was passed by the votes of the Northern members, while the 
 Southern were almost unanimously opposed to it on the ground 
 that it was unconstitutional. They also charged that it was 
 sectional. Congress at the same session, passed a bill to insti- 
 tute a series of preliminary surveys for a national system of 
 lands. The era of good feehng had obliterated organized par- 
 ties, yet there was pervading the minds of the people a distinct 
 recognition of the change going on in respect to the interpreta- 
 tion of the Constitution. 
 
 The result of the disintegration of political parties was that 
 when the contest for the Presidency in 1824 commenced, vari 
 ous coteries put forth their favorites as candidates. There 
 were four in all ; William H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of 
 the Treasury ; John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, Secretary 
 of State ; Henry Clay, of Kentucky, Speaker of the House, and 
 General Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, then in private life. 
 
 Party lines were not clearly drawn, but Crawford and 
 Jackson were recognized as strict constructionists — Adams and 
 Clay as more liberal. Jackson was, however, inclined to favor 
 a Protective Tariff. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, Secre- 
 tary of War, was generally supported for the Vice-Presidency 
 by the friends of the other candidates, and he was selected by 
 the popular vote. 
 
 Of the four candidates for the Presidency Jackson had 99 
 electoral votes; Adams, 84; Crawford, 41 ; and Henry Clay 37. 
 As no candidate had a majority of the whole electoral vote the 
 election, according to the Constitution, was transferred to the 
 House of Representatives, which on such an occasion votes by 
 States. Only the three candidates having the highest number 
 of electoral votes were eligible to be voted for ; hence Henry 
 Clay was excluded. The friends of Clay gave Adams their 
 vote, and he was elected President ; thirteen States voted for 
 Adams, seven for Jackson, and four for Crawford. 
 
 As soon as Adams assumed ofifice the strict constructionists 
 — the Jackson and Crawford men — joined forces in general op- 
 
22 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 position to his administration. This had the effect of uniting 
 in its defense the liberal constructionists, the supporters of 
 Adams and Clay. These combinations of the four factions 
 formed two parties. The first retained the name Democrat, 
 (the name preferred by Jackson) and the second was known as 
 National Republican. The latter organization was composed 
 of the remnants of the Federal party and the more liberal and 
 progressive elements of the Democratic part)- which had joined 
 them. 
 
 In the first session of the XlXth Congress (1825) the liberals 
 had only five majority in the House, and that was liable at any 
 time to change sides on doubtful questions. In the Senate 
 they also had a majority. In that body an important change 
 was made in the appointment of its committees. From the 
 foundation of the Government, thirty-seven years before, the 
 presiding officer had named the members of the several com- 
 mittees. At this session Vice-President Calhoun was charged 
 with packing them in such a manner as to give the control to 
 the " Jackson men ;" and the Senate, to avoid the application 
 of such illiberal partisanship, changed the rule, and since then 
 has chosen its own committees. 
 
 During the remainder of Adams' administration the opposi- 
 tion virtually resolved itself into obstructionists in order to pre- 
 vent the passage of measures that would have a national bear- 
 ing. The House passed a bill increasing somewhat the rates of 
 the existing tariff, but Vice-President Calhoun defeated it in 
 the Senate by his casting vote. In 18 16 he had favored a 
 Protective Tariff, as he had also inclined to a National Bank. 
 But as the champion of slavery he became the very champion 
 also of States' rights. 
 
 The elections for the Twentieth Congress resulted in giving 
 the Democrats the control of the House of Representatives. 
 
 Meanwhile discussions in regard to the protection of Amer- 
 ican industries continued among the people and in the news- 
 papers, especially in the free-labor States. A tariff having 
 higher rates than that of 1824 was demanded. In this demand 
 numbers of Democrats of the latter States joined the Protec- 
 tionists. The strict constructionists, especially in the slave- 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES: 1789-1856. 23 
 
 labor States, were in favor of what they termed a " Tariff for 
 revenue only." The latter States had scarcely any manufact- 
 ories or diversity of industries ; they had cotton, tobacco, and 
 the proceeds of their pine forests to send abroad in exchange 
 for what they received from outside their own States. After 
 a debate of some six weeks the tariff of 1828 was passed, which 
 in its general protective character satisfied the manufacturers of 
 the free-labor States, but was bitterly opposed by the cotton 
 and tobacco raisers in the slave States. The latter character- 
 ized it as " legalized robbery." Now were heard the mutter- 
 ings of nullification, to sanction which were invoked the prin- 
 ciples of the resolutions of '98. 
 
 Meanwhile a Presidential canvas was going on ; the candi- 
 dates of the Democracy were Andrew Jackson and John C. Cal- 
 houn ; of the National Republicans, John Quincy Adams and 
 Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania. This was the first time that 
 the candidates of both parties were taken respectively from 
 the slave-labor and free-labor States. Both selections were 
 deemed sectional. In the election the Democrats were suc- 
 cessful by a large majority. 
 
 The last session of Congress under J. Q. Adams' adminis- 
 tration was comparatively quiet ; the obstructionists had ob- 
 tained their object — the future control of the Government. 
 The President in his message strongly advocated protection- 
 Unusually large appropriations were made for internal improve- 
 ments, though opposed by the " strict " Democrats on the 
 ground that they were unconstitutional. 
 
 During General Jackson's administrations (1829-15-37) the 
 leading parties remained the same. This was the period of 
 the Anti-masonic party, which arose in Western New York. 
 It grew out of the kidnapping of WilHam Morgan (1826), a 
 citizen of Batavia in that State, and a member of the society 
 of Freemasons. He proposed to publish a book revealing the 
 secrets of the order, and suddenly disappeared under circum- 
 stances that aroused suspicions of foul play. The affair caused 
 great excitement in that portion of the State, and a political 
 party was formed, whose " avowed object was to exclude Free- 
 masons from ofifice." It disappeared in a few years, after hav- 
 
24 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ing polled in several States, and at different times, a large 
 number of votes, though it never became a national party. 
 Members of it appeared, however, in limited numbers on the 
 floor of Congress, and the party assisted in making nominations 
 and in supporting candidates for the Presidency. In general 
 political views they sympathized with the National Republi- 
 cans. 
 
 Another organization — " The National Anti-slavery So- 
 ciety " — suddenly appeared (1833), and afterward exerted a tre- 
 mendous influence upon the destinies of the Nation, though it 
 never claimed to be a national political party. 
 
 The National Republicans became more and more dissatis- 
 fied with their name, and in the State of New York (1834) they 
 adopted that of Whig, borrowed from Revolutionary times. 
 This name was gradually accepted and in a short time it be- 
 came the recognized title of the organization. 
 
 When the Presidential canvas of 1836 was impending, the 
 first of our National Conventions was held at Baltimore, a year 
 in advance, by delegates of the Democratic party, who nomi- 
 nated Martin Van Buren, of New York, for the ofifice of Presi- 
 dent, and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, for the second 
 place. The Whigs and the Anti-masons, after a rather in- 
 formal nomination, supported General William H. Harrison, of 
 Ohio, for the office of President, and Francis Granger, of New 
 York, for the second place. Van Buren was elected, and John- 
 son, not having received a majority of the electoral votes cast, 
 was chosen by the Senate. 
 
 Van Buren's administration (i 837-1 841), in its general policy, 
 was designed to be the prolongation of that of Jackson, the 
 new President announcing upon his entrance upon office his 
 purpose " to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predeces- 
 sor." The latter had " sown the wind," and the former was 
 about " to reap the whirlwind." It came in the form of the 
 national financial crash of 1837, up to that time the most tre- 
 mendous in our history. The banks of New York city were 
 the first to suspend specie payments ; those of other cities soon 
 followed. The failures were specially numerous in New 
 Orleans ; corporations became bankrupt as well as business men 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES : 1789-1856. 25 
 
 and many fortunes which, owing to the speculations current at 
 the time, had a fictitious basis, vanished like a vision. Finan- 
 cial distress pervaded the whole land. 
 
 When the XXVth Congress met in extra session, it was 
 found that the Whigs had made unusual gains, lacking only 
 fourteen of having a majority in the House. A number of 
 Democratic members sympathized with them, and a small 
 number of the latter, calling themselves Conservatives, voted 
 with them on financial questions. In the following Congress, 
 though the Whigs continued to gain, they did not secure a 
 majority. But their gradual increase indicated the tendency 
 in the public mind in favor of their political views. The Anti- 
 slavery sentiment meanwhile was also increasing in the free- 
 labor States, and in consequence a Liberty party was formed. 
 This organization nominated (1839) national candidates — 
 James G. Birney, of New York, for President, and Francis Le 
 Moyne, of Pennsylvania, for the second place. 
 
 To prepare for the impending Presidential election the 
 Whig National Convention met earlier than usual at Harrisburg 
 (December 4, 1839), ^""^ nominated General William H. Har- 
 rison a second time for the office of President, and John Tyler, 
 of Virginia, for the second place. The following May, the 
 Democrats met in convention in Baltimore and unanimously 
 renominated Mr. Van Buren, but made, no nomination for 
 Vice-president. Their platform was apparently a step back- 
 ward. It denied the authority of the Constitution to aid inter- 
 nal improvements or protect manufactures, or to charter a 
 National Bank. This platform of principles had the effect of 
 rousing a more intense opposition among the Whigs, and also 
 of influencing in the same direction a large number of pro- 
 gressive Democrats. 
 
 At the election the Whigs were overwhelmingly successful, 
 the electoral votes being for Harrison, nearly 4 to i. Here was 
 a break in the control of the National Government by the 
 Democracy, and it was brought about largely by the men within 
 its own ranks who thought for themselves and refused to be 
 trammeled in their action by the traditions of the party. Har- 
 rison was also supported by independent citizens of all classes. 
 
26 THE REPQBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 The conduct of the canvass had been with far more than ordi- 
 nary excitement, the greater portion of the people throughout 
 the land having become so impressed with the importance of 
 the principles at issue that their enthusiasm carried them 
 triumphantly to the result. An immense concourse assembled 
 at Washington from all parts of the country to witness the in- 
 auguration. But the Whig party was doomed to be sadly dis- 
 appointed. One month after entering upon his duties Presi- 
 dent Harrison died, and, according to the Constitution, John 
 Tyler assumed the office. 
 
 Tyler failed to carry out the principles on which he had 
 been elected, gradually co-operated with the Democracy, and 
 was charged by those who elected him with deliberately betray- 
 ing the trust committed to his hand. 
 
 In order to aid in remedying the financial disorders of the 
 country both Houses of Congress passed, with fair majorities, 
 a bill to incorporate " The Fiscal Bank of the United States, 
 which should facilitate exchanges throughout the Union." 
 From this bill was carefully eliminated the Democratic objec- 
 tions to the old United States Bank, yet the President refused 
 to give it his signature on the plea that it was unconstitutional. 
 Another bill was passed, modified in its provisions in accordance 
 with his own suggestions. This he also refused to sign. This 
 double dealing of the President roused intense indignation in 
 the party that had elevated him to the of^ce. 
 
 Meanwhile the compromise tariff of 1833, -with its decreas- 
 ing sliding scale, was found insufficient to produce enough 
 revenue to defray the current expenses of the Government. 
 Congress attempted to remedy the evil by re-enacting the 
 original tariff of that year. This bill was vetoed. Another 
 bill was then prepared and passed, and it met the same fate. 
 Finally a third was modified in such manner as to receive the 
 President's signature. This was the noted tariff of 1842. 
 These contests between the President and the Whig majority 
 in Congress continued through his administration. 
 
 Another question which had an effect on parties was that of 
 the annexation of Texas. To this the Whigs of the free-labor 
 States were decided!}- opposed, as it in\ olvcd the extension of 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES : 1789-1856. 2/ 
 
 slavery, while for that reason some of the Whigs of the slave- 
 labor States favored the scheme. Here was an element that in 
 due time insured a change in the relations of the existing 
 political parties. 
 
 Another Presidential contest, that of 1844, was approaching, 
 and the several nominations were made in the usual manner. 
 The Liberty party was the first to move. Meeting in Buffalo 
 (1843) it again nominated James G. Birney for President, and 
 Thomas Morris, of Ohio, for the second place. 
 
 The Whigs held their National Convention at Baltimore, 
 May I, 1844. Theyannounced their usual platform of princi- 
 ples, together with tlae distribution of the surplus revenue among 
 the States. They nominated Henry Clay, of Kentucky, for the 
 Presidency and Theodore Frelinghuysen,of Nev/ Jersey, for the 
 second place. The Democratic convention met also in Balti- 
 more on May 27th, 1844. They still proclaimed themselves 
 strict constructionists, but introduced some new articles of 
 political faith — one demanding the reoccupation of Oregon up 
 to 54° 40' North latitude, and another the annexation of 
 Texas. They nominated James K. Polk, of Tennessee, for the 
 first place on the ticket and George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, 
 for the second. The Democratic candidates were elected. 
 
 The Whig party was, politically speaking, the lineal descend- 
 ant of the Federal, the leaders of which introduced and carried 
 out, during the first twelve years of our Nation's life, that gen- 
 eral policy of government which remains to this day. The 
 Democratic party had its origin in the clubs formed for the 
 express purpose of opposing the policy just mentioned. One 
 was a party of construction and progress, the other of obstruc- 
 tion and reaction. The Democratic leaders held their followers 
 in hand by means of caucuses and conventions; the rank and 
 file implicitly obeyed and voted as directed. On the other 
 hand, the Whig leaders never held the members of their party 
 effectually in leading-strings. In his History of Political Parties 
 {pages 5 and 6) that prince of party strategists, Martin Van 
 Buren, says: "For more than half a century the Democratic 
 party, whenever it has been ivise enough to employ the caucus 
 or convention system, has been successful." He sneers at the 
 
28 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 "sagacious leaders" of the Federalists, and afterward of the 
 Whigs, because of this lack of success in holding the members 
 of their party in the voting lines. 
 
 A remarkable impulse was given to the diffusion of political 
 knowledge by the anti-slavery agitation, which commenced 
 about 1833. The vivid presentation of the subject by lectures 
 and general discussions roused an interest that never flagged, 
 but increased till the end was accomplished. This was espe- 
 cially the case in the free-labor States, but in the South such 
 discussions were prohibited by the influence of the slave-hold- 
 ers, while the circulation of newspapers containing them was 
 forbidden. 
 
 When President Polk assumed of^ce (1845- 1849) the terms 
 for the annexation of Texas offered by the last administration 
 had been accepted by the Texas Congress, and also by a con- 
 vention elected by the people. This movement produced pro- 
 tests from Mexico, and threats of war on her part. A crisis 
 was hastened by the advance of Gen. Zachary Taylor with a 
 military force to the east bank of the Rio Grande, thus occu- 
 pying a territory that was in dispute. It gave occasion to the 
 first conflict of the Mexican war at Palo Alto (May 8, 1846). 
 The Whigs disapproved of the war, as unnecessary, believing 
 the end could be secured by negotiation. But they supported 
 it till its conclusion. The North saw in its Democratic and 
 pro-slavery backing the subtle purpose of strengthening the 
 slave-power and of committing to its maintenance and suprem- 
 acy the whole weight of the country and of its political admin- 
 istration. 
 
 The President asked for an appropriation to be applied in 
 purchasing territory ; this was granted, but the House inserted 
 a condition " that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 
 shall ever exist in any part of said Territory, except for crime, 
 whereof the party shall be duly convicted " (Aug. 1846). This 
 was the famous " Wilmot proviso," thus designated from the 
 name of the member who introduced it. For this proviso the 
 northern Democratic members and the Whigs voted ; the bill 
 was sent to the Senate, but Congress adjourned before that 
 body acted upon the measure. 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES: 1789-1856. 29 
 
 The " Proviso" has become historical, as its passage in the 
 House opened up the question of slavery in a new phase. To 
 this proviso may be traced indirectly the breaking up of the 
 Whig party. But it led to a greater and more influential com- 
 bination of political elements. The entire slave-labor States 
 were, with one voice. Whig and Democratic, opposed to the 
 proviso. The result was that the Southern wing of the Whig 
 party became thoroughly disorganized, while the Northern wing 
 of the Democratic was much divided. 
 
 These discordant political elements took practical form in 
 the impending Presidential canvass. On May 22, 1848, the 
 Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore. It 
 adopted the platforms of the two preceding conventions, and 
 took care to reiterate its faith in strict construction. It nomi- 
 nated Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for the Presidency, and William 
 O. Butler, of Kentucky, for the Vice-presidency. On June 7 
 the Whig Convention met in Philadelphia, and nominated 
 Gen. Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, and Millard Fillmore, of 
 New York. For prudential reasons they adopted no platform. 
 
 There had grown up among certain Northern Democrats 
 a strong sentiment against the extension of slavery into free 
 territory, hence they had voted for the Wilmot Proviso. The 
 Whigs and this portion of the Democratic party were not yet 
 fully prepared to take decided ground on the slavery question. 
 This portion of the latter party were indignant at the harsh 
 manner in which Mr. Van Buren, their favorite, had been de- 
 nied the renomination in the Convention of 1844. Two dele, 
 gations had gone from New York to that Convention at Balti, 
 more which nominated Mr. Cass. Both delegations were, 
 however, admitted with the understanding that the vote of 
 the State should be divided between them. It happened on 
 account of some dissatisfaction that the delegation that was 
 opposed to the extension of slavery into free territory withdrew 
 from the Convention. After the nominations just mentioned 
 were made, on August 9th these dissatisfied Democrats met 
 in Convention at Buffalo, and assumed the party name of Free- 
 soil Democrats. They nominated Mr. Van Buren for the office 
 of President, and Charles Francis Adams of Massachusetts for 
 
30 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the second place. With this new organization the old Liberty 
 party at once affiliated. The Whig nominees, Taylor and Fill- 
 more, were elected. 
 
 Gen. Taylor was inaugurated President, March 5, 1849. He 
 had been elected in consequence of the withdrawal of the Free- 
 soil Democrats from the main body ; Van Buren thus had his 
 revenge. In less than a year Taylor died, and Fillmore became 
 President. 
 
 The Free-soilers would not unite with the Whigs, because 
 the latter had rejected the principle of the Wilmot Proviso ; 
 much less could they return to the old Democracy. The num- 
 bers of the latter had been increassd by accessions to their 
 ranks of pro-slavery Whigs, which made up for the defection 
 of the Free-soilers. Meanwhile the Whigs as a party organ- 
 ization were on the verge of dissolution. There was evi- 
 dently a basis for a new political organization, the principles 
 of which would be national in their character, and thus 
 worthy of the support of thinking men everywhere who 
 wished to unite in opposition to slavery itself or against its 
 extension into free territory — the common property of the 
 entire Nation. Influences were not long wanting which 
 brought about the blending of these elements. 
 
 The accession to the Democratic ranks of the pro-slavery 
 Whigs gave the former unusual prestige. It induced them to 
 commence a series of aggressions in support of slavery and its 
 extension, which roused opposition in the free-labor States. 
 Even those who had hitherto been apparently indifferent on 
 the subject gradually began to array themselves in that opposi- 
 tion. Self-constituted expounders commenced circulating the 
 opinion among the slave-holders and their subservient pro- 
 slavery friends in the free-labor States that the Constitution 
 gave no authority to Congress to interfere with sla\-ery in the 
 Territories. From this followed the theory that the settlers 
 therein had the sole right to control the matter. This was 
 called Popular (vulgarly Squatter) Sovereignty. From this 
 / dogma the transition was easy to the conclusion that the Mis- 
 souri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional and illegal, as 
 it prohibited splavery north of 36° 30' ; and that the people liv- 
 
POLITICAL Parties : 1789-1856. 31 
 
 ing in such territory had a riglit to establish slavery or not as 
 they chose. These doctrines and the exorbitant demands of 
 the pro-slavery party continued to excite discussion, and 
 brought the subject before the minds of multitudes in the free- 
 labor States in an entirely different aspect. The humane senti- 
 ment abroad in these States was greatly in favor of freedom. 
 
 In the midst of this political excitement came the Compro- 
 mise measures of 1850, one feature of which was the fugitive 
 slave law — a law for restoring to their Southern masters run- 
 away slaves who had escaped to the free States. This law, 
 because of the exceeding harshness, injustice, and the cruelty 
 with which it was enforced, produced in the free-labor States 
 intense indignation against the slave system itself. In the 
 legislatures of a number of these States a counter-influence was 
 developed in what were termed personal-liberty bills ; these 
 were designed to protect free negroes who might be accused of 
 being runaway slaves. 
 
 On June i, 1852, the Democratic National Convention met 
 in Baltimore. The main feature of its platform was the indorse 
 ment of the resolutions of 1798 ; it also laid special stress upon 
 the enforcement of the fugitive-slave law. The convention 
 nominated Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire for the Presi- 
 dency, and for the second place William R. King of Alabama. 
 On the i6th of the same month the Whig National Convention 
 also met in Baltimore. Apparently not to be outdone, it like- 
 wise indorsed the enforcement of the fugitive-slave law in 
 equally vigorous terms. It nominated Gen. Winfield Scott of 
 Virginia for the first place on the ticket, and William A. Gra- 
 ham of North Carolina for the second. These indorsements 
 of that obnoxious law by both the leading parties prepared the 
 minds of multitudes in the free-labor States to take part in a 
 new and future pohtical organization, that should oppose all 
 these measures. 
 
 On August nth the Free-soil Democratic Convention met in 
 Pittsburgh. It took high moral ground on slavery as a sin 
 against God and a crime against man, and also vigorously de- 
 nounced the fugitive-slave law because of its injustice. The 
 Convention nominated John P. Hale of New Hampshire, and 
 
32 TH1-: RLFUBLICAX PARTY. 
 
 George W. Julian of Indiana. The election resulted in making 
 Franklin Pierce President. 
 
 In the year of this presidential election appeared a new po- 
 litical party, its members being drawn from the two prominent 
 ones, though up to the time of their sudden appearance as a 
 political organization they had remained quietly in connection 
 with their respective parties. From the first it was secret in its 
 plans. When the members were asked concerning the nature 
 of their society, they would uniformly profess ignorance, for 
 they were bound by oath to keep the secrets of the order. The 
 people in derision called them Know Nothings, but they them- 
 selves wished to be known as the American Party, whose motto 1 
 was that " Americans should rule America." Their intention ^ 
 was to counteract the influence of fore%ners in our elections, 
 as the latter by their numbers held the balance of pov.er, es- 
 pecially in the cities. To obviate this, the American Party 
 wished to change the time required for a foreigner to be a resi- 
 dent of the Union before he could receive naturalization papers. 
 They proposed that instead of five it should be twenty-one 
 years. The organization met in secret and in like manner 
 made its own nominations, or indorsed those made by either 
 one of the two main parties, as the case might be, and they 
 were thus able to decide a number of important elections. 
 
 After its success in the election of President Pierce the 
 slave-power appeared to be inspired with new vigor, and to act 
 more arrogantly in its determination to extend sla\-er}- into 
 the Territories, and to make it more stable where it already ex- 
 isted. At this distance of time it seems that the slave-holding 
 politicians, in their aggressions at thispoint, were almost insane. 
 They were indifferent to the fact that they were thereby creat- 
 ing throughout the free-labor States a sentiment of extreme 
 enmity to the whole slave system. 
 
 The XXXIIId Congress met December 5, 1853. In its first 
 week a bill was introduced into the Senate by Senator Stephen 
 A. Douglas of Illinois to organize the vast region now known 
 as Kansas and Nebraska, as one Territory. The Senate was 
 startled by the offer of an amendment to the effect that sla\-ery 
 was not prohibited in these Territories by the Missouri Com- 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES: 1789-1856. 33 
 
 promise. Here was a new phase of an old subject. About a 
 week later Mr. Douglas introduced another bill, but so modi- 
 fied it that, instead of one, the region was divided into two 
 Territories — Kansas and Nebraska. In this bill was an- 
 nounced the theory that the Missouri Compromise was super- 
 seded by the Compromise of 1850, and that any Territory, no 
 matter how situated, either south or north of the line of 36°, 30' 
 could reject or admit slavery, on becoming a State, as its inhab- 
 itants should decide. The Senate passed this bill, but it was 
 opposed by the Free-soil Democrats and Northern Whigs. It 
 then came to the House, which finally passed it. May, 1854. 
 This action brought about the final separation of the Northern 
 Whigs from the Southern. The former assumed the name of 
 Anti-Nebraska Whigs ; and the latter were identified with the 
 Democratic party, both North and South. 
 
 And now the several elements outside the latter party 
 were preparing to take a new departure in politics. The issue 
 was reduced at last to the choice between slavery and freedom, 
 a republic all free or a republic all subservient to the interest of 
 human bondage. Some years were yet to elapse before this 
 issue was to be definitely stated in the calm logic of Seward or 
 the homely, overwhelming eloquence of Lincoln. But the po- 
 litical forces of the country were taking shape on this line as 
 surely as the water runs to the sea. The Dred Scott decision, 
 unutterably shocking to the high convictions of a liberty-loving 
 people, showed that there was a tribunal in their hearts higher 
 than that which sat on the Supreme bench. The failure of the 
 poor compromises, on which expired the last flickers of the 
 genius of Webster and Clay, was the presage of the mighty 
 groundswell of a tide that swept away compromise and policy 
 before the resistless forces of right and justice. Henceforth 
 for a generation the Democratic party was to undergo the 
 humiliation of identification with a bankrupt treasury, an im- 
 paired industrial enterprise and growth, a disintegrating 
 union, a doughface surrender to Southern and slave-power ex- 
 action, and resistance to the reconstruction of the Repubhc 
 and to the restoration and maintenance of its high finan- 
 cial credit and security. And henceforth was to come mto 
 
34 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 existence and into the most glorious career ever exhibited in 
 political history, the Republican party; snatching from the 
 blundering, incompetent, palsied, and in some instances disloyal 
 hands of its great rival the torn and imperiled Republic ; pre- 
 serving the union of her States ; throttling treason ; putting 
 under heel the most gigantic of rebellions; abolishing slav- 
 ery; making millions of bondmen free; meeting and discharg- 
 ing every pecuniary obligation ; reconstructing the disordered 
 constellation of national stars; paying an enormous national 
 debt with a rapidity that has started the whole world into ac- 
 clamations of praise ; taxing its people without burdening or 
 oppressing them ; reducing the exactions of taxation with ex- 
 quisite adjustment to the necessities of the occasion ; providing 
 munificently for its veteran soldiers ; developing, under a sys- 
 tem of protection to its industries and labor, its resources of 
 national wealth and growth with a success that has swept the 
 United States beyond any other nation on the earth in these 
 respects and made it a paradise of home as it is of freedom. 
 This party has from the first embodied the progress, reform, 
 education, and national prosperity of the people, as against 
 the obstruction of all these and the reaction from them. And 
 the student who examines the history of parties antecedent to 
 its existence, will find that the lines on which it diverges from 
 its competitor are lines which run through the whole political 
 history of the Republic back to the beginning. On one side 
 the narrow, strict, and retarding spirit ; on the other the 
 liberal, broad, and progressive spirit. On the one side the ob- 
 structive " You can't ; " on the other the inspiring "'You can." 
 On the one side the bondage wli^ich slavery not more surely 
 laid on the personal freedom of the black man than upon the 
 public spirit and enterprise of his master ; still later, even to 
 this day, the manifestation of the same restricted spirit in 
 its hesitation to give to the New South the same splen- 
 did development of its resources which the "American 
 System" has given to the North ; worst of all, the violence 
 that still robs, whether by force or trick, the citizen of his rights 
 at the ballot-box. On the other side the reverse of all this. 
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POLITICAL PARTIES : 1789-1856. 35 
 
 constitut.onal make-up of the individual. But a growing de 
 velopment brings the assurance that the lessons of the past are 
 not lost ; that the results of the great struggle are to be hon- 
 estly accepted ; that the Nation is stronger than ever before in 
 its great fraternity ; and that, however much we may differ in 
 name, history will record that as the liberal construction which 
 our fathers gave the Constitution has been the accepted policy 
 of the Nation, so the spirit which in these later days the Re- 
 publican party has infused into its national life — the spirit of 
 growth and human equality — the spirit of an enlightened and 
 enlivened Americanism — the spirit of Hamilton, Clay, Web- 
 ster, Lincoln, Grant, and Garfield — is the true spirit of the 
 American Repubhc, now and henceforward. 
 
2,6 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE REPUBLICAN 
 PARTY: 1856-1888. 
 
 By Hon. Edward McPherson, of Pa. 
 
 In order to understand what the Republican party has 
 done, it is necessary to understand the conditions which called 
 it into being, the purposes to which it devoted itself, the prob- 
 lems which successively confronted it, and the methods by 
 which it proceeded to solve them. 
 
 As a national organization it first appeared in 1856. The 
 anti-slavery sentiment which it finally embodied first made 
 manifestation in 1840, as a "Liberty" party, which polled for 
 candidates who had declined their nomination 7,059 votes — a 
 handful in twelve of the States. 
 
 By 1844, as a result of the proposed and pending annexa- 
 tion of Texas with the avowed purpose of enlarging the area 
 and the political power of slavery, this vote grew to 62,300 in 
 thirteen States, upon a platform which demanded " the absolute 
 and unqualified divorce of the General Government from slavery, 
 and also the restoration of equality of rights, among men, in 
 every State." Of this aggregate, its candidates received 
 15,812 votes in New York, 10,860 in Massachusetts, and 8,050 
 in Ohio. 
 
 By 1848, Texas having been annexed and the Mexican War 
 fought, an overshadowing issue arose: Upon what principle 
 should the territory wrested from Mexico be engrafted into our 
 system? The "Free Democracy" planted themselves "upon 
 the national platform of Freedom, in opposition to the sec- 
 tional platform of Slavery." They declared that "Congress 
 has no more power to make a slave than to make a king^; no 
 more power to institute or establish slavery than to institute 
 ■or establish a monarchy." They accepted the issue which, the 
 
ITS RISE ANIJ PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 37 
 
 "slave power has forced upon us; and to the demand for more 
 slave States and more slave territory," their calm but final an- 
 swer was, "No more slave States and no more slave territory." 
 But they " proposed no interference by Congress with slavery 
 within the limits of any State." In that election, on that plat- 
 form of principles, the distinctive anti-slavery vote, which had 
 increased eight-fold between 1840 and 1844, now increased four- 
 fold more and reached an aggregate of 291,263 votes in eighteen 
 States. Its candidate, Martin Van Buren, a Democratic ex- 
 President, cut in twain the Democracy of the Empire State, of 
 Massachusetts, and of Vermont, and took the larger share for 
 himself. He nearly equaled the regular Democratic vote in 
 Wisconsin, and he largely swelled his vote over Birney's in 
 1844, in all the States of the North. 
 
 By 1852, the Clay Compromise measures of 1850 had been 
 enacted. They admitted California as a free State. They 
 provided governments for the remaining territory acquired from 
 Mexico, and gave to these governments in the Territories legis- 
 lative power over "all rightful subjects of legislation consistent 
 with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions 
 of this act." The slave trade was prohibited within the District 
 of Columbia, and a new fugitive-slave law was passed which 
 provided officers of the United States for its execution. These 
 provisions covered all the outstanding questions in controversy, 
 and were passed under the claim that they "settled" every 
 existing phase of the slavery question. 
 
 Both of the great parties of the country accepted and rati- 
 fied them as such. The Whigs accepted them as a "settlement 
 in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting ques- 
 tions which they embrace." They pledged themselves to their 
 maintenance and enforcement. They deprecated all further 
 agitation of the question thus settled as " dangerous to our 
 peace." And they promised "to maintain this system as 
 essential to the nationality of the Whig party and the integrity 
 of the Union." The Democrats declared a purpose to "abide 
 by, and adhere to, a faithful execution of the acts known as the 
 Compromise measures settled by the last Congress." They 
 further resolved that they "will resist all attempts at renewing 
 
38 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, 
 under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made." 
 The "Free Democracy," under the candidacy of John P. Hale, 
 advanced their lines beyond the points fixed in 1848 by the 
 more sagacious Van Buren. They declared " slavery to be a 
 sin against God, and a crime against man, which no human 
 enactment nor usage can make right ; and that Christianity, 
 humanity, and patriotism alike demand its abolition." They 
 demanded the "immediate repeal of the fugitive-slave law." 
 And they declared the Compromise measures of 1850 "as a 
 wholly inadequate settlement of the questions of which they 
 are claimed to be an adjustment." Upon this platform the 
 anti-slavery vote fell to 155,825. The losses were very large 
 except in the States of Massachusetts and Vermont, in which 
 their vote was about two-thirds of that polled in 1848, when 
 Mr. Van Buren limited the demand to the one point, "No 
 more slave States and no more slave territory," coupled with 
 the other explicit declaration that no interference by Congress 
 with slavery within the limits of any State was proposed. 
 
 The election in 1852 was conclusive of the willingness of 
 the country to accept the Compromise measures of 1850 as a 
 " final adjustment " of the whole slave controversy. Of the 
 3,143,679 votes cast, 2,987,854 were cast for candidates of the 
 two great parties which had indorsed the "settlement." Only 
 155,825 votes were cast for the candidates pledged against it. 
 While these measures were pending in Congress, public senti- 
 ment was much divided upon them. The measures combined 
 as a whole had actually been defeated in the Senate. But 
 they subsequently passed both houses as separate enactments. 
 A considerable portion of the governing class in the South had 
 resisted them in both forms, as not sufficiently promoting and 
 protecting the interests which clustered about slavery. 
 
 Large masses of people in the North had opposed them in both 
 forms, as yielding too much to a clamorous and growingly ag- 
 gressive slavery propagandism. But the pending bills had, at 
 last, become laws of the Union, under circumstances which pre- 
 cluded the possibility of change within any reasonable period. 
 Many causes combined to induce acquiescence. Whether 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 39 
 
 wisely or unwisely passed, they were upon the statute-books, 
 were in process of execution, were creating rights, were a part 
 of the machinery of government. As done, the practical 
 American applied to the situation the testing question : Is it 
 wiser to accept what may be good in them, trusting to time for 
 overcoming or modifying the evil, or to join in an agitation for 
 repeal which must needs be protracted, and most probably 
 futile? The popular instinct was well-nigh universal. Besides, 
 this question was the only national question which threatened 
 to prove a source of national weakness. Danger lurked in it, 
 and the timid naturally yielded to the situation. In addition, 
 there was a passionate longing for rest from these turmoils; 
 and the way to reach it appeared to be the acceptance of this 
 " settlement," to which great names had given a sort of sanc- 
 tity. It was represented that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 
 had settled the status of slavery in the unorganized territory 
 purchased from France; that this Compromise of 1850 had 
 settled the status of slavery in all the territory gained from 
 Mexico ; that, besides, all the minor issues growing out of 
 slavery had also been adjusted ; and that, with this Compromise 
 accepted, the country could, with confidence, look forward for 
 years to restful and happy progress. This reasoning prevailed. 
 The Democratic party, which had been voted out of power in 
 1 848, was again restored, because it appeared to be more closely 
 identified with these measures and therefore more worthy to 
 be trusted with the duty of maintaining them. Its candidate 
 had a popular plurality of nearly a quarter of a million of votes, 
 and, having carried every State but four, the enormous majority 
 of 212 in the electoral college. After such a verdict, the 
 country gave attention to the material interests of the hour, 
 supposing that its right to "have peace " had been fully won. 
 
 THE REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 
 
 Never was confidence more ruthlessly betrayed. Within 
 one year from the inauguration of the President then and thus 
 elected, the country was, by his consent, involved in a more 
 violent agitation than ever — one which increased constantly in 
 bitterness and breadth, and which ceased not till the guilty 
 
40 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 cause of it was torn out of the National Constitution by a 
 wronged and wearied people. 
 
 President Pierce in his first annual message, in December, 
 1853, spoke of the Compromise measures of 1850 as "having 
 given renewed vigor to our institutions and restored a sense of 
 repose and security to the pubhc mind throughout the coun- 
 try." This was literally true. He then added this pledge : 
 " That this repose is to suffer no shock during my official term, 
 if I have power to avert it, those who placed me here may be 
 assured." Within two months this voluntary pledge was de- 
 liberately broken, and the Congress was engaged, with the 
 active approval of the Pierce administration, in attempting to 
 repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had been 
 passed under circumstances of equal solemnity with the Com- 
 promise of 1850, and which had provided that in all that terri- 
 tory of the Louisiana purchase " lying north of thirty-six degrees 
 thirty minutes, north latitude, slavery and involuntary servi- 
 tude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the 
 party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby for- 
 ever prohibited." For thirty years this Compromise had stood, 
 and States had been admitted under it : Arkansas on the south 
 of the line, Iowa on the north of it. Besides, Missouri, though 
 north of the line, had at the time been admitted as a slave 
 State. Thus the South had in hand two States, besides Louisi- 
 ana, as the fruit of that compact. The North had one. And 
 the time having come for the organization of territorial gov- 
 ernments in Kansas and Nebraska, the South now proposed 
 to "annul" that compact, refuse to keep its faith of 1820, 
 reaffirmed in 1836 and 1845, and to make it an open ques- 
 tion whether Kansas and Nebraska should not be added to 
 the Union as slave States, although by the Compromise they 
 were pledged to be organized as free Territories. 
 
 This odious breach of faith had, up to that time, been without 
 a parallel in our history. They who were guilty of it winced under 
 the damaging imputation. Their only excuse was the flimsy 
 assumption that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a 
 " monument of error," a " beacon of warning," and a " dead 
 letter in law" which deserved to be expunged from the statute- 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 4I 
 
 book. And the country was also kindly informed that, " in the 
 progress of constitutional inquiry and reflection, it had come to 
 be seen clearly now that Congress does not possess power to 
 impose restrictions of this character." 
 
 The moral sense of the country was not appeased by these 
 crafty suggestions, nor could it reconcile itself to the deception 
 practiced upon it by the Pierce administration. The Demo- 
 cratic party had solemnly promised to keep the peace on this 
 question. A credulous public had believed it, though but eight 
 years had passed since the same party had, under like circum- 
 stances, showed how lightly it regarded a public pledge. 
 
 In 1844 the Democratic party resolved that our title to the 
 whole of the Territory of Oregon is " clear and unquestionable ;" 
 that no portion of the same ought to be " ceded to England " or 
 any other power ; and that " the re-occupation of Oregon is a 
 great American measure, which this convention recommends 
 to the cordial support of the Democracy of the Union." But 
 within fifteen months after the inauguration of the Democratic 
 President elected on that platform, its President " ceded to 
 England " five degrees and forty minutes of territory to which 
 this resolution and his inaugural declared our title to be " clear 
 and unquestionable." Thereby this country lost an ocean-front 
 on the Pacific extending from the northern line of Washington 
 Territory half way up to Alaska, and " ceded to England " a 
 stretch of country lying between the Pacific Ocean and the 
 Rocky Mountains equal in breadth to both the great States of 
 New York and Pennsylvania. The same Administration which 
 meekly " ceded to England," in violation of its pledge, this 
 splendid region on our northern borders picked a quarrel with 
 Mexico about a strip of land on our southern borders, between 
 the rivers Nueces and Rio Grande, and made war upon Mexico 
 rather than yield a tithe of the untenable pretensions of Texas 
 to ownership. The surrender and the seizure were alike made 
 in the interest and at the dictation of slavery, to the body of 
 which when living, and to the spirit of which since dead, the 
 Democratic party has for half a century given an idolatrous 
 devotion. 
 
 Of a piece with that betrayal was this betrayal. What Polk 
 
42 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 did Pierce did; and both, because the same hard master ordered. 
 To it the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was offensive. There- 
 fore that time-honored act was declared "void." This was a 
 marl<ed decline from the pohcy of the fathers— from 1787 under 
 Jefferson, when Congressional prohibition of the extension of 
 slavery beyond limits then existing was the rule. By 1820 a 
 " Compromise" was made, and a territorial line was appUed to 
 the territory then in controversy. North of it slavery was to 
 be prohibited. But in making this " Compromise," Congress 
 asserted its power over the territorial phase of the question. 
 
 By 1850, Congress declared that the territorial legislative 
 power extended to all " rightful subjects of legislation." But by 
 1854, Congress declined to make any declaration except that the 
 purpose of the act of 1850, as of this act, was "not to legislate 
 slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, 
 but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regu- 
 late their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only 
 to the Constitution of the United States." It proceeded to 
 declare "inoperative and void" the Missouri Compromise of 
 1820, which had prohibited slavery in the Territories north of 
 the line of 36° 30' — the use of the words " inoperative and 
 void " implying that the act referred to had been passed with- 
 out constitutional authority. The declaration above referred 
 to was a deceptive jumble, and was meant so to be. It lacked 
 every element of distinctness and of directness. It purposely 
 confounded two very different things. It treated as one two 
 very different questions. It applied in terms equally to Terri- 
 tories and to States. But the act had nothing to do with 
 States, their rights and powers. It had to do exclusively with 
 Territories, their rights and powers. Yet it brazenly recited 
 its "true intent and meaning" as alike applying to " any Terri- 
 tory or State." The trick is apparent. The purpose was, by 
 using the words " or State," to throw the admitted fact of 
 slavery's inviolability in States into the scale to strengthen the 
 theory of its claimed inviolabihty in Territories. So tortuous 
 and cunning were the methods to compass this coveted design. 
 
 " The people" of each Territory, like " the people" of each 
 State, were dogmatically announced as authorized to regulate 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 43 
 
 for themselves all " domestic Institutions," of which slavery 
 was one. But there was upon this power one limitation. 
 
 The action was to be subject " only to the Constitution of the 
 United States." There inhered in this clause another difficulty. 
 When, and how, were " the people " of a Territory held to have the 
 power to exclude? Did it exist in the first political organiza- 
 tion within it ? Did it exist in any political organization within 
 it prior to the calling of a convention to make a constitution 
 for submission to Congress, preparatory to admission to the 
 Union ? The act did not say. If not, had slave-owners a 
 constitutional right to take their slaves into the Territories 
 and hold them as such, under the Constitution, in the absence 
 of a local law? If so, had not slavery then become in every 
 sense a " national " institution ? And was there, therefore, any- 
 where a practical power to prevent the turning into slave Ter- 
 ritories all the Territories of the Union now existing or here- 
 after to exist? These were momentous questions; and they 
 came home to multitudes of people who, having no sentiment 
 on the subject of slavery, had a deep personal unwillingness to 
 be brought into relation with it. Yet, under this act, how 
 could they escape this if they sought to make a home in any 
 Territory of the Union? The question therefore became a 
 practical one : Should the " soil of our extensive domains be 
 kept free for the hardy pioneers of our own land and the op- 
 pressed and banished of other lands seeking homes of comfort 
 and fields of enterprise in the New World," or should they 
 be reserved for the exclusive and repelling use of the slave- 
 masters of the Union ? 
 
 There was another noticeable dishonesty in the act of 1854. 
 It purported that the act of 1850, as of 1854, required the in- 
 validation of the Missouri Compromise. This was an untrue 
 assumption. " The Compromise measures of 1850 contain no 
 words to repeal or invalidate the Missouri Compromise. On 
 the contrary, they expressly recognize it in the act providing 
 for the cession of a portion of Texas to New Mexico." * Be- 
 sides, up to that period, the repeal of that Compromise had 
 
 Buchanan's Administralion, p. 28. 
 
44 'JHK REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 been demanded by no authority in the Union, respectable or 
 other. Even Mr. Calhoun, in his extremest moments, had 
 never indicated that such a measure was required as a conces- 
 sion to either Southern pride or interest. And, as Mr. Buchanan 
 declared after his retirement from office, the Southern Senators 
 and Representatives who sustained the repeal of this " covenant 
 of peace between the free and slave-holding States" them- 
 selves " became the aggressors." * 
 
 THE STRUGGLE IN KANSAS. 
 
 The direct effect of the doubt above indicated was what 
 might have been expected. Congressional legislation, settling, 
 by a clear provision, the law in relation to the subject of slavery 
 to be operative in the Territory while it remained such, had 
 been enacted as to thirteen Territories which were then thir- 
 teen States. This uniform and prudent precedent had been 
 broken. In its place was put what was called " popular sov- 
 ereignty." But " popular sovereignty" bewitchingly expounded 
 in the marble halls of Congress was quite a different thing from 
 " popular sovereignty" expounded by Border Ruffians on the 
 bleak plains of Kansas. Missouri, at once upon the passage of 
 the bill roused itself to compel the establishment of slavery in 
 Kansas, its immediate neighbor on the west. As soon as the 
 passage of the act became known on the border, leading citi- 
 zens of Missouri crossed into the Territory of Kansas, held 
 " squatter meetings," and returned to Missouri. The resolu- 
 tions passed and published sufficiently avouch their purposes, 
 reveal their instincts, and indicate their methods, One resolve 
 was that " we will afford protection to no abolitionist as a set- 
 tler in this Territory." This was the "popular sovereignty" 
 idea as applied in Kansas in 1854. " No protection." 
 
 These were the betwitching words with which free-State men, 
 no matter from what State or section, were greeted as they mi- 
 grated to Kansas as " settlers." And the men who thus greeted 
 these " settlers" were Missourians who did not propose to be 
 "settlers," except long enough to fasten slavery upon the 
 
 * Same, p. 28. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 45 
 
 region. " No protection." These words have rung along all 
 the years from 1854 through the Ku Klux days of 1875 to the 
 present time, and they embody, better than any other phrase, 
 the inner nature and the outward life of the criminal Democracy. 
 " No protection " to political foes. Under this sign, and by all 
 which it implies, have they conquered whatever they have gained 
 since 1865. Another resolve of the Missourians who sojourned 
 overnight in Kansas was that we " recognize the institution of 
 slavery as already existing in this Territory, and advise slave- 
 holders to introduce their property as early as possible." Like 
 resolutions were passed in various parts of the Territory and in 
 several counties in Missouri. At once all slaveholding Mis- 
 souri was on its feet. The free States of the West and North 
 resolved that Slavery should get no benefit from its refusal to 
 carry out the Missouri Compromise. And a contest which 
 finally assumed somewhat the character of a civil war made 
 Kansas bloody ground. Missouri had the advantage of nearness 
 and of ample means for enforcing its demands. The free States 
 were distant, and could with difficulty reach Kansas at all, and 
 then chiefly by going over the territory of Missouri. 
 
 In May, '1 854, the Territorial Act was passed, and soon 
 after the Pierce administration sent out a governor, judge, 
 and other ofificers. The first election occurred in November, 
 1854. A delegate to Congress was voted upon. At that elec- 
 tion, 1,114 legal votes were cast, and 1,729 illegal.* The next 
 election, in March, 1855, was for members of the legislative 
 assembly of the Territory. At that election, Missouri, by con- 
 certed movement, sent armed men from Andrew County in the 
 north and Jasper County in the south, and as far eastward as 
 Boone and Cole counties, into every council district in the Ter- 
 ritory of Kansas, and into every representative district save 
 one. At that election, 1,310 legal votes were cast, and 4,968 
 illegal.f The fraud was large, but the stake was large — the pos- 
 session of the law-making machinery of the Territory. The pro- 
 slavery candidates received 5,427 votes, the opposition but 791. 
 
 * See Report of Special Committee of tlie House of Representatives, 34th 
 Cong. 1st. Sess. No. 200, p. 8. 
 f See same, p. 30. 
 
46 . THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Thus Missouri chose for Kansas its first legislative assembly. 
 That asseiJRy reciprocated the favor by enacting a law prescrib- 
 ing hard labor for not less than two yea^ s for any one who dared to 
 discuss the question whether slavery exists or does not exist in 
 Kansas. And a like penalty was imposed upon any free person 
 who introduced into the Territory any book, paper, magazine, 
 pamphlet, or circular containing any denial of the right of per- 
 sons to hold Slaves in the Territory of Kansas. Missouri's 
 slave code was transplanted to Kansas by a stroke of the pen,- 
 and a body of laws was passed which can be most fittingly 
 described in the words applied to them by Senator John M. 
 Clayton of Delaware. In a speech in the United States Senate 
 he described them as " unjust, iniquitous, oppressive, and in- 
 famous." He demanded that Congress repeal them. But 
 they did not shock the steady nerves of the Pierce admin- 
 istration, whose master-spirit was Jefferson Davis, Secretary of 
 War. It threw all its influence in aid of the lawlessness which 
 struck down in that Territory every muniment of liberty. For 
 every such wrong ready excuse was found. For every resent- 
 ment of it ready censure was given. The Nation was wrought 
 up as it had never been, over the fraud of " popular sovereign- 
 ty'' as thus administered; and while the contest was raging, 
 the country approached the Presidential election of 1856 under 
 circumstances of unusual gravity. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 In that year the Republican party took in the national 
 arena the conspicuous place which it had in local contests al- 
 ready won among the political forces of the country. Its prin- 
 ciples were plainly declared. Its purposes found no conceal- ' 
 ment. They needed none. Its policies were beyond the 
 possibility of misunderstanding. Not one of its principles has 
 ever been abandoned. Not one of its purposes has ever. been 
 given up. Not a measure of its policies has ever been hid 
 under a bushel. It has never made a pledge which it has not 
 kept ; never had a policy which was not for the public good ; 
 and it never lowered its flag in the presence of a foe. Where 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 47 
 
 it stood in 1856 it stands to-day, except as accomplished facts 
 have removed issues, or as progressive measures have super- 
 seded old forms of issues. It is, both in the purity of its doc- 
 trines, the beneficent sweep of its measures, in its courage, its 
 steadfastness, its fidelity, in its achievements and in its exam- 
 ple, the most resplendent political organization the world has 
 ever known. 
 
 The leading features in the Platform of 1856 were : 
 
 First. The maintenance of~the^^pri-nciples promulgated in 
 the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal 
 Constitution as essential to the preservation of our republican 
 institutions. 
 
 Second. The preservation of the Federal Constitution. 
 
 Third. The preservation of the rights of the States. 
 
 Fourth. The preservation of the Union of the States. 
 
 Fifth. Denial of the authority of Congress, of a territorial 
 legislature, of any individual or association of individuals, to 
 give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United 
 States. Hence, opposition to the extension of slavery into 
 free territory. 
 
 Sixth. The right and duty of Congress to prohibit in the 
 Territories those twin relics of barbarism — polygamy and 
 slavery. 
 
 Seventh. Arraignment of the Pierce administration, the 
 President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists, and ac- 
 cessories, for their high crime in Kansas against the Constitu- 
 tion, the Union and humanity, and a fixed purpose to bring 
 the actual perpetrators of those atrocious outrages and their 
 accomplices to a sure and condign punishment hereafter. 
 
 Eighth. Demand for the immediate admission of Kansas as 
 a State in the Union with her present free constitution. 
 
 Ninth. Immediate and efficient aid in the construction of a 
 railroad to the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 Tenth. Appropriation by Congress for the improvement of 
 rivers and harbors of a national character, required for the 
 accommodation and security of our existing commerce. 
 
 Eleventh. Restoring the action of the Federal Government 
 to the principles of Washington and Jefferson. 
 
48 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 The Democratic National Convention again went through 
 the form of pledging that party to " resist all attempts at re- 
 newing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery 
 question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be 
 made." It approved the principle on which the Kansas-Ne- 
 braska Act of 1854 was based, viz.: non-interference of Con- 
 gress with slavery in the Territories or in the District of Co- 
 lumbia. It recognized the right of the people of Kansas, 
 " acting through the legally and fairly expressed will of the 
 majority of the actual residents, and whenever the number of 
 their inhabitants justifies it, to form a Constitution, with or 
 without domestic slavery, and be admitted into the Union 
 upon terms of perfect equality with the other States." On its 
 Southern side it adopted as " one of the main foundations of 
 its political creed " the principles laid down in the Kentucky 
 and Virginia resolutions of 1798. On its Northern side it 
 adopted the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, " as em- 
 bodying the only sound and safe solution of the slavery ques- 
 tion." John C. Fremont was the Republican candidate. 
 James Buchanan was the Democratic candidate. 
 
 At that election over 4,000,000 votes were cast, being an in- 
 crease over 1852 of about thirty per cent. The Whig party, 
 which in 1852 had polled nearly a million and a half of votes, had 
 not survived that disastrous defeat, and upon its ruins in the free 
 States had sprung the Republican organization, which in this its 
 first campaign snatched from the victorious Democracy of 1852 
 the States of Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hamp- 
 shire, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Be- 
 sides, it swelled in Massachusetts the Scott plurality of 8,114 to 
 a Fremont plurality of 68,950, and in Vermont the Scott plu- 
 rality of 9,129 to a Fremont plurality of 28,992. Of the sixteen 
 free States, only California, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, and 
 Pennsylvania remained Democratic. And of these the com- 
 bined opposition was greater than the Democratic vote in Cali- 
 fornia, in Illinois, and in New Jersey; and Mr. Buchanan's 
 majority over the entire opposition was less than 2,000 in In- 
 diana, and slightly over 1,000 in Pennsylvania. The total Re- 
 publican vote in 1856 in the sixteen free States was but 46,510 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 49 
 
 less than the Scott vote of 1852 in all the States. And the 
 total opposition vote exceeded the total Democratic vote by 
 377,629. Mr. Buchanan was thus a minority President on the 
 popular vote, though he had a plurality of 60 in the Elec- 
 toral College. Four years before, there was a Democratic pop- 
 ular majority of 58,769, and an Electoral College majority of 
 212. These figures sufficiently show the extent of popular 
 discontent. There was throughout the North profound unrest. 
 
 PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S ELECTION. 
 
 The repose of 1852 had passed away — not to return till, after 
 four years of flagrant war, the country was brought, by Repub- 
 lican sagacity and power, to reverse its tendencies, to forsake 
 the dubious and devious paths which it had found full of pit- 
 falls, and to place its feet firmly upon the bed-rock of eternal 
 justice, where only can there be safety and peace. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan had been elected. What did his election sig- 
 nify ? No one surely knew. His platform of principles did 
 not definitely touch the vital point of the controversy. His 
 letter of- acceptance avoided it. During the campaign he 
 merged himself, as he expressed it, in the platform, and he gave 
 no further sign. 
 
 The world knew what Republican policy was. It was 
 precise. It contained nothing equivocal. It stood by the 
 ancient landmarks. It maintained the principles of the 
 uniform and unbroken precedents which had steadily treated 
 slavery as a " local " institution having only " local " rights, 
 as dependent for security upon " local " legislation, and as in 
 no sense a "national" institution, intrenched in the Consti- 
 tution, and therefore unassailable, with a right of habitation 
 everywhere within the Nation's jurisdiction save where exclud- 
 ed by constitution and law from States. On the other hand, 
 the Democratic platform was, as usual, intentionally ambiguous. 
 The words were that the people of a Territory were entitled to 
 form a constitution preliminary to admission into the Union 
 when they had the requisite population, with or without 
 slavery. But that was mere truism. The pinch was whether. 
 Congress having failed to declare on the subject, there was 
 anywhere a local power to exclude slavery from a Territory 
 
50 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 while the territorial condition lasted. This, the vital point at 
 issue, the Democratic jugglers shirked, lest the election of their 
 nominees might be imperiled. By this familiar form of fraud 
 the Presidency became theirs. But the victory was the costliest 
 which slavery had ever won. For out of it came utter and irre- 
 mediable overthrow. 
 
 THE DRED SCOTT " OPINION." 
 
 The steps in the descent were rapid. The first was the de- 
 termination to enforce, within the Democratic ranks, that in- 
 terpretation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act which denied to the 
 people of the Territory any power while a Territory to prohibit 
 slavery, and which asserted that the Constitution of the United 
 States, by its own vigor, secured to every slave-owner the right 
 to plant his peculiar "domestic institution " in every Territory 
 of the Union, irrespective of the local popular will. For this 
 the aid of the Supreme Court was invoked ; and a pending case 
 was made the occasion of the celebrated Dred Scott opinion. 
 
 This " opinion " was pronounced March 6, 1857, on the sec- 
 ond day after the inauguration of the newly-elected President. 
 In his Inaugural, Mr. Buchanan spoke of the point involved as 
 of " little practical importance," though, as a matter of fact, it 
 involved the existence or non-existence of slavery in all the 
 Territories of the Union. Therefore it involved the extension 
 of slavery over all the new States of the Union. Mr. Buchan- 
 an said that the question would be " speedily and finally set- 
 tled." He did not say that he did not know how the point 
 would be decided. He did not say that he knew how it would 
 be decided. But, under cover of giving his own present view, he 
 stated the opinion as it was actually announced two days later. 
 
 The case was first argued in December, 1855, fifteen months 
 before. Upon it the court had, by a majority in due course 
 of business, reached a conclusion, and Judge Nelson was in- 
 structed to prepare the opinion which, disposing of the case 
 by an examination of the merits in the light of the facts agreed 
 upon by the parties under the plea in bar of the action, affirmed 
 the judgment of the Circuit Court. After the Presidential 
 election of 1856, namely, on the i8th of December, 1856, a re- 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 5 1 
 
 argument was, by procurement, effected ; when a majority of 
 the court, under the manipulation of Mr. Justice Wayne of 
 Georgia, were '' persuaded " to change their opinion, and at 
 once to hold that the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction of the 
 case, and then to decide a constitutional question which arose 
 only on the plea to the merits of the action. 
 
 The " opinion " held that the act of Congress (the Missouri 
 Act of 1820) " which prohibits a citizen from holding and own- 
 ing property of this kind in the Territory north of the line herein 
 mentioned is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore 
 void." The " opinion " further held that as Congress cannot do 
 this, it could not authorize a territorial government to exercise 
 the power, " for it could confer no power on any local govern- 
 ment, established by its authority, to violate the provisions of the 
 Constitution." Thus the desired point was supposed to have 
 been reached. Control over the extension of the area of 
 slavery was denied to Congress, and to any and every Terri- 
 tory ; and its right to indefinite expansion was declared by a 
 majority of the Supreme Court to be implied in the very terms 
 of the Constitution. Thencefotth slavery was ordained to be 
 the irreversible law of the Republic. The "opinion" both 
 surprised and shocked the country. It did not allay discontent 
 — rather increased it. It added a new element — indignation 
 that the Supreme Court should have forced itself into the 
 maelstrom of politics. The court was not required to go into 
 it. On the other hand, it soon became known that the original 
 ground taken by the court was entirely different from the 
 ground finally taken by it. Republicans were indignant. But 
 many who were not of that faith dissented as strongly as they 
 from an " opinion" which sought to reverse the currents of 
 American thought, to overturn a line of precedents which 
 stretched back to the foundation of the government, and to 
 bring into contempt the opinions and acts of the Fathers and 
 Founders. That this view of the facts was justified is apparent 
 from the disclosure made since the death of the eminent Jus- 
 tice Benjamin R. Curtis, that the action of the court in first 
 deciding this case upon one ground and then consenting to re- 
 open it and deciding it upon a different and inconsistent one. 
 
52 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 with an evident purpose to exert their power in aid of partisan 
 movements, had so destroyed his confidence in the court, and 
 his wilHngness to co-operate with them, that he tendered to 
 the President his resignation as a member of the court.* He 
 did not meet with them again after the close of that term. 
 
 From the beginning, the Supreme Court has inspired 
 mixed feeHngs. Associated with public respect for it has been 
 an anxious watchfulness — the result of a consciousness of its 
 great power over the institutional development of the country. 
 Thomas Jefferson, within six years of his death, compared the 
 court to a body of " sappers and miners," and criticised its 
 work in " construing our Constitution from a co-ordination of a 
 general and special government to a general and supreme one 
 alone." In 1822, Richard M. Johnson, a Senator from Kentucky, 
 in a formal speech in the Senate, delivered fourteen years before 
 his election to the Vice-Presidency, in favor of a constitutional 
 amendment aimed at the powers of the Supreme Court, placed 
 on record his opinion that the "history of the government 
 furnishes nothing that can induce us to look with a very favor- 
 able eye to the Federal Judiciary as a safe depository of our 
 liberties." 
 
 President Jackson, in his veto of the Bank bill, held that 
 "the authority of the Supreme Court must not be permitted 
 to control the Congress or the Executive when acting in 
 their legislative capacities, but to have only such influence as 
 the force of their reasoning may deserve." Other like authori- 
 ties had, in a period of years, taught the people to watch with 
 jealous care the trend of that Court when dealing with ques- 
 tions which touched the powers of the various branches of the 
 government, or the rights of the people, or the security of free 
 institutions. And when this tremendous stride was taken, which 
 not only destroyed the power of the direct representatives of 
 the whole people to determine an overshadowing question of 
 public policy, but undertook, by an opinion in which but two of 
 the nine judges concurred " in all its points, reasonings, and con- 
 clusions," though seven of the nine concurred in the particular 
 
 * See Curtis's Life of Curtis, 247. 
 
ITS RISE AND JPROGRESS : 1856-1888. 53 
 
 judgment entered, to revolutionize public law and to give slav- 
 ery a home in every Territory independently of the will of the 
 community inhabiting the Territory, the wrath of the people 
 rose against it, the Supreme Court was itself discredited, and 
 the concurring judges bore, to their death, a burden of oblo- 
 quy. The " opinion" reacted upon the cause in whose interest 
 it was made, and sharply intensified the continuing agitation. 
 
 One cordial voice, however, greeted it. It was the voice of 
 the Executive of the Nation. President Buchanan had long 
 held to the view that Congress possessed the power which it 
 had repeatedly exercised, and which the Dred Scott " opinion" 
 denounced. But he made haste to accept the new gospel and 
 tender it to the country as a cure-all for the evils of the political 
 situation. He informed Congress, February 2, 1858, when trans- 
 mitting the Lecompton Constitution, that " Slavery exists in 
 Kansas by virtue of the Constitution of the United States." 
 And he urged Congress to admit the State into the Union at 
 once, under the transmitted constitution. On the forefront 
 of that instrument was the promise that the " right of property 
 is before and higher than any constitutional sanction, and the 
 right of the owner of a slave in Kansas to such a slave and its 
 increase is the same and as inviolable as the right of the owner 
 of any property whatever." But the people of Kansas by a 
 majority of 10,000 votes, at a special election thereon, refused to 
 accept admission in that way, and they remained in a territorial 
 condition until after the Presidential election of i860. The 
 State was admitted January 29, 1861, under a "free State" con- 
 stitution, and what President Buchanan in his message of Feb- 
 ruary 2, 1858, denounced as the " treasonable pertinacity" of 
 the people in resisting the fraud and violence used to force 
 slavery on them was at last rewarded. 
 
 Meantime the contest in Kansas continued. The struggle 
 for supremacy was seen to be between two widely different 
 civilizations, and was marked by every form of bitterness. The 
 State was, in a sense, a camp. United States troops were re- 
 quired to preserve a semblance of order. One territorial gov- 
 ernor after another, sent out by the Administration, found him- 
 self unable to carry out the policy required by the Administra- 
 
54 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 tion, and resigned. The controversies spread to every neigh- 
 borhood, in the North and in the South. The North smarted 
 under a sense of injury, the South under a fear of loss of 
 pawer. To the one the Dred Scott "opinion" had come as a 
 blow which angered ; to the other, as a touch which incited 
 lust of dominion. Under such circumstances, and in compli- 
 cations of a portentous character, all dating from the fateful 
 repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Presidential election of 
 i860 summoned the country to a momentous duty. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF i860. 
 
 The Republican National Convention in its declaration of 
 principles did not advance beyond the lines fixed in 1856.' 
 
 In one respect it made a more emphatic utterance. In 1856 
 it declared for the preservation of the " right of the States." In 
 i860 it defined more clearly its position. It declared that " the 
 maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially 
 the right of each State to order and control its own domestic 
 institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essen- 
 tial to that balance of power on which the perfection and en- 
 durance of our political fabric depends." It added a denunci- 
 ation of the " reckless extravagance which pervades every 
 department " of the Buchanan administration. It pronounced 
 for " such an adjustment of imposts as to encourage the devel- 
 opment of the industrial interests of the whole country." It 
 demanded the use of the public lands for actual settlers, and a 
 complete " homestead measure." The key-notes of its position 
 were the asserti6n that slavery was a " purely local interest," 
 and the denial that the " personal relation between master and 
 servant involved an unqualified property in persons." 
 
 The Democratic National Convention broke into two fac- 
 tions ; but the difference was more as to persons than things. 
 For the Douglas wing, after re-affirming the double-faced Cin- 
 cinnati resolutions of 1856, added a declaration that the meas- 
 ure of restriction imposed by the Federal Constitution on the 
 power of a territorial legislature over the subject of the domes- 
 tic relations when finally determined by the Supreme Court of 
 the United States " should be respected by all good citizens 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 55 
 
 and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of 
 the General Government." This was regarded as an acquiescence, 
 more or less frank, in the Dred Scott " opinion." The Breck- 
 enridge wing on the other hand, distinctly denied the power 
 of Congress or a territorial legislature to impair the security 
 of slave " property" in any of the Territories, and as distinctly 
 asserted the duty of the Federal Government in all its depart- 
 ments to protect such rights in the Territories. 
 
 Thus, all parties agreed as to the complete and exclusive 
 control of the States over slavery within their limits. As to 
 slavery in the Territories, the Republicans affirmed the Con- 
 gressional right and duty to prohibit. The Douglas Democrats 
 held to the doctrine of Congressional non-interference, and to 
 a popular sovereignty power in the Territories subject to the 
 Constitution as construed by the Supreme Court. And the 
 Breckenridge Democrats asserted the inviolability of the slave- 
 holders' rights except as limited by State constitutions. A di- 
 vided Democracy polled 2,223,110 votes. The Republicans 
 polled 1,866,452 votes. A third party, " Constitutional Union," 
 whose candidate was John Bell, polled 590,631 votes. But in the 
 Electoral College, Abraham Lincoln received 180 out of 302 
 votes, and was elected. He was in a minority on the popular 
 vote of 947,289 votes. He carried every Northern State except 
 New Jersey, in which he received four electoral votes and John 
 Bell three. Douglas carried Missouri alone. Bell carried Ken- 
 tucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, and Breckinridge the remaining 
 fourteen States. Lincoln was therefore the constitutionally 
 elected President, though his party was in a larger minority 
 of the popular vote than any other successful candidate had 
 ever been. His declared policy involved resistance only to 
 the indefinite extension of slavery over the Territories of the 
 Union. It involved interference with slavery in no State in the 
 Union. And his election was due to divisions among his ad- 
 versaries — divisions which were fostered by a disunion interest 
 in the South with a view to produce the result which had been 
 reached, and thus to furnish the occasion for secession and 
 separation. Their act was doubly perfidious — an act of perfidy 
 to their party, and an act of treachery to their country. 
 
56 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 THE SECESSION MOVEMENT. 
 
 The election occurred on the 6th day of November, i860. 
 By the 7th of November, the machinery for promoting the 
 secession of all the slave States was put in motion, and by the 
 1 8th of February, 1861, two weeks before the inauguration of 
 Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, Jefferson 
 Davis had been elected and inaugurated as President of the 
 "Confederate States," had organized his Cabinet, and had pre 
 pared himself for the issue which had been made by them with 
 the United States. 
 
 It is now known that this movement was not made without 
 careful consideration and calculation of probable results. It is 
 also known that it was made in the full conviction that 
 friends of slavery in the North would not permit the new Ad- 
 ministration to use force to overcome it. 
 
 This conviction was based upon personal assurances 
 of which some proofs remain. For instance, there was found 
 in the Mississippi home of Jefferson Davis, when captured 
 by our troops, a letter from ex-President Franklin Pierce, 
 written from the Clarendon Hotel, New York City, during 
 the year before (on January 6, i860), in which he says 
 that he has never believed that actual disruption of the 
 Union could occur without blood, and that if that dire ca- 
 lamity should come through the madness of Northern aboli- 
 tionism, the fighting will not be along Mason and Dixon's 
 line merely, " but within our own borders, in our own streets," 
 between those who respect their political obligations and those 
 who have apparently no impelling power but that which fa- 
 natical passion on the subject of domestic slavery imparts. 
 
 The Democracy of Philadelphia, at a meeting on the l6th 
 of January, 1861, presided over by an intimate personal friend 
 of President Buchanan, two days before the election of Jeffer- 
 son Davis as President of the Confederacy, resolved that if 
 the South should separate from the Union, Pennsylvania's 
 sympathy would be " with our brethren of the South whose 
 wrongs we feel as our own." 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 57 
 
 Ex-Governor Rodman M. Price of New Jersey, in the 
 spring of 1861, wrote to M. F. Maury of Fredericksburg, Va., 
 that in the event of secession, New Jersey " would go with the 
 South from every wise, prudential, and patriotic considera- 
 tion." A seceding Representative from South Carolina, de 
 claiming for secession after the November election in i860, 
 declared, amid thunders of applause by a Charleston audience, 
 " that there are a million of Democrats in the North who, 
 when the Black Republicans attempt to march upon the South, 
 will be found a wall of fire in the front " — a boast to which the 
 facts already stated and the editorials of such newspapers as 
 the New York Herald of November 9, i860, which claimed for 
 each State " the right to break the tie of the Confederation, as 
 a nation might break a treaty, and to repel coercion as a nation 
 might repel invasion," and the Albany Argus of November 10, 
 i860, which in a contingency declared itself ready to applaud 
 Southern " resort to revolution and a separation from the 
 Union," and the speeches and action of the representative 
 Democrats of New York in their meeting of January 31, 1861, 
 lent every appearance of probability. 
 
 When the secession movement began, the two Democratic 
 Representatives from California openly advocated the secession 
 of the Pacific Coast States and the creation of a Pacific Repub- 
 Hc. Democrats in the West openly discussed the expediency 
 of organizing a Western Repubhc. And Fernando Wood, 
 then Democratic mayor of the city of New York, in his mes- 
 sage of January 6, 1861, suggested whether the time had not 
 now come for New York City to throw off its allegiance both 
 to the State of New York and to the Union, and to become 
 a " free city." He descanted upon the commercial and 
 other advantages which that city would derive from such a 
 step. 
 
 PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE. 
 
 Much of the demoralization which these suggestions dis- 
 close was due to the position taken by the Buchanan admin- 
 istration before the secession of a single State. That " public 
 functionary" failed to utter in his Annual Message of Decem- 
 
58 TUE KEPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ber 4, i860, one brave word for his imperiled country. Pres- 
 ident Buchanan claimed to honor the memory and to have 
 accepted the principles of Andrew Jackson; but in consid- 
 ering his duty he forgot Jackson's principles and Jackson's 
 example. 
 
 See the contrast. In 1832 a South Carolina Convention 
 passed an ordinance declaring " null and void and no law" 
 the two U. S. Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832, refused to ahow 
 the validity of such acts to be questioned in the courts of 
 that State or appealed to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, and announced that if Congress should proceed to 
 enforce said acts otherwise than through the civil tribunals 
 of the country to which their ordinance had denied jurisdic- 
 tion, the people of South Carolina vv'ould proceed " to organize 
 a separate government and do all other acts and things 
 which sovereign and independent States may of right do." 
 
 How did President Jackson meet the threat? 
 
 He issued his proclamation of December 10, 1832, denounc- 
 ing this ordinance "as incompatible with the existence of the 
 Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, 
 unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on 
 which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for 
 which it was formed." He temperately refuted the theories 
 on which it rested, and then said : " But the dictates of a 
 high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you cannot 
 succeed. The laws of the United States must be executed. 
 Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their 
 execution deceived you. Forcible opposition can alone pre- 
 vent the execution of the laws, and such opposition must be 
 repelled. The object aimed at is disunion ; and disunion, by 
 armed force, is TREASON. Are you ready to incur its guilt ? If 
 you are, on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dread- 
 ful consequences, but on yours may fall the punishment." 
 This was President Jackson's response to South Carolina's Or- 
 dinance of Nullification. 
 
 By December 4, i860, the U. S. district judge, district 
 attorney, and marshal for South Carolina had, by arrange- 
 ment, resigned, as the like officers had done in 1832, and 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1S88. 59 
 
 for the like reason. The actual situation was much the 
 same, though the Ordinance of Secession of December 
 20, i860, was then only foreshadowed, not passed. What was 
 President Buchanan's answer to the preparations for disunion 
 which came to him on every gale from the South? He sent 
 to Congress a Message which can be best described as a diplo- 
 matic balance. It contained some phrases of comfort for each 
 side. It contained other phrases which neither could enjoy. And 
 it contained nothing tangible which either could tie to. It was 
 the act of a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. He 
 brought from the Virginia resolutions of 1798 into conspicuous 
 concession the proposition (i) that only a " deliberate, palpable, 
 and dangerous exercise" of powers not granted by the Consti- 
 tution would " afford just cause for dissolving the Union." 
 This principle being admitted, the Secessionists cared little for 
 his expression of opinion that the election of Mr. Lincoln was 
 not a sufficient cause either in itself or in what it foreboded" 
 He denied (2) that any State might at its " sovereign will and 
 pleasure secede from the Union in accordance with the Con- 
 stitution," apparently forgetting that the eighth resolution of 
 the Cincinnati platform of 1856, into which he had merged 
 himself, contained the germ of secession. It adopted as " sound 
 Democratic doctrine" the Kentucky resolutions of 1798, which 
 taught that our government was a " compact " between States 
 with no common arbiter and judge, and therefore that each State 
 had the indefeasible right, as in all such " compacts," to judge 
 both of the fact of infraction and of the " MODE AND MEAS- 
 URE OF REDRESS." President Buchanan also (3) denied that 
 the United States had power, by force of arms, to compel a 
 State to remain in the Union — " the Constitution not having 
 delegated to Congress the power to coerce into submission a 
 State which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually with- 
 drawn, from the Confederacy." 
 
 The catch-phrase " no power to coerce a State," also 
 borrowed from the Nullifying Ordinance of South Caro- 
 lina, resounded at once throughout the country, and for 
 months made an apparent public sentiment. The seceding 
 South accepted •'• ^^"^h glee as an assurance of safety and 
 
60 THE REPUBLICAN TARTY. 
 
 success. The Union-loving people North and South heard 
 it as a knell of death, while the slavery-loving Northern De- 
 mocracy clutched it as they would have clutched a drug to 
 bring them oblivion of the unparalleled difificulties which were 
 gathering around their Administration. Presidfent Buchanan's 
 excuse, given five years after the fact, for not imitating the 
 example of President Jackson was "that the times had greatly 
 changed during the more than a quarter of a century which 
 had since elapsed." * But he does not pretend that the prin- 
 ciples of our government or the relations of the President to 
 the Constitution and the whole people had changed during 
 that quarter of a century. 
 
 As a consequence of this remarkable series of events 
 there followed over the entire North the extraordinary ac- 
 quiescence in secession schemes which was mistaken by many 
 for proof that partisan passion and the commercial sense 
 had extinguished patriotism, that a united country and a 
 once-honored flag had lost their power to stir, and that a 
 dry-rot had attacked the sources of national pride and na- 
 tional life. This was true of the class of whom James Buch- 
 anan was a type. And but for the incorruptible integrity of 
 the " plain people," the day of the death of the American 
 Union had then come. 
 
 The " common-sense " of the people was clearer than the 
 statesmanship of the President. They saw that the real ques- 
 tion was not whether the Union had a right to " coerce a 
 State " which was seceding or had seceded, but whether the 
 Union had a right to defend itself against enemies combined to 
 despoil and destroy it. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan did not see this, because he was incapa- 
 ble of seeing anything, in our system, but " States." To 
 him the " people of the United States " were simply a phrase 
 in a preamble. He comprehended fully the idea of indestruct- 
 ible States. He comprehended not at all the idea of an indis- 
 soluble Union. He saw half the truth and supposed it to be 
 the whole. This was the vice of his position. He knew that 
 
 * Buchanan's Administration, p. 179. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS : 1856-1888. 61 
 
 the laws of the United States do not operate on " States," but 
 on individuals. But he could not realize that it was not, some- 
 how, possible for " States " to draw out from under the author- 
 ity of the Union the individuals who lived within their bounda- 
 ries. The theory that they could do so was, here and now, 
 proved to be repugnant both to the principles and the objects, 
 and destructive of the life, of the government. Yet he and 
 his school preferred maintaining their theory, in the presence 
 of the ruin it was working, to asserting a power in the govern- 
 ment for self-protection which was at least equal to the asserted 
 power in the States for its destruction. President Buchanan 
 discarded all such suggestions. He held that the Union rested 
 " upon public opinion." He claimed, therefore, "that it could 
 never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil 
 war." He held further that Congress possessed many means 
 of preserving the Union by conciliation, and not the sword to 
 preserve it by force. The sum of the whole matter with him, 
 therefore, was that it was the duty of Congress to propose, im- 
 mediately, an amendment of the Constitution which would 
 embody in it the extreme principles of the Dred Scott " opin- 
 ion " and make slavery the one dominant interest and idea in 
 our system. Such was the absurd, and only, remedy proposed 
 by our Democratic President. 
 
 THE KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS OF 1 798. 
 
 Absurd as it was, it was entirely consistent with the new 
 lights which since 1852 had illumined the national Democracy. 
 These were the celebrated Kentucky and Virginia resolutions 
 of 1798 touching the true principles of our goverment. 
 
 They had since that time, been successively adopted at every 
 Democratic National Convention, and been indorsed as " con- 
 stituting one of the main foundations of its political creed." 
 The Kentucky resolutions exphcitly define our " government "as 
 a compact ; " that to this compact each State acceded as a State, 
 and is an integral party, its co-States forming as to itself the 
 other party;" that the "government created by this compact 
 was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the 
 
62 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 powers delegated to itself ; " that " wheresoever the General 
 Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthor- 
 itative, void, and of no force;" and that, "as in other cases of 
 compact among parties having no common judge, each party 
 has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions, 
 as of the mode and measure of redress." 
 
 The Virginia resolutions affirm the same theory of 
 " compact of States," as distinguished from union of the 
 people, and explicitly declare " that in case of a deliber- 
 ate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not 
 granted by the said compact, the States, who are parties 
 thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to inter- 
 pose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for main- 
 taining, within their respective limits, the autTiorities, rights, 
 and liberties appertaining to them." This statement plainly 
 leaves it with the State to determine the form of " interposi- 
 tion" which it may choose to make for the maintenance of its 
 " authorities, rights, and liberties." President Buchanan, in his 
 message of December 4, i860, signified his approval of this 
 theory of these resolutions to the extent of stating, quoting 
 the very words of this resolution, that a " deliberate, palpable, 
 and dangerous" exercise of ungranted powers would "justify a 
 resort to revolutionary violence." This admission reduced 
 the difference between the secessionists and our President to a 
 difference of opinion over degrees of provocation and over 
 theories of justification. These resolutions of 1798 had thus 
 in them the germs out of which had sprung every " overt act " 
 which darkened the horizon of the Union during the gloomy 
 winter of 1860-61. They had literally blazed the path on 
 which the secessionists had gayly begun their dance of death. 
 And they had actually destroyed every old Democratic princi- 
 ple which would have nerved Union-loving Democrats to 
 help save a dissolving Union. So that, in this supreme crisis 
 of the Nation, this historic party, instead of being valiant to 
 care for what had been committed to it, was a paralytic. 
 
 It is interesting to note the date at which the resolutions of 
 1798 were resurrected and made a "main foundation of Dem- 
 ocratic creed." It was in the year 1852. Nothing in any de- 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS : 1856-1888. 63 
 
 gree resembling them can be found in their National Platform of 
 1844 or of 1848 — and for an obvious reason. Up to that time 
 Jacksonism had been the inspiration of that party as a whole. 
 
 But in 1852, and thenceforth, Calhounism entered into and 
 possessed it. There was another and a practical reason for the 
 appearance of this resolution at that time. In 1851 there had 
 been a distinct movement in the Gulf States tending toward 
 secession, but it had failed because it found the Southern 
 Democracy unripe on the question of provocation, and the 
 Northern Democracy unripe on the question of power. Until 
 both classes were sufficiently educated, no progress to a slave 
 republic could be made. It was at once resolved to debauch 
 the Northern Democracy. The price was their votes. The 
 bargain was made. 
 
 Franklin Pierce was nominated for President, and the 
 resolutions of 1798 became a "main foundation of Demo- 
 cratic creed." They were a conspicuous feature in the 
 Democratic Platforms of 1852, of 1856, and of i860 — doing 
 everywhere the purposed and pernicious work of undermining 
 the national structure and preparing the way for the long- 
 planned conspiracy of 1861-65.* They disappeared from the 
 Platform of 1864, in the very flames of war; but there were 
 men in that convention who sought to re-afifirm them. They 
 were voted out on the avowed ground that the Platform of 
 1864 was to be limited to the one issue of surrender to the 
 rebellion by a convention. To this hour, no Democratic Con- 
 
 * Extract from letter of President Andrew Jackson to Rev. A. J. Crawford, 
 Washington, May i, 1833: "The tariff was only the pretext [for nullification], 
 and disunion and a Southern Confederacy the real object. The next pretext will 
 be the negro or slavery question." 
 
 From Thomas H. Benton's Thirty Years' View, vol. 2; "In tracing this agita- 
 tion [slavery] to its present stage, it is not to be forgotten that it is a mere contin- 
 uation of old tariff disunion, and preferred because more available." 
 
 From Henry Clay's private correspondence of 1844,/. 490: " It is perfectly 
 manifest that a party exists in South Carolina seeking a dissolution of the Union." 
 
 From Stephen A. Douglas's last speech, Chicago, May i, 1861: "The election 
 of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present secession movement is the result 
 of an enormous conspiracy formed more than a year since — formed by leaders in 
 the Southern Confederacy more than twelve months ago. They use the slaver/ 
 question as a means to aid the accomplishment of their ends." 
 
64 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 vention has expressed contrition for the unexampled betrayal 
 of trust made by the Democratic party in their adoption. 
 For a parallel to this, both in the treachery of it and the terri- 
 ble consequences of it, the history of all parties in all nations 
 will be searched in vain. 
 
 Resting upon the assurances and opinions of the most con- 
 spicuous Democratic authority in the Union, the secessionists, 
 who had boldly seized the legislative and military power of 
 six States, and were sure of immunity for the three months 
 yet remaining of Democratic supremacy in the Union, pro- 
 ceeded in the completion of their schemes of disunion. So 
 that, when President Buchanan turned from his hands to those 
 of his lawfully-elected successor the government of the United 
 States which he had received from his predecessor, there was 
 confronting it, as a direct product of his concessions, argu- 
 ments, and assurances of December 4, i860, a hostile govern- 
 ment which practically held most of the slave section — organ- 
 ized under a constitution, intent upon independence, preparing 
 for war, and partly prepared for war by the transfer during 
 the year i860 from the Springfield (Mass.) Arsenal to Southern 
 arsenals, and by advancing to Southern States their quotas of 
 arms — this through the agency of John B. Flo)-d, President 
 Buchanan's Secretary of War, and to the extent of over 250,000 
 muskets. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 The Constitution of the Confederate Statci was modeled 
 upon the Constitution of the United States. JefTerson Davis 
 in his Inaugural said that it " differed only from that of our 
 fathers in so far as it was explanatory of their well-known in, 
 tent." But the number of changes, both of omission and addi. 
 tion, which were required to make the new instrument comport 
 with their previous interpretations of the old instrument, show 
 the hollowness of the pretenses made by this class for seventy 
 years. In this aspect, a study of their Constitution has especial 
 value. 
 
 First. In the preamble were inserted the words, " Each 
 State acting in its sovereign and independent character." 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 6$ 
 
 Second. From the preamble were stricken out the clauses: 
 " more perfect Union," " provide for the common defense," and 
 "promote the general welfare." In place of the words, " more 
 perfect Union," were inserted the words, " permanent federal 
 government." 
 
 Third. In the first article legislative powers were " delegat- 
 ed " to Congress, instead of " granted." 
 
 Fourth. In the third paragraph of Art. i, and elsewhere, 
 the word "slaves" was inserted instead of the words, "other 
 persons." 
 
 Fifth. In the eighth section of Art. i a clause was inserted 
 that " no bounties shall be granted from the treasury, nor shall 
 any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be 
 laid to promote or foster any branch of industry." 
 
 Sixth. The Congress was denied the power " to appropriate 
 money for any internal improvement intended to facilitate 
 •commerce," except furnishing buoys, improving harbors, and 
 removing obstructions in river navigation, " and in all such 
 •cases duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby 
 as may be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof." 
 
 Seventh. The Congress was denied power to pass a " law 
 denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves." 
 
 Eighth. The denial of the right of States to " grant bills of 
 credit " was struck out. 
 
 Ninth. The "Supreme" Court was made a "Superior" 
 Court. 
 
 Tenth. Citizens of each State were given the " right of 
 transit and sojourn in any State with their slaves." 
 
 Eleventh. The word " slave " is inserted in the " service or 
 labor" clause of Art. 4, Sect. II. 
 
 Tivefth. In the clause giving jurisdiction to Congress over 
 the Territories, it was provided that " in all such territory 
 negro slavery shall be recognized and protected by Congress 
 and by the territorial government, and the inhabitants of the 
 several Confederate States and Territories shall h.ave the right 
 to take to such territory any slaves lawfully held by them in 
 .any of the States or Territories in the Confederates States." 
 
 Thirteenth. Every phrase was excluded which involved the 
 
66 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 idea of a " Union." Every phrase was included which involved 
 the idea of a " Confederacy." 
 
 And upon all this elaborate construction for the perpetuation 
 of human bondage they inserted in the preamble a clause " in- 
 voking the favor and guidance of Almighty God." 
 
 This Constitution had immediate interpretation from the 
 Vice-President elected under it. He declared that it had for 
 its " corner-stone" the great truth that " slavery is the natural 
 and normal condition of the negro." He found the basis for 
 this great truth in either " nature," or in the " curse against 
 Canaan." But history explodes one of these pretenses, and 
 ethnological science the other. He declared this to be the first 
 government in the history of the world based upon this great 
 "physical and moral truth." And he predicted that, though 
 this " truth " may be slow in development, the government 
 founded upon it is destined to become the controlling power 
 on this continent, while the progress of disintegration in the 
 old Union may be expected to go on with " absolute certainty." 
 
 It is difficult to restrain a smile while reading these glowing 
 prophecies. But they were not at the time regarded as vision- 
 ary by those to whom they were addressed. Because those 
 who heard them realized, on the one hand, the prodigious 
 force of the power which was daily drawing towards the Con- 
 federacy the border slave States, and because, on the other 
 hand, they felt a great security against an appeal to arms in 
 the attitude assumed toward them b}- the Northern Democracy. 
 
 Mr. Stephens did not miscalculate as to the favorable influ- 
 ences touching the border States. His fatal error was as to 
 the probable conditions which would confront Abraham Lin- 
 coln in the free States. The Northern Democratic masses had 
 read, but had not received, the secessionism which lurked in the 
 Kentucky and Virginia resolutions. They had supported in 
 1852 and 1856 and in i860 Democratic Presidential candidates 
 without realizing that thereby they had been counted as willing 
 to be conspirators in the destruction of their country. The}- 
 did not intend that party fealty should be taken for treachery 
 to their own hearths and homes. And when the flag of their 
 country was deliberately insulted at Sumter, an indignant and 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS : 1S56-1888. 6/ 
 
 resenting patriotism drove at once to the side of President 
 Lincoln the uncorrupted part of the Northern people, while 
 Pierce and Price and Wood and their ilk hid themselves from the 
 wrathful indignation of those whom they had betrayed. Had 
 the Northern Democratic leaders perfected the work to which 
 since 1852 they had dedicated themselves, actual resistance to 
 the firing on Sumter would have been impossible, and disunion 
 would have come, as it was expected by the secessionists to 
 come, through an enervated and incapable North. 
 
 Meanwhile the superseded Congress, at its closing session to 
 which President Buchanan addressed his last message, paid 
 instant attention to the condition to which the country had 
 been reduced. 
 
 Committees in each House considered the crisis, and a 
 " Peace Congress," organized from without, met in Wash- 
 ington for the same purpose. The final result was that both 
 Houses passed, by the 2d of March, 1861, a joint resolution 
 proposing a constitutional amendment that " no amendment 
 shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give 
 to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, 
 with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons 
 held to labor or service by the laws of said State." This was 
 in substantial harmony with the Republican National Platform 
 of i860; and President Lincoln in his Inaugural of March 4, 
 1 86 1, said that he had no objection to this provision of implied 
 constitutional law " being made express and irrevocable." 
 
 But the leaders of the secession movement scorned the guar- 
 anty. Their answer was : " If the Republicans should give us 
 a blank sheet of paper upon which to write the condition of re- 
 annexation to the defunct Union, we would scornfully spurn 
 the overture." Thus the strife, now become incurable but by 
 blood, became a legacy from the Buchanan to the Lincoln 
 administration. The amendment, ratified at once by the legis- 
 latures of Maryland and Ohio, was quickly forgotten in the 
 march of events. 
 
68 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1861, the new President asked of all 
 the people calmness and deliberation. He protested that the 
 security of no section should be in any wise endangered by the 
 new incoming administration, and he promised that protection 
 would be given to all States equally when lawfully demanded, 
 for whatever cause. He expressed willingness to have a con- 
 vention of the States to consider amendments to the Constitu- 
 tion. He pleaded with his " dissatisfied fellow-countrymen" to 
 be friends, not enemies, adding the hope " that the mystic 
 chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot 
 grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad 
 land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, 
 as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." In 
 five weeks thereafter Fort Sumter was bombarded. It sur- 
 rendered to the enemy on the 14th of April, 1861, On the 
 next day President Lincoln called for 75,000 troops in order to 
 suppress in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Missis- 
 sippi, Louisiana, and Texas combinations obstructing the execu- 
 tion of the laws of the United States, which combinations are too 
 powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial 
 proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law. 
 
 In the presence of this appeal. President Buchanan's 
 State-rights sophisms were forgotten, and the people of the 
 North rallied with surprising ardor around the flag of their 
 country. Under it they marched — nearly two and a half 
 millions of them — for four weary and wasting years, to gain by 
 the ultimate surrender of the Confederate armies the vindica- 
 tion of the national authority for which they spent many 
 millions of treasure and many thousands of lives. What Presi- 
 dent Buchanan predicted could not be done was done. The 
 people of the Republic proved themselves able to maintain a 
 long and bloody war in defense of public life and personal Hb- 
 erty, to subdue the most powerful rebellion of all time, to pre- 
 serve their republican institutions unharmed, to " cement" our 
 Union "by the blood of its citizens," and at the end of all 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS; 1856-1888. 69 
 
 this strife to lead the people up to the point of extirpating, by 
 constitutional provision, the cause of all this bitterness, of ele- 
 vating to United States citizenship the class who were the 
 innocent occasion of this tremendous conflict, and of settling 
 our American civilization upon a firmer basis than it had when 
 this great strain began, or ever could have had in the absence 
 of this heroic surgery. 
 
 LINCOLN AND SLAVERY. 
 
 President Lincoln sought, in the beginning, to confine the 
 issue to the single point of asserting the supremacy of the laws 
 of the Union. 
 
 But other elements quickly entered on each side of the 
 line. As early as January, 1861, three months before the 
 firing on Fort Sumter, " large gangs of negroes from planta- 
 tions " were put to work " by the Confederates on the redoubts at 
 Mobile, and a thousand negroes were busy at Charleston build- 
 ing batteries." Free negroes also were employed in like ser- 
 vice at Charleston, Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Memphis; and by 
 November, 1 861, over 1,400 free colored men were organized and 
 reviewed by the Governor of Louisiana. As early as June, 
 1 861, the Legislature of Tennessee provided for receiving as 
 volunteers, or for pressing as drafted men, " male free persons 
 of color" into the military service of that State, in numbers at 
 the discretion of the governor. Other States, and finally the 
 Confederate Congress early in 1863, provided for the service 
 of slaves in certain capacities in their army. 
 
 And in the spring of 1865, when the Confederacy was facing 
 death, the Confederate Congress authorized the enlistment of 
 300,000 slaves as soldiers, " with the same rations, clothing, and 
 pay as other troops." There was added in the law the grim and 
 cold proviso that " nothing in this act shall be construed to au- 
 thorize a change in the relation of said slaves." As slaves, they 
 were to fight for slavery, and then to be remanded to their mas- 
 ters ! Though the ground was quaking and hope itself was flee- 
 ing, the Confederacy piteously pleaded for the help of slaves, but 
 would not consent to diminish, by the smallest fraction, the 
 number of its chained and bound. No wonder, after such a 
 
-JO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 spectacle, that the Confederacy went down amid the acclaim of 
 all the nations of the earth, and that its last days lacked 
 dignity, and wholly failed to inspire pity. 
 
 On the other hand, during the summer of 1861 colored 
 refugees were used in the Engineer and Quartermaster and 
 other Departments of the Union arm)-. But it was not until 
 the summer of 1862 that the Congress of the Union enrolled this 
 class in the national forces. Thus free and slave negroes were 
 from an early date employed on both sides — the Confederate 
 antedating the Union authorities in this respect. As early as 
 1862, when the military struggle was most stubborn and uncer- 
 tain and there was nothing clear except prolongation of hostili- 
 ties, Mr. Lincoln sought to detach the sympathies of the Border 
 States from the Confederacy by proposing to them Compensated 
 Emancipation, as had been applied in the District of Columbia. 
 Mr. Lincoln then regarded that as the quickest and cheapest 
 way to end the war, and besides as tending to a speedy solution 
 of the slavery question in all the States. He addressed Con- 
 gress upon the subject, and sought especially to interest in it 
 the Border States' representatives, but with indifferent success. 
 Some doubted their constitutional power so to vote public 
 funds. Others doubted the practicability of the plan. Others 
 deemed it unadvisable. A few approved and were ready to 
 co-operate. But nothing was done, and the war rolled on, 
 indecisively, expensivel)-, discouragingly. 
 
 On the 22d September, 1862, President Lincoln, after much 
 deliberation, finally reached a definite conclusion. After the 
 retreat of Lee from Maryland after the battle of Antietam, he 
 issued to the people a proclamation, in which he declared a 
 purpose to issue, on the first of the next January, another proc- 
 lamation which would declare forever free all persons held as 
 slaves in any State, or designated part of a State, the people of 
 which shall then be in rebellion against the United States. He 
 declared his purpose to renew at the next session of Congress 
 the effort for Compensated Emancipation for the adhering 
 slave States, with a view to the adoption by them of immediate 
 or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1863, he issued the Proclamation of 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 71 
 
 Emancipation as promised, "as a fit and necessary war measure 
 for suppressing said rebellion," and "upon this act, sincerely be- 
 lieved to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution 
 upon military necessity," he invoked " the considerate judgment 
 of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God." Thence- 
 forth a decided anti-slavery direction was given to the contest 
 by the armies and Congress of the Union. 
 
 Compensated Emancipation for the Border States having 
 been dechned, the President and his party advanced, in 1864, 
 to the position of Emancipation for all the States without Com- 
 pensation. 
 
 In February of that year the Thirteenth Constitutional 
 Amendment was reported to the Senate, which, three months 
 thereafter, passed it by a vote of over six to one. The 
 exact vote was- — yeas 38, nays 6. In the affirmative with the 
 Repubhcans were the two " war " Democratic Senators from 
 Oregon. The six negative votes were cast by " irreconcil- 
 able " Democratic Senators from California, Delaware, Indiana, 
 and Kentucky. But the movement received a check in the 
 House of Representatives, which had been chosen in the fall of 
 1862 under the depression of military failures, and in which the 
 Democratic contingent was a large element. The vote on pass- 
 ing the amendment was taken on the i5tb day of June, 1864, 
 and resulted — yeas 95, nays 66, not voting 20 — not two thirds 
 in the afiSrmative. A motion to reconi'der this vote was 
 entered, and the subject went over till the next session. 
 
 LINCOLN'S RE-ELECTION. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the 7th of June, 1864, Abraham Lincoln was 
 renominated. In the third resolution the Convention declared 
 that, as slavery was the cause and now coristitutes " the strength 
 of this rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere, 
 hostile to the principles of republican government, justice and 
 the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation 
 from the soil of the Republic," and that they favored an amend- 
 ment of the Constitution such " as shall terminate and forever 
 prohibit the existence of slavery within the United States." 
 
 The Convention further approved the determination of the 
 
72 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Government of the United States " not to compromise with 
 rebels, or to offer them any terms of peace except such as may 
 be based upon an unconditional surrender of their hostility and 
 a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of 
 the United States." 
 
 These two distinct and broad issues were tendered to the 
 American people. The Democratic Convention met nearly 
 two months later, and, on the 30th of August, nominated 
 General George B. McClellan for President. Their platform 
 declared " unswerving fidelity to the Union under the Consti- 
 tution." They " explicitly declared " that, after four years of 
 failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, "justice, 
 humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immedi- 
 ate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to 
 an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, 
 to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may- 
 be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States." 
 
 " Unswerving fidelity to the Union under the Constitution " 
 was understood to mean a covert declaration of unwillingness 
 to amend the Constitution, as proposed by the Republicans ; 
 and an " ultimate Convention of the States " was understood 
 to mean a purpose to confer with those then in arms against 
 us as to the terms on which they would agree to return tO" 
 their places in the Union. It was strongly suspected then that 
 this cunning suggestion had its inspiration in Richmond, which 
 was then quaking under the deadly blow the Union armies 
 were dealing. What was then suspected is now known. As 
 lately as October of last year, it was divulged by the Baltimore 
 Sun, the leading Democratic newspaper of Maryland, that the 
 unwillingness of the Democracy of Maryland in 1864 to support 
 for President, General McClellan who had violently dispersed 
 their legislature in 1 861, was removed by the assurance from Rich- 
 mond that the " South wanted some one to give them terms,, 
 and that the Democratic party would deal very differently with 
 them from the Lincoln administration ; and that the Democracy 
 of Maryland yielded its resentment towards the candidate in 
 the hope and for the purpose of aiding its suffering friends south 
 of the Potomac. This is literally true." 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 73 
 
 On which the keen remark was made, by one of the parties 
 to the controversy which caused this exposure, that the Demo- 
 crats of Maryland in 1864, " under the guise of exercising their 
 rights as citizens of the United States, were actually secretly 
 obeying the instruction of the armed enemies of the Federal 
 Government." 
 
 President Lincoln's letter of acceptance " heartily approved " 
 the resolutions of the Convention. 
 
 General McClellan's letter of acceptance interpreted the 
 Democratic platform. He said, " The Union is the one condi- 
 tion of peace ; we ask no more." 
 
 This clearly excluded the idea of any change of Consti- 
 tution as antecedent to, or concurrent with, return to the 
 Union. It was, besides, set forth that the Convention which 
 was to be held should guarantee for the future the consti- 
 tutional rights of every State. This could mean only that 
 the " Union " was to be restored as it was, including protection 
 to slavery by all branches of the government. On these lines 
 the McClellan campaign was made. The Prof. Morse commit- 
 tee in New York gave its strength to proving the divinity of 
 slavery and the necessity of saving it, and circulated in large 
 numbers Bishop Hopkins's celebrated " Bible View of Slavery." 
 
 While the Democratic Campaign Committee, also in New 
 York, in their publications arraigned Abraham Lincoln for six- 
 teen distinct offenses, " from treason to thimblerigging," in- 
 cluding specifically perjury, bribery, forgery, and the like.* 
 
 They denounced him as exercising power with the reckless- 
 ness of Bomba, and as " surrounded by more dangerous men 
 than haunted the ante-rooms of the imbecile Louis XHL" 
 They compared him with Louis Napoleon. It was charged that 
 Napoleon " shed some blood to get power, violated some oaths, 
 broke some pledges." But they charged that Napoleon broke 
 not half so many as Abraham Lincoln. Napoleon was chided 
 for " shedding rills of blood." Lincoln was denounced for 
 "pouring rivers of blood." That nothing possible to be said 
 to Lincoln's disparagement should remain unsaid by the repre- 
 
 * For all this, and more, see Campaign Documents Nos. i and 13. 
 
74 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 sentatives of the Democratic party, the despotism of Jefferson 
 Davis was described as "an educated, inteUigent, and respect- 
 able despotism ;" that of Abraham Lincoln, as " a vulgar and 
 debasing despotism." McClellan and Lincoln were compared — ■ 
 " Hyperion to a Satyr." Thus they raved till the morning of 
 the election. 
 
 The country was not deceived by these tactics. It was not 
 in favor of restoring slavery to its position of mischief-maker ; 
 and it had faith that the Government was now on the path to vic- 
 tory and enduring peace. It re-elected President Lincoln by 
 giving him 212 of the 233 votes composing the Electoral Col- 
 lege. McClellan carried the three States of Delaware, Ken- 
 tucky, and New Jersey. Lincoln had a popular majority of 
 over 400,000. 
 
 The result produced consternation in the Confederate Cap- 
 itol. The authorities there saw in it not merely the triumph 
 of the Union arms, but the doom of slavery itself. From 
 July, 1863, they had expected the former ; up to November, 
 1864, they relied on the Northern Democracy to save them 
 from the latter. But this " Spartan band," whose existence 
 was gratefully recognized on the floor of the Secession Conven- 
 tion of South Carolina in December, i860, proved in 1864 as 
 unable to defeat President Lincoln's re-election, and to save 
 slavery, as it proved unable or unwilling in 1861 to redeem its 
 pledges of the previous year to prevent the marching of troops 
 over Northern soil for the " coercion " of seceding States. As 
 a " Spartan band " it had proved itself lacking in virility, not 
 malignity. 
 
 THE ANTI-SLAVERY AMENDMENT. 
 
 The Republicans came to Washington after the election of 
 1864 flushed with their great victory; and on the 31st of Jan- 
 uary, 1865, the Anti-slavery Amendment, which had failed in 
 June, 1864, by a vote of 95 to 66, was passed through the House 
 of Representatives by a vote of 1 19 to 56, being 7 votes more 
 than the required two thirds. On this vote, the three " war 
 Democrats " of the previous vote were re-enforced by 13 other 
 Democrats who acquiesced in the popular verdict. They with 
 
ITS RISE AND TROGRESS : 1856-1888. 75 
 
 103 Republicans made up the affirmative. The 56 negatives 
 were " irreconcilable " Democrats. The six absentees were all 
 of the Democratic party, presumably willing to have the 
 Amendment submitted. 
 
 In the debate, the opposition resisted the measure on the 
 triple grounds of the unfitness of the time, the impropriety of 
 the thing, and the want of power in "three fourths of the 
 States " to make such an amendment. Mr. Pendleton, the Vice- 
 Presidential candidate on the _ ticket with General McClellan, 
 elaborated these points as well in the debate of June, 1864, as 
 of January, 1865. He, holding the extreme State-rights view, 
 regarded our government as a " compact of confederation," 
 and the " Federal Government " as " the agent of the States." 
 He affirmed the doctrines laid down in the Kentucky and Vir- 
 ginia resolutions of 1798 ; denied the power of " three fourths 
 of the States, or all the States save one, to abolish slavery in 
 that dissenting State " — and he found this exclusion of power, 
 not in the clause of the Constitution defining the right of 
 amendment, for it confessedly is not there, but in a duty we 
 owed not to subvert the form and spirit and theory of the 
 government ! This argument, for a strict constructionist, was 
 rather broad, for it required that the ingenuity of 1865 should 
 supply the thing forgotten by the framers in 1789. Their 
 exclusion of certain amendments was plainly a permission of 
 all others on which the necessary two thirds of Congress and 
 three fourths of the legislatures could agree. 
 
 Public sentiment had come slowly to the point of adopting 
 this amendment. 
 
 In the earlier years of the war suggestions in this direc- 
 tion met no general response — rather roused opposition. The 
 people yet hoped for peace without abolition. But events 
 clarified vision. As sacrifices continued, perception of right 
 grew clearer. As anxieties increased, the public more will- 
 ingly considered remedies which promised permanent relief. 
 And, finally, as the enormity of the crime of the secession 
 movement dawned upon and found lodgment in the mind of 
 the Union-loving people of the country, and as the struggle 
 was, finally, plainly seen to be between two irreconcilable 
 
76 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 civilizations and policies, there was a gravitation to the convic- 
 tion that no victory for the Union would be a complete com- 
 pensation for the vast cost of the war, which did not involve as 
 signal a triumph for the principle of liberty as for the senti- 
 ment of union. And as the people contemplated the final over- 
 throw of slavery, there was added comfort in the thought that 
 it was what had demanded the sword which now was to perish 
 by the sword. '^ 
 
 Hence, by 1865, the amendment was received by the coun- 
 try with more than acquiescence. It excited genuine enthusi- 
 asm. It was regarded by the loyal masses as pre-eminently the 
 civic act most fitting to mark the close of the military struggle. 
 
 It was ratified by all the legislatures then in session, except 
 by the Democratic legislatures of Delaware, Kentucky, and New 
 Jersey, which last State at a subsequent election chose a legis- 
 lature which reversed this vote and ratified the amendment. 
 Ultimately, thirty-six legislatures — some of them of the re- 
 constructed States — voted on the question. Twenty-seven 
 voted afifirmatively, and on the i8th of December, 1865, it was 
 proclaimed as having become a part of the Constitution. And 
 this was done over the solid opposition of the Democratic 
 party in the various State legislatures. This beneficent act is 
 now the praise of all lips. Even the South expresses a sense 
 of indescribable relief, as it bounds forth under the stimulus of 
 a new life. All agree that it has vastly served the cause of 
 national unity, of national strength, and of national regenera- 
 tion. But it ought not to be forgotten, in this universal paean, 
 that no credit, or portion of credit, for this result attaches 
 to the men who controlled, or to the ideas which dominated, 
 the Democratic party. They stood by slavery to the last. 
 
 While this amendment was pending in Congress, the Con- 
 federate authorities turned inquiring eyes towards the success- 
 ful Lincoln. Peace through the McClellan convention was 
 not now possible. At Hampton Roads, on the 3d of February, 
 1863, they tested Lincoln as to the conditions of peace. He 
 gave three: (i) The restoration of the national authority 
 throughout all the States; (2) No receding by the Executive of 
 the United States on the slavery question from the position 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1 856-1 888. J-j 
 
 assumed thereon in the late annual message to Congress, and in 
 preceding documents ; (3) No cessation of hostilities short of 
 an end of the war and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the 
 government. 
 
 Three days thereafter, JefTerson Dai'is denounced these 
 terms in a public meeting in Richmond as a "gross insult 
 to be spurned with indignation." Their next device was 
 an appeal from the re-elected President to Grant, the vic- 
 torious leader of our armies. Within a month from the 
 Hampton Roads conference, General Lee proposed to General 
 Grant a " mihtary conference," to consider a " satisfactory ad- 
 justment of the present unhappy difficulties." Lee announced 
 himself as clothed with extraordinary power " to do whatever 
 the result of the proposed interview may render necessary or 
 desirable." The purpose was to dethrone the civil authority 
 of the United States and settle the issue by a military con\'en- 
 tion. Grant referred the proposal to Lincoln, who advised 
 Grant to hold no " conference" with General Lee except for 
 " capitulation," as the " President holds in his own hands all poli- 
 tical questions." What was purposed by this may be inferred 
 from the terms which constituted the text of the Sherman- 
 Johnston agreement. As the Confederate Cabinet deliber- 
 ated upon these terms, they can be safely accepted as what that 
 Cabinet then desired. They stipulated for a guaranty of the 
 political rights and franchises of the Confederates, and " for their 
 rights of person and property as defined by the Constitution 
 of the United States and of the States respectively." These 
 terms are suggestive for their comprehensiveness ; but they were 
 disapproved. Johnston's army was then surrendered \\'ithout 
 political conditions, and the war was closed without complica- 
 tions touching slavery or other political question. 
 
 Thus repeatedly foiled, yet still not without hope, the Con- 
 federate authorities in control of their State organizations re- 
 sorted to a new expedient. They would defend slavery and its 
 incidents behind the bulwarks of the State governments they 
 controlled. The Confederate governors of Georgia, Mississippi, 
 South Carolina, and Texas hastened to summon their legisla- 
 tures, with the evident purpose, upon renewing in an oath their 
 
78 THE KErUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 pledge of loyalty to the United States, to assert their authority 
 as legislators as indicated in Art. III. of the Sherman-Johnston 
 agreement,* and to resist encroachment upon the status quo. 
 But President Johnson comprehended the purpose, and, not 
 yet captured by the Confederates, prohibited the meeting of 
 the legislatures, and within a month superseded all, and im- 
 prisoned one or more, of these governors. And thus the way 
 was made clear for the Presidential plan of restoration which 
 was declared, defined, and executed between April and iVovem- 
 ber, 1865. 
 
 PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S RESTORATION POLICY. 
 The old Congress had expired forty days before the surren- 
 der, and the new Congress could not meet unless called by the 
 Executive. The new Executive was Andrew Johnson, who, in 
 the sudden consciousness of unexpected and extraordinary 
 power, preferred that his will should stand in place of law. He 
 formed a plan of restoration. It involved the appointment 
 by himself of a " provisional governor" for each of the insurrec- 
 tionary States, and the election under his authority on the old 
 basis of white suffrage, excluding a few classes, of conventions 
 to make new constitutions and effect, thereby, proper practical 
 relations between those States and the Union. The President 
 indicated four conditions which he desired observed by these 
 State Conventions : 
 
 (i) Ratifying the constitutional amendment to abolish 
 slaver)'. 
 
 (2) Repudiating the State debts created in aid of the Re- 
 bellion. 
 
 (3) Annulling the Ordinances of Secession. 
 
 (4) Extending the elective franchise in their States to those 
 colored male negroes who could read and write, and to those 
 who owned and paid taxes on $250 \\'orth of real estate. 
 
 President Johnson soon met quiet but firm resistance in 
 several quarters and on several points. The conventions ex- 
 
 * The recognition by the Executive of the United Stales of the several State 
 governments, on their officers and legislatures taking the oath prescribed by the 
 Constitution. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 79 
 
 pressed willingness to abolish slavery in their States "be- 
 cause already destroyed as an act of war by the United States," 
 but they expressed reluctance to ratify the proposed constitu- 
 tional amendment because that would aid in abolishing slavery 
 in other States. But, under decided pressure from the Presi 
 dent, this objection was finally waived and ratification voted, 
 though coupled in several cases with the suggestive condition 
 that such amendment " does not confer upon Congress power 
 to legislate upon the political status of freedmen in those 
 States," and with a reservation by Georgia of a right to claim 
 compensation. 
 
 The second condition was partially conceded — Mississippi 
 and South Carolina alone declining. 
 
 The third condition was refused by the South Carolina and 
 the Georgia conventions, which voted to " repeal " their 
 Ordinances of Secession, thus avoiding a denial of the right 
 to pass them. 
 
 And the fourth condition, that on colored suffrage — which 
 struck the nerve-centre — was treated with contemptuous silence 
 by all of them, though it was reinforced by piteous appeals or 
 passionate remonstrances from mass-meetings of colored per- 
 sons held in those capitals. When it is remembered that the 
 conventions which made this record were chosen by the Presi- 
 dent's authority alone ; that to them he was the sole represen- 
 tative of the power of the Union ; that he gave the pardons 
 which enabled many of the members to sit ; that yet not one 
 of his suggestions was frankly and fully met ; and that the 
 most important of all, though plainly asked, was unitedly dis- 
 regarded with undisguised purpose of hostility, it became evi- 
 dent, if it ever could have been doubted, that the Confederate 
 South had then formed a fixed purpose to take back into 
 the Union not only all the representative power they had 
 before secession, but the increased power which would 
 come from the representation as freemen of the two fifths 
 formerly excluded as slaves. In a word, they purposed to profit 
 by their rebellion, to be more powerful in the restored Union 
 than they were in the Union from which they seceded, and to 
 wield, through their own exclusive suffrage, the representative 
 
8o THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 power of both their white and colored populations. This pur- 
 pose of theirs is the key to the situation as it then existed, as 
 it has been steadily maintained, and as it now exists. 
 
 Why those conventions dechned, without exception, even 
 to consider President Johnson's demand for a qualified suffrage 
 for colored persons, clearly appears from an examination of 
 the " Freedmen's Codes" enacted by the State legislatures dur- 
 ing the fall of 1865 and the spring of 1866, the provisions 
 of which embody the views and purposes of the then governing 
 classes in those States. 
 
 One spirit pervades all ; and the details of one will 
 answer for the others. Take for illustration Mississippi. 
 All freedmen over 18 years of age found on the second 
 Monday in January in each year without lawful employment 
 or business, or found unlawfully assembling themselves to- 
 gether by day or night, and all white persons so assembling or 
 usually associating with freedmen on terms of equality, were on 
 conviction to be fined — the freedmen fifty dollars each and im- 
 prisoned ten days, the whites to be fined two hundred dollars and 
 imprisoned at the discretion of the court. The fines of the freed- 
 men if paid were to go to the general purposes of the county; 
 if not paid, the sheriff was to hire the delinquents to any 
 person who for the shortest period of service would pay the 
 fine and costs, preference to be given to the employer, if any. 
 The poverty of the freedmen was made a charge on themselves, 
 and a tax of one dollar a year was imposed on each, between 
 18 and 60 years, for a " freedmen's pauper fund ;" and if thiff 
 tax was not paid, each delinquent was to be arrested and hired 
 for the tax and costs. All the freedmen under 18 were to be 
 apprenticed till 21 and 18 respectively, the former owner to 
 have the preference. No freedman was permitted to rent any 
 lands or tenements, e.xcept in incorporated towns or cities, in 
 which places the corporate authorities were to control the 
 same ; and if he lived in a city or town or incorporated village 
 he was required to have a license from the mayor, or if outside 
 the town, from the member of the board of police of the beat 
 — such license to be revocable for cause at any time. Any 
 freedman keeping any fire-arms or ammunition was to be 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-I 
 
 fined ; and any freedman exercising the functions of a minister 
 of the Gospel without a hcense from some regularly-organized 
 church was to be liable to a fine and imprisonment. The only 
 provision for educating freedmen was in Florida, where schools 
 were to be established in counties in which the number of 
 children would warrant it and the fund derived from the tax 
 of one dollar on each male freedman between 21 and 55, and 
 the tuition fee, would be sufficient to meet expenses. 
 
 The codes of South Carolina and Virginia were such that 
 General Sickles and General Terry set them aside in orders. 
 These deliberate enactments of the purposes of the Confederate 
 South created, outside of that jurisdiction, a mixed feeling of 
 surprise and horror. When considered in connection with the 
 previous action on Emancipation, Rebel Debt, Secession, and 
 Qualified Suffrage, they cast a lurid shadow over the situation, 
 and convinced both the Congress and the country that the 
 measures of the President had wholly failed to bring safety or 
 to do justice, and that before the offending States could pru- 
 dently be re-clothed with the power of local control and 
 national representation new guards against the abuse of both 
 must be put up. 
 
 ACTION OF THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 
 
 The new measure was the Fourteenth Amendment of the 
 Constitution. It passed Congress finally on the 13th of June, 
 1866, and had four principal features: 
 
 I. The citizenship of all persons born or naturalized in the 
 United States. 
 
 II. Apportioning representatives according to population 
 in the States ; but when the right to vote is denied by any 
 State to any of its male inhabitants being twenty-one years of 
 age and citizens of the United States, the basis of representa- 
 tion therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the num- 
 ber of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of 
 male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 
 
 III. Disqualifying for offiice those participants in the Re- 
 bellion who formerly had taken an oath to support the Consti- 
 
82 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 tution of the United States— Congress reserving the right, by 
 two thirds vote, to relieve the disability. 
 
 IV. The public debt shall not be questioned ; but no debt 
 incurred in aid of rebellion, nor any claim for the loss or eman- 
 cipation of any slave, shall be paid. 
 
 This amendment was intended to broaden the basis of 
 American citizenship, by admitting into it the whole colored 
 population of the country — the stirring declaration of its first 
 section being the answer of the Union to the Freedmen's 
 Codes described, and the formal repudiation of the principle 
 which underlay the Dred Scott "opinion." 
 
 The two stand in strong and significant contrast. The Con- 
 federate South proposed to hold the late slaves as an excep- 
 tional, separate and dependent class, and to keep them a home- 
 less and landless one. The Union proposed to make all of them 
 American citizens, sharers with their late owners in the equal 
 right to life, liberty, and property. But the amendment 
 touched suffrage only negatively. It reduced the representa- 
 tion of a State in the proportion in which the State disfran- 
 chised male adults. In so far, and only so far, it operated to 
 induce .the States to confer the suffrage upon all male adults. 
 
 THE MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. 
 
 The amendment went to the people in the fall of 1866. It 
 was rejected by the legislatures of but three of the twenty- 
 seven adhering States, viz., the Democratic States of Delaware, 
 Kentucky, and Maryland. It was rejected also by the legisla- 
 tures then existing under President Johnson's authority in the 
 ten insurrectionary States. The eight-ninths vote of the adher- 
 ing States was thus overborne by the solid negative of the 
 Confederate South, with three allies. What was to be done? 
 Acquiesce in the defeat; maintain the status; or apply the 
 only remaining remedy of which the case admitted ? Congress 
 got the answer of the last of the Confederate States in Feb- 
 ruary, 1867. It gave its answer in March, 1867, in the prompt 
 passage by overwhelming vote of the Military Reconstruction 
 Act ; and manhood suffrage became at once an operative force. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 83 
 
 By it, ratification, , restoration, and representation soon came, 
 and the " Freedmen's Codes" and tlie other debris of the Presi- 
 dent's plan were swept aside by the application of equal 
 principles embodied in new governments and enforced by new 
 agents. / 
 
 This act applied to the " rebel States of Alabama, Arkan- 
 sas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, 
 Texas, and Virginia," and was justified on the ground that no 
 legal State governments, or adequate protection for life or 
 property, existed in them. The bill was passed, by much more 
 than a two-thirds vote, over the veto of President Johnson, 
 who was in no mood to enjoy seeing his " Restoration" swept 
 aside. 
 
 This act disfranchised those who, having previously taken an 
 oath to support the Constitution of the United States, had en- 
 gaged in the Rebellion. It gave suffrage to the " male citizens of 
 those States, 21 years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or 
 previous condition." These were authorized to vote at elections 
 for delegates to conventions to frame constitutions of gov- 
 ernment, to be " in conformity with the constitution of the 
 United States in all respects." And the presence in those 
 constitutions of provisions conferring the franchise as fixed in 
 the act, the adoption of those constitutions by a majority of 
 the persons voting thereon, and the ratification of the Four- 
 teenth Amendment by the legislatures elected under said con- 
 stitutions, were made the conditions on the fulfillment of which 
 said States should become entitled to representation in Con- 
 gress. This act — the parent of manhood suffrage in the 
 United States — created between 700,000 and 800,000 voters 
 and doubled the electorate in those States. The new voters 
 were up to that time without experience in either national. 
 State, county, or municipal affairs. Entirely untrained, they 
 were at the moment of enfranchisement, and had been for cen- 
 turies without their consent, a " laboring, landless, and home- 
 less class." Clothing them suddenly with the large power 
 which their numbers represented was, and was conceded by 
 those who did it, to be a portentous step. But it was taken, 
 upon great deliberation, in full view of its probable and possi- 
 
84 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ble results, and only after it had been incontestably proved 
 that the form of reconstruction agreed upon, with remarkable 
 unanimity, by the law-making power of the Union could not 
 be obtained in any other way. 
 
 Events previously noted had limited that Congress to one 
 of three courses : 
 
 (i) An indefinite military occupation and administration of 
 those States now become sullenly resistant ; or 
 
 (2) An abandonment of effort to secure the guaranties 
 which the adhering States beheved to be both wise, just, and 
 indispensable ; or 
 
 (3) The creation of the only local power which was capable 
 of controlling the political action and giving the assent of those 
 States to the terms offered by the triumphant Union. 
 
 The _ftrsi was for many reasons offensive and objectionable, 
 and if ever seriously entertained was soon abandoned as a 
 policy. 
 
 The second was impossible to the men who had seen and 
 felt the coming of the War and the War itself, who realized 
 what produced it, what it threatened, what it cost, and what 
 was due to the rights which the struggle had created. 
 
 The third was slowly and reluctantly accepted as the only 
 solution yet possible after the refusal of the then dominant in- 
 terest in those States to accept the principles touching citizen- 
 ship and suffrage which distinguished the Fourteenth Amend- 
 ment. It is not uncommon to hear that colored suffrage was 
 " forced upon a patient, submissive, and powerless South." 
 This is historically untrue. It was forced upon a Confederate 
 South united to defeat, having actually defeated, the ratifica- 
 tion of the Fourteenth Amendment as a basis of re-union. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1 868. 
 
 The Military Reconstruction Act was enforced during the 
 summer of 1867, and during the next twelve months the States 
 of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North 
 Carolina, and South Carolina were admitted to representation 
 in Congress, they having ratified the Fourteenth Amendment 
 and complied with the conditions required in the act. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 85 
 
 Pending the execution of this measure, the Presidential elec- 
 tion approached. The Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant, 
 the Democrats Horatio Seymour. The Republicans, in their 
 platform, congratulated the country on the assured success of 
 the reconstruction policy of Congress, and pledged themselves 
 to sustain that policy and prevent anarchy in the lately rebel- 
 lious States. The Democracy, become by training skillful in 
 complaint, denounced " the Reconstruction Acts (so called) of 
 Congress, as such, as usurpation and unconstitutional, revolu- 
 tionary, and void." They declared that under repeated assaults 
 by the Republican party " the pillars of the government are 
 rocking on their base," and that " should the Republican party 
 succeed in the election and inaugurate its President, we will 
 meet as a subjected and conquered people, amid the ruins of 
 liberty and the scattered fragments of the Constitution." 
 
 These words were intended to be an overwhelming assault 
 upon the party and policy of Lincoln and Grant. But they 
 created rather amusement than indignation. 
 
 The last time the Democratic party had been heard from — ■ 
 four years before — it was clamoring for a convention in order 
 to permit our Constitution to be cut into such fragments as 
 armed enemies might dictate — for a convention to submit our 
 institutions of " liberty " to such mutilations as avowed de- 
 fenders of slavery might demand as the price of peace. 
 
 The pillars of the government were at that time actually 
 rocking on their base ; and then it was that the Democratic 
 organization declined to help hold them up, but insisted on 
 first seeing whether those who were trying, with their assent, 
 to batter them down would think they were any longer, under 
 any circumstances, worth supporting. The professions of 1868 
 Were thus rather ridiculous in the light of the surrender of 
 1864. The people properly rated as trash this magniloquence; 
 as fretters and fumers these pretenders. And they gave Grant 
 & popular majority of 309,584, and an electoral majority of 134. 
 In this count is included for Seymour the State of New York, 
 which, it was suspected then and is believed now, was given to 
 Seymour, not by the actual will of the voters, but by the un- 
 
86 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 scrupulous power of the " Tweed Ring" which had control of 
 the count. 
 
 Grant was elected. He served four years. He was re- 
 elected and served four years more. Yet from him or his party 
 the Constitution of his country, which he had risked his life to 
 defend and upon whose life it had staked its right to live, re- 
 ceived no blow. Nothing was taken from it. What was added 
 to it was merely the cap-stone required to perfect its symmetry. 
 No "scattered fragments" of it blocked the path of progress 
 on which the Nation trod in a development absolutely without 
 parallel in all the history of nations. Nor did any " ruins of 
 liberty " suffice to call to halt, even for a moment, this mighty 
 people as it built up waste places, strengthened' weak places, 
 settled our purified and widened institutions upon immovable 
 foundations, paid the debt of the war, brought England to 
 settlement for her offenses against neutrality, and, by wisdom 
 and skill and honorable dealing with all questions, placed the 
 country upon a very pinnacle of honor. 
 
 Such is the reply which history makes to the vaporings of 
 the Democratic National Convention of 1868. 
 
 THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT. 
 
 But the enfranchisement of colored male citizens for pur- 
 poses of reconstruction under the Military Reconstruction Act, 
 and subsequently by provisions in the new constitutions of 
 those nine States, led logically to the enfranchisement of that 
 class in all the States. 
 
 In some of these States they had long had suffrage. But 
 in most of them they had never had suffrage. In order to 
 give equality and universality to this right, the Fifteenth 
 Amendment was proposed by Congress and adopted by the 
 legislatures. The subject was considered during much of the 
 last session of the Fortieth Congress, and by a committee 
 of conference was finally brought into the shape in which 
 it passed. The vote in the House of Representatives, 
 February 25, 1869, was over three to one for it (144 to 44); 
 in the Senate, the next day, exactly three to one (39 to 13). 
 Not a single Democrat in either house supported it. The 
 
ITS RlSE ANt) PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 87 
 
 whole power of that party resisted it in the State legislatures. 
 But it received approval of the necessary number, and on the 
 30th day of March, 1870, it was formally declared to be a part of 
 the Constitution. President Grant deemed the occasion of its 
 ratification worthy of a special message, in which he pro- 
 nounced this a " measure of grander importance than any other 
 one act of the kind from the foundation of our free govern- 
 ment to the present day." Its pregnant words were that "the 
 right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 
 denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
 account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." 
 
 In the States of the North the right thus conferred has 
 been freely conceded, and the new electorate has taken its 
 place at the polls. 
 
 In the States immediately south of the old border line the 
 right has been more grudgingly conceded. 
 
 In the States of the Gulf the right has been practically an- 
 nulled. In them a new nullification has been organized. The 
 rights given in the Fifteenth Amendment are, within them, paper 
 rights — not actual rights. The fact of suppression is admitted. 
 The excuse is that such suppression is necessary to the domina- 
 tion of the white race in those States, and to the maintenance 
 of what they call their " civilization." So the election frauds of 
 1855 in Kansas were justified as necessary to the maintenance 
 of the " civilization " of which slavery was the crown and jewel. 
 A " civilization " always exists. A desire to have power, also, 
 always exists. It is convenient for those who enjoy a " civiliza- 
 tion " and who luxuriate in power to be able to harmonize 
 their love of both with a supreme desire to oppress and a vindic- 
 tive desire to show contempt for a hated constitutional pro- 
 vision. In the Gulf States Democratic majorities for President 
 and on Congress are no longer won. They are manufactured. 
 Government of the people in them is overthrown. Govern 
 ment of a class is in its place, and that " class " the " class" 
 which prides itself on its high " civilization." The achievement 
 is its form of vengeance upon the Union for slavery abolished 
 and for slaves enfranchised. 
 
 This suppression of the colored vote has had its stages. 
 
88 THE REPUBLICAN PARTV. 
 
 Its first stage was one of violence, bloodshed, and terrorism. 
 Some startling accounts of these methods are appended,* for 
 they deserve to be remembered as a part of our present " civili- 
 zation." These were done to get local control of those com- 
 munities and States. With that accomplished, artful fraud, 
 in the shape of cunning enactments executed by unscrupulous 
 agents, has made permanent the fruits of the original crime. 
 
 As illustrating these devices for maintaining control, it may 
 be mentioned that in Louisiana elections for State and county 
 officers are held but once in four years, though the legislatures 
 so chosen meet biennially. In that State, Georgia, Alabama, and 
 other States, elections for State officers are held at different 
 
 * Extracts from General Philip H. Sheridan's reports from New Orleans : 
 1875, January 4 .' " It is with deep regret I have to announce to you the exist- 
 ence in this State of a spirit of defiance to all lawful authority, and an insecurity 
 of life which is hardly realized by the general government or the country at large." 
 lilS, January 5. "I think that the terrorism now existing in Louisiana, 
 Mississippi, and Arkansas could be entirely removed, and confidence and fair- 
 dealing established, by the arrest and trial of the ringleaders of the armed White 
 Leagues." 
 
 iZ-ji, January 10 .• "Since the year i866 nearly thirty-five hundred persons, 
 a great majority of whom were colored men, have been killed and wounded in 
 this State. In 1868 the official record shows that eighteen hundred and eighty- 
 four were killed and wounded. From 1868 to the present time no official inves- 
 tigation has been made, and the civil authorities in all but a few cases have been 
 unable to arrest, convict, and punish perpetrators. There is ample evidence to 
 show that more than twelve hundred persons have been killed and wounded 
 during this time on account of their political sentiments. Human life in this 
 State is held so cheaply, that when men are killed on account of political opinions, 
 the murderers are regarded rather as heroes than as criminals in the localities 
 where they reside, and by the White League and their supporters." 
 
 Extract from President Grant's Message of July 31, 1876.- "In regard to 
 Louisiana affairs, murders and massacres of innocent men for opinion's sake, or 
 on account of color, have been of too recent date and of too frequent occurrence to 
 require recapitulation here. All are familiar with their horrible details, the only 
 wonder being that so many justify them or apologize for them." 
 
 Extract from President Grant's Letter to Governor Chamberlain of South Car- 
 olina July 26, 1876 . '■ The scene at Hamburg, as cruel, bloodthirsty, wanton, un- 
 provoked, and as uncalled for as it was, is only a repetition of the course that has 
 been pursued in other States within the last few years, notably in Mississippi and 
 Louisiana. Mississippi is governed to-day by oflScials chosen through fraud and 
 violence, such as would scarcely be accredited to savages, much less to a civilized 
 and Christian people." 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 89 
 
 dates from elections of Representatives in Congress and Presi- 
 dent, so as to avoid the presence at the polls, in State elections, 
 of U. S. supervisors and marshals of opposite political parties, 
 who are authorized to be appointed with a view to secure a fair 
 election and an honest count and return. 
 
 In South Carolina, the State elections, though held on the 
 same day as national elections, have the ballot-boxes in different 
 places ; there is a ballot-box for each ofificer voted for ; each 
 voter is required to assort his ticket into these various boxes ; 
 any ticket dropped into the wrong box is annulled ; and the 
 person in charge of the election-poll is permitted, not required, 
 to assist electors in distributing their tickets. Thus, the law 
 makes easy a defeat of this right by imposing on the voter the 
 duty of distributing the ticket to the various boxes, and making 
 a mistake on such distribution work a defeat of his vote. 
 
 In most of these States tax and registering provisions are 
 made intentionally perplexing and arbitrary, so as to diminish 
 the poll. All this infernal enginery is manifestly intended to 
 defeat the free exercise of the right of suffrage, by wearying 
 out the proscribed class. When allusion was recently made 
 in the Senate of the United States to some of these methods. 
 Senator Eustis of Louisiana replied : " It is none of your 
 business." 
 
 This defiance from Louisiana had scarcely died away when 
 a voice from North Carolina made clear the object. It was the 
 voice of the Governor of the State, General Alfred M. Scales, 
 late of the Confederate Army. In a speech before the Demo- 
 cratic State Convention, at Raleigh, May 30, 1888, he is reported 
 as saying that "however much the Democrats of this State were 
 divided over the tariff, the internal revenue, the Blair [educa- 
 tional] bill, and the best means whereby to get rid of the 
 surplus, they were united on the question that this was a white 
 man's government and white men must rule it. He said this 
 was THE question of questions ; that it had kept the South 
 solid since 1876, and would keep it so in this campaign." 
 
 This is equal to saying that the black man, notwithstanding 
 his constitutional right of suffrage, is to be pressed as closely 
 and tightly to the wall as possible, and that the rights given 
 
go THE REPUBLICAN PARTV. 
 
 by the Fifteenth Amendment are to be nullified as completely as 
 possible. 
 
 A " white man's government." This is the familiar lingo of 
 slavery's days, yet living in the mouths of Southern Democrats, 
 who purchase from Northern Democrats acquiescence in all 
 which it implies, by the political power which these crimes bring 
 with them. This conspiracy against free representative govern- 
 ment and against a plain provision of the Constitution of the 
 United States recalls the like conspiracy, between the same 
 parties, in 1852, 1856, and i860, whereby the Kentucky resolu- 
 tions of 1798 were, in consideration of electoral votes, injected 
 into the Democratic National Platform, and made the basis of 
 Democratic faith. 
 
 Nevertheless, the right to the suffrage remains. Those 
 entitled to it remain. The right cannot always be denied. 
 Those who have the right cannot be driven from the country. 
 There will come a time when the present shame will be wiped 
 out, when men will be regarded as dishonored who profit by 
 such crimes, and when the Democratic party will no longer 
 consent to accept power by means which bring turpitude with 
 victory. Probably they will amend their ways, after they shall 
 have had full time to outgrow the debauching influences of 
 slavery which have for forty years besmirched their career and 
 which yet beslime their character. 
 
 The result is that the Confederate South has, by 1888, gained 
 all for which from 1865 to 1867, as it was emerging from re- 
 bellion, it made a stand. 
 
 Then it arrayed its States solidly against, and defeated, the 
 modified suffrage which was at first proposed, but was after- 
 wards under their frown abandoned, by President Johnson. 
 It was an unbroken phalanx against the Fourteenth Amend- 
 ment because that made the enlarged or diminished representa- 
 tion of the States to depend upon their conceding or denying 
 male colored suffrage. And it has, as to themselves, paralyzed 
 the fifteenth Amendment, which was presumed to have o-iven 
 universality and permanence, reality and sacredness, to this in- 
 valuable right. 
 
 The definite purpose of the Confederate South formed in 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRfeSS; I856-1888. Qt 
 
 1865, that when restored it should wield the whole represen- 
 tative power of those States by force of its own ballots only, 
 and without division or diminution, has been achieved. It 
 was unable by force of circumstances to prevent the ratification 
 of the Fourteenth Amendment. It was also unable, for the 
 same reason and at a later date, to prevent the ratification of 
 the Fifteenth Amendment. But by the unit of its power, and 
 the help of allies who, sharing in benefits from its crimes, wink 
 at the guilt, both of the amendments have in their widest 
 sphere of operation been reduced to the smallest proportion 
 of results. They are as vessels of honor turned by hating 
 hands into vessels of dishonor. Their prohibitions and their 
 grants liave alike become words without force or virtue. Their 
 prohibitions fail to prevent. Their grants fail to confer. And 
 the penalty imposed for violation is as sounding brass and a 
 tinkling cymbal. 
 
 LINCOLN'S PROBABLE ACTION. 
 
 Such having been the fate of Johnson's defeated plan of 
 restoration, and such the result of the Congressional plan of 
 reconstruction, including the amendments, the interesting 
 inquiry arises, What form would the solution of this problem 
 have probably taken had Lincoln been permitted to meet the 
 responsibilities of this trust ? 
 
 Was the Johnson plan of restoration substantially what 
 Lincoln's would have been ? 
 
 Here the ground is less solid than that we have been tread- 
 ing. But certain conspicuous facts permit a reasonably cer- 
 tain answer. Assuming ^yhat may not be improbable, that 
 Lincoln would not have called Congress together in the 
 summer of 1865, but would have essayed restoration upon his 
 own ideas, it would follow that the form of it would in that 
 event have been similar to Johnson's, but the substance of 
 it essentially different. Nor is this a matter of conjecture. 
 This subject absorbed much of Lincoln's thought, and on 
 it he had a distinctly traceable growth. In 1863, when his 
 mind was first engaged with the problem of reconstruction, 
 he gave the public his " present impressions." They are in 
 
92 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 his Amnesty Proclamation of December 8. He was then in- 
 tensely anxious for peace, and made advances to get it. He 
 asked for the colored population " permanent freedom" and 
 " education," but was prepared to concede as a " temporary 
 arrangement " a system of apprenticeship in the hope that 
 through some such practical method the two races could be 
 lifted out of their old relations and be prepared for the new. 
 For he then had in mind and expressed his sense of the " con- 
 fusion and destitution " which would attend a total revolution 
 of labor throughout whole States. Apprenticeship was 
 thus to serve as a bridge. 
 
 But by the time he came to the stream — sixteen months 
 later — he found that the bridge was entirely inadequate, so 
 clarifying had been the logic of rapidly-occurring events. In 
 his last speech, April ii, 1865, he discused the " Free State* 
 ■Constitution of Louisiana," then pending, and said of the 
 absence from it of colored suffrage that he would himself 
 " prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, 
 and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.'' There is a 
 wide space between " apprenticeship " for all and "suffrage" 
 for some, but Lincoln traversed it between those dates. To 
 suppose that this special man, of deeply-rooted and daily 
 strengthening anti-slavery convictions, with deep desire to ex- 
 tract from the great convulsion a "just and lasting peace" for 
 his country, would, with such an opportunity, have failed, if 
 he had been thwarted as his successor was, to employ every 
 resource of diplomacy and tact, his inflexible purpose and high 
 resolve, for the imbedding in the Constitutions of those States 
 and of the Union masculine provisions whose principles, it is 
 
 * In marking Lincoln's growth, his letter to Governor Hahn of the " Fre? 
 State" movement is valuable. It is dated March 13, 1864, and says, touching 
 the suffrage clause for the new constitution ; "I barely suggest, for your pri- 
 vate consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, 
 for instance, the very intelligent and especially those who have fought gallantly 
 in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep 
 the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. But it is only a suggestion, not 
 to the public, but to you alone." This was written only five months after his 
 Amnesty Proclamation of Decembers, 1863. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS : 1856-1888. 93 
 
 known, had the approval of his judgment and his conscience 
 is to do equal violence to probabilities and proofs. 
 
 Undoubtedly, he would have been content with nothing 
 less than a large and ever-widening measure of suffrage. That 
 he would have imperatively required immediate manhood 
 suffrage cannot safely be asserted, though there is evidence 
 that he was rapidly gravitating to universal amnesty and 
 universal suffrage as a basis for re- union. But there is no 
 reason to suppose that when confronted by the perils which 
 compelled the Thirty-ninth Congress to impose on the insur- 
 rectionary States manhood suffrage, he would have rejected the 
 only remedy remaining. But whether the ultimate result 
 would have been materially different from that which has ac- 
 tually occurred would have depended less upon the purpose of 
 Lincoln or the will of the whole people than upon the willing- 
 ness of the Confederates to carry out in their States in good 
 faith the conditions on which their restoration to the political 
 power which they had once ruthlessly abused had been made 
 dependent. For, under our system, it is hard to influence the 
 people of the States, in their ordinary political action, except 
 by the moral arguments which are based upon conscience and 
 duty. 
 
 A RETROSPECT. 
 
 Looking back thirty-four years, it is instructive to observe 
 the Hne by which the nation has moved, from its situation in 
 1854 to its vastly-changed situation in 1888. These facts are 
 manifest. 
 
 The Compromise measures of 1850 had left slavery in a 
 more secure position than it had occupied since the agitation 
 over it began. 
 
 The territorial questions had, all of them, been definitely 
 settled— each, as it had arisen, by an adjustment of limits, 
 or an application of principle which was agreed upon at the 
 time of acquisition and was then more or less completely 
 executed. There was no point open, and none debatable, ex- 
 cept whether at a future time slavery should not be abolished, 
 with or without compensation, in the District of Columbia, 
 
94 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 and whether the fugitive-slave law might not be modified 
 as to a minor detail or two, or possibly repealed. There was 
 not enough in either issue to keep a party alive. The country 
 had settled down into absolute acquiescence in the settlement 
 which bore the sanction of such names as Clay and Webster, 
 of Fillmore and Badger, of Benton and Cass. The anti-slavery 
 leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives felt the 
 ground slipping from under their feet. Their disappearance 
 from public life had already begun, and their general supersed- 
 ure was a question of but a few years. Their work was be- 
 lieved by themselves to be over, when a suggestion made in 
 recklessness, in February, 1854, and adopted from ambition, 
 changed the whole face of affairs, and amazed the country by 
 the repudiation and annulment of the Missouri Compromise 
 of 1820 at the moment when the free States of the Union 
 were about to come into the enjoyment of the benefits it had' 
 promised. 
 
 This contract of 1820 had about it every element of sacred- 
 ness which could be given by great names, by lapse of time, 
 by portentous circumstances attending adoption. The terri- 
 tory of Kansas and Nebraska was undoubtedly a part of 
 the territory which its terms were declared and designed to 
 cover. Nothing was lacking to make clear the breach of faith 
 which was intended, or the purpose of it. And when, through 
 the connivance of the Pierce administration, whose chief in so 
 doing broke his pledged word to the whole people, this act of 
 treachery was actually done, the whirlwind was let loose. The 
 whole controversy, territorial and constitutional, was opened 
 up. Popular agitation. North and South, sought to seize and 
 hold Kansas. The " rights " of slavery, which conceded no 
 rights to freedom, were questioned at aU points. In despera- 
 tion the Supreme Court was called in to assert and define them. 
 
 Public opinion divided into three great classes, and the peo- 
 ple divided into three great political bodies. Lincoln's election 
 to the Presidency followed. Then, secession and rebellion. 
 Then, the war and emancipation. Then, the Fourteenth 
 Amendment and its rejection. Then, reconstruction and the 
 adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. Then, to ^ive com- 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 95 
 
 pleteness to all which had preceded, the Fifteenth Amendment. 
 This was the series of events, each logically following the other, 
 and in the series making and marking the broadest, quickest, 
 and most far-reaching change in institutions known to history. 
 
 In all this the record of the Republican party has been 
 without a stain. In i860 it sought and expected no resistance 
 to a fair election of its candidate. In 1861 it sadly accepted 
 what was forced upon it. In 1865 it would have been content 
 with emancipation and citizenship and quahfied suffrage, but 
 was defiantly refused these three necessary securities for the 
 future. In 1869 it pledged itself to manhood suffrage be- 
 cause no honorable adjustment was then possible without it. 
 
 On the other hand, what is the record of the Democratic 
 party? In 1854 it dishonorably made itself a party to the 
 breaking of the pledge of 1820 — therein breaking its own pledge 
 f 1852. In 1861 it unpatriotically stood, smihng and com- 
 placent, in the very presence of secession and rebellion. In 
 1864, as if wearied with its burden of assumed unionism, it de- 
 manded surrender to rebellion. In 1865, false to every instinct 
 of liberty, it resisted the initial act of emancipation, before 
 which the darkness of ages is vanishing, as fog before the sun. 
 And from 1868 to 1888, false to every instinct of a true democ- 
 racy, it has steadily resisted equality of citizenship and equality 
 of suffrage, and alone found pleasure in the oppression of the 
 weak and the spoliation of the unprotected. In no re- 
 public, ancient or modern, has any party ever made itself so 
 worthy of the scorn of the generous and the just. 
 
 THE FINANCIAL RECORD OF THE PARTIES. 
 
 The Lincoln administration inherited from the Buchanan 
 administration a bankrupt treasury and an impaired credit, as 
 well as an armed rebellion. 
 
 It is a suggestive commentary on the sort of government 
 which the Democratic party was wont to give the country 
 in its halcyon days, that for the four fiscal years preced- 
 ing June 30, 1861, the ordinary revenues had been inade- 
 quate to meet the ordinary expenditures. In the fiscal 
 
g6 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 year 1858 the ordinary revenues were $46,655,365.96; the or- 
 dinary expenditures, $72,291,1 19.70 — a deficit of over twenty- 
 five millions. In the fiscal year 1859 the ordinary revenues 
 were $53,486,465.64; the ordinary expenditures, $66,327,405.72 
 — a deficit of thirteen millions. In the fiscal year i860 the or- 
 dinary revenues were $56,054,599.83 ; the ordinary expendi- 
 tures, $60,010,112.58 — adeficit of four millions. All these years 
 were years of peace. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1861, 
 the ordinary revenues were $41,476,299.49; the ordinary ex- 
 penditures, $62,537,171.62 — a deficit of twenty-one millions. 
 The latter half of this fiscal year covered the opening move- 
 ments of secession. During these four years the government 
 ran in debt about sixty-three million dollars. How was this 
 annually recurring deficit met? By the cowardly policy of issu- 
 ing treasury notes. 
 
 Mr. Speaker Carlisle in his speech in the House of 
 Representatives on May 19, 1888, felicitates the Demo- 
 cratic party upon the fact that during the entire existence of 
 the tariff of i846-'57 the administration was able to borrow 
 money, giving five per cent interest, without paying a premium 
 for it. 
 
 As the last twelve years of this period were peaceful 
 years, the wonder is, not that the Government of the United 
 States was able to sell its interest-bearing notes or bonds at 
 par, but that it was required to sell them at all. Why 
 were the expenditures not kept within the revenues ? Why 
 were the revenues not enlarged so as to meet the expendi- 
 tures? What ought to be said of a fiscal policy which in ordi- 
 nary times and for years together does not make both ends 
 meet? What would be the common judgment of the capabil- 
 ity of a trustee who conducted on that principle the business 
 confided to him ? Treasury notes were not intended to be the 
 daily support of the government. They had their origin and 
 their justification in the War of 1812. Repeated resort to 
 them in times of peace by the Democratic party as an alterna- 
 tive to adequate taxation is to its discredit, and is one of the 
 many proofs and illustrations of its cowardice through a career 
 in which it showed no courage except in support of the slave 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 97 
 
 system and all its inventions. Borrowing money, rather than 
 imposing needed taxes, has always been its characteristic sub- 
 terfuge. 
 
 Besides, during the period of uncertainty as to the next 
 Presidential election, the Slave Power had a special motive to 
 acquiesce, as it saw revenue fall off and debt pile up. By so 
 much it was rendered less anxious about the activities of the 
 future. 
 
 So, for four years, it had gone on borrowing, until the pub- 
 lic debt on the 30th June, i860, was $64,769,703.08. 
 
 Of this debt nearly twenty millions were treasury notes which 
 had been issued at various times since 1857, ^^^ which were 
 past due. When, after the election of Mr. Lincoln in i860, 
 the secession movement was developed, a panic ensued. Bid- 
 ders for a public loan, made in September, i860, hesitated to 
 carry out the contract. The overdue treasury notes came into 
 the Treasury rapidly for redemption. 
 
 Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, reported to 
 Congress in December, i860, that those not yet due were 
 being paid in for customs, thus depriving the government 
 of its principal source of revenue. He added that the 
 " necessities of the Treasury demand prompt action." He 
 asked for authority to issue more treasury notes, and that 
 the " public lands be unconditionally pledged for their 
 ultimate redemption." He gave as the reason for issuing 
 more treasury notes " that capitalists in the present condition 
 of the country seem unwilling to invest in United States stock 
 at par," and that the " remaining sum of eleven millions cannot 
 now be negotiated upon terms acceptable to the govern- 
 ment." The pledge suggested by Mr. Cobb would have been 
 a futile pledge. The pledge which the country wanted was 
 precisely the pledge which Mr. Cobb could not and would not 
 give — an assurance of fidelity to his trust. While his previous 
 bids were awaiting final execution he wrote letters to New 
 York discrediting the bonds and expressing doubt whether 
 they would ever be paid. And within one week after making 
 to Congress his annual report he resigned his place in Presi- 
 dent Buchanan's Cabinet — "his duty to Georgia requiring it." 
 
98 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 His immediate successor, Philip F. Thomas, on December 
 28, i860, asked for bids for $5,000,000 of six-per-cent treasury 
 notes. But half that amount were offered, and they at a rate 
 of discount ranging from seven to thirty-six per cent. By the 
 middle of January, 1861, John A. Dix of New York having 
 become Secretary, the discount for the remainder of the loan 
 ranged from eight and a half to fifteen per cent. And by the 
 middle of February $8,000,000 more were sold at an average of 
 Sioo for about $90.50. With such brilliancy of financial record 
 the Buchanan administration went out. 
 
 The War came, and with it the public debt grew. By June 
 3^, r86i, it had become, less cash in the Treasury, $87,71 8,- 
 060.80. It bounded on from $505,312,752.17 on June 30, 1862, 
 to $1,111,350,737.41 in 1863, to $1,709,452,277.04 in 1864, to 
 $2,674,815,856.76 in 1865, reaching by August 31, 1865, the 
 maximum aggregate of $2,756,431,571.43. Twenty years there- 
 after, when the executive control passed to Democratic hands, 
 this enormous aggregate had been reduced to $1,375,352,- 
 443.91, or about one half. The annual interest account, which 
 was in August, 1865, $150,977,697.87, had fallen to $47,014,- 
 133 in 1885. And meanwhile both tariff and internal-revenue 
 taxes had been reduced at the rate of about $360,000,000 a 
 year, making as the basis of calculation the business of the 
 country as it existed when the respective reductions were 
 made. In other words, if taxation as it existed in 1865 had 
 remained untouched, and if the general business of the country 
 had continued to be no larger than it was in 1865, the Treasury 
 would have received $360,356,354 a year more than it did re- 
 ceive, and the whole existing debt could have been paid many 
 years ago. The Treasury which the new Democratic adminis- 
 tration received from the retiring Republicans in 1885 was as 
 striking an illustration of the genius and patriotism of the Re- 
 publican party as the Treasury of 1861 was proof of a very 
 different character in the Democratic party. 
 
 The world has not yet ceased wondering at these results, 
 which so great an observer as Bismarck has pronounced the 
 " most illustrious of modern time." * 
 
 * Witness the splendid tribute from Bismarck; "The success of the United 
 
ITS RISE AND I'ROGRESS : 1856-1888. 99 
 
 What were the means by which the Republican jjarty 
 wrought them out ? The secret is, the Repubhcan party by its 
 directness, frankness, and fidehty challenged the respect and 
 won the confidence of the country, and impressed itself upon 
 the people, who were anxious to give trust, that it was worthy 
 to receive trust. As a consequence, the people gladly accepted 
 it as their representative, poured their money into the public 
 treasury, and made the public cause their personal cause. For 
 this they had had under Democratic administration no induce- 
 ment. 
 
 In the beginning. Secretary Chase announced as his funda- 
 mental maxim that " taxation" was necessary to the extent of 
 the ordinary expenditures, the interest on the public debt, and 
 for a sinking fund for the gradual extinction of the principal. 
 And " taxation" substantially adequate to these ends was im- 
 posed. He denied that perpetual debt was of American 
 nativity. He insisted that it should not be naturalized. He 
 maintained that every debt should be provided for when it was 
 created, and that " if the exacting emergencies of war con- 
 strained to temporary departure from the principle of adequate 
 taxation, the first moments of returning tranquillity should be 
 devoted to its re-establishment in full supremacy over the 
 financial administration of affairs." The issues of paper made 
 were of a variety : bonds payable in 20 years ; bonds payable in 
 40 years ; 7.30 treasury notes redeemable in 3 years ; treasury 
 notes redeemable in 2 years ; treasury notes redeemable in i 
 year ; certificates of indebtedness running i year ; temporary 
 loans for not less than 30 days ; postal currency ; fractional 
 
 States in material development is the most illustrious of modern time. The 
 American Nation has not only successfully borne and suppressed the most 
 gigantic and expensive war of all history, but immediately afterward disbanded 
 its army, found employment for all its soldiers and marines, paid off most of its 
 debt, given labor and homes to the unemployed of Europe as fast as they could 
 arrive within its territory, and still by a system of taxation so indirect as not to 
 be perceived, much less felt. Because it is my deliberate judgment that the 
 prosperity of America is mainly due to its system of protective laws, I urge 
 that Germany has now reached that point where it is necessary to imitate the 
 tarifiC system of the United States." 
 
JOO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 currency ; " greenbacks." The rate of interest on bonds and 
 notes ran from 7.30 to 4 per cent. 
 
 The taxing power went hand in hand with the borrowing. 
 Increased rates of customs duty largely swelled those revenues, 
 and a comprehensive internal-revenue taxation was devised 
 which, from 1862 to 1887 inclusive, has produced the enormous 
 sum, exclusive of commissions, of $3,557,127,756. 
 
 Coincident with these measures was the plan for giving 
 the people a stable currency. Prior to 1861 the bank-note 
 circulation was issued by about sixteen hundred private cor- 
 porations organized under the laws of thirty-four States. 
 These corporations had a " circulation, commonly, in the 
 inverse ratio of solvency," causing great fluctuations and heavy 
 losses in discounts and exchanges. Secretary Chase proposed 
 in his report of December 9, 1861, that these corporations be 
 brought into a national system ; that they deposit as security 
 for circulation a proper amount of United States stocks ; 
 that they receive from the United States in return an equiva- 
 lent amount in notes bearing a common impression and 
 authenticated by a common authority, and that they be re- 
 deemed by the institutions to which they may be delivered for 
 issue. It was urged that by wise legislation the great transi- 
 tion from a currency heterogeneous, unequal, and unsafe to 
 one uniform, equal, and safe may be speedily and almost im- 
 perceptibly accomplished. Besides, the system had the advan- 
 tage of furnishing a demand for, and permanent investment in, 
 several hundred millions of bonds of the United States. This, 
 however, was not accomplished till the spring of 1863, and it 
 represented by April, 1865, the bonds which secured a circula- 
 tion of $146,927,975. 
 
 By these various enactments the necessary funds for main- 
 taining the war were provided. 
 
 The tariff duties for the four fiscal years ending with June 
 30, 18,61, averaged $46,031,270.71 a year. In the next five 
 fiscal years they averaged $96,881,421.03 a year. The gain 
 in this kind of revenue during those five years over the pre- 
 ceding average in four was a little over fifty millions a year. 
 This amount was the measure of annual good which can be 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. lOI 
 
 credited to that legislation. The internal-revenue taxes levied 
 during the same period produced up to 1866, inclusive, over 
 six hundred and sixty-six millions of dollars. The cash gain 
 to the Treasury from 1861 to 1866, inclusive, from those two 
 sources, was thus eight hundred and sixteen millions of dollars. 
 The gain to the country was beyond computation. These 
 many millions were the basis on which rested the whole fabric 
 of treasury credit. They were the indispensable means to the 
 maintenance of the armies of the Union. 
 
 It is a suggestive and mortifying yet actual fact that the 
 Democratic Senators and Representatives in Congress were ar- 
 rayed in almost solid opposition to all this tariff and internal- 
 revenue legislation of 1861, 1862, and 1864. Likewise, they were 
 unwilling to assist in establishing the national banking system 
 in 1863. This supersedure of the various State banking systems 
 by a national banking system had for its primary object the 
 strengthening in a critical period of the position of the national 
 treasury. To make United States bonds the basis of the note 
 circulation of banks was to insure a large demand for United 
 States bonds, of which demand they were in great need. Be- 
 sides, taking the banks out from under State control into 
 national control was to insure for the government the help of 
 these institutions, many of which had been unfriendly and had 
 thrown out treasury notes at the first sign of trouble. The act 
 was proposed and passed, not at all as a favor to the banks, but 
 as an aid to the United States. To the people it has been a 
 vast beneficence. It goes without saying that the Democracy, 
 in Congress and out of it, were in no mood to approve such a 
 measure. They violently disapproved it. ^Opposing it made 
 complete their opposition to all the great tax and money 
 measures of the war. 
 
 They were much too shrewd to oppose the passage of bills 
 authorizing loans or bills making appropriations of money. 
 They had no objections to loans or appropriations /^r se ; and 
 they did not pant for a direct issue with the soldiery and other 
 creditors of the nation. Their opposition took the more covert 
 and more effective form of voting against all the taxation 
 which would raise revenue and form a basis of credit, and ail 
 
I02 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the laws which would supply soldiers to our depleted 
 armies. 
 
 In the case of every such proposition they had a difficulty. 
 The taxes levied were too high, or they were not properly ad- 
 justed to each other, or, forsooth, they were not collectible by 
 officers appointed by the proper authority. So they could not 
 vote for the Enrollment Acts of 1863 and 1864, because there 
 was no constitutional power to raise " forced levies" for an 
 army of volunteers, and because coercion by means of such an 
 act would be an " unconstitutional mode of coercion." As a 
 result of this ';eries of convenient scruples, it came about that 
 the Democracy in Congress declined to help fill the Treasury 
 with taxes which the people were perfectly willing to pay, and 
 the army with soldiers who preferred being called to the army 
 to volunteering into it. But their opposition availed not. 
 Money and troops were both raised, and the alleged uncon- 
 stitutionality of the method, even if true, does not detract a 
 whit from the completeness of the victory, or its moral mag- 
 nificence. 
 
 But the " alleged unconstitutionality" was not true. Had 
 the Democratic Senators and Representatives in Congress set 
 out to starve the Nation, or to make the army an easy prey 
 to its enemies, the policy which they adopted was the policy 
 which an intelligent purpose would have required them to 
 adopt. It is thus impossible for an intelligent student of the 
 history of those times to find that the Democracy were faithful 
 to the country during the eventful years which began in 1861 
 and ended in 1865. But the period of their especial guilt was 
 from 1863 to 1865, when they definitely placed love of slavery 
 before love of Union. In all that was done to overthrow 
 slavery they bore no part. In all that was done to save the 
 Union they bore little part. Their tone was always that of 
 criticism. Their favorite r^j/f was objection. Their enjoyment 
 was found in obstruction. They habitually poised in an atti- 
 tude of expectancy. They always held themselves as if pre- 
 paring for disaster. But the disaster which they expected and 
 for which they were prepared did not come to give them joy. 
 The disaster which did come brought them shame and confusion. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. IO3 
 
 THE RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS. 
 
 The early financial measures of the government were 
 based on the theory that the RebeUion would be quickly sub- 
 dued, and that specie payments would be maintained. 
 
 Both suppositions proved erroneous. This hope disappeared 
 after the military reverses of the summer of 1861 and the unex- 
 pected delays in the fall of that year. The latter had caused an 
 enormous growth in expenditure, with no corresponding result ; 
 and as new issues of paper and new loans became necessary, 
 the maintenance of specie payments was seen to be impossible. 
 The banks suspended on the 31st of December, 1861, and the 
 government followed. Eight months of test had proved that 
 the task before the Nation would tax its energies and resources 
 as they had never been taxed, and that victory could come only 
 after large outlays of treasure and serious loss of life. This 
 condition of suspension lasted till January i, 1879 — ^ period of 
 eighteen years. 
 
 By January i, 1862, the army consisted of 700,000 men. An 
 active navy was in process of organization. The expenses were 
 two millions of dollars a day. Congress had been in session 
 one month, and had not had time to mature and pass necessary 
 tax bills. 
 
 During the next three months one hundred million dol- 
 lars were imperatively required. How were they to be 
 raised? A " legal tender" issue was proposed. At once, New 
 York, Boston, and Philadelphia banks sent a delegation to re- 
 monstrate. They asked that a proper tax bill be passed ; that 
 no demand treasury notes be issued ; that two-year treasury 
 notes be issued, receivable for public dues, except duties, to the 
 amount of $100,000,000; that the banks be made depositories 
 of the government for all loans ; that six-per-cent bonds be 
 issued and sold without limitation as to price ; and that tem- 
 porary loans be authorized, secured by hypothecation of these 
 bonds, which were to be sold at market price if the loans were 
 not paid at maturity. Further negotiation procured a partial 
 modification of these cut-throat terms— all being directed, in 
 part, to the avoidance of the issue of a " legal tender" currency. 
 
I04 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 But a few days' experience showed how futile were all such 
 plans. The situation admitted of but one remedy. 
 
 Within one month, the Secretary of the Treasury found him- 
 self unable to sell treasury notes bearing 7.30 per cent interest 
 except at a discount, or 3.65 notes except at a greater discount. 
 The floating debt at that moment was about $180,000,000 ; and 
 it was certain that $600,000,000 would be required to carry the 
 country through the campaign of 1862. 
 
 The Ways and Means Committee of the House of Represen- 
 tatives reported on the 22d of January, 1862, the bill which be- 
 came the " Legal Lender" Act. On the 29th of January the 
 Secretary of the Treasury advised the committee that " it is at 
 present impossible to procure sufficient coin for disbursements, 
 and it has, therefore, become indispensably necessary that we 
 should resort to the issue of United States notes." He admit- 
 ted his great aversion to making anything but coin " a legal ten- 
 der in payment of debts," but found the justification for this in 
 the necessity of the case. Primarily, enormous expenditures 
 compelled the issue. But, secondarily, it was enforced by the fact 
 that there were institutions and persons who refused to receive 
 and pay out the treasury notes previously issued, to the manifest 
 hurt of the government itself, and to the injury of those institu- 
 tions and persons who were willing, in this great emergency, to 
 receive and pay out these obligations and help their country. 
 He recommended legislation providing for their funding into 
 twenty-year six-per-cent bonds, the creation of a banking sys- 
 tem based on such bonds, and a " judicious system of adequate 
 taxation." Such legislation, he hoped, " would secure the ear- 
 liest possible return to a sound currency of coin and promptly 
 convertible notes." 
 
 On the 3d of February the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury advised Congress that immediate action was of great 
 importance; that the Treasury was nearly empty; that he had 
 drawn for the last installment of the November loan ; and 
 that, so soon as it was paid, he feared the banks would refuse to 
 receive the treasury notes. The debate had been in prog- 
 ress for some days. The bill was assailed as involving the 
 " destruction of all standards of value ;" as " disordering the 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. I05 
 
 operations of trade and commerce ;" as involving the ultimate 
 bankruptcy alike of the government and the people. It was 
 denounced as without precedent in the history of the country, 
 and as being the exercise of a power which no man had ever 
 before claimed that the government possessed. 
 
 The answer was that the passage of the bill was essential 
 to the very existence of the government ; that Congress under 
 its powers to raise and support armies, to borrow money 
 and provide for the general welfare had the discretion to 
 determine what were the necessary available means ; that all 
 money contracts are made not only with a view to the present 
 laws, but subject to the future legislation of the country ; 
 that England had, by a like provision, in a like emergency, 
 protected herself against a like danger ; and that it involved 
 to no one a special injustice. After full debate the bill passed 
 both Houses, and was approved by the President, February 25, 
 1862. The first issue authorized was of $150,000,000. This was 
 in February, 1862. Four months thereafter $150,000,000 more 
 were authorized. Eight months thereafter $150,000,000 more 
 were authorized, of which $50,000,000 were to be used as tempo- 
 rarily required for the redemption of temporary loans. As the 
 issue increased in volume its purchasing power declined. By 
 July, 1862, when $96,620,000 were in circulation, a " greenback" 
 dollar was worth in gold 86.6 cents. By July, 1863, when $297,- 
 767,114 were in circulation, a "greenback" dollar was worth in 
 gold 76.6 cents. By July, 1864, when $431,178,671 were in circu- 
 lation, a "greenback" dollar was worth in gold 38.7 cents. 
 
 The figures indicate an increasingly desperate situation. In- 
 stinctively, the two parties proposed two characteristic remedies. 
 The Republicans in Congress met the peril by declaring a pur- 
 pose to make the present issue of " greenbacks" the fixed limit, 
 and to depend for further needed revenue on further taxation 
 and more bonds. The Democrats, in National Convention, 
 met the peril by proposing to stop the war and seek peace 
 through a convention of the States. The Republicans gave 
 the pledge, kept it, and pushed on, with vigor, through the 
 Wilderness to Appomattox. 
 
 Within thirteen years from the issue of the " greenbacks" the 
 
I06 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 principal of the interest-bearing debt had, under Republican 
 legislation, been reduced over six hundred million dollars ; the 
 annual interest-charge had been reduced to seventy-five million 
 dollars ; the debt bearing no interest had been reduced by 
 thirty-seven million dollars ; the total debt, less cash in the 
 Treasury, to about two thousand million dollars ; and the bur- 
 den of the whole debt had fallen from $78.25 per capita to 
 
 $47-44- 
 
 Having put in the way of extinction the funded debt 
 caused by the Rebellion, the Republican party proceeded, in 
 187s, to relieve the people of the evils of a depreciated and 
 fluctuating currency. 
 
 They provided for the redemption in coin, on the 1st of 
 January, 1879, of the " United States legal tender notes then 
 outstanding," and to make " free" to all and at once the privi- 
 leges conferred by the national banking system. The act pro- 
 vided for retiring the fractional currency ; for a reduction of 
 the " legal tender" circulation in connection with the issue of 
 bank circulation until the limit of $300,000,000 for" legal tender" 
 notes was reached ; and named January i, 1879, ^^ the date at 
 which these notes were to be redeemed in coin. Four years were 
 thus given for preparation, so that market values might be ad- 
 justed to it, and the people prepare in their multifarious business 
 relations for the change. This " legal tender" circulation had 
 been issued, it will be remembered, as a " military necessity." 
 Notwithstanding such " necessity," it had been opposed in 
 1862 on constitutional grounds, by a united and vindictive De- 
 mocracy. In their view it was an unauthorized and dishonored 
 issue, a forced loan, a menace to business, an unjust invasion of 
 the sanctity of private rights. To them it had been as nothing 
 that the circumstances which called the notes into being were 
 such an overwhelming national necessity as always subordinates 
 minor interests to the greater and all-absorbing interest. 
 
 Now the opportunity was offered the fault-finding Democ- 
 racy to aid in wiping out the dishonor and removing the 
 menace which their issue was alleged to have involved and 
 to be continually involving. And, marvelous to relate, they 
 refused to participate in the effort, and stood as one man 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. 10/ 
 
 in opposition. They persisted in maintaining all the evils 
 both of principle and policy against which they had fiercely in- 
 veighed in 1862, and practically insisted upon the excellence 
 of a currency which they had denounced as unconstitutional 
 and which they were acting so as to keep unredeemed. Never- 
 theless the bill passed. It had a iXajority of 18 in the Senate 
 and 38 in the House. 
 
 A few Republicans who desired an earlier day for redemption 
 than January i, 1879, voted against the final passage of the bill, 
 but the old Democracy pretended to no such reason. What 
 were their reasons for opposition ? All claimed to be resumption- 
 ists, but none favored this way of getting to resumption. As and 
 always before, they preferred some other thing to the pending 
 thing. One of them feared that the " proper conditions" did 
 not exist in the country, and he must be excused. Another 
 regarded the bill as rather adverse than favorable to resump- 
 tion, and he begged to be excused. A third would not sup- 
 port it because it did not contain an outright and instantane- 
 ous repeal of the Legal Tender Act, which would redress the 
 " great wrong perpetrated in 1862 ;" therefore he went on the 
 other side. A fourth regarded the bill as a "juggle," and he 
 esteemed himself too virtuous to become a juggler. And a 
 fifth was sure that under the bill the country would be no 
 nearer specie payments in 1879 than it then was in 1875 ; and 
 as " money in reality as well as in name" was very near to his 
 heart, he felt compelled to utter a sharp, shrill Nay. 
 
 So it came that all these " resumptionists" voted against 
 resumption. The bill was not a good enough resumption bill 
 for them. Thus they completed a record distinguished by 
 maliciousness in the beginning of war legislation with a record 
 distinguished by ignorance at the end of it — for resumption 
 was effected under that act as then passed. 
 
 At once upon the approval of this act Democratic agitation 
 and Democratic trimming began. When Congress met in 
 December, 1875, the Democratic House threw every possible 
 obstruction in the way of resumption. It voted by 54 ma- 
 jority against a resolution pledging themselves to sustain the 
 Treasury in this effort. By a majority of two votes it passed 
 
I08 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 a resolution in favor of the repeal of the clause giving the 
 Secretary power to sell U. S. bonds for the accomplishment of 
 resumption. And it actually passed, by a majority of 20 votes, 
 a bill to repeal the clause fixing a day for resumption. But 
 the Republican Senate declined to participate in this dema- 
 gogy, and it came to naught. 
 
 The Republican National Convention of 1876 demanded 
 " continuous and steady progress to specie payment." Their 
 candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, promised to "approve every 
 appropriate measure to accomplish the desired end, and oppose 
 any steps backward." 
 
 The Democratic National Convention denounced as a 
 " hindrance" to resumption the resumption clause of the act of 
 1875, and demanded its "repeal." Their candidate, Samuel J. 
 Tilden, denounced a " legislative command fixing a day, an 
 official promise fixing a day, as shams, as worse — a snare and 
 a delusion to all who trust them." He predicted that the then 
 existing plan for resumption " would end in a new suspension," 
 which would be a " fresh calamity, prolific of confusion, dis- 
 trust, and distress." But he said he was in favor of advancing 
 to a resumption of specie payments on its legal-tender notes 
 " by gradual and safe processes tending to relieve the present 
 business distress." Like the Democrats in Congress the year 
 before, Tilden was in favor of resumption — at some other time, 
 not at this time ; in some other way, not in this way ; at some 
 other rate of speed, not at this rate ; to the distress of some 
 other generation, not of this generation. 
 
 One would have supposed, from the freeness of his criticism, 
 that Mr. Tilden knew all about the subject of which he wrote. 
 But events have incontestably proved that he knew nothing 
 about it. Of his many predictions not one was fulfilled. 
 Resumption came as intended and when intended. It came 
 absolutely without a shock to the country or any part of 
 it. But it severely shocked and dislocated such political 
 gamesters as Mr. Tilden and the Democratic Senators and 
 Representatives. They became stranded as leaders, discredit- 
 ed as prophets, critics without character, professed statesmen 
 having no statesmanship. When Mr. Tilden wrote so freshly 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS : 1856-1888. IO9 
 
 of what would be the " inevitable failure" of resumption 
 under the act of 1875, the "greenback" dollar was worth 90.2 
 cents in gold. It had advanced from 67.3 cents in 1865. 
 During those eleven years, notwithstanding the large business 
 " distress" which then weighed upon this tender-hearted candi- 
 date, it had appreciated about 33 per cent. It was then within 
 9.8 cents of par. His defeat and Hayes's inauguration gave 
 the country an assurance of stable purpose ; and within three 
 months thereafter the "greenback" dollar was worth 94.7 
 cents, and in July, 1878, 99.4 cents. On the first of January, 
 1879, it became par, not only without injury to the country, 
 but with a sense of infinite relief. 
 
 Thus the paper money of the Union, issued in its hour of 
 weakness, was redeemed in its day of strength. The promise 
 of 1862, made in gloom but in strong faith, became glorious 
 fruition in 1879. ^^ both the promise and the fruition the 
 Democratic party had no part. The Republican party alone 
 had the courage to issue it. The Republican party alone had 
 the courage to redeem it. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1 876, 1880, AND 1 884. 
 
 At the election of 1876 Governor Hayes of Ohio was the 
 Republican candidate, and Governor Tilden of New York the 
 Democratic candidate. The poll was enormous, being a gain 
 of 2,000,000 over that of 1872, and of 2,700,000 over the exciting 
 election of 1868. Hayes received 4,033,768 votes ; Tilden 
 4,285,992. There were 81,737 " Greenback " and 9,522 "Pro- 
 hibition " votes. Tilden had a plurality of about 250,000 votes, 
 but was in a minority of one in the electoral college, in which 
 the vote stood: Hayes 185, Tilden 184. After a memorable 
 struggle, Hayes was declared elected. Under circumstances of 
 "peculiar difficulty, he conducted the country with firmness 
 through a perilous crisis. He maintained with dignity his 
 rights as President, redeemed his public pledges with scrupu- 
 lous exactitude, took advanced steps in the direction of civil- 
 service reform, restored specie payments, and resisted with 
 courage the repeal, by a Democratic Congress, of statutes en- 
 
no THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 acted to protect polls from frauds and jury-boxes from the 
 polluting presence of the criminal-sympathizing class. 
 
 The accession of President Hayes has come to be regarded 
 in Democratic literature as the colossal fraud of the century. 
 But the principle which controlled the Electoral Commission in 
 its various judgments upon the points submitted to them is an 
 impregnable one. It was, that the "votes to be counted are 
 those presented by the States, and when ascertained and pre- 
 sented by the proper authorities of the States they must be 
 counted." Outside of this principle all is chaos. If this were 
 ever open to doubt, it must now be regarded settled since the 
 recent act of 1887, defining how the Presidential count is to be 
 made, enacts definitely that a determination, by the proper 
 authorities of a State, of any controversy or contest concerning 
 the appointment of electors in such State is " conclusive and 
 shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes " of such 
 State. The Democratic members of the Electoral Commission 
 of 1877 unitedly resisted the application of this plain principle 
 to the count of that j^ear. But the Democratic members of 
 Congress and the Democratic President of 1887 unitedly pre- 
 scribed the rigid application of this plain principle to all future 
 Presidential counts. The Democracy furnished in this a strik- 
 ing illustration of a most characteristic trait — applying to a 
 pending case a convenient rule which suits their interests, and 
 content to apply to all future cases a different rule Avhich is the 
 law. So happily do they blend present greed with future duties, 
 their interests of to-day with their principles of to-morrow. The 
 critical reader of events who carefully scans the fierce Demo- 
 cratic denunciations of the decisions of the Electoral Commis- 
 sion to which the country is quadrennially treated cannot help 
 asking why the principle of the act of 1887 can be considered 
 sound enough to control all future contests and not sound enough 
 to have properly controlled the contest of 1877. The question 
 will never be answered. But the denunciation will, neverthe- 
 less, go on. 
 
 But it is said that certain local Returning Boards illegally 
 excluded from their count of the popular vote certain votes 
 cast for the Tilden electors, and thereby changed the result. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. Ill 
 
 The laws of those States gave those Boards this precise 
 power, if on proofs made the facts justified such exclusion. 
 These officers exercised this power upon their own judgment, 
 as all officers must. Upon what proofs they acted is not now 
 accurately known. If they abused their power and certified to 
 a false result, and the electors so certified discharged that duty 
 by casting their votes against the will of the majority of the 
 legal votes cast at a legal election honestly held and honestly 
 returned, the wrong was one for which the States had failed to 
 provide a remedy, and for which, under our system, the Con- 
 gress could not then prescribe a remedy. For the State could 
 not reverse an act legally done, nor could the two houses of Con- 
 gress, in counting the electoral vote, "inquire into the circum- 
 stances under which the primary vote for electors was given." 
 Charges and counter-charges were freely made respecting frauds 
 in the Presidential election. The facts were never fully in- 
 quired into, and the truth may never be known. But, whatever 
 be the truth or falsehood of these various charges, the fact re- 
 mains that as a question of law the act of the State bound the 
 Commission and the Congress, and this rule is now impregnably 
 established in statute as it was before in principle. 
 
 On the other side of this question there is no doubt. The 
 discovery and interpretation of the " cipher telegrams," many 
 of which were traced to Gramercy Park, New York City, 
 make clear the existence among the Democratic leaders of a 
 distinct purpose to meet the emergency by procuring, some- 
 how, the vote of a Republican elector. This conspiracy had 
 many ramifications. In the North it took the form of indig- 
 nant remonstrance or seductive appeal. In the South it took 
 the form of corruption. All failed. Tilden was beaten in the 
 Electoral College, and was so discredited by the damaging 
 proofs of his connection with the conspiracy to bribe that his 
 party in 1880 could not be induced, by renominating him, to 
 seek a vindication for him against the "fraud of 1876-7." 
 They chose to give their favor to one not known as a manager 
 of pohtics. This refusal to renominate Tilden in 1880 was a 
 confession that Tilden's party dare not go to the country on 
 his record in the Presidential count of 1876. Notwithstanding 
 
112 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 this confession, that party, at every recurring interval, has the 
 effrontery to resolve how grievously Tilden was cheated and 
 how beautifully he bore the injustice. The play is intended to 
 be touching. It is merely ridiculous. The known crimes of the 
 Democratic leaders in that connection can safely be set off 
 against all the charges made by them against either the popular 
 or the electoral count. 
 
 In 1880 James A. Garfield was the Republican candidate, 
 and Winfield S. Hancock the Democratic. Both had served 
 gallantly in the Union Army. But Garfield had also shone 
 resplendently in the halls of legislation. In the election Garfield 
 received 4,454,416 votes, and Hancock 4,444,952 votes. There 
 were 308,578 "Greenback" votes and 10,305 "Prohibition." 
 The popular vote of the two great parties was almost a tie, but 
 Garfield had a majority of 59 in the Electoral College. His 
 untimely death brought into the Presidency Chester A. Arthur. 
 During his administration an advance step was taken in the 
 duty of extirpating polygamy from Utah and other Territories ; 
 the Civil Service Act was passed ; while the Tariff Act of 1883 
 and the American Merchant Marine Act gave marked relief to 
 the business interests of the country. 
 
 In 1884 James G. Blaine was the Republican candidate, and 
 Grover Cleveland the Democratic candidate. The campaign 
 was the most disreputable since 1844, in the prominence given 
 to malicious personalities and in the unimportance attached to 
 policies and measures. The vote reached the aggregate of 
 10,067,610. Of these, Mr. Blaine had 4,851,081, Mr. Cleveland 
 4,874,968. There were 175,370 " Labor" votes, and 150,369 
 Prohibition. Cleveland had a plurality of 23,005 over Blaine, 
 and a majority in the Electoral College of 37. But that major- 
 ity was due to the 36 votes cast for Cleveland by the State of 
 New York, in which the returns showed that he had a plurahty 
 of only 1, 149. It has never been clear that the result as declared 
 was the result shown by the ballots cast. But as it was mani- 
 festly impossible within the thirty days which elapsed between 
 the election and the meeting of the Electoral College, to make 
 a contest over the declared result in that State, where over one 
 million of votes were cast, there was nothing left for the Re- 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1856-1888. II3 
 
 publicans to do but to acquiesce in the return, and allow Gov. 
 Cleveland to be declared elected President. By so narrow a 
 margin did the Republicans lose the Presidency, which had 
 been in their hands for the last preceding twenty-four years. 
 
 A SUMMARY. 
 
 The Republican party established the homestead policy. 
 James Buchanan vetoed it as unconstitutional. And it was 
 unconstitutional according to the prevailing Democratic inter- 
 pretations of that instrument. It was not unconstitutional ac- 
 cording to the Republican interpretation of that instrument, 
 which no court has yet been found to overthrow. That policy 
 has, since 1861, established not less than 771,700 homes, repre- 
 senting three and a half millions of people, with lands under 
 cultivation reaching an aggregate in acres equal to that of all 
 the New England States, of New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
 vania, Maryland, and Delaware put together. 
 
 By the power of courageous and intelligent legislation it has 
 broken down the barriers which made our Atlantic and Pacific 
 States strangers to each other, has fused all these varied ele- 
 ments of population into one harmonious whole, and given from 
 each strength to the other. 
 
 It has shed the light of its just and humane spirit upon the 
 problems connected with the Indian question. 
 
 It has steadily and discreetly antagonized the remaining 
 " relic of barbarism," which at last gives signs of yielding in its 
 sources of power. 
 
 To the last act in this direction President Cleveland declined 
 to lend the weight of executive approval. He allowed it to 
 become law by lapse of time. Unwilling to veto it, unable to 
 " pocket" it, he sought avoidance in an attitude of indifference. 
 
 It has embedded in law the principles of civil-service re- 
 form, which a hostile Democracy discards but has not yet had 
 the courage to attempt repeal. 
 
 It stands ready to help cure the progressive illiteracy among 
 voters, but finds relentless opposition in the Democratic party, 
 which is most powerful in States which are most illiterate. 
 
114 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 It is always and everywhere for an honest suffrage, for an 
 honest count, for an honest return of the vote cast — a united 
 Democracy giving to the same sacred cause a lip-service which 
 it interprets by a dastardly record of acts. 
 
 It is the stalwart friend of every distinctively American 
 thought, the defender of every American interest, and, by the 
 very law of its being, the faithful protector of the rights of 
 American labor, wherever or howsoever employed. 
 
 It embodies the only policies which are consistent with the 
 highest, best development of the American people. 
 
 It represents the most brilliant post in the politics of civiliz- 
 ation. By reason of causes within itself, it must be the great 
 party of the future. 
 
% 
 
PUBLIC LANDS. 115 
 
 PUBLIC LANDS. 
 By Hon. Lewis E. Payson, M. C. from Illinois. 
 
 The Republican party is entitled to the entire credit for 
 the adoption of the Homestead Law. 
 
 No public question considered in recent years exceeds in 
 importance that of the proper management and disposal of the 
 public domain. 
 
 When the Republican party was organized, the vast area of 
 arable land in the Mississippi Valley in the West and North- 
 west, as well as that greater area of territory lying westward 
 and southwesterly to the Pacific Ocean, was largely the property 
 of the government, undisposed-of public lands. 
 
 Besides these were lands in many localities in the South in 
 like condition. 
 
 In a general sense, the only method of disposition of these 
 lands had been by sale by the General Government, to realize 
 money from them as an asset, as its necessities required and as 
 capital would invest. 
 
 For many years the minimum price was two dollars per 
 acre ; all sales were at public auction, and only the remnants, 
 after the close of the public sale, could be purchased at private 
 sale. 
 
 Hence there was very little chance for a poor man to pro- 
 cure the desirable land for a home. However, beginning with 
 the act of March 3, 1801, and ending with the act of March 
 27, 1854, various "pre-emption" acts were passed by Con- 
 gress, giving a settler the first right or preference to purchase, 
 as against one desiring to buy for investment or speculation. 
 
 The principal acts of this character were those of 1830 and 
 1 84 1, known as the Pre-emption Laws. 
 
 These laws required not only settlement upon and improve- 
 ment of the land, but a cash payment therefor of not less than 
 one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. So that the public- 
 
Il6 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 land system was managed upon the principle of realizing as 
 much revenue as possible from it. 
 
 In view of the fact that the settlers, as a rule, were poor 
 but industrious men, carving homes for themselves and their 
 families out of the wild, unbroken lands, the Republican party, 
 at the very outset of its career, adopted the principle of giving 
 small areas of public lands to actual occupants for homes. 
 The history of the movement for " free homes for the people," 
 fDr "lands for the landless," is both interesting and significant. 
 
 Whatever of credit grows out of the inauguration, matur- 
 'ng, and administering the Homestead Law of this day, the 
 Republican party is entitled to it all. 
 
 Moreover, the results attained have been secured only by 
 the most persistent efforts and against the earnest opposition 
 of the Democratic party during all these years. 
 
 The Pre-emption Law, giving, as stated, a prior right of pur- 
 chase to a settler, was in force when, in the Thirty-fifth Con- 
 gress, Mr. Grow of Pennsylvania introduced in the House a 
 bill providing in substance that no public lands should be sold 
 at public auction until, at least, ten years after the same were 
 surveyed and due return thereof made to the General Land 
 Office. 
 
 This gave the settler ten years of preference over the spec- 
 ulator ; but it was defeated by a vote of 73 for to 78 against. 
 Not a Republican voted against it. 
 
 Again, on a bill relating to the then existing Pre-emption 
 Law, in January, 1859, ^^ amendment in substance like the bill 
 just named was moved by Mr. Grow ; this amendment was 
 adopted by a vote of 97 to 81, every Republican voting for it ; 
 but the bill as amended was defeated by a vote of 91 for to 95 
 against. Every Republican, with a few Douglas Democrats, 
 voted for the bill. 
 
 At the session of 1858-59 Mr. Grow re-introduced the 
 Homestead Law, which is the basis of the Homestead Law now 
 in force. 
 
 He had the same measure pending in the preceding Con- 
 gress, but failed to secure consideration then ; but the bill came 
 
PUBLIC LANDS. II7 
 
 up for consideration on February i, 1859, ^^'^ "^^t with the 
 earnest opposition of the Democratic party in the House. 
 
 Parliamentary tactics were resorted to to defeat its con- 
 sideration, but uselessly ; and after a long debate upon it, it 
 passed. 
 
 In advocating the passage of the bill, Mr. Grow asserted 
 the Republican doctrine that the government should cease to 
 look to the public lands as a source of revenue, and that they 
 should be set apart and secured in limited quantities as free 
 homes for actual settlers, instead of being left, as they were 
 under the practice then, to be absorbed by the capital of the 
 country in a vast system of land monopoly. 
 
 In earnest words he denounced the system of sales, and 
 pleaded for free homesteads. After repeated attempts by the 
 Democrats to smother the bill and failing, it passed by a vote 
 of 120 to 76. 
 
 Every Republican save one voted for the bill, and the 
 party policy on the question was established. 
 
 The bill went to the Senate ; its consideration was antag- 
 onized there by the Democrats ; it was in charge of Senator 
 Wade of Ohio, and by a vote of 25 to 23 was taken up. 
 
 Under the rules the time limited for debate expired before 
 a vote was had, and the pending subject then was a bill for the 
 purchase of Cuba, and the contest was between these two bills 
 — the one to acquire territory for the extension of slavery, the 
 other to secure free homes for free men. The consideration of 
 the Homestead Law was defeated, every Republican voting 
 for it. 
 
 Senator Wade again presented the bill, and was defeated by 
 a vote of 24 to 31, every Republican voting for it ; and a week 
 later the attempt was again made, with the same result. 
 
 After one more unsuccessful attempt that session, the matter 
 was abandoned in the Senate for that term. 
 
 Public sentiment had been freely expressed as to the meas. 
 ure now, and in the Thirty-sixth Congress Mr. Grow again intro- 
 duced the bill, and it was favorably reported by the Committee 
 on Public Lands, and, after stubborn resistance and over dilatory 
 motions by the Democrats, it was pressed to a vote and passed 
 
Il8 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 by 115 to 65, the Republicans unanimously for it; all against 
 it, Democrats. 
 
 The bill went to the Senate, a committee of which reported 
 a substitute for the Grow bill, in substance fixing a price for 
 the lands at 25 cents per acre, and excluding settlers then on the 
 public lands from its benefits. Various unsuccessful efforts 
 were made by the Republicans to substitute the Grow bill. 
 The Senate bill finally passed ; the House refused to accept it. 
 Conferences were had, and finally, because the Senate would 
 not yield, the House receded and accepted the Senate bill, but 
 with the clear statement that the principle was not to be 
 abandoned, and that the effort would be kept up until the free- 
 homestead principle was established and all the public lands 
 ■opened to the people for homes without cost. 
 
 This was on June 19, i860 ; on the 23d, President Buchanan 
 returned the bill to the Senate with his veto. 
 
 Except as to details not necessary to notice, he bases his 
 objection to the bill on Democratic grounds of strict construc- 
 tion of the Constitution; that the small price fixed on the lands 
 made them practically a gift, and certain other provisions of 
 the bill, providing in contingency for donation of lands to the 
 States, and that Congress had no power to dispose of the public 
 lands by gift or donation as proposed. 
 
 The issue was clearly made ; and the attempt to pass the 
 bill over the veto failed, not receiving the necessar>' two-thirds 
 vote. 
 
 But the great fight for free homes was not to end here ; a 
 great deal of feeling was exhibited throughout the North on the 
 question. 
 
 The National Republican Convention met in Chicago and 
 adopted this principle, in response to a clearly-understood sen- 
 timent of the membership of the party, in this form : 
 
 " Resolved, That we protest against any sale or alienation to 
 others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against 
 any view of the free-homestead policy which regards the set- 
 tlers as paupers or suppliants for pubhc bounty; and we 
 demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfac- 
 tory homestead measure which has already passed the House." 
 
PUBLIC LANDS. 1 19 
 
 The election of that year, resulting in a complete Repub- 
 lican victory, placed the entire control of the law-making power 
 in the hands of the Republicans. The party was now for the 
 first time in a position to make its views effective and enforce 
 its policy ; so that early in its exercise of power it passed the 
 Homestead Law, in February, 1862, in substance as it now 
 stands upon the statute-book. 
 
 Only three Republicans voted against it in the House, and 
 only one Republican against it in the Senate. 
 
 It is distinctively a Republican measure ; the Democratic 
 party has never, in its national platforms, favored or approved 
 the principle it embraces. 
 
 In 1856 the Democracy asserted that the proceeds of the 
 public lands ought to be applied to national objects specified 
 in the Constitution. 
 
 In i860 the Republican platform contained the plank 
 quoted above, while the Democratic platform was silent upon 
 it, although the discussion had been earnest, in Congress and 
 out, for the two preceding years. 
 
 In 1864 and 1868 the Republicans stood by their declara- 
 tion of i860, and the execution of the law they had passed. 
 
 In 1872 the Republicans " demand that the national domain 
 be set apart for free homes for the people ;" the Democrats, 
 that " public lands shall be held for actual settlers :" they did 
 not assert that they should be granted " freely," but presumably, 
 under the Pre-emption Law, at a price. 
 
 In 1876 the Republicans re-asserted the principle of 1872, 
 and the Democrats were silent. 
 
 There have been no changes since in the position of the 
 parties. 
 
 The Republicans are content to see the practical workings 
 of the system they introduced. 
 
 The official reports show the most gratifying results. 
 
 From the passage of the bill to the end of the fiscal year, 
 June 30, 1887, there have been made 771,700 entries under this 
 law, covering 99,030,071 acres of pubhc land; an area capable 
 of furnishing comfortable homes for miUions of people. 
 
 During the last fiscal year more than 52,000 homestead 
 entries were made, covering 7,594.35° acres of public land. 
 
ISO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 These areas as expressed in acres are hardly comprehensi 
 ble, but better understood when it is stated that the gross 
 area of homestead entries is larger than all New England, the 
 Middle States, and Maryland combined. 
 
 The policy was established only after a long, earnest strug- 
 gle, and hundreds of thousands of people, from experience as 
 well as observation, attest its wisdom. 
 
 Indeed, so universal is the indorsement of the principle now, 
 that efforts are being made to so amend the general land laws 
 that the only method of disposal of agricultural lands shall be 
 by the Homestead Law, and it is believed such action will be 
 had in the Fiftieth Congress. 
 
 GRANTS OF PUBLIC LANDS TO AID IN THE CONSTRUCTION 
 OF RAILROADS. 
 
 The Republican party is constantly charged, in the language 
 of the Democratic National Platform of 1876, as "the party 
 which when in power has squandered two hundred millions of 
 acres of public lands upon railroads alone," etc. 
 
 The changes have been, and are now, rung upon this state- 
 ment, until, possibly, some who make it may believe that the 
 fact is as stated, and the Republican party is responsible for 
 the legislation. 
 
 But it is an enormous exaggeration as to amount ; at least 
 debatable, even now, in the light and with the aid of experience 
 as to its policy, and absolutely false as to the charge of re- 
 sponsibility. 
 
 That charge has not a shadow, even, of fact to rest upon. 
 
 The truth is, the practice of granting public lands in aid of 
 public improvements began in 1802, when Congress made a 
 grant to Ohio to aid in constructing roads, and from that day 
 to this the policy of such aid has never been a distinctive party 
 question. 
 
 A grant of public lands to aid a canal in Indiana was passed 
 in 1824; in 1827 similar grants were made to aid the Wabash 
 and Erie Canal in Indiana, and the Illinois Canal in Illinois; 
 followed in 1828 by grants in aid of the Miami Canal in Ohio, 
 aggregating nearly 2,500,000 acres, years before the Republican 
 party was dreamed of. 
 
PUBLIC LANDS. 121 
 
 The first grant of public land in aid of a railroad was made 
 by the act of March 3, 1835, to a Florida company; this was 
 followed by a grant of land to the New Orleans and Nashville 
 Railroad company, July 2, 1836. But the act of September 
 20, 1850, was the first act of real importance of this character, 
 and may be regarded as the initiation of the system of making 
 grants of land to railroads by Congress. 
 
 This act gave the State of Illinois 2,595,000 acres to aid the 
 Illinois Central Railroad Company. It was the especial work of 
 Senator Douglas of Illinois ; and he was aided by very many 
 Democrats of prominence, among them Senators King and 
 Clement of Alabama, and Davis and Foote of Mississippi. 
 
 This act was followed by the acts of 1856, in different 
 States, in aid of railroads, and the policy of the government 
 was thus settled before the Republican party began to act. 
 
 The great grants to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific 
 railroads are made the principal texts by our adversaries for 
 denunciation. 
 
 Waiving any discussion of the merits of the action here, 
 remarking, however, that the knowledge that comes only after 
 the fact is never specially important, history proves that the 
 Democratic party first, then jointly with us, aided in all possi- 
 ble ways to forward the enterprise. 
 
 The agitation of the question of a transcontinental line of 
 railroad began as early as 1838 in Iowa, and in 1845 petitions 
 came to Congress for a grant of one hundred millions of acres 
 of land to aid in the construction of a railroad to the Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 The same year Senator Douglas proposed a scheme for a 
 road to the Pacific, aided by grants of public land ; and from 
 that date to 1862 numerous plans were submitted to Congress 
 on that question. 
 
 The RepubHcan National Convention in 1856 declared in 
 favor of such road ; and repeated this declaration in i860, in 
 which year, in national convention, one wing of the Democ- 
 racy, at Charleston and Baltimore, asserting the necessity of 
 the construction of such a road, said : " The Democratic party 
 pledge such constitutional government aid as will insure the 
 construction of a railroad to the Pacific coast." The same 
 
122 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 pledge was made by the Breckinridge wing at its conventions 
 in April and June, i860. 
 
 Moreover, all the Presidential candidates in 1856, Buchanan, 
 Fillmore, and Fremont, placed themselves on record for the 
 plan of government aid ; and Mr. Buchanan, after his election, 
 more than once officially indorsed the giving the aid in grants 
 of public land. 
 
 So that all parties were thoroughly committed to the prin- 
 ciple ; and when the act was passed incorporating the Union 
 Pacific Company, and making direct grants to it and the Central 
 Pacific Company for a complete line, it was supported by the 
 leaders of both parties, in compliance with prior party commit- 
 tals and pledges. 
 
 And so with every other grant of this character. Not one 
 was ever passed as a party question, nor under special support 
 by either party, but carried by the united action of leaders in 
 both parties in every case. 
 
 Credit or blame for the action must attach as it shall be 
 judged to be well or ill advised. 
 
 Another question is raised, growing out of these grants, de 
 serving notice. 
 
 All the legislation provided that unless the roads were con- 
 structed within the period named in the act, the right of the 
 companies as to the lands, respectively, should, under varying 
 circumstances, cease. 
 
 Many of the roads granted aid were not constructed in the 
 time required, some not yet completed • and thus the question 
 of the status of " unearned lands" and the reclaiming them by 
 the government has been raised. 
 
 There were involved in all the grants made, as appears by 
 official statement of the Pubhc Land Commission, necessary to 
 fill and complete all grants to railroads, if completed, 155,504,- 
 994 acres. 
 
 The data upon which this computation is made is not com- 
 plete, owing to imperfect reports in the General Land Ofifice, 
 etc.; and the amount stated is believed by the writer of this to 
 be too small ; but the authorities are content with it. 
 
 Of the " unearned lands " granted to these corporations, 
 there have been reclaimed, by acts of Congress declaring for- 
 
PUBLIC LANDS. 1 23 
 
 feiture of the same, 50,482,240 acres to this date (first session, 
 Fiftieth Congress) ; and bills are now pending for forfeiture of 
 large areas still, claimed by roads whose cases have not been 
 reached. 
 
 Of these, bills involving about ten million acres more will 
 pass without opposition, there being no question, as to these, 
 either of power or policy as to such action. 
 
 Now, the Democracy are claiming the credit for this restora- 
 tion of " unearned lands " to the public domain as party ac- 
 tion, and impliedly, if not directly, charging the Republicans 
 with opposition to such action. 
 
 In a word, this claim can be disposed of : every bill that has 
 passed Congress since this agitation began was prepared and in- 
 troduced, or based upon a bill prepared and introduced, by a 
 Republican, both in the Senate and the House;* and party 
 lines have never been drawn in either the discussion or passage 
 of these bills. 
 
 The act against " alien ownership " of real estate is claimed 
 by the Democracy, and great credit is taken by them for its 
 preparation and passage. 
 
 The act was reported from a conference committee of the 
 Senate and House, appointed on the passage by the Senate of 
 a bill prepared and introduced by and passed under the charge 
 of Senator Plumb, and on the passage by the House of a simi- 
 lar bill prepared and introduced by and passed under the 
 charge of Mr. Payson of Illinois. 
 
 The report of the conference committee made by Senator 
 Plumb to the Senate and Mr. Payson to the House is the act 
 now in the statutes. 
 
 It therefore clearly appears that on all these matters of 
 land-reform, so earnestly approved by the people of the Union, 
 the Republican party has not only been abreast of public senti- 
 ment, but successful in all its endeavors ; and equally clear is it 
 that the claim of the Democracy to any share of the credit for 
 the initiation of these measures is utterly without foundation. 
 
 * These bills were prepared by Senator Plumb of Kansas, in the Senate, 
 and Mr. Payson of Illinois, in the House.— Editor. 
 
124 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 PENSIONS. 
 By Hon. Edmund N. Morrill, M. C. from Kansas. 
 
 Pensions are periodical payments of money from the public 
 treasury on account of services rendered to the government, or 
 to the public, or on account of losses sustained in such service. 
 
 The United States has no civil pension list, such as are pro- 
 vided in other countries, except in a few special cases, as those 
 of widows of its former Presidents. Its pension roll is almost 
 exclusively for service, or disabilities incurred in the army and 
 navy. Having but a small military and naval establishment, 
 and dependent almost entirely upon the patriotism of the 
 people in the event of war, the policy of the government is to 
 provide liberal laws for invalid pensions, and for widows and 
 children who through the casualties of war have lost their 
 husbands and fathers. While provision has been made for ser- 
 vice pensions to the survivors of the Mexican and former wars, 
 the principal part of our pension roll is made up of invalids and 
 dependants of the late civil war. 
 
 At the beginning of the late war of the Rebellion, as shown 
 by the report of the Commissioner of Pensions made June 30, 
 1861, the whole number of pensioners on the rolls was only nine 
 thousand seven hundred and fifty-two. The annual report of 
 the same officer for the year 1887 shows a total of four hun- 
 dred and six thousand and seven, of which number two hun- 
 dred and ninety-four thousand four hundred and forty-five 
 were army invahds, and eighty-five thousand and ten widows, 
 orphans, and dependent parents of soldiers. The pension law 
 of July 14, 1862, was the foundation of our present system, and 
 to this amendments have been made from time to time, ex- 
 tending its beneficent provisions and increasing its allowances 
 as rapidly as public sentiment demanded and the condition of 
 the treasury would permit. 
 
 Upon the Republican party devolved the responsibility of 
 
PENSIONS. 125 
 
 calling into the army and navy millions of citizens to encounter 
 the dangers of battle and the hardships of military service in 
 order to suppress a formidable rebellion ; and upon that party 
 devolved the responsibility of providing an adequate pension 
 system, that those who received disabilities in the service, and 
 their widows and those dependent upon them, might be prop- 
 erly cared for. How they have met these responsibilities is a 
 matter of history, and requires no explanation or apology. 
 
 Rebellion suppressed, the government preserved from de- 
 struction, the Union restored, the pubhc credit established, 
 ample revenue provided, its brave defenders pensioned, patri- 
 otic service for the future assured — ^these are the indelible in- 
 scriptions on its monument of fame. 
 
 But in the rush of events the past is forgotten, dissatisfac- 
 tion grows, and desire for change prevails. The party that 
 served the Nation is defeated, and the one which sought its 
 destruction has control of the government ; and now this 
 party, which was the mainstay and support of the Rebellion, 
 has the audacity to put forth the claim that it is a better 
 friend to the soldier who fought for the preservation of the 
 Union than the party which called him into the field, and 
 it further claims that it is more liberal in its provisions and ad- 
 ministration concerning pensions. To determine this question, 
 let facts be submitted to the American people. Under the 
 general pension laws of the Republican party, invalids and 
 widows of soldiers in the Mexican war stood on an equal foot- 
 ing with Union soldiers, provided they had not subsequently 
 borne arms against the United States, or given aid and support 
 to the Rebellion. 
 
 The Democratic party signalized its return to power by per- 
 sistently demanding the passage of a bill to pension Mexican 
 soldiers whether disabled or not, whether dependent or in 
 affluence, to pension them notwithstanding their having borne 
 arms in the Confederate army, and to pension them from the 
 date of the passage of the act, without regard to the date of 
 filing their claims ; while Union soldiers were only pensioned 
 from the date the claim is filed. This measure has become a 
 law, and in the contest over it the Republicans attempted to 
 
126 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 incorporate some more liberal concessions to the Union 
 soldiers, such as that Union soldiers now sick and disabled 
 should be pensioned without having to prove the army origin 
 of their disability; that the widows and orphans of such 
 soldiers should be provided for without proving that the fatal 
 disease which resulted in death had its origin in the service ; 
 and that dependent fathers and mothers should only be re- 
 quired to show that they are now dependent upon others for 
 support, and not to prove their dependence at the date of the 
 death of the son. But Democratic votes in Congress and 
 Democratic vetoes from the White House defeated all such 
 attempts. The only concessions that could be obtained were 
 that Mexican war soldiers should not be pensioned for disabili- 
 ties received while serving in the rebel army. 
 
 But it is claimed that the Democratic party has shown its 
 liberality and friendliness to the Union soldier by its Pension 
 Office administration, inasmuch as it has placed that bureau 
 under the charge of a distinguished Union soldier. General 
 John C. Black, himself wounded in battle, and who has signal- 
 ized his friendship to his late comrades by granting more pen- 
 sions than were ever granted by any of his Republican prede- 
 cessors during the same length of time. 
 
 I would not detract a single iota from the military record 
 of this gallant officer, and it is true that a larger number of 
 pensions have been granted during the past year and during his 
 administration than were ever before granted during the same 
 length of time ; but it is equally true that this is owing to the 
 liberal Republican laws, and the admirable and efficient organ- 
 ization of the office by his predecessors. It is also owing to 
 the fact that more than three hundred thousand claims were 
 pending when he took possession of the office — claims that^ 
 many of them, had been pending for years, and nearly all the 
 evidence required to complete them had been furnished, and 
 they were only awaiting slight formalities to complete the 
 cases. 
 
 During the administration of the ofifice by his predecessors 
 a large number of cases had accumulated in which claimants 
 had been gradually obtaining evidence to complete the cases. 
 
PENSIONS. 127 
 
 and which the office had been unable to act upon owing to the 
 large amount of business before it. It is also true that his pre- 
 decessor had rapidlyi disposed of many of the cases pending, 
 and that the office was prepared to, and did, act much more 
 promptly upon cases than ever before since the close of the 
 war. 
 
 The present Commissioner had the benefit of all this work 
 done by his predecessors, and he also had the benefit of the 
 organization of a division by Col. Dudley, his immediate pre- 
 decessor in office, to collect the names and post-offices of sur- 
 viving officers and comrades for the use of claimants, thus en- 
 abling thousands of them to find their old comrades, and to 
 obtain the necessary proofs w'lich they could not otherwise 
 have done. 
 
 In his report for June 30, 1887, he admits that one hun- 
 dred and fifty-eight thousand two hundred and twenty-seven 
 names and their post-office addresses were furnished the claim- 
 ants in twenty-eight thousand two hundred and ninety cases, 
 by this division, during the year preceding, and this Repub- 
 lican provision enabled thousands of claimants to complete 
 their cases who could never have done so without its aid, 
 and to that is largely due the credit of increased number of 
 allowances. 
 
 General Black's pretended liberality in the administration 
 of his office is very clearly shown in his orders, rulings, and de- 
 cisions for the government of his clerks. It is a fact which 
 cannot be gainsaid, that as a general thing the liberal rulings of 
 his Republican predecessors have been largely restricted or en- 
 tirely reversed. In proof of this the following examples are 
 given : 
 
 He has ruled that widows are entitled to pension only from 
 the date of filing their claims, and has overruled their appeal 
 in repeated instances, although the law has been pressed upon 
 his attention. Section 4702 of the Revised Statutes provides 
 that "the widow's pension should commence at the date of 
 the husband's death." 
 
 An appropriation bill passed March 3, 1879, provides that 
 pension claims filed after June 30, 1880, should commence only 
 
128 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 from the date of filing. This was construed to include widows' 
 pensions, although, as Senator Teller says, " nobody dreamed of 
 any such result." To correct this mistake, on the 7th of 
 August, 1882, Congress re-enacted section 4702, again provid- 
 ing that " the widow's pension should commence from the date 
 of the husband's death ;" but General Black has persistently 
 refused to recognize this law, and has withheld a part of the 
 pension -money honestly due thousands of poor widows. To 
 overcome this determined refusal to obey the law. Congress 
 has been compelled to put into the pension appropriation act 
 just passed a mandatory clause to compel him to pay them. 
 No doubt the payment of these widows under this compulsory 
 process will be claimed as a result of the " liberality " of the 
 Commissioner and his party. 
 
 In many cases filed in the Pension Office, claimants have 
 been unable to find evidence to complete their cases,' and, 
 v/earied with the long waiting, and destitute and suffering, 
 have appealed to Congress to relieve them by special acts. 
 Section 4715 of the Revised Statutes provides that "any 
 pensioner who shall so elect may surrender his certificate and 
 receive in lieu thereof a certificate to any other pension to 
 which he may have been entitled had not the surrendered cer- 
 tificate been issued ;" but General Black rules that a person 
 receiving a pension by special act shall not be allowed to prove 
 up his case under the general law when he finds his witnesses, 
 and then surrender his certificate and receive the pension to 
 which he would have been entitled had he not been a recipient 
 of the favor from Congress: and this boasted " liberality " needs 
 a mandatory act of Congress to compel him to obey this law. 
 
 Another decision of characteristic " liberality " is found in 
 ruling No. 135 of September 4, 1885, in which General Black 
 says : " The Commissioner holds that a man against whom the 
 charge of desertion remains cannot receive a pension." 
 
 Henry Klussman, Co. K, loth Regiment, Ohio, was pen- 
 sioned in 1863 and died. His widow apphed for a pension, 
 and her application was rejected on the ground that the record 
 showed the soldier to have been at one time a deserter, and the 
 adjutant-general refused to amend this record under the act of 
 
PENSIONS. 129 
 
 May 17, 1886. After the charge of desertion was entered upon 
 the company rolls the soldier returned to his command, com- 
 pleted his term of service, and was honorably discharged. This 
 woman afterwards received her pension, but the ruHng still 
 remains. This ruling is in disregard of the official action of 
 the Department of War. That Department having honorably 
 discharged the soldier, it is none of the Commissioner's busi- 
 ness what military offenses he may have previously committed. 
 It is in disregard of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. 
 
 That court, in the case of the United States vs. Kelly, 15 
 Wallace, page 34, says : " That the honorable discharge of the 
 deserter was a formal final judgment passed by the govern- 
 ment upon the entire military record of the soldier, and an 
 authoritative declaration by it that he had left the service in a 
 status of honor." Hence the court says : " Such a soldier does 
 not need any correction of his service by the adjutant-general, 
 because his discharge amounted of itself to the removal of any 
 charge or impediment in the way of his receiving bounty," and 
 this ruling reverses the practice of his predecessors, who were 
 accustomed to obey the above decisions. But the present 
 Commissioner is wiser than the Supreme Court, more powerful 
 than the Secretary of War, and more " liberal " than all his 
 predecessors. 
 
 Another " liberal " decision was made in defiance of law 
 and common-sense in the case of Thomas Ferguson, Co. B, 
 91st Regiment, Ind. Vols. A special act of Congress approved 
 May 6, 1873, directed the Pension Bureau to restore to the 
 pension roll the name of this soldier. 
 
 May 23, 1873, Secretary Delano decided: "Pensioners 
 under special acts are entitled to restoration from date of sus- 
 pension of original pension," and the uniform practice of the 
 •office was in accordance with this decision, because the word 
 " restore " could have no other sense ; but in this case the Com- 
 missioner restores him from the'date of the approval of the 
 act, and still withholds seven years' pension to which the 
 soldier is entitled. 
 
 The national cemeteries, the numerous battle-fields of war. 
 
130 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 and various unknown resting-places hold remains of dead' 
 soldiers whose names are inscribed only on fame's eternal roll. 
 They sleep in unmarked graves, their resting-place unknown to 
 loving friends. In many cases it is impossible to prove the 
 date or cause of the death of the soldier. They were simply 
 reported as missing. Perhaps the last known of them they 
 were going into battle with their comrades, or they were lan- 
 guishing on hospital beds, or they were immured in rebel 
 prisons, or they were lost sight of in the hurried retreat. It 
 was the practice under the Republican administration, and 
 came to be a common law in the Pension Office, that when the 
 presumptions of law as to the death of the soldier were fairly 
 met, the date of death should be fixed at the date of the dis- 
 appearance as nearly as possible. Thus the common-law rule 
 that absence for seven years without ever being heard of was- 
 accepted as prima fade evidence of death, and the last date at 
 which the soldier was seen or heard of was accepted as that 
 from which the widow or dependent mother was entitled to re- 
 ceive her pension ; but Democratic " hberality" changes this 
 rule. 
 
 In the case of Mary A. Brennan, widow of Connor Brennan,, 
 Co. I, 19th III, Commissioner Black ordered that her pension 
 should begin seven years after the disappearance of her husband. 
 
 In another case, of a dependent mother, whose son was en- 
 gaged in the battle at Cold Harbor, and at the close of that 
 engagement was missing and has never since been heard of,, 
 the Commissioner ordered that the pension should commence 
 on the 4th of June, 1871, seven years from the date of the 
 battle, and only changed this ruling upon a direct order from 
 the Secretary of the Interior. 
 
 But at last we do come to a genuine specimen of General 
 Black's "hberality." Section 4714 of the Revised Statutes 
 provides that declarations of pension claimants shall be made 
 before a court of record, etc. Section 4 of the Mexican pen- 
 sion act provides that the pension laws now in force which are 
 not inconsistent or in conflict with this act are hereby made a 
 part of this act so far as they may be made applicable thereto ; 
 but, disregarding these plain provisions of law. General Black is 
 
PENSIONS. 1 3 r 
 
 issuing pension certificates under the Mexican service act, with- 
 out any appHcation whatever from the beneficiary. 
 
 Hon. William R. Morrison of Illinois, who was a gallant sol- 
 dier in the Mexican and also in the late war, had a pension 
 certificate issued to him which he refused to accept because he 
 had never made any application for a pension ; did not want it, 
 and would not receive it. Captain George A. Boss of Cincinnati, 
 Ohio, also received a certificate of pension under the Mexican 
 pension act without ever making an application for it. The 
 same is true of the widow of Lieutenant William Demmett. 
 How many other cases there are like these, can only be told by 
 the records of the Pension Office. 
 
 Were it not that the Commissioner of Pensions is noted for 
 his fairness to political opponents and his comparative freedom 
 from anything like partisanship, one might reasonably conclude 
 that this excessive liberality towards the veterans of the Mexi- 
 can war was due to the fact that they are largely from the 
 South, and consequently good Democrats. 
 
 VETOING PENSION BILLS. 
 
 During the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress President 
 Cleveland vetoed more pension bills than had all his predeces- 
 sors since the organization of the government. 
 
 This fact alone stamps the unfriendly character of this 
 administration and of the party it represents. But to break 
 the force of this fact two defenses are alleged : (i) that Mr. 
 Cleveland also signed more pension bills than any one of his 
 predecessors, and (2) that this exercise of his constitutional 
 right shows an independence of judgment, a courage to accept 
 the responsibilities of his office, and a desire to arrest fraudulent 
 and unworthy claims, which should commend him to the ap- 
 proval of honest and independent voters. 
 
 These defenses might have some weight but for the fact 
 that these bills were all passed by a Democratic House of 
 Representatives upon the representation of a Democratic 
 Pension Committee. What a set of scoundrels these Demo- 
 cratic Congressmen must have been to consent to these frauds ! 
 
132 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Analyzing the bills approved and those vetoed, no one can 
 discern any difference of honesty or merit in the two classes on 
 which to base such insinuations. The reasons given in many 
 cases simply betray ignorance of the respective provinces of 
 Congress and the Pension Bureau. Thus the bill to pension 
 Mavilla Parsons is vetoed because there is " no pretext " that 
 she " is entitled under the general law." And dozens of others 
 are vetoed upon this same ground. 
 
 Now this is precisely the reason why Congress should act, 
 if the case is a worthy one. To say an act should not become 
 a law because there is no right under existing law, is to aver 
 that Congress shall create no new pension rights. The Presi- 
 dent, instead of proposing to limit the Pension Office by the will 
 of Congress, actually proposes to limit Congress by the will of 
 the Pension Ofifice. 
 
 Neither will the plea of official duty avail. 
 
 The bill to pension Harriet Welch is vetoed notwithstanding 
 the President says : " I believe her case to be a pitiable one, 
 and wish that I could join in her relief, but unfortunately 
 official duty cannot always be well done when directed solely by 
 sympathy and charity." 
 
 But this Roman devotion to duty did not prevent him from 
 signing the bills to pension the widows of Generals Hancock, 
 Blair, and Logan, at a sum equal in each case to that required 
 for fourteen such cases as this pitiable one. 
 
 John Taylor was pensioned at $12 per month by a special 
 act of Congress. The Pension Ofifice holds that it cannot in- 
 crease his pension, and refuses to do so because Congress has 
 fixed his rating. He is therefore compelled to go to Congress 
 for further relief, and an act is passed to give him $16 per 
 month. But the President vetoes this bill, holding that the 
 claimant now has a liberal rating for a gun-shot wound throuo-h 
 the face and shoulder which affects his sight and hearing, and 
 causes him constant neuralgic pains. But he seems to have no 
 conscientious scruples in signing a bill to increase the pension 
 of General Benj. F. Kelly to $100 per month for gun-shot 
 wounds which do not disqualify him for a high-grade clerkship 
 in the Pension Ofifice. 
 
PENSIONS. 133, 
 
 Joseph Romiser was a member of a Maryland Volunteer 
 Militia Company. In an emergency, the company was called 
 on by the Government, and sent to Cumberland to repel a 
 Confederate attack. This soldier, while in the ranks, was 
 wounded by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of a 
 comrade, the ball passing through his head and destroying the 
 sight of one eye and the hearing of one ear. 
 
 Congress could and did pension him by special act, but the 
 President vetoed the bill because the man was not mustered into 
 the United States service. But this was too flagrant an abuse 
 of the veto power, even for a servile Democratic House, and 
 the bill was passed over the veto by a vote of 175 to 38. In the 
 Senate it passed unanimously, 50 votes in the affirmative and 
 none in the negative. 
 
 Scores of cases of bills approved. and bills vetoed might be 
 cited to show the utter inconsistency of the President in con- 
 sidering these cases. It is a fact known to every one familiar 
 with the work of the Committee on Invalid Pensions that the 
 President has repeatedly vetoed the strongest bills and signed 
 the weakest ; that he has repeatedly vetoed bills for certain 
 reasons, and approved other bills where the same reasons 
 existed. 
 
 It is unquestionably true that the President has little 
 sympathy for the Union soldier, and would have vetoed many 
 more cases if he had had time, as he plainly declares; and his 
 hostility and utter lack of sympathy with this large class con- 
 stantly crops out in trivial and sarcastic sentences in his mes- 
 sages. For instance : " No statement is presented of the bounty 
 received by him upon either enlistment." " Probably there 
 were those who found their interest in such an appeal " (to 
 Congress). " The number of instances in which those of our 
 soldiers who rode horses during the war were injured by their 
 saddles indicates that those saddles were dangerous contriv- 
 ances." "After this brilliant service with a terrific encounter 
 with the measles." " Whatever else may be said of this claim- 
 ant's achievements during his short mihtary career, it might 
 be considered that he accumulated a great deal of disability." 
 Many more quotations might be made of a similar character 
 
134 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 from his veto messages. They are coarse, undignified, and 
 utterly unworthy of the Chief Executive of this great Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 If any further evidence is required to show the utter lack of 
 sympathy on the part of the President for the soldiers who fol- 
 lowed their country's flag in the late rebellion, it is fully fur- 
 nished by his action in vetoing the Dependent Pension bill 
 passed in the Forty-ninth Congress. 
 
 The Committee on Invalid Pensions, composed of nine Demo- 
 crats and six Republicans, in an able and exhaustive report 
 unanimously adopted, say : " It passes the comprehension of 
 this Committee to understand how the President could have 
 overlooked in another bill what are alleged as faults in this 
 bill. 
 
 " The bill we refer to passed the House on the same day as 
 did, and met with his unhesitating approval. It is the bill to 
 give pensions to the survivors of the war with Mexico, etc. 
 Under that bill, if one who was a soldier in that war and is now 
 under sixty-two years of age applied, he must allege and prove 
 some degree of dependency, and no matter how slight, quite 
 vague and indefinite, and any degree of disability, is sufficient, 
 no matter how incurred, except in the military service against 
 the United States ; and no matter if he be worth millions, he 
 need only show sixty days' service ; he need not .have been in 
 an actual engagement with the enemy, or subjected to any of 
 the actual dangers of war, or even that he should have been in 
 Mexico, or on the coasts or frontiers thereof ; it is sufficient if 
 he had been en route thereto, and it embraces within its pro- 
 visions more persons than are to be benefited by the bill now 
 under consideration. 
 
 " It grants the pension to every soldier over sixty-two years 
 of age, without any condition as to his circumstances or neces- 
 sities, and without requiring any disabihty as the result of 
 even though he be a member of. Congress drawing a salary 
 of $5000 per annum. It gives a pension to every soldier 
 under sixty-two years for any disability, even if the disability 
 resulted since his service and from his own vicious habits or 
 gross carelessness and for this he gets $8 ; while the Union 
 
PENSIONS. 135 
 
 isoldier for the same disability, received in the line of duty and 
 while in the service, would get perhaps only $2 ; and it gives a 
 pension to every widow of a soldier in that war who is now 
 sixty-two years of age, whether she was the wife of the soldier 
 or not at the time of his service, without reference to the cause 
 of his death, even if he was killed in battle while serving in 
 the Confederate army. 
 
 " The committee would rejoice if there could even now be 
 found some indefinite vagueness or latent ambiguity in the 
 Mexican pension law that would enable the President to say 
 that these results were not foreseen by him when he was ap- 
 proving the one and contemplating a veto of the other. 
 
 " The bill we presented to the House was broad, liberal, and 
 patriotic. It struck down any disbarment from the pension- 
 list on account of any service against the flag, excepting such per- 
 sons as were laboring under political difficulties. It was 
 intended to reach mainly the survivors of our civil war who 
 had fought for the Union, but it embraced within its generous 
 terms the survivors of the war of 18 12, the Indian wars, and 
 the war with Mexico ; all who could show that they were 
 totally unable to labor and were dependent upon their daily 
 labor for support could appeal to its provisions, and all were to 
 be treated exactly alike. If this bill fails to become a law, 
 such distinctions are made by the acts of the Executive in ap- 
 proving one and disapproving the other that the committee 
 cannot believe it will be indorsed anywhere by the patriotic 
 sentiment of this country." 
 
 In the message returning that bill to Congress without his 
 approval, he made the following grave and unfounded charges 
 .against the brave men who suffered for their country. The 
 committee answer these base calumnies in the following em- 
 phatic language. 
 
 The President says : " Recent personal observation and 
 experience constrain me to refer to another result which will 
 inevitably follow the passage of this bill. It is sad, but never- 
 theless true, that already in the matter of procuring pensions 
 there exists a widespread disregard of truth and good faith, 
 stimulated by those who, as agents, undertake to establish 
 
136 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 claims for pensions, heedlessly entered upon by the expectant 
 beneficiary, and encouraged, or at least not condemned, by 
 those unwilling to obstruct a neighbor's plans." 
 
 "Your committee do not share in the opinion that 'there 
 exists a wide-spread disregard of truth and good faith ' in the 
 prosecution of pension claims. Nor do we believe that the ex- 
 soldiers of the country are prone to commit fraud, perjury, and 
 subornation of perjury for that purpose or for any other. If, 
 however, such be the fact, it does not appear to be productive 
 of result in the successful issue .of fraudulent claims in any 
 appreciable degree. 
 
 " The late Commissioner of Pensions, Hon. W. W. Dudley^ 
 in an annual report, says that with the most searching investi- 
 gation of all cases of suspected fraud, the result showed that 
 in the number of allowed claims one tenth of one per cent, or 
 one in each thousand only, of allowed cases were fraudulent. 
 With the present large force of special examiners in the field,, 
 charged with the duty of reporting to the office any evidence, 
 even of a hearsay character, that tends to show a claim to be 
 fraudulent, the opportunity to procure a fraudulent pension, or 
 to enjoy one after it is procured, seems to be reduced to the 
 minimum." 
 
 And they further express their convictions of his lack of 
 sympathy for the veterans as follows : " In conclusion, we sub- 
 mit that the general tone of the message is to be fairly taken 
 as an expression in advance of a purpose to use the executive 
 power to prevent any further legislation that will add any new 
 class to our pension-list, or that will materially increase the 
 cost thereof, and based upon the idea that the country is 
 against it." 
 
 ACTION IN CONGRESS. 
 
 A pension roll which bears over 400,000 names, and to 
 whom there is annually paid about $53,000,000 sufficiently 
 attests the readiness of the Republican party to redeem all its 
 pledges to those it called into the field in the national defense; 
 for the votes of Republicans in Congress are uniformly cast in 
 favor of the most liberal measures. Indeed, they have often 
 
PENSIONS. 137 
 
 been called to defend themselves against the charge of extrava- 
 gance and recklessness in voting public money for pensions. It 
 is only in political campaigns, when the votes of the soldiers 
 are in question, that the Democratic party has the temerity to 
 set up a claim of equal friendliness. Only a few comparisons 
 of party records can be given as specimens, but these will 
 amply suffice. 
 
 In January, 1879, a bill was passed providing that pensions 
 should commence from the date of the discharge of the invalid 
 soldier. As this measure was passed at a time when the Demo- 
 crats had a majority in the House, a few of their more zealous 
 advocates have claimed credit for this as a Democratic measure. 
 The facts are that the bill, H. R. 4234, was introduced by 
 Mr. Cummings, a Republican from Iowa, June 19, 1878, and on 
 motion of Mr. Haskell, a Republican from Kansas, the Com- 
 mittee on Invalid Pensions was discharged from its further con- 
 sideration, and it was taken up for action. It passed the House 
 by a vote of 164 yeas to 61 nays. Every Republican vote 
 recorded is in its favor ; and every vote against it is that of a 
 Democrat. As a party question the record shows the Demo- 
 crats to be against it, 48 having voted for it, and 61 against 
 it. Whatever of credit or of blame therefore attaching to the 
 Arrears Act belongs to the Republicans. 
 
 In the Forty-eighth Congress, March 4, 1884, the House 
 passed a bill to pension the surviving soldiers of the Mexican 
 war and their widows by a vote of 227 to 46. The Republican 
 Senate amended this bill by adding sections making further 
 provisions for disabled and dependent soldiers of the civil war 
 — increasing the pension of widows from $8 to $12 per month 
 — continuing pensions to children above 16 years of age when 
 they were helples, providing that fathers and mothers should 
 only be required to show present dependence instead of de- 
 pendence at the date of the son's death. Thirty-one senators 
 voted for these amendments, all Republicans : and twenty- 
 seven senators voted against them, «// Democrats. On the 
 return of the bill to the House it failed of consideration by 
 Democratic opposition. On a motion to suspend the rules to 
 take up and pass the bill, 75 Republicans and 52 Democrats 
 
J 38 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 voted in the affirmative ; and 84 Democrats and one Republican 
 in the negative. The motion being lost because two-thirds 
 were required to carry it. 
 
 In the Forty-ninth Congress the Mexican War Service 
 and the Dependent Soldiers' bills were passed separately to 
 satisfy Democratic demands. The reason of this demand was 
 soon apparent. The two bills were passed on the same day, 
 and President Cleveland promptly signed the one and vetoed 
 the other. 
 
 The Mexican Service Act pensioned all survivors and their 
 widows who were sixty-two years of age ; all who had any 
 physical or mental disability without reference to age or origin; 
 and even rebels who had borne arms against the nation. But 
 poor Union soldiers who by reason of age, disease, or accident 
 had found their way to the poor house, could have no relief 
 with Democratic consent. On the passage of this Dependent 
 bill in the House, 112 Republicans and 63 Democrats voted 
 for it , while the 76 votes against it were all Democrats. On 
 the attempt in the House to pass it over the veto, 137 Repub- 
 licans and 38 Democrats voted for it ; and 125 votes, all Demo- 
 crats were recorded against it ; and it failed for want of two- 
 thirds. 
 
 But the action, or rather the refusal to act upon the part of 
 the Democratic party in the present Congress (Fiftieth) speaks 
 more plainly than ever of their determination to prevent any 
 further legislation in behalf of the veterans of the late war. 
 The control of the legislation of the House of Representatives 
 rests entirely with the Committee on Rules (of which the 
 Speaker is Chairman) when that committee is sustained by the 
 party having control of the organization of the House. They 
 fix days for the consideration of bills reported from the several 
 committees, and no legislation can be considered in any other 
 way or at any other time except on suspension days, i.e., the 
 first and third Mondays of each month, or by the unanimous 
 consent of all the members present. The Speaker decides ab- 
 solutely and without any restriction what measures may be 
 considered upon suspension days, as he can recognize or refuse 
 to recognize any member who moves to take up any measure. 
 
PENSIONS. 
 
 139 
 
 Under the rules on suspension days debate on a bill is limited, 
 and a two-thirds vote is required to pass it. The Committee 
 on Rules have so far this session refused to support a resolution 
 fixing a time for the consideration of bills reported by the Com- 
 mittee on Invalid Pensions. 
 
 Early in April a resolution was introduced in the House 
 and referred to the Committee on Rules setting apart two days 
 to be devoted exclusively to the consideration of such pension 
 bills as that committee might decide to bring before the House, 
 Repeated appeals have been made to that committee to report 
 that resolution to the House so that a vote could be taken 
 upon it. A petition signed by one hundred and forty mem- 
 bers was presented to them, asking for a favorable report upon 
 that resolution. By a unanimous vote the Repubhcans in their 
 caucus requested this committee to assign a reasonable time to 
 the Committee on Invahd Pensions for the consideration of 
 such bill reported by them as they might choose to present. 
 
 For five months the Committee on Invalid Pensions has 
 been actively a-nd industriously engaged in considering and 
 perfecting measures for the relief of the surviving soldiers of 
 the War of the Rebellion and their widows and orphans. More 
 general bills have been referred to them than to any other 
 Committee in the House. More than one hundred and fifty 
 bills of a general character have been presented for their con- 
 sideration. After weeks of careful examination of the different 
 measures, the Committee have reported twelve bills, and with 
 but two exceptions the reports have been made upon the 
 unanimous vote of the Committee, and the most of them would 
 doubtless receive favorable consideration in the House if it 
 was allowed to vote upon them. With but a single exception, 
 the amount of money required to carry out their provisions 
 would be small, and the objects sought to be obtained are de- 
 manded by every principle of justice and equity. 
 
 The bill to increase the rate of pension to the deaf, simply 
 gives to this unfortunate class, who are doomed to eternal 
 silence, who are shut out from all the more important vocations 
 of life, who are deprived of the priceless privilege of communing 
 with their loved ones in the ordinary way, who can never enjoy 
 
I40 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the sweet music surrounding them, or hsten to the innocent 
 prattle of their little ones, a pension commensurate with their 
 disability, and affords a relief that ought long since to have 
 been granted them. 
 
 The measure for the relief of the ex-prisoners of war does 
 but scant and tardy justice to that heroic band of brave men, 
 who underwent greater privations and endured more terrible 
 sufferings than any other class of their comrades. They were 
 animated by a spirit of devoted loyalty to their country in every 
 vicissitude, and grandly chose a lingering death by starvation 
 rather than renounce their allegiance to the old flag. 
 
 Another bill proposes to increase the pensions of that very 
 small but sadly afflicted class, numbering but a score, and so 
 soon to pass to that bourne where the conflict of arms is never 
 heard — the old veterans who lost both arms in the defense of 
 their country. Another provides for bereaved fathers and 
 mothers who are now dependent, but were not dependent when 
 the son died, and for dependent widows of soldiers even in cases 
 where the husband's death cannot be technically traced to 
 wounds or disease contracted in army service. Another meas- 
 ure proposes to abolish the unjust discrimination which exists 
 in the present law, by which a portion of the totally helpless 
 now receive but fifty dollars per month, while others, no more 
 unfortunate, receive seventy-tA\o, giving them all the same 
 rating. 
 
 The measure of as much merit as any, and one demanding 
 the most urgent action, provides for that large and increasing 
 class of our country's sturdy defenders who, as old age comes 
 creeping upon them, find themselves no longer able to provide 
 the necessary means of subsistence, and are compelled to seek 
 refuge in the inhospitable alms-houses and other charitable in- 
 stitutions of the country, or accept a support from the hands 
 of relatives and friends sometimes sorely burdened to provide 
 for their own necessities. 
 
 The most important bill reported from the CommJttee, 
 taking into consideration its cost, is that repealing the Arrears 
 Act, and placing all soldiers of the late war upon an equal 
 footing. That those who went forth from the same homes. 
 
PENSIONS. 
 
 141 
 
 enlisted in the same companies, performed the same services, 
 fought side by side on the same battle-fields, followed the same 
 flag through the same long and weary marches, experienced 
 the same privations, suffered from similar wounds and diseases, 
 should receive the same consideration at the hands of the 
 government, is a proposition the justice of which none will 
 deny. 
 
 The other bills reported from the Committee while they 
 are, so far as the cost involved is concerned, comparatively 
 unimportant, correct manifest irregularities and injustices in 
 the present laws. All of these measures are now pending on 
 the House Calendar, but cannot be considered by that body on 
 account of the autocratic exercise of power by the Committee 
 on Rules, which refuses to allow the representatives of the 
 people to discuss measures that a majority of them heartily 
 approve. 
 
 Every soldier in this country ought to know that the respon- 
 sibility for the failure of prompt and adequate pension legisla- 
 tion rests upon the majority of the Committee on Rules, and 
 upon the party which controls the organization of the House, 
 and which made that Committee. 
 
 The Democratic members of that body can any day, aye, any 
 hour, pass any pension bill now reported to that House which 
 they choose to do. Not a Republican member upon that floor 
 will make the slightest objection to a fair consideration of any 
 measure for the relief of the brave men who saved this country 
 from disruption, and who made it possible for us to enjoy the 
 prosperity which now surrounds us : who in fact gave us the over- 
 flowing Treasury which now causes so much needless alarm and 
 which would be speedily relieved of a portion of its surplus if 
 simple justice was done them. Let every man who wore the blue 
 during the late war, then, understand that the Democratic party 
 alone is responsible for the failure of Congress to pass measures 
 for their relief. It is highly probable that, yielding to the 
 growing demand for the enactment of further pension legisla- 
 tion, they will consent to the passage of some of the more 
 unimportant bills; but it seems equally certain that no time 
 will be set apart for the discussion of such measures, and con- 
 
142 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 sideration of such bills only as they select will be allowed, and 
 this only on suspension days, when no amendments can be 
 made, and when debate is practically cut off. 
 
 A great deal has been said of the liberality of our govern- 
 ment in providing for its disabled defenders, and their widows 
 and dependent children. Again and again we are pointed to 
 the appropriation of $80,000,000 in a single year for the pay- 
 ment of pensions as proof of this. This is misleading and not 
 altogether fair. The Commissioner of Pensions shows in his last 
 report that the annual pension-roll costs less than $53,000,000. 
 All in excess of this is to pay pensions that were due for previ- 
 ous years, and is to pay old claims which have just been adjudi- 
 cated. It will be freely admitted that even $53,000,000 is a 
 large sum, but it must be borne in mind that the late war was a 
 gigantic one, unparalleled in point of numbers engaged by any 
 in the history of the world. 
 
 The reports in the Adjutant-General's ofifice show thai 
 during the four years of its continuance there were 2,865,028 
 enlistments. Allowing a liberal estimate for the double enlist- 
 ments, at least 2,400,000 men must have been engaged in the 
 Union army. Of this vast number, nearly 300,000 were killed 
 in battle or died of wounds received or disease incurred 
 during the war, and thousands of others returned to their 
 homes only to suffer and die in a few short months. Of this 
 vast army, up to June 30, 1887, 628,272 had filed claims for 
 pensions, of which but 364,886 had been allowed. Of these, 
 294,445 were on the rolls at the tim.e above stated. 
 
 364,886 claims had been filed by widows, orphan children, 
 and dependent relatives. The average pension paid was $1 30. 10 
 per year, surely not an extravagant sum to pay for the loss of 
 husbands and fathers, and the terrible loss of limbs, and the 
 sufferings from wounds and diseases. Of the number then on 
 the rolls, I44>88i, nearly one half of the soldiers, were receiving 
 less than $75 each per year. What munificence ! 
 
 The widow who gave her husband in the prime of life, full 
 of bright hopes for the future, received $8 per month for her 
 sacrifice, and this great Nation generously gave her $2 per 
 month for the support of the child made an orphan by the 
 
PENSIONS. 143 
 
 ravages of war. What happy wife would not cheerfully sur- 
 render her loved one for such a generous pension? What child 
 would be so ungrateful when it arrived at manhood as to lose 
 an opportunity to sing praises to the glorious government that 
 contributed so liberally to his support ? 
 
 It is about time that this senseless twaddle about the gen- 
 erosity of the government to the noble men who sacrificed 
 their all to preserve its existence should cease. The brave 
 men who fought the battles for the preservation of the Union 
 from 1 861 to 1865 will never be compensated for their terrible 
 sufferings and sacrifices. The government is abundantly able 
 to provide for these men in their declining years — to care for 
 those who are destitute and suffering ; and to do this entitles it 
 to no credit. To do less would be base ingratitude. 
 
144- THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 OUR FISHERIES. 
 By Hon. William P. Frye, U. S. Senator from Maine. 
 
 To a reasonable understanding of the matters in contro- 
 versy between the United States and the Dominion of Canada 
 touching the fisheries, a historical statement is important, 
 though it must necessarily be brief and somewhat incomplete 
 on account of the limits of this article. 
 
 The waters in contention were acquired from France largely 
 by the bravery and skill of our fishermen, were enjoyed by us 
 as a colony of Great Britain, and our rights in them secured to 
 us as a republic by the treaty of 1783 in the following article : 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 " It is agreed that the people of the United States shall 
 continue to enjoy unmolested the RIGHT — 
 
 " (i) To take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and all 
 the other banks of Newfoundland ; 
 
 " (2) And also in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence ; 
 
 " (3) And at all other places in the sea, where the inhabi- 
 tants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish. 
 And also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have 
 LIBERTY — 
 
 " (i) To take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of 
 Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use (but not to dry or 
 cure the same on that island) ; 
 
 " (2) And also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all other 
 of his Britannic Majesty's dominions in America." 
 
 England's assumption is apparent, even in this article, 
 wherein she concedes to us fishing grounds all the way from 
 30 to 200 miles from the coast line of her possessions, over 
 which she had no more jurisdiction than she had over the 
 waters of the mid-ocean. 
 
 Her unscrupulous purpose to aggrandize her power regard- 
 
OUR FISHERIES. I45 
 
 less of the rights of others forced us into the War of 18 12, and 
 impelled her, after the war was over, to the declaration that 
 we had thereby forfeited all the rights in the fisheries we ever 
 had as her colony, or had acquired under the terms of the 
 treaty of 1783. Our Commissioners resisted this demand, and 
 the result was that the treaty of peace of 18 14 was entirely 
 eilent as to the fishery rights. 
 
 Then came the treaty of 1818, negotiated at a time exceed- 
 ingly unfortunate for us. We were staggering under the 
 burdens of the late war, while England was arrogant under 
 the inspiration of her victory at Waterloo, the entry of the 
 allies into Paris, and the abdication of Napoleon. We delib- 
 erately surrendered at least one half of our fishery rights, and 
 dealt a blow to that industry from which it has never recovered. 
 
 By the terms of the treaty England laid the foundation for 
 ceaseless demands, and invited her colonies to the enactment 
 of penal laws, and the commission of outrages in their name, 
 which would disgrace any civilization. Article i of the treaty 
 provided : 
 
 " And the United States hereby renounce, forever, any liberty 
 heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof to 
 take, dry, or cure fish on or within three marine miles of any of 
 the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors of his Britannic Majesty's 
 dominions in America not included within the above-mentioned 
 limits ;" with a proviso that our fishermen might enter those 
 bays, etc., for shelter and to repair damages therein, to pur- 
 chase wood or to obtain water, but "for no other purpose 
 whatever." 
 
 In other words, we made a partition of our property rights 
 in these British waters, reserving, however, to our fishing-vessels 
 especial privileges in the bays, harbors, etc., assigned in this 
 division to England's colony — privileges peculiar to such vessels, 
 and enjoyed by no others carrying the American flag. 
 
 Shortly after the conclusion of this treaty, England for the 
 first time set up what was known as the headland theory ; that 
 is, that the excluded waters should be measured by a line 
 drawn from headland to headland across the bays, harbors, etc. 
 and that the three-mile shore-line should be measured outside 
 
146 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 of that. Our government resisted the claim, and Great Britain 
 instructed her colonial officers not to enforce it. For several 
 years there was little if any trouble, but in progress of time 
 England and her colonies came to look with covetous eyes 
 upon our increasing market, and finally determined to possess it. 
 They seized vessel after vessel, condemned them in colonial 
 courts on the testimony of colonial witnesses, refused them 
 shelter, drove them to sea in storms, seized and searched on 
 the high seas, broke up voyages, until in fact the perils of the 
 sea on the banks were not greater than the dangers of the law 
 within the shore-line. Our government interfered again and 
 again. Mr. Van Buren sent the Grampus into those waters in 
 1839 ; Mr. Pierce ordered a fleet there ; the Kcarsai'ge and the 
 Mississippi cruised there : and in the presence of our armed 
 vessels our fishermen were undisturbed, but immediately on 
 their withdrawal the outrages were renewed. The records are 
 full of evidences of illegal seizures ; of seizures and condemna- 
 tions on complaints of the most trivial and inconsequential 
 character ; of every conceivable outrage and wrong ; of every 
 violation of the rights of hospitality and friendly intercourse. 
 
 In the pursuit of these unjustifiable methods England and 
 her colony had but one purpose — to force open our markets; 
 and in 1854 their efforts were crowned with success, in the rati- 
 fication of a reciprocity treaty, under the terms of which they 
 opened their fisheries to us, and we our markets to them. 
 This treaty was of immense benefit to them and unfortunate 
 ■ for us, as is clearly indicated by the fact that at the very earli- 
 est moment, when under its terms we had the right, it was 
 terminated by a vote of nearly two to one in the House of 
 Representatives, and of nearly five to one in the United States 
 Senate. 
 
 Then the Canadian Government resorted to a system of 
 licensing, charging for the first year for a license fifty cents a 
 ton, the second one dollar, and the third t\\o dollars. Our 
 fishermen, unable to bear such a burden, refused to avail them- 
 selves of these licenses, and the experiment proved a failure. 
 Whereupon Canada again resorted to the old and hitherto 
 successful tactics of outrage, seizure, and condemnation, until 
 
OUR FISIIEKIES. 
 
 147 
 
 the patience of our government was exhausted, and Congress 
 indicated by its reception of " The memorial of the fishermen 
 of the United States " that retaliatory legislation was immi- 
 nent, when, unfortunately for our interests, the treaty of Wash- 
 ington, in 1 87 1, was negotiated and ratified. 
 
 Under the terms of that treaty we secured the right to fish 
 within the shore-line of Canada, and other privileges unneces- 
 sary to mention, paying for these almost worthless rights 
 $5,500,000, and giving to Canada our markets for her fish. 
 During the life of this treaty we remitted in duties nearly 
 $6,000,000— the last year of its existence, in 1885, nearly 
 $700,000, or, to be exact, $689,602.25. 
 
 At the earliest possible moment, under the terms of the 
 treaty, a resolution passed both Houses of Congress, with en- 
 tire unanimity, requesting the President of the United States 
 to give the required notice for the termination of the fishery 
 articles. The President gave the notice, and July i, 1885, 
 they were abrogated, and we were remitted, so far as the fish- 
 eries were concerned, to the treaty of 181 8. 
 
 Unfortunately for us, our Secretary of State, Mr. Bayard, 
 was profoundly ignorant of all the questions touching these 
 fishery rights, and Sir Lionel West, the British minister, un- 
 doubtedly persuaded him that conflicts between the United 
 States and the Canadian fishermen were liable to take place at 
 any moment, and might even provoke a war with Great Britain. 
 So he made haste, without authority of law, to enter into an 
 agreement with the British minister for a modus vivendi, 
 which should endure until the meeting of Congress in Decem- 
 ber, under the terms of which we were to be permitted to fish 
 within the waters of the Dominion and they within ours, and 
 the President of the United States was, in his annual message, 
 to advise Congress to authorize the appointment of a commis- 
 sion to settle and determine our rights in these waters. 
 
 This modus vivendi was agreed upon without any consulta- 
 tion whatever with men who were familiar with the questions 
 it treated, and interested in promoting the fishery industry of 
 the United States. George Steele, President of the American 
 Fishery Union, April 28, 1885, wrote to our Secretary of State 
 
148 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 that " the officers of the Fishery Union desire to present the 
 interests of their pursuits in this emergency to the attention of 
 yourself personally or to the President." But the Secretary of 
 State, May 2, 1885, informed him that such an interview was 
 entirely unnecessary. 
 
 In compliance with the terms of this arrangement, the 
 President in his annual message to Congress in December, 
 1885, recommended the Commission, and the Senate on the 
 13th of April, 1886, after careful consideration and exhaustive 
 discussion, declared that in its judgment no such commission 
 ought to be appointed, and on July 24th, of the same year 
 ordered the Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate 
 the fishery question, which instruction that committee com- 
 plied with, and on 19th January, 1887, made report recom- 
 mending the enactment of a law for the protection of Ameri- 
 can rights. 
 
 From the date of the expiration of the modus vivendi up to 
 the end of the fishery season of last year, the Dominion of 
 Canada, apparently with the approval of Great Britain, cease- 
 lessly committed every conceivable outrage upon our fisher- 
 men, boarded their vessels, placed them under guard, seized 
 and bonded them, insulted their masters, pulled down the 
 American flag, and refused our sailors the common rights of 
 humanity. More than one hundred complaints of these out- 
 rages were formally filed with our Secretary of State. So 
 grossly unjust and outrageous was this treatment that in the 
 month of February, 1887, a stringent and comprehensive retal- 
 iatory law passed the Senate by a vote of 46 to i, and in the 
 House by a vote of 256 to i. 
 
 The only difference between the two Houses was, that the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House, in its majority 
 Democratic, reported to the House (Democratic), a bill which 
 passed that body authorizing the President to go to the ex- 
 tent of declaring absolute non-intercourse with the Dominion 
 of Canada if these outrages were continued ; while the Senate 
 believed that retaliation in kind would be all that was necessary. 
 The disagreement between the two Houses resulted in a Con- 
 ference Committee, which reported (the House yielding) the 
 
OUR FISHERII<:S. 149 
 
 bill which finally passed and was approved by the President, 
 March 3, 1887. 
 
 Up to this time there was no division of sentiment in Con- 
 gress nor with the people. We were all Americans and fully 
 determined that American citizens, whether on sea or land, 
 whether in Africa, on the islands of the Pacific, or in the bays 
 and harbors of the Dominion of Canada, should be protected 
 in all their rights and permitted to enjoy all their privileges. 
 The President never availed himself of the provisions of this 
 law though the outrages continued, but on the contrary, in 
 opposition to the expressed will and judgment of Congress, 
 commenced to negotiate an adjustment of these difficulties 
 diplomatically, by securing the American rights in part, at the 
 price of yielding the most fundamental and important of them 
 all. 
 
 On the 22d of November, 1887, he appointed three pleni- 
 potentiaries to consider, with like plenipotentiaries appointed 
 by her Majesty, the whole subject and, if possible, secure a 
 solution thereof. These officials entered upon their duties im- 
 mediately, in the city of Washington, and finally, on the 15th 
 of February, 1888, the President of the United States sub- 
 mitted to the Senate a treaty, the result of their deliberations. 
 
 Thus once more we are driven by the peculiar tactics of the 
 Dominion of Canada to a surrender. The President, the 
 Secretary of State, and the lesser lights of a Democratic 
 administration promptly proclaim to the country the marvel- 
 ous advantages secured, urge the immediate ratification of the 
 treaty, and charge its opponents with offensive partisanship. 
 Now if this treaty is ratified, what are our gains? What advan- 
 tages have we secured, and what is the price we have paid ? 
 
 First. Delimitation. 
 
 From what waters were we excluded by the terms of the 
 treaty of 1818? From then until now we have insisted that 
 those waters were included within a fine drawn three miles from 
 the shore, and from bays, harbors, etc., not exceeding six miles 
 in width at their mouths. Great Britain contended, shortly 
 after the treaty was made, that its terms excluded us from all 
 of their bays, harbors, etc., drawing the line of exclusion three 
 
150 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 miles outside of a line across from headland to headland, but 
 immediately thereafter instructed her Canadian officials that 
 the theory must not be enforced. 
 
 Twice, and it may be three times since then, the same 
 theory has been promulgated, but it never has been reduced to 
 practice from that day to the present. Only two attempts to 
 enforce it can be foiind — one, in 1843, ^^ the seizure of the 
 schooner Wasliin^ton, while fishing in the Bay of Fundy more 
 than three miles from the shore; the other, of the schooner 
 Argils, in a Cape Breton Island bay. Our government claimed 
 that the seizures were illegal. The claims were submitted to 
 arbitrators, of whose finding Secretary Bayard says : 
 
 " In delivering judgment in the case of the Washington, the 
 umpire considered the headland theory and pronounced it 
 ' new doctrine.' He noted among other facts that one of the 
 headlands of the Bay of Fundy was in the United States, but 
 did not place the decision on that ground. And immediately 
 in the next case, that of the Argus, heard by him and decided 
 on the same day, he wholly discarded the headland theory and 
 made an award in favor of the owners. The Argus wb.?, seized, 
 not in the Bay of Fundy, but because (although more than 
 three miles from land) she was found fishing within a line 
 drawn from headland to headland, from Cow Bay to Cape 
 North, on the northeast side of Cape Breton Island." 
 
 In 1853 our government dispatched a small naval force to 
 the eastern limit of the United States, for the purpose of 
 affording protection to citizens engaged in the fisheries. The 
 Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Dobbin, in issuing his instructions 
 to Commodore Shubrick, in command of the squadron, touch- 
 ing the contention of Great Britain that three marine miles are 
 to be measured from headland to headland, used the followinsr 
 language : 
 
 " The President entertains the opinion that our citizens, 
 under the convention of 1818, have a right to enter the bays 
 and harbors and to take fish there, provided they do not 
 approach within three marine miles of the shore ; and he 
 further entertains the opinion that the clause which authorizes 
 expressly the entering into bays and harbors for the purpose of 
 
OUR FISHERIES. 151 
 
 shelter, etc., precludes the idea that it therein alluded to large 
 open bays such as the Bay of Chaleur, which affords but little 
 better shelter than the open sea, and confirms him in his 
 opinion that the restriction was designed to be applicable to 
 narrow, small bays and harbors in which an entrance could not 
 be effected without approaching within three marine miles of 
 the shore." 
 
 The entire history of Canadian outrages committed for the 
 purpose of securing our markets discloses only the two instances 
 of seizures of vessels for fishing outside of the three-mile shore 
 line, or of bays and harbors six miles wide at their entrance, 
 already referred to, to wit, the Washington and the Argus. 
 
 During the past two years, when the Dominion seemed 
 to seek every possible opportunity to annoy, to disturb, and to 
 injure our fishermen, there is not an instance to be found in 
 which she went to the extent of seizing a vessel for fishing out- 
 side of such a line. Before the Halifax Commission (which 
 made the award by the vote of the British Commissioner and 
 the Belgian Commissioner, Mr. Del Fosse, who was thoroughly 
 British in all his conduct in that affair), where the Canadians 
 did not hesitate to increase the amount of the award by the 
 grossest exaggerations of the value of their in-shore fisheries, 
 and where it is entirely apparent that the purpose was to 
 obtain the largest possible amount, they did not even make a 
 claim that we should pay for fish taken, or rights and privileges 
 enjoyed, outside of the three-mile shore-line, or of bays and 
 harbors six miles wide at their entrance. 
 
 It is entirely safe to say that the English headland theory 
 has never been anything but theoretical. Sir Charles Tupper, 
 in presenting this treaty to the Dominion Parliament, practi- 
 cally takes this ground. The officials of Canada have never en- 
 forced it, and we during the entire seventy years have never 
 yielded to it. We admit that we are not entitled to take fish 
 within three miles of the Canadian shore, or within the bays, 
 harbors, etc., six miles wide, partitioned to the exclusive use of 
 the Dominion of Canada by the treaty of 181 8. We do not 
 now admit, nor have we ever admitted anything more. 
 
 Such being the American position, what, if anything, do we 
 
152 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 gain or lose by the present treaty in this regard ? Article 
 3 provides that the three marine miles mentioned in the 
 treaty of 1818 "shall be measured seaward from low-water 
 mark; but at every bay, creek, or harbor, not otherwise 
 specially provided for in this treaty such three marine miles 
 shall be measured seaward from a straight line drawn across 
 the bay, creek, or harbor in the part nearest the entrance at the 
 first point where the width does not exceed ten marine miles." 
 
 Now, as the three-mile shore-line is to be measured outsid': 
 the ten mile line, it is entirely apparent that this single article 
 doubles, nearly, (over our contention,) the excluded waters as to 
 bays, etc. Not content with this generous surrender, the 
 treaty in Article 4 makes a present to Great Britain of 
 waters in which no American fisherman shall ever have a right 
 to fish, as follows: Bay Des Chaleurs, Miramichi Bay, Egmont 
 Bay, St. Ann's Bay, Fortune Bay, Sir Charles Hamilton's 
 Sound, Barrington Bay, Chedabucto and St. Peter's Bay, Mira 
 Bay, Placentia Bay, and St. Mary's Bay. These excluded bays 
 are from twelve to twenty-two miles wide at the line of delimi- 
 tation, and many of them afford fine fishing-grounds for mack- 
 erel, herring, codfish, pollock, and halibut. They are not sur- 
 rendered for the life of the treaty, but forever. 
 
 But the plenipotentiaries did not stop here. Article 5 of 
 the treaty surrenders all bays, creeks, or harbors which cannot 
 be reached from the sea without passing within the three 
 marine miles mentioned in article i of the convention of 
 October 20, 181 8. No one unfamiliar with this coast and with 
 its waters can tell how much is conceded by this article, but 
 Sir Charles Tapper admits that it was inserted at his request, 
 and one may safely assume that it is not harmless to us in its 
 results. 
 
 It is apparent that by this delimitation the waters from 
 which we are excluded are largely increased. It is claimed in 
 excuse that we do not desire to fish in them ; that our fisher- 
 men so testified. Our fishermen only testified that they had 
 no wish to fish within the three-mile shore-line, and in bays, 
 harbors, and creeks that were six miles wide at their entrance. 
 It never occurred to them that there might be a treaty by 
 
OUR FISHERIES. 153 
 
 which this line should be extended to bays sixteen, eighteen, 
 and twenty miles wide at the mouth. It is impossible for any 
 man to say to-day how soon these bays may become of great 
 importance for fisheries. 
 
 But outside of the limitation upon our right to fish, a serious 
 trouble arises. Suppose that Congress should not place upon 
 the free list fish, and give to Canada what Sir Charles Tupper 
 in his speech practically intimates Democratic statesmen said 
 should be given, and she is left to seek her coveted treasure, 
 our market, by the methods she has heretofore resorted to. 
 The opportunities to harass, insult, outrage, fine, and confiscate ; 
 the difficulties on the part of our fishermen of determining 
 their position, whether within or without the delimited waters, 
 — are increased tenfold at least. While it may be possible with- 
 out great trouble to determine whether or not a vessel is within 
 the three-mile shore line, or within a bay, creek, or harbor six 
 miles wide, it must be apparent to any one that it is more 
 serious, a hundredfold, when the bays are increased in width 
 sixteen, eighteen, and twenty miles, and when the line from 
 lighthouse to lighthouse may be 60 miles away from the end of 
 the bay. 
 
 Second. The strait of Canso has always been open to our 
 vessels. No pretense from 1818 to the present time has ever 
 been made that we had not the right of free passage through its 
 waters, and no one dreams that it would ever be closed. Article 
 9 says that "nothing in this treaty shall interrupt or affect 
 the free navigation of the strait of Canso by fishing vessels of 
 the United States;" and the President of the United States 
 congratulates us on that immense gain ! But Sir Charles 
 Tupper, in his speech to the Dominion Parliament, says that 
 the Article was rendered necessary by the fact that we delimit, 
 in the treaty, Chedabucta Bay, which covers the mouth of the 
 strait. 
 
 Third. The President and his Secretary of State call especial 
 attention to the relief afforded our distressed vessels from entry 
 in less than twenty-four hours, from compulsory pilotage, etc., 
 and commend to the consideration of the people the humane 
 provisions of Articles 10 and 11. To be sure Article 10 does 
 
154 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 relieve our fishing vessels from entry in less than twenty-four 
 hours, if driven into Canadian harbors by stress of weather. 
 Is that a concession ? Why, we have always claimed that in any 
 Canadian port, harbor, or creek, for shelter, we ought not to be 
 compelled to enter in less than twenty-four hours, and there is 
 not a civilized nation in the world that would require it of us. 
 No instance can be found in which a Canadian vessel, under like 
 circumstances, coming into our harbors has been compelled to 
 report and enter in that time. Article lo further relieves these 
 vessels from compulsory pilotage. But there is no compulsory 
 pilotage in the Dominion of Canada for fishing vessels eighty 
 tons and under, and the average of our fishing vessels does not 
 exceed that. Besides, in another article in the treaty it is pro- 
 vided that Canadian vessels shall enjoy such privileges in our 
 ports and harbors as are given to our vessels in Canadian ports 
 and harbors, and as we have no such limitation in our com- 
 pulsory pilotage laws as eighty tons, the balance of benefit here 
 would decidedly be for Canada. No American fisherman is 
 ever heard to complain of the payment of pilotage ; so this is 
 no favor to us. 
 
 Article ii of the treaty provides that American fishing 
 vessels, forced into Canadian harbors under stress of weather or 
 other casualty, " may unload, reload, transship or sell, subject 
 to customs laws and regulations, all fish on board, when such un- 
 loading, transshipment, or sale is made necessary as incidental 
 to repairs, and may replenish outfits, provisions and supplies 
 damaged or lost by disaster ; and in case of death or sickness 
 shall be allowed all needful facilities, including the shipping of 
 crews." It provides, further, that if they obtain licenses they 
 may purchase such provisions and supplies as are ordinarily 
 sold to trading vessels, necessary for the homeward voyage. 
 
 In other words, the treaty gives us that M'hich no civilized 
 nation on the face of the earth would deny to the vessel of any 
 nation in distress. It gives to us that which it is discreditable 
 to any nation to make a right, under a treaty. It gives to us 
 that which humanity and civilization, as well as common 
 decency, demand shall be given without let or hindrance. It 
 gives to us, almost in words, what we compelled Algiers to give 
 
--^^^i, 
 
 **.-'■ -^=is!%,:XfXr -^J— J 
 
 '■^ H^^Ai^A-^ 
 
OUK FISHERIES. 
 
 155 
 
 US in a treaty we made with her in 1815. It gives to us no 
 more tlian, nor so much as, the people on the islands off the 
 coast of China recently gave our wrecked vessels, for which 
 Congress returned them thanks, and not so much as the Esqui- 
 maux have, over and over again, granted of their own free will 
 and pleasure. 
 
 Fourth. We claim the right to equip our vessels with such 
 papers as we ourselves shall determine by law, giving to one a 
 register, to another an enrollment, and to another a license. If 
 we reverse that rule and give to the licensed vessel a register, 
 or if we give to the licensed vessel a permit to touch and trade, 
 our right to do so is beyond question, and no nation can inter- 
 fere with us in this regard. And yet the Dominion of Canada 
 insists that the papers with which we arm our vessels are of no 
 authority, and in this treaty their right to interfere in this 
 regard is admitted in Article 13, which provides just how our 
 vessels shall be designated by official numbers on bows, etc. 
 
 Fifth. Article 14 contains the legal amenities of the treaty, 
 and they are amazingly generous, yielded in the nineteenth 
 century by a neighboring nation! If one of our fishing vessels 
 captures a mackerel for breakfast in the delimited water, no 
 greater penalty shall be paid than the forfeiture of vessel and 
 cargo ! If a hook is baited, or a seine is mended with the inten- 
 tion of so fishing, the punishment shall not exceed forfeiture ! 
 For lesser offences three dollars a ton shall be the measure ! 
 Security for costs shall not be required so long as vessels and 
 cargo are held, nor shall unreasonable bail be exacted. That 
 these rights can be secured only by a solemn treaty, and must 
 be paid for, requires no comment. 
 
 Sixth. By the terms of the treaty of 181 8 we reserve to 
 our fishing vessels the right to enter British waters for shelter, 
 for repairs, to purchase wood and to take water, " and for no 
 other purpose whatever." Under this article the Dominion of 
 Canada insists that in the waters partitioned to them, our fish- 
 ing vessels in their ports, etc., can have no privileges and no 
 rights whatsoever beyond those named in the bond ; that they 
 cannot be permitted to buy flour or bread, beef or ice, bait or 
 anything else except wood ; and indeed they have gone so far 
 
156 THE REPUBLICAN TARTY. 
 
 as to insist that under the term "wood" they did not include 
 coal, and refused the fishing steamer Novelty permission to 
 buy. We, on the contrary, have insisted that while from 181 8, 
 for twelve years thereafter, it is true our fishermen were to 
 enjoy the privileges of harbor and shelter, repairs of damage, 
 purchase of wood and taking of water only, yet since October 
 5, 1830, they and all other vessels of the United States of 
 America were entitled to be treated in the harbors, bays, and 
 creeks of the Dominion of Canada on terms of perfect equality 
 of flag with the British American dependencies. We have 
 insisted, and never have yielded in that insistance, that the acts 
 of Congress and the British Orders in Council of 1830, with the 
 proclamation of President Jackson in the same year, gave to all 
 of our vessels, of whatever character, registered, enrolled, or 
 licensed, complete commercial privileges in all the ports of the 
 Dominion of Canada to the same extent they give to the 
 vessels of the Dominion of Canada and of Great Britain rights 
 and privileges in our ports. 
 
 Practically we, on our part, have lived up to that understand- 
 ing from 1830 down to the present time. Secretary Bayard 
 insisted upon those commercial rights and privileges up to the 
 time he was appointed by the President a Plenipotentiary to 
 negotiate this treaty. In 1886, in presenting to the British 
 Government the case of the Annie M. Jordan, prohibited from 
 buying bait, under date of June 7th, Mr. Bayard saj's: 
 
 " I earnestly protest against this unwarranted withholding of 
 lawful commercial privileges from an American vessel and her 
 owners, and for the loss and damage consequent thereon the 
 Government of Great Britain will be held liable." 
 
 Again, in his letter to Sir Lionel West, May 10, 1886, he 
 says : 
 
 " I may recall to your attention the fact that a proposition 
 to exclude the vessels of the United States engaged in fishing 
 from carrying also merchandise was made by the British nego- 
 tiators of the treaty of 1818, but, being resisted by the Ameri- 
 can negotiators, was abandoned. This fact would seem clearly 
 to indicate that the business of fishing did not then and does 
 
OUR FISHERIES. I 57 
 
 not now disqualify a vessel from trading at the regular ports of 
 entry." 
 
 Again, on July loth of the same year, on a threat being 
 made to seize American boats for buying herring in Canadian 
 waters, he said : 
 
 " Such inhibition of usual and legitimate commercial con- 
 tracts and intercourse is assuredly without warrant of law, and 
 I draw your attention to it in order that the commercial rights 
 of citizens of the United States may not thus be invaded and 
 subjected to unfriendly discrimination." 
 
 Take the case of the steamer Novelty, denied the right to 
 buy coal and ice and to transship fish in bond. Under date of 
 July 10, 1886, Secretary Bayard says: 
 
 "Against this treatment I make instant and formal protest 
 as an unwarranted interpretation and application of the treaty 
 by the officers of the Dominion of Canada and Province of 
 Nova Scotia, as an infraction of the laws of commercial and 
 martitime intercourse existing between the two countries, and 
 as a violation of hospitality, and for any loss or injury resulting 
 therefrom the Government of her Britannic Majesty will be 
 held liable." 
 
 Take the case of the Mollie Adams, which in a gale burst 
 her water-tanks, put in for water, asked permission to buy a 
 few barrels to hold it for her homeward voyage, and was threat- 
 ened with seizure on that account. Under date of September 
 lOth Secretary Bayard says : 
 
 " This inhospitable, indeed inhuman, conduct on the part 
 of the customs officer in question should be severely reprimand- 
 ed, and for the infraction of treaty rights and commercial 
 privileges compensation equivalent to the injuries sustained 
 will be claimed from her Majesty's Government." 
 
 And so on, over and over again, in scores of cases during 
 the year 1886 our Secretary of State in unmistakable terms 
 claimed of the British Government that we were entitled to 
 all the commercial rights and privileges their vessels were re- 
 ceiving and were entitled to in the ports of the United States. 
 
 On the loth of May, 1886, in a communication to Sir 
 Lionel West, Secretary Bayard says : 
 
158 THE REPUBLICAN PARTV. 
 
 "President Jackson's proclamation of October 5, 1830, 
 created a reciprocal commercial intercourse on terms of perfect 
 equality of flag between this country and the British-American 
 dependencies by repealing the navigation acts of April 18, 1818, 
 May 15, 1820, and March i, 1823, and admitting British vessels 
 and their cargoes ' to an entry in the ports of the United 
 States from the islands, provinces, and colonies of Great Brit- 
 ain on or near the American continent, and north or east of the 
 United States.' These commercial privileges have since re- 
 ceived a large extension in the interests of propinquity, and in 
 some cases favors have been granted by the United States 
 without equivalent concession." 
 
 Mr. Phelps, our minister to England, in his statement of 
 our case to Lord Rosebery under date of London, June 2, 
 1886, alluding to the case of the David J. Adams, seized for 
 purchasing bait, says : 
 
 " Recurring, then, to the only real question in the case, 
 whether the vessel is to be forfeited for purchasing bait of an 
 inhabitant of Nova Scotia, to be used in lawful fishing, it may 
 be readily admitted that if the language of the treaty of 181 8 
 is to be interpreted literally, rather than according to its spirit 
 and plain intent, a vessel engaged in fishing would be prohib- 
 ited from entering a Canadian port ' for any purpose whatever ' 
 except to obtain wood or water, to repair damages, or to seek 
 shelter. 
 
 " Such a literal construction is best refuted by considering 
 its preposterous consequences. If a vessel enters a port to 
 post a letter, or send a telegram, or buy a newspaper, to obtain 
 a physician in case of illness, or a surgeon in case of accident, 
 to land or bring off a passenger, or even to lend assistance to 
 the inhabitants in fire, flood, or pestilence, it would, upon this 
 construction, be held to violate the treaty stipulations main- 
 tained between two enlightened maritime and most friendly 
 nations, whose ports are freely open to each other in all other 
 places and under all other circumstances. If a vessel is not 
 engaged in fishing she may enter all ports ; but if employed in 
 fishing, not denied to be lawful, she is excluded, though on the 
 most innocent errand. She may buj- water, but not food or 
 
OUR FISHERIES. 159 
 
 medicine ; wood, but not coal. She may repair rigging, but 
 not purchase a new rope, though the inhabitants are desirous 
 to sell it. If she even entered the port (having no other busi- 
 ness) to report herself to the custom-house, as the vessel in 
 question is now seized for not doing, she would be equally 
 within the interdiction of the treaty. If it be said these are 
 extreme instances of violation of the treaty not likely to be in- 
 sisted on, I reply that no one of them is more extreme than 
 the one relied upon in this case." 
 
 He cites recognition, in official documents, of the right of 
 our fishermen to commercial privileges, among others the letter 
 of Lord Kimberly in 1871 to the Governor-General of Canada, 
 as follows : 
 
 " The exclusion of American fishermen from resorting to 
 Canadian ports, except for the purpose of shelter, and of re- 
 pairing damages therein, purchasing wood, and of obtaining 
 water, might be warranted by the letter of the treaty of 181 8, 
 and by the terms of the imperial act 59 George III., chap. 38, 
 but her Majesty's Government feel bound to state that it 
 seems to them an extreme measure, inconsistent with the'gen- 
 eral policy of the Empire, and they are disposed to concede this 
 point to the United States Government under such restrictions 
 as may be necessary to prevent smuggling, and to guard 
 against any substantial invasion of the exclusive rights of fish- 
 ing which may be reserved to British subjects." 
 
 He further says : 
 
 " Judicial authority upon this question is to the same 
 effect. That the purchase of bait by American fishermen in 
 the provincial ports has been a common practice is well known. 
 But in no case, so far as I can ascertain, has a seizure of an 
 American vessel ever been enforced on the ground of the pur- 
 chase of bait, or of any other supplies. On the hearing before 
 the Halifax Fisheries Commission in 1877 this question was 
 discussed, and no case could be produced of any such condem- 
 nation. And in the case of the White Fawn, tried in the ad- 
 miralty court of New Brunswick before Judge Hazen in 1870, 
 I understand it to have been distinctly held that the purchase 
 of bait, unless proved to have been in preparation for illegal 
 
l6o THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 fishing, was not a violation of the treaty, nor of any existing 
 law, and afforded no ground for proceedings against the vessel." 
 
 On the 1 8th of June, 1886, Secretary Bayard indorsed in 
 the warmest terms Mr. Phelps' presentation of our case. The 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House, in its majority 
 Democratic, through its Chairman, Mr. Belmont, in relation to 
 commercial privileges says : 
 
 " The treaty of 181 8 furnishes no more excuse for the ex- 
 clusion of a deep-sea fisherman from the port of Halifax or any 
 other open port of the Dominion of Canada than for the exclu- 
 sion by the Secretary of the Treasury of a deep-sea fisherman 
 from entering the port of New York according to the forms of 
 law and for the ordinary purposes of trade and commerce. 
 The exclusion if made must be justified, if at all, for other 
 reasons than any yet given by Canada." 
 
 Again : 
 
 " Unless English words were in 18 18 used in that article in 
 an unusual sense, there is not a sentence or word therein that 
 has reference to anything else than taking, drying, or curing 
 fish by American fishermen on or within certain coasts, bays, 
 creeks, or harbors therein described. No word or phrase men- 
 tioned alludes or refers to deep-sea fishing or ordinary commer- 
 cial privileges. The restrictions refer only to fishing or drying 
 or curing in such bays or harbors." 
 
 Again it says that " the conduct of the Dominion of Canada 
 has been not only in violation of the treaty stipulations and 
 international comity, but that during the fishing season just 
 passed it has been inhuman, as the message of the President 
 clearly shows." 
 
 And Secretary Manning in September, 1886, in a communi- 
 cation sent to Congress touching these fishery matters, said: 
 
 " But the Canadian act, thus having the royal approval, 
 was intended, as has been openly avowed, to forfeit any 
 American fishing vessel which is found having entered Canadian 
 waters, or the port of Halifax, to buy ice, bait, or other articles, 
 or for any purpose other than shelter, repairs, wood, or water. 
 The plea is that the treaty of 18 18 permits and stipulates for 
 such legislation. That we deny, and reply that such legislation 
 
OUR FISHERIES, l6l 
 
 is a repeal and annulment by England of the arrangement 
 made in 1830, and to that repeal we are entitled to respond by 
 a similar repeal of our own law, and by a refusal hereafter, and 
 while debate or negotiation goes on, to confer hospitality, or 
 any privileges whatever, in our ports, on Canadian vessels or 
 boats of any sort. A violation of comity may be looked upon 
 as an unfriendly act, but not a cause for a just war. England 
 may judge for herself of the nature and extent of the comity 
 and courtesy she will show to us. In the present case we do 
 not propose retaliation ; we simply respond. We, too, suspend 
 comity and hospitality." 
 
 Indeed, since these difficulties began between the Dominion 
 of Canada and the United States (all of them, nearly, arising 
 from an attempt on the part of American vessels to avail them- 
 selves of commercial privileges in Canadian ports), and subse- 
 quent to 1830 up to the date of the remission of this treaty by 
 the President of the United States to the Senate, there cannot 
 be found a single utterance of any American statesman, 
 Republican or Democrat, yielding one jot or one tittle of full 
 and complete commercial rights and privileges for our fishing 
 vessels in the ports of the Dominion of Canada, the same as we 
 give to their vessels in ours. 
 
 And yet in Article 15 of this treaty there is a humiliating, 
 dishonorable and cowardly surrender of this entire claim ; and 
 it is admitted that no fishing vessel of the United States, 
 whether armed with a permit to touch and trade or not, has 
 any right to buy in any Canadian port, in emergency of any 
 kind whatsoever, except as is provided in Article 11, any article 
 of merchandise whatsoever, necessary to the prosecution of her 
 business. And it is provided, in that Article, that we never 
 shall enjoy any such commercial privileges whatsoever unless 
 we purchase them by a surrender of our market to Canada. 
 
 The last year of the treaty of Washington, by which, for 
 the privilege of fishing within the three-mile shore line, we 
 remitted duties on fish imported into this country by Canada, 
 the remission, as has been stated before, amounted to nearly 
 $700,000. To-day, if a law, it would amount to over a million 
 dollars ; and it will go on increasing in the future, so that, b}' 
 
l62 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Article 15, if we desire to purchase in a Canadian port bait or 
 ice, sails or boats, or anything necessary for the prosecution of 
 our business, we can have that privilege by paying for it from a 
 million to two million dollars a year. 
 
 Seventh. One thing which we also obtain for this great price 
 is the transshipment of catch in Canadian ports. Article 29 of 
 the treaty of Washington was as follows : 
 
 " It is further agreed that for the like period, goods, wares 
 or merchandise, arriving at any of the ports of Her Britannic 
 Majesty's possessions in North America and destined for the 
 United States, may be entered at the proper custom-house and 
 conveyed in transit, without the payment of duties, through the 
 said possessions, under such rules and regulations and conditions 
 for the protection of the revenue as the governments of said 
 possessions may from time to time prescribe ; and under like 
 rules, regulations and conditions, goods, wares or merchandise 
 may be conveyed in transit, without payment of duties, from 
 the United States through the said possessions to other places 
 in the United States, or for export from ports in the said pos- 
 sessions." 
 
 Under that Article (never abrogated) Canada is enjoying, 
 and has been ever since it took eflect, to the fullest and com- 
 pletest extent, all the privileges it provides for. It has been of 
 immense advantage to her business interests, to her railroads 
 and her canals. Since the enactment of our interstate commerce 
 law, it has given her undue advantage over our own trans-con- 
 tinental lines of road, and at their cost immensely benefited 
 hers. It is not too much to say, that shut up as Canada is for 
 six months in the year by her climate, without the privileges 
 here provided for, she would be terribly cramped, and her 
 interests would suffer most seriously. And yet by Article 15, 
 if we wish to transship a barrel of mackerel in one of her ports, 
 unless there in distress, we can be permitted to do it only by 
 paying from a million dollars and upwards annually for the 
 privilege. 
 
 Now where in this treaty is there anything gained to us ? 
 Is it not in all regards a surrender ? Even if rejected, has not 
 the President inflicted upon us a great wrong? Mr. Chamber- 
 
OUR FISHERIES. 163 
 
 lain, in a speech made at a banquet after his return home to 
 England, declared that even if the Senate should reject the 
 treaty, immense concessions had been made, and our Govern- 
 ment could not repeat its demands hereafter. Sir Charles 
 Tupper intimated a like condition, if rejection should follow. 
 The Montreal Gazette under date of March ist says : 
 
 " If we have to revert to the condition of things which pre- 
 vailed in 1886 and in 1887, there will be general regret ; but at 
 least Canadians can have this satisfaction, that in reverting to 
 the treaty of 18 18 we do so with our position infinitely, 
 strengthened by the formal acknowledgment on the part of 
 President Cleveland and his government, that all our conten- 
 tions are right." 
 
 The negotiation, the treaty, the message of the President of 
 the United States, the speeches and proclamations of the 
 Secretary of State in behalf of this treaty, the earnest and zeal- 
 ous efforts of the administration to induce its ratification, the 
 arraying of the Democratic party in Congress for it (whether 
 it may be rejected by the United States Senate or not), can be 
 productive only of evil, and tend only to weaken or destroy 
 the American sentiment which so prevailed in the Forty- ninth 
 Congress. Already administration papers begin to sneer at 
 American fishermen, and to talk about " buying them up." 
 Even the President of the United States singles out the fishery 
 industry for attack, and writes a letter to a district-attorney 
 in Massachusetts, calling his attention to violations of law in 
 the importations of Canadian sailors, while since he has been 
 President thousands of contract laborers on railroads have been 
 imported, and complaints have been made to his attorney- 
 general, presumably to him, without eliciting from him the 
 mildest protest. 
 
 The next move of the Democratic administration will be a 
 compulsory process against Congress, to force the enactment 
 of a law placing fish on the free list, and thus surrender to 
 Canada the market to obtain which she has committed these 
 "brutal" outrages, and almost placed herself outside the pale 
 of civilization. Sir Charles Tupper, in his speech on the treaty 
 in the Canadian Parliament, practically says this was promised 
 
164 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 him. Why should the American fishermen be selected for this 
 sacrifice ? 
 
 The Republic itself has a deep and an abiding interest in 
 this industry. Can it see with indifference its gradual decay, 
 and regard without lively concern its certain extinction ? Will 
 it enter no protest against the deadly blows struck by its own 
 treaty-making power? Has it forgotten that its proud position 
 was largely won by the endurance, skill, courage, and fidelity 
 of these sailors ; that Louisburg was wrested from the French 
 by their valor, and that these very waters, now in contention, 
 were secured to Great Britain by their courage? Can she be 
 unmindful of their conspicuous services in the war for our in- 
 dependence? 
 
 Who will deny that the glories we won in 18 12 on lake and 
 on sea were their achievement ? Who does not know that in 
 our last terrible struggle for life there was not a deck of our 
 fleet unmoistened with their blood ? If we ever have another 
 war, which God forbid, it will be on the sea. Who shall man 
 our fleet? It is asserted, and I believe truly, that 85 per cent 
 of the sailors employed in our ocean foreign-carrying trade are 
 foreigners, owing our country no allegiance, and inspired by no 
 love for our flag. They surely would be a broken reed in the 
 hour of national peril. Of the men in our fishing fleet 80 per 
 cent are American citizens, 65 per cent of American birth. 
 Inured to every hardship, exposed to constant danger, fighting 
 a ceaseless battle with wind and wave, loving freedom for free- 
 dom's sake, and ready on call to defend their rights ; courage- 
 ous, skilled, and patriotic — they are to-day the best and most 
 reliable sailors in the world, and to a man would promptly re- 
 spond to their country's call. 
 
 The American fishermen are assuredly entitled to encour- 
 agement and protection by our government, and they may be 
 certain that the Republican party, true to its instincts, will 
 stand by them until all their rights are secured. 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. 1 65 
 
 THE AMERICAN NAVY. 
 By Hon. Wm. E. Chandler, U. S. Senator from New Hampshire. 
 
 Coming into power on the 4th of March, 1861, the Republi- 
 can party found the slave-holding States seceding from the 
 Union and ready to begin civil war. 
 
 The condition of the navy is described in the official reports 
 of Secretary Welles. There were in commission but 42 ships, 
 built of wood and carrying only smooth-bore cannon. " These 
 vessels had a complement, exclusive of officers and marines, of 
 about 7600 men, and nearly all of them were on foreign stations. 
 The home squadron consisted of 12 vessels, carrying 187 guns 
 and about 2000 men. Of this squadron only four small vessels, 
 carrying 25 guns and about 280 men, were in Northern ports." 
 Four were at Pensacola, and four were returning from Mexico. 
 
 Mr. Welles said : " Neither the expiring administration nor 
 Congress, which had been in session until the 4th of March, 
 had taken measures to increase or strengthen our naval power, 
 notwithstanding the lowering aspect of our public affairs ; so 
 that when a few weeks after the inauguration I desired troops 
 for the protection of the public property at Norfolk and An- 
 napolis, or sailors to man and remove the vessels, neither 
 soldiers nor sailors could be procured. There were no men to 
 man our ships, nor were the few ships at our yards in condition 
 to be put into immediate service." He also said : " With so few 
 vessels in commission on our coast, and our crews in distant 
 seas, the Department was very indifferently prepared to meet 
 the exigency that was rising. Every movement was closely 
 watched by the disaffected, and threatened to precipitate meas- 
 ures that the country seemed anxious to avoid. Demoraliza- 
 tion prevailed among the officers, many of whom, occupying 
 the most responsible positions, betrayed symptoms of that in, 
 fidelity which has dishonored the service. But while so many 
 
1 66 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 officers were unfaithful, the crews, to their honor be it recorded, 
 were true and reliable, and have maintained through every trial 
 and under all circumstances their devotion to the Union and 
 the flag. Unfortunately, however, few comparatively of these 
 gallant men were within the call of the Department at that 
 eventful period. They, as well as the ships, were abroad." 
 
 Thus it appears that because James Buchanan, a Demo- 
 cratic President, was weak and unfaithful to his high trust, and 
 Isaac Toucey, a Democratic Secretary of the Navy, was at 
 heart a traitor, the navy of the United States had been so 
 managed as to offer as little hindrance as possible to the prog- 
 ress of the rebellion. The Republican administration, how- 
 ever, did the best it could. Mr. Welles in 1862 describes the 
 progress made as follows : 
 
 •The result is that we have at this time afloat or progress- 
 ing to rapid completion a naval force consisting of 427 vessels,, 
 there having been added to those of the old navy enumerated 
 in my report of July, 1861, exclusive of those that were lost, 
 353 vessels armed in the aggregate with 1577 guns, and of the 
 capacity of 240,028 tons. The annals of the world do not show 
 so great an increase in so brief a period to the naval power of 
 any country." 
 
 On December 4, 1865, Mr. Welles sums up what had been, 
 done by the navy in putting down the rebeUion thus : 
 
 " From 7600 men in the service at the commencement of 
 the rebellion, the number was increased to 51,500 at its close. 
 In addition to these the aggregate of artisans and laborers em- 
 ployed in the navy yards was 16,880, instead of 3844 previously 
 in the pay of the government. This is exclusive of those em- 
 ployed in private ship yards and establishments, under con- 
 tracts, constituting an almost equal aggregate number. Two 
 hundred and eight (208) vessels have been commenced and 
 most of them fitted for service during this period. A few of 
 the larger ones will require still further time for completion. 
 Only steamers, the propellers also having sailing power, have 
 been built by the government during my administration of the 
 Department. Since the 4th of March, 1861, 418 vessels have 
 been purchased, of which 313 were steamers, at a cost of 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. 167 
 
 $18,366,681.83, and of these there have been sold 340 vessels, 
 for which the government has received $5,621,800.27." 
 
 The work of the navy in suppressing the rebellion was not 
 entirely performed in vessels of wood, but, aided by the genius 
 of Captain John Ericsson, the United States built the first tur- 
 reted iron-clads known to the world, and the monitor type of 
 vessels so well adapted to our coasts, was introduced into naval 
 warfare. The whole extraordinary army and navy expendi- 
 ture for putting down the slave-holders' rebellion has been esti- 
 mated at $6,189,929,908.58, of which the naval payments were 
 $421,281,166.42.* 
 
 The glory of the brilliant exploits of the officers and men 
 of the navy thus organized to fight in the ships of the nation 
 the war for the Union is not to be appropriated by a political 
 party ; but the Republican party certainly can rejoice over the 
 Union victories which were achieved on land and ocean with 
 far more fervor than can the Democratic party, which caused 
 and prolonged the bloody strife. 
 
 The illustrated " Naval History of the Civil War," lately 
 written, impartially and most attractively, by Admiral Porter, 
 well presents the names, the forms, and the achievements of 
 our naval heroes, and they may be contemplated with pride by 
 all the Republicans of the country. There is also a record 
 which will be even more permanent than the narrative of the 
 great admiral. The thanks of Congress were given February 
 22, 1862, to Captain Samuel F. Dupont for the decisive and 
 splendid victory at Port Royal; March 19 and July 16, 1862, 
 to Captain A. H. Foote for gallantry in the attacks upon Forts 
 Henry and Donelson and Island No. 10, and for opening the 
 Tennessee, Cumberland, and Mississippi rivers; July 11, 1862, 
 and February 3, 1863, to Lieutenant J. L. Worden for skill and 
 gallantry in the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac ; 
 July II, 1862, to Captain, and February 16, 1866, to Vice- 
 Admiral, David G. Farragut for the capture of Forts Jackson 
 and St. Philip and the city of New Orleans, and unsurpassed 
 gallantry and skill in the engagement in Mobile Bay; July 11, 
 
 * Forty-eighth Congress, 2d Session, Senate Executive Document 2o6" 
 
l68 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 1862, to Captain Louis M. Goldsborough for the brilliant and 
 decisive victory at Roanoke Island ; February 7, 1863, to Com- 
 modore Charles Henry Davis for services at Fort Pillow and 
 Memphis and in the Mississippi River, to Captain Stephen C. 
 Rowan for distinguished services in the waters of North Caro- 
 lina and in the capture of Newbern, and to Rear-Admiral Silas 
 H. Stringham for the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark; 
 December 23, 1863, to Captain John Rodgers for capturing the 
 Atlanta with the Weehawken ; February 7, 1863, to Com- 
 mander, and April 19, 1864, and January 24, 1865, to Admiral, 
 David D. Porter for the capture of Arkansas Post, for opening 
 the Mississippi River, and for capturing Fort Fisher ; December 
 20, 1864, to Captain John A. Winslow for the brilliant action 
 between the Kear surge and the piratical craft Alabama, and to 
 Lieutenant William B. Cushing for the destruction of the 
 Albemarle ; and Congress included in their formal commenda- 
 tion all the subordinate officers and the seamen and marines 
 who aided these naval heroes in their deeds of glory. These 
 thanks went out with special fervor from the hearts of the 
 Republicans of the North, who without doubt or hesitancy 
 \vere sustaining the cause of the Union in which our naval 
 victories were won. 
 
 In 1865, immediately upon the close of the war, the Repub- 
 lican party lost the control of the executive branch of the 
 government through the assassination of Mr. Lincoln and the 
 abandonment by his successor, Mr. Johnson, of the party which 
 had elected him Vice-President. The naval work of this admin- 
 istration was mainly selling those vessels of the great national 
 fleet which were no longer needed and reducing the force of 
 officers and men in the naval service to the former numbers. 
 The Republican party resumed executive power under Presi- 
 dent Grant in 1869. He announced himself as opposed to keep- 
 ing the navy on its inferior footing " by the repairing and refit- 
 ting of our old ships." Under him a few new \\ooden ships were 
 built, being the sloops-of-war Trcnt07i, Adams, Essex, Enterprise, 
 Alliance, Alert, Huron, and Ranger. It shortly became evident, 
 however, that a great change in the conditions governino- naval 
 construction and naval warfare had taken place. European 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. 169 
 
 nations, which had begun building iron-armored vessels before 
 our war, had also adopted and developed our invention of the 
 monitor type of ships, and it soon appeared probable that the 
 days of wooden navies were ended and that the war-ship of the 
 future would be built of iron or steel. It also became apparent 
 that the navy yards which had in 1861 been transferred with 
 the wooden ships by the Democratic to the Republican admin- 
 istration had brought with them most unbusiness-like and per- 
 nicious methods of doing work. It could be readily seen that 
 a revolution before long was to be effected in the character of 
 war-ships and their armament and in the modes of naval con- 
 struction. 
 
 Before, however, this necessity for a new modern fleet of 
 iron or steel was fully developed the national House of Repre- 
 sentatives, as the result of the election in November, 1874, 
 became Democratic, and so remained for six years. During 
 this period the House in dealing with naval matters, while em- 
 barrassing the service by petty attempts to cut down needful 
 expenditures and by continually making partisan assaults upon 
 the administration of the Navy Department, made no efforts 
 whatever towards real reform in naval methods, and did nothing 
 whatever towards the reconstruction of the navy. 
 
 Five double-turreted monitors, the Miaiitonomoh, Monad- 
 nock, Amphitrite, Terror, and Puritan, had been commenced 
 under contracts with private builders, and President Grant in 
 his messages of December 7, 1875, and December 5, 1876, 
 earnestly recommended their completion ; but the Democratic 
 House refused all appropriations and left these powerful ships 
 unlaunched and cumbering the yards of the builders. 
 
 In 1 88 1, however, the Republicans again obtained control 
 of the national House of Representatives. President Arthur 
 in his message of December 6, 1881, said to Congress: I can- 
 not too strongly urge upon you my conviction that every con- 
 sideration of national safety, economy, and honor impera- 
 tively demands a thorough rehabilitation of our navy." On the 
 5th of August, 1882, a bill became a law which may be consid- 
 ered the beginning of a new era in American naval affairs, 
 (i) There were on the Navy Register too many officers, and 
 
170 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 provision was made for their gradual diminution by the process 
 of omitting to fill vacancies, until there should be a reduction of 
 140 staff and 115 line officers, leaving the reduced number of 
 1562 in all, and (2) it was enacted that thereafter no more 
 graduates of the naval academy should be taken into the ser- 
 vice than should be necessary to fill vacancies which might 
 happen. (3) The appropriations for the cumbrous civil estab- 
 lishment at the navy yards and stations were reduced, and the 
 Secretary was directed, if the work could not be carried on for 
 the amounts appropriated, to make no deficiency, but to sus- 
 pend work at some of the yards. (4) It was deemed indis- 
 pensable to the construction of a new steel navy that the lives 
 of the old wooden ships should not be prolonged by per- 
 petual repairs, and it was therefore enacted that no wooden 
 ship should be repaired where the estimated cost either as to 
 the hulls or engines would exceed 30 per cent of their estimated 
 value. (5) The construction of two new modern naval cruisers 
 was authorized, to be built of steel of a specified strength and 
 ductility, and to be armed with rifled ordnance of the best and 
 latest type. 
 
 The Republican administration carried out with promptness 
 the directions of this reformatory act of August 5, 1882. Its 
 work has been concisely stated thus : 
 
 "A new naval policy was adopted prescribing a reduction 
 in the number of ofificers, the elimination of drunkards, great 
 strictness and impartiality in discipline, the discontinuance of 
 extensive repairs of old wooden ships, the diminution of navy- 
 yard expenses, and the beginning of the construction of a new 
 navy of modern steel ships and guns according to the plans of 
 a skillful Naval Advisory Board. The first of such vessels, the 
 cruisers Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta, and the dispatch-boat. 
 Dolphin, with their armaments, were designed in this country 
 and built in American workshops." 
 
 " The Gun Foundry Board, consisting of army and navy 
 officers, appointed under the act of the 3d of March, 1883, 
 visited Europe and made full reports advising large contracts 
 for terms of years with American manufacturers to produce the 
 steel necessary for heavy cannon, and recommending the estab- 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. I71 
 
 lishment of one army and one navy gun-factory for the fabrica- 
 tion of modern ordnance." * 
 
 In July, 1883, contracts were made for the construction of 
 the above four ships with John Roach, who was the lowest 
 bidder of the only three iron ship-builders of the United States, 
 who all made proposals for the work. The construction pro- 
 gressed rapidly, and on the 4th of March, 1885, when the 
 Democratic administration of Mr. Cleveland came into power, 
 the DolpTiin was completed and ready for her trial-trip, the 
 Boston and Atlanta were nine tenths completed, and the 
 Chicago was eight tenths completed. 
 
 The first determination of the Democratic Secretary of the 
 Navy, Mr. William C. Whitney, was to make political capital 
 for his party by condemning as worthless the four new ships 
 then so nearly finished. The Dolphin had her trial-trip 
 March loth, and the Advisory Board, which had been created 
 by direction of Congress to supervise the construction of the 
 new ships, reported that she had been built in all respects in 
 accordance with the contract ; that although the horse-power 
 on this trip was 183 less than the 2300 specified in the contract, 
 the board was of opinion that the deficiency was not due to 
 defective workmanship or materials, which was all the contrac- 
 tor had guaranteed against, and that with better coal and a 
 well-trained engineer force this difficulty would be overcome ; 
 that the mean speed was 15.16 knots per hour; and that the 
 ship ought to be accepted. Under this report, in accordance 
 with the contract, the builder was entitled to have the ship 
 accepted ; but Secretary Whitney on account of the petty de- 
 ficiency of horse-power demanded two more trials, the last to 
 be on the open ocean, and also appointed an additional board 
 to scrutinize the vessel, composed of a captain just asking pro- 
 motion and special orders to duty fiom the Secretary, and 
 whose friends in the newspapers were praising him because he 
 was a Democrat, another naval officer who had been relieved 
 from duty by the previous Secretary for indecent conduct and 
 was seeking revenge, and a civilian named Herman Winter, who 
 
 * Appleton'p cy. Am. B^Qgrapby. Life of President Arthur. 
 
1/2 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 had been virtually in the employ of Secretary Whitney. Un- 
 warranted and unjust as were Mr. Whitney's exactions, Mr. 
 Roach was compelled to submit to them. The new trial-trip 
 took place May 28th, a six hours' run was made in Long Island 
 Sound, and the following telegram was sent : 
 
 AsTOR House, New York City, May 28, 1885. 
 " Secretary of the Navy, Washington : 
 
 " Dolphin ran six consecutive hours to-day without mis- 
 hap of any sort, averaging from 72 to ^6 turns per minute. 
 All conditions very favorable. Steam pressure, 84 to 89 
 pounds. Average speed, i^\ knots; speed for two hours, 
 15.9 per hour. Approximate mean collective horse-power, 
 2240. As ship was aground on reef on Wednesday she ought 
 to be docked before sea trial. 
 
 " G. E. Belknap, President of Board." 
 
 This telegram was carefully concealed for a whole year by 
 Mr. Whitney, and never saw the light of day until May 25, 
 1886, when he was compelled to answer a Senate resolution of 
 March 6, 1886. 
 
 On June 11, 1885, the sea trial took place outside of Sandy 
 Hook, and its success was announced as follows : 
 
 "New York, June 11, 1885. 
 " Secretary of the Navy, Washington : 
 
 " The Dolphin ran six consecutive hours at sea to-day, 
 loaded to service trim, without drawback, making from 64 to 
 72 revolutions of screw per minute ; natural draught ; no 
 blowers used. Average approximate speed, I2| knots as 
 shown by patent log. Approximate speed shown by bearings 
 influenced by fair tide, 13.4 knots. All conditions favorable 
 for trial, smooth sea not admitting of real test as to sea-going 
 qualities of ship. Ship probably cannot be docked before 
 early next week. 
 
 " Geo. E. Belknap, President of Board." 
 
 This telegram was indorsed by Mr. Whitney, " Don't give 
 this out," and was also kept secret from June 11, 1885, to May 
 25, 1886. But Secretary Whitney immediately, in a fit of 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. 
 
 173 
 
 anger and disappointn7<i:'"it, sent the following order to his ser- 
 vile board to condemn the ship without further ceremony : 
 
 "Navy Dep/ rtment, Washington, D. C, June 12, 1885. 
 " To Captain George E. Belknap, President of the Board, New 
 York, N. y. : 
 " Yesterday's triflj was, as you know, valueless. It occurred 
 without my orders or knowledge. I find that the orders were 
 give here in my absence under mistake. To test her strength 
 when subjected to the strain of a heavy sea was the object of 
 her trial. I do not doubt her ability to run 13 knots an hour 
 in smooth waf.'?);. I want to know whether she is structurally 
 weak or not. Putting her into a heavy sea at a speed not try- 
 ing to her rv,achinery was the condition you asked for. Has 
 yesterday's trial aided you in determining this matter? If not, 
 require such tests to be had within the next week as you may 
 deem necessary for the purpose. Have the board stay in New 
 York unt.'il this is settled. Do tJiis unless you prefer to make 
 your report based on your present information. 
 
 "W. C. Whitney, Secretary." 
 
 Thus coerced, the board hesitated no longer, but on June 1 5th 
 made arj untruthful condemnatory report. Mr. Whitney next 
 submi'.led the case to the Attorney-General for his legal 
 opinion, asserting to him as a matter of fact that the ship had 
 not rsached a speed of 15 knots and had proved structurally 
 weak, both of which statements were false. Then came 
 A itorney-General Garland's astounding opinion, not only that 
 ^he Dolpliin did not comply with the contract, but that there 
 Was no contract at all between Mr. Roach and the United 
 States, and that all sums received by him had been paid with- 
 out authority of law and might be recovered from him, and 
 that the ship might be held for the money so decided to be 
 due. This decision was made nominally on account of the ob- 
 viously just clause in the contract, also contained in the con- 
 tracts for the Boston, Atlanta, and Chicago, which provided that 
 the contractor should not be responsible for any deficiency of 
 horse-power unless caused by defective workmanship or ma- 
 terials. Immediately after this absurd opinion was delivered. 
 
174 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Mr. Whitney telegraphed, July 14, 1885, to the commandant of 
 the navy yard at New York, " Take masts, rigging, and all 
 government property out of Dolphin," and gave the Attorney- 
 General's opinion to the public, while concealing, as before 
 stated, the two telegrams above given, which proved the utter 
 untruthfulness of the pretenses upon which the Democratic 
 administration was laboring to condemn the ships merely be- 
 cause Republicans had built them. In these devilish assaults 
 Mr. Roach's credit received a fatal blow. Upon the four ships 
 there had been paid him $2,125,226.51. His assets in his two 
 ship-yards were $4,63 1,478.23, and his debts $2,262,877.81. The 
 public declaration by Secretary Whitney and Attorney-General 
 Garland that Mr. Roach also owed $2,125,226.51 to the govern- 
 ment completely crippled him, and he was compelled on July 
 1 8th to make an assignment and close his works at Chester, Pa., 
 and at New York City. Representative Goff in his speech in 
 the House of Representatives, June 18, 1886, thus states the 
 consequences : 
 
 " There were thrown from employment by Mr. Whitney's 
 blow at Mr. Roach, necessitated by his assignment, at the 
 Morgan Iron Works, ten hundred and fifty-two men with a 
 weekly pay-roll of $12,358.28; at the Chester Works, eleven 
 hundred and thirty-seven men, with a weekly pay-roll of 
 $11,802.02 — $24,160.30. The usual force employed for years 
 before had been, at the Morgan Works, eleven hundred and 
 thirty-one men, with a weekly pay-roll of $14,034.46; at the 
 Chester Works, thirteen hundred and thirty-one men, with a 
 weekly pay-roll of $14,341.20 — $28,375.66. During the five 
 years from 1872 to 1876 Mr. Roach had consumed materials 
 and paid out wages amounting to $14,890,147, of which the 
 wages at the works were $7,269,734, and 90 per cent of the 
 whole amount represents the labor of American workmen. 
 Between 1876 and 1885 Mr. Roach had built sixty-six steamers 
 at contract prices of $19,345,000, and done other work amount- 
 ing to $3,147,000; or a total in nine years of $22,492,000, 
 ninety-five per cent of which went for American labor." 
 
 The limits of this article do not allow a full statement of the 
 cruel and atrocious treatment of Mr. Roach. He was 70 years 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. I75 
 
 of age ; his health and spirits were broken ; he gave up the 
 struggle, and died on the loth day of January, 1887. His death 
 lies at Mr. Whitney's door. Nevertheless the latter continued 
 to pursue with persistent unfairness all four of the ships. After 
 Mr. Roach's failure he was compelled to utterly disregard Mr. 
 Garland's opinion and take possession of them all. He sent 
 the Dolphin to sea, hoping to show her to be weak in agale of 
 wind. But she proved stanch and fleet. He attempted to 
 condemn the Atlanta in a similar manner, but ff.iled. He 
 treated as passports for naval ofificers to his favor, assaults by 
 them upon the ships. At last realizing that, after all, the ships 
 however treated would be successful, he determined that they 
 should not be finished so long as he could defer completion. 
 He entered the Department March 7, 1885, with the ships, after 
 one and two-thirds years from the dates of the contracts, nearly 
 completed. More than three additional years have already 
 elapsed and only the Dolphin and Atlanta are in commission ! 
 The Boston and Chicago have not yet had their standing rigging 
 put up. This delay can proceed from but one motive — that 
 the ships must be discredited and condemned at all hazards. 
 As a matter of fact, the vessels have proved substantially fault- 
 less in all respects ; have more than met all reasonable expecta- 
 tions ; and are highly creditable to the designers and builder 
 and to the government. Mr. Whitney's attempt to place a 
 taint upon them, and his cruel treatment of John Roach, whom 
 he drove to the grave, have been such partisan and disgraceful 
 acts as could only have proceeded from an unscrupulous and 
 brutal Democrat. 
 
 When Mr. Whitney came into office, besides having the 
 arbitrary power to discredit the four ships built by Mr. Roach, 
 and to ruin the builder, he found himself also invested with 
 authority by an act of March 3, 1885, to build the following 
 additional steel vessels: two cruisers of not exceeding 5000 
 tons, to cost, exclusive of their guns, not more than $1,100,000 
 •each; one heavy gunboat at a cost of $520,000, and one light 
 gunboat at a cost of $275,000. The history of the legislation 
 giving this authority is instructive. The Senate Committee on 
 Naval Affairs prior to February, 1884, had fully and carefully 
 
176 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 investigated the Roach ships and made a report approving the 
 same, and the Senate on February 28th passed a bill by vote of 
 38 to 13 (the latter all Democratic) for building additional 
 ships. 
 
 The House refused to pass this bill, and sent to the Senate 
 the annual naval appropriation bill without any provision for 
 additional ships, and for the monitors only $5000 for their 
 " care and safe-keeping." The Senate amended the bill by 
 adding appropriations for the ships specified in the special bill 
 which they had passed. The amendment was resisted by the 
 House, and repeated conferences were held by committees of 
 the two bodies, but all failed. 
 
 As the result of these repeated disagreements no annual 
 appropriation bill for the navy was passed. On the 7th of 
 July, 1884, it became necessary for the Senate to agree to a 
 temporary resolution for maintaining the navy for six months, 
 and to submit to the insertion therein of a clause forbidding 
 the use of any money on the monitors, and even repealing the 
 authority then existing to build the engines of the Monadnock, 
 the monitor under construction on the Pacific coast. 
 
 This partisan action the Democratic House continued dur- 
 ing the ensuing winter of 1884-1885 as to all appropriations 
 which might be expended by a Republican administration. 
 The House passed a resolution providing for the ordinary 
 naval expenses for the remaining six months of the fiscal year. 
 The Senate again added their provision for new ships, but the 
 House refused to accept it and again passed the resolution 
 making temporary provision for the six months, and the Sen- 
 ate at last, after amending it so as to give it the form of a bill 
 in detail, was obliged to agree to its passage without any pro- 
 vision for the increase of the navy. 
 
 The Republicans, however, continued without partisanship 
 to maintain their advocacy of progress in the reconstruction of 
 the navy. The House passed the regular naval appropriation 
 bill for 1 885-1 886 with certain absurd provisions relative to a 
 board of construction, to design various classes of vessels 
 after which one vessel of each class was to be built from un- 
 hmited appropriations to be made by the bill for such purpose. 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. 1/7 
 
 The bill also appropriated $1,780,000 for the 6000-ton ship 
 which had been authorized by the act of August 5, 1882, but 
 which had not been constructed on account of the limit of cost 
 imposed by the act ; and there was also a provision for $400,000 
 to complete the Nezv York, a large, old-fashioned wooden ship 
 which had been for many years on the stocks in the New York 
 navy yard ; but nothing for the monitors. 
 
 The Senate substituted for the preposterous House provi- 
 sions sufificient appropriations for two cruisers, one heavy gun- 
 boat, one light gunboat, and $2,000,000 for work on the moni- 
 tors ; and after conferences between the two Houses the bill 
 became a law March 3, 1885, the Senate giving up the two 
 millions for the monitors, and the House consenting to provide 
 for the two cruisers and the gunboats ; which ships, when Mr. 
 Whitney came into office, he found himself authorized to 
 build. 
 
 The spirit of the two parties thus exhibited was continued 
 at subsequent sessions ; the Republicans ready and eager to 
 grant liberal appropriations for a new navy, even to a Demo- 
 cratic Secretary like Mr. Whitney ; the Democrats slow and re- 
 luctant. Republican persistency was rewarded with a large 
 measure of success so far as relates to appropriations. A bill 
 was passed August 3, 1886, for the construction of two armored 
 ships at a cost of not more than $2,500,000 each, one steel 
 cruiser not to exceed in cost $1,500,000, one torpedo-boat to 
 cost $100,000; also for completing the monitors at a cost not 
 exceeding $3,178,046; and for the armament of all the various 
 uncompleted vessels $1,000,000 was granted. 
 
 Congress also authorized by the act of March 3, 1887, the 
 construction of two additional gunboats at a cost of not more 
 than $550,000 each, two steel cruisers not to exceed in cost 
 $3,000,000; further authorized floating batteries or rams to 
 cost $2,000,000 ; and gave towards the completion of the moni- 
 tors and other ships $2,420,000, for the armament of all the 
 ships $2,128,362, and in addition, in pursuance of the plans of 
 the Gun Foundry Board, for armor and gun-steel $4,000,000. 
 
 The total of all this power granted to the Cleveland ad- 
 ministration, beginning with the two cruisers and two gunboats 
 
17S THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 
 authorized on the day it entered office, March 4, 1885, is to 
 build and to arm twelve new vessels, and to finish four moni- 
 tors, all at a cost of $28,421,408 ! At the end of three years 
 and four months it has succeeded in launching one gunboat 
 and one torpedo-boat ! 
 
 It is doubtful whether it will succeed in building and plac- 
 ing in commission one ship during its term of four years. Dif- 
 ficulties, delays, extensions of time, and changes of plan, such 
 as were relentlessly condemned when happening in the case of 
 the Roach ships, have multiplied upon the Navy Department 
 without number. Discrediting American designers, it has ex- 
 pended upwards of $50,000 abroad for plans of ships and en- 
 gines prepared by English constructors and engineers, which 
 are not unlikely to prove worthless. 
 
 In its conduct of the Navy Department other than that 
 of naval construction the administration is no less censurable. 
 President Cleveland began with a denunciation of the organiza- 
 tion of the Department as wholly vicious, called it merely a 
 " shabby ornament of the government," and the demand was 
 made in 20 pages of the first departmental report for its com- 
 plete and fundamental reorganization according to a ridiculous 
 plan. No member of Congress ventured even to introduce a 
 bill to carry out this wild scheme. A second and modified 
 plan was drawn up scarcely less obnoxious, and a bill was accord- 
 ingly introduced into the House of Representatives. This was 
 assailed by speeches and a minority report by Representatives 
 Goff and Boutelle ; it fell still-born and has never since been 
 heard of. 
 
 Steady discipline in the navy has been abandoned, and 
 laxity with spasmodic tyranny has taken its place. Drunken 
 officers have been screened from punishment and placed on 
 the retired list, or after conviction and sentence of dismissal 
 have been allowed to resign. Politics have been made the 
 basis of all employment in the navy }-ards, and the yards have 
 been given over to the control of local political bosses. Sub- 
 serviency with prostitution of faculties like that of Captains 
 George E. Belknap, John G. Walker, Richard W. Meade, and 
 Francis M. Bunce has been rewarded with place and power; 
 
THE AMERICAN NAVY. 1 79 
 
 while manly independence like that of Chief Engineer Charles 
 H. Loring has been punished by removal and ostracism. 
 
 A political striker, formerly a restaurant-keeper, was first made 
 chief clerk of an important bureau, and is naw principal man- 
 ager of the Department ; and upon him naval officers of rank, 
 high as well as low, are compelled to dance attendance, while 
 the proper functionary is absent or engrossed in multifarious 
 occupations and diversions in no sense naval in their character, 
 by which the current business of the Department is unreason- 
 ably delayed and hindered. 
 
 Much good work in naval designing and construction is 
 doubtless under way, but it is carried forward by competent 
 and faithful naval officers with whom the Department does 
 not venture materially to interfere. It may not unfairly be 
 said that whatever good things are being done by the Navy 
 Department are not original with the present administration, 
 but follow lines previously laid out, while whatever can be 
 claimed as distinctly so original is either unwise or vicious. 
 Republicans may safely give and can easily maintain this chal- 
 lenge. 
 
 It is proper to allude to the attacks which have been made 
 upon the Republican administration of the navy. Secretary 
 Robeson has been constantly assailed, but an analysis of the 
 complaints against him shows hardly more than this : that he 
 used appropriations made for the repairs of ships to completely 
 rebuild such vessels, that he exchanged old iron for new iron 
 under contracts made for building vessels, and that he paid one 
 or two just and equitable claims without technical authority to 
 do so. These charges, about which great clamor has been 
 made, may be dismissed as not of great moment. Necessarily 
 with naval expenditures of $731,709,705.53 made by the Re- 
 pubhcan party during its twenty-four years of continuous con- 
 trol of the navy, including four years of sudden and stupendous 
 civil war upon land and water, some mistakes would be made, 
 some unwise expenditures would be incurred, some unfaithful- 
 ness and dishonesty in officials would be developed. But it 
 may be claimed that such cases have been comparatively few 
 
l8o THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 and unimportant, and that the general record is one showing 
 Republitan capacity, fidelity, and integrity of administration. 
 
 The great burden of Democratic complaint has been that 
 the Republican party has spent since the war $400,000,000 
 and has no navy to show for it. Senator Vest three times 
 thus unfairly reiterates the charge: "$385,000,000 have been 
 voted by the Congress of the United States to build a navy 
 since 1866, and where is the navy?" "Where is the navy of the 
 United States, and where is the money? Both are missing." 
 " This condition is the result of maladministration and the reck- 
 less waste of $385,000,000 appropriated by Congress since 1866 
 for the support of the navy." An examination of the gross 
 sum thus mentioned shows that by far the larger part of the 
 expenditures for the navy have been for the pay of officers 
 and men and for what may be called the ordinary and indis. 
 pensable running expenses of keeping up the establishment, 
 and that the expenditures for the construction and repair of 
 ships during the seventeen years of Republican control, after 
 the war transactions closed, were about $60,000,000 and not 
 $400,000,000. 
 
 It would be equally good reasoning to charge the Demo- 
 cratic party with incapacity and dishonesty because during the 
 seventeen years before i860 it had expended $162,251,675.02 
 on the navy and had little to show for it, or because it ex- 
 pended during that time $49,174,787.99 on ships and had only 
 a few worthless wooden craft and smooth-bore guns when the 
 war began. During that period the pay of officers and men 
 was $72,354,412.11, as from 1869 to 1884 such pay under Re- 
 pubhcan rule was $133,012,940.85. Is it a fair argument to 
 ask what ships and guns there were to show for these immense 
 sums? 
 
 That adequate results have not been obtained trom the 
 expenditure, for the construction and repair of vessels, of 
 $60,000,000 since the war, may be true. The reason has been 
 the continuance in existence of old wooden ships, upon which 
 expensive repairs have been made under a vicious navy-yard 
 system. But this system, as has been shown, was inherited 
 from the Democratic party, and was reformed by the Repub- 
 
"THE AMERICAN NAVY." l8l 
 
 lican Congress of 1882. The limitation then put upon the repairs 
 of wooden ships, finally fixed at a percentage not to exceed 25 of 
 the estimated cost of the whole ship, has been maintained by 
 the Republican Senate against repeated efforts of the Demo- 
 cratic House to break it down ; and it may safely be predicted 
 that the navy yards as conducted by the present administra- 
 tion will prove to be as expensive and as grossly partisan as 
 they were under Democratic rule before the war. 
 
 A just summary of the relations of the Republican party to 
 the navy is to say (i) that it took from the Democratic party 
 a navy of little value, with its vessels scattered by a Democratic 
 Secretary to the four waters of the globe in order to aid the 
 war against the Union ; and quickly improvised a naval fleet 
 of numbers and capacity sufificient under the control of officers 
 and men winning famous naval victories to blockade our whole 
 Southern coast and to perform fully its part in putting down 
 the rebellion ; (2) that when the war was ended and the Union 
 saved it reduced the navy to a peace footing, adopted as soon 
 as practicable a comprehensive plan for reconstructing the 
 navy according to modern conditions, and began the work and 
 gave to the country four fine steel ships as the beginning of a new 
 fleet ; and (3) that it delivered the Navy Department in good 
 condition to the present Democratic administration, whose mis- 
 management of naval affairs has been such as to make it im- 
 portant to the national interests that Republican control 
 should be restored. 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 
 By Hon. Jos. R. Hawley, U. S. Senator from Connecticut. 
 
 The United States is a nation of more than 60,000,000 of 
 people, worth more than $40,000,000,000, and is defenseless 
 against the weakest of the civilized powers of the earth. No 
 enemy would ever undertake to invade our territory. We 
 have a little regular army of 25,000 men, of whom perhaps 
 15,000 could be spared to be collected in case of emergency. 
 We have between 150,000 and 200,000 of organized militia 
 or National Guard, who could be immediately assembled, 
 tolerably well equipped and disciplined, and we have a reserve 
 of small arms on hand to arm a few hundred thousand more. 
 It is true that we have only twenty-five or thirty steel breech- 
 loading, rifled field-pieces fit for a modern light battery, and 
 a few obsolete light guns, but doubtless we could give a good 
 account of ourselves in a short time against an enemy on land. 
 Nobody, I say, will invade us with land forces. 
 
 While we remain in our present condition the Congress of 
 the United States will never declare war for any imaginable 
 outrage. Against such we are compelled to negotiate 
 and procrastinate. But it is possible to suppose that de- 
 mands may be made upon us with uplifted hand which from 
 very shame we should be obliged to deny. In what condition 
 should we find ourselves ? 
 
 To quote from Captain Grififin's excellent pamphlet: "A 
 complete system of sea-coast defenses consists of three lines. 
 The outer line is composed of war-ships ; the second or skir- 
 mish line, of torpedo-boats ; and the third or inner line, of land 
 fortifications and channel obstructions, the latter usually fixed 
 electrical torpedoes. Besides these there should be a reserve 
 of war-ships, torpedo boats and launches, gunboats, floatino- 
 batteries, etc." 
 
 And first, as to the outer line. The total of our navy is 98 
 
 182 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 183 
 
 vessels. Of these there are 12 tugs at navy yards, 12 old sail- 
 ing vessels used as receiving and school-ships, and 6, classed un- 
 serviceable, used as receiving ships, or condemned and waiting 
 to be sold. This reduces the number to 68. Seven are classed 
 as fourth-rate. Two of these are weak old propellers ; one is 
 the barkentine we are allowed by treaty to keep in the north- 
 ern lakes; one is a dispatch-boat ; one is the ram A /arm ; one, 
 a small four-gun cruiser building at Baltimore ; and one, the 
 experimental dynamite-gun vessel. 
 
 Among the 43 third-rates are 5 old double-turret moni- 
 tors that have been "awaiting completion" since the war; 13 
 are single-turret monitors with only four inches of plating, each 
 carrying two old smooth-bore guns; and 25 unarmored vessels, 
 ranging from 900 to 1700 tons. Two have iron hulls, four 
 steel, and the rest are wooden. The best are four steel vessels, 
 three of which are building. They are cruisers and commerce- 
 destroyers, and could not fight modern forts or armored ves- 
 sels. 
 
 Of second-rates there are 13. Five, of these are steel, one 
 of which is to be a battle-ship of 6300 tons, and three of which 
 are protected or partially protected cruisers. Three of these 
 five are still in the builder's hands. The others are also 
 wooden ships of honorable record — the Hartford, Richmond, 
 etc. The Trenton is the best — 3900 tons and ten guns. The 
 modern 8-inch steel gun would send a shot through two such 
 vessels from stem to stern. 
 
 Of the first-rates there are five steel vessels, — or will be, as 
 four of them are protected cruisers still in the contractors 
 hands. 
 
 The vessels worth counting are those of the first, second, 
 and third rates— 61 in all. Ten are building. Eighteen are 
 monitors, twelve of which are not worth fitting up, even for 
 harbor defense. The remaining 33 are chiefly innocent old 
 wooden propellers, armed with smooth-bores and a few Parrott 
 rifles of the class that kill more friends than enemies. Only 
 four of them are modern steel vessels, and they are of the 
 lighter order. Of those building, but one aims to be a battle- 
 ship, and she will rank far below the first-rates of other nations. 
 
l84 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 The navy has the start of the land forces in reconstruction 
 under modern ideas. Sixteen or seventeen vessels have been 
 ordered by Congress since August 4, 1882, four of which have 
 been finished, but only one is to be heavily armored. Never- 
 theless, as the acts ordering ships likewise ordered armor and 
 guns, the latter, when massed, made a quantity sufficient (con- 
 sidering also the confident hope of further building) to justify a 
 steel company in making the necessary costly plant and contract- 
 ing for our first American heavy forging for armor and guns. 
 Previously 34 forged-steel built-up guns, ranging from 5-inch 
 caliber to lo-inch, were nearly finished, the tubes of the heav- 
 iest having been purchased in England. These were for the 
 Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and Dolphin. For the ships since 
 authorized contracts have been made for 108 similar guns, of 
 which 24 are of lo-inch caliber and 2 of 12-inch. Two or 
 three years at least must elapse before the latter can be fin- 
 ished. And at the rate at which we have been progressing for 
 the last six years, it is not safe to prophesy when the United 
 States would be ready to cope with even the third-rate navies 
 of other nations. 
 
 Excepting the four new cruisers, how are our ships armed ? 
 The following is a correct table of the serviceable heavy guns 
 of the navy, afloat and on shore : 
 
 Smooth-bores: 
 
 20-inch caliber. 
 
 3 
 
 15-inch caliber yg 
 
 ii-inch caliber. 
 
 357 
 
 lO-inch caliber, shell 12 
 
 lo-inch caliber, shot 21 
 
 g-inch caliber i 01 1 
 
 8-inch caliber, 6500 pounds. 3^6 
 
 32-pounders, 4500 pounds 3^8 
 
 2,204. 
 
 Parrott nnuzzle-loading rifles: 
 
 150-pounders 28 
 
 100 pounders 267 
 
 60-pounders -r 
 
 30-pounders ,». 
 
 20-pounders 241; 
 
 Dahlgren muzzle-loading rifles, converted from ii inch to S inch. . . 50 
 
 1,040 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. I85 
 
 Parrott breech-loading rifles: 
 
 80-pounders g 
 
 60-pounders 27 
 
 30 pounders , 5 
 
 41 
 
 3,285 
 
 There is not a gun in this Hst that any other naval power 
 would think of putting on shipboard. The Parrott rifles were 
 a temporary resort. They are dangerous, and should be sold 
 as old metal. Some of the smooth-bores in their day and time, 
 before i860, put our then first-class ships among the best 
 armed in the world. They, too, would be condemned to the 
 waste-heap when compared with modern ordnance. 
 
 To these must be added 10, 8, 6, and 5 inch breech-loading, 
 built-up, forged-steel rifles of the latest type (already referred to) 
 for the monitors and new cruisers, as follows : 
 
 Steel breech-loading rifles: 
 
 5-inch caliber 2 
 
 6-inch caliber 2i 
 
 8-inch caliber 8 
 
 lo-inch caliber. 3 
 
 34 
 
 The duty of the navy would be to watch for the enemy at 
 sea, fight him there if possible, give notice of his position and 
 probable intentions, and, in cases of necessity, to concentrate 
 between him and our seaports. 
 
 What of this can our existing navy do ? We have no ships 
 that can overtake any known enemy ; none that could fight him 
 if it did catch him ; none that could escape him in a race for 
 home ; and no harbor defenses that could protect our ship when 
 it got home. 
 
 Technically, the second line of defense should be torpedo- 
 boats. We have just bought the little yacht Stiletto to make 
 a beginning with, and are contracting for another ! 
 
 As an essential part of the third or inner line of land forti- 
 fications and channel obstructions, fixed electrical torpedoes 
 are usually adopted. We have on hand a considerable number 
 
186 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 of " cases" (hollow wrought-iron globes), but we have no elec- 
 trical apparatus, no long lines of cable, no protected shelters or 
 torpedo galleries along the shores of our harbors whence the 
 groups of fixed torpedoes may be operated. 
 
 Of course we have no minor batteries established to cover 
 the fields of the torpedoes or mines. All these things require 
 time and money, quite contrary to the popular idea that tor- 
 pedoes can be arranged in a few days. 
 
 We come now to the main inner line of coast-defense forti- 
 fications, — our forts and other permanent works. Between 1816 
 and 1826 a general system of coast fortifications was adopted. 
 Under it we built some granite and brick forts ; some with walls 
 eight feet thick, thinning to five feet around the embrasures, 
 and good against guns of those days. The system was excellent, 
 . and for the numbers and wealth of the people they were costly. 
 Not one of these fortifications, formerly a matter of just national 
 pride, is anything more than a death-trap to-day when faced by 
 the best modern weapons. Since 1875 not one penny has 
 been appropriated for the construction of sea-coast defenses. 
 
 General Duane, Chief of Engineers, writes me under date 
 ■ of May 19, 1888, as follows : 
 
 " The construction, preservation, and repair of all the per- 
 manent works of the country, including collateral works, and 
 the lands and buildings connected therewith, are in the charge 
 -of the Corps of Engineers. The Ordnance Department has the 
 responsibility of the care and preservation of the armament 
 ■only, such as the guns, carriages, and ammunition. 
 
 "The act of February 10, 1875, gave the last appropriation 
 for the construction of fortifications. With the exhaustion of 
 that appropriation all constructive zvork ceased. 
 
 "The acts of 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880 appropriated 
 each year for the protection, preservation, and repair of fortifi- 
 cations and other works of defense $100,000; the acts of 1881, 
 1882, 1883, and 1884 gave annually $175,000, and the act of 
 1885 $100,000. This last was the final appropriation, and was 
 practically exhausted by the end of the fiscal year for which it 
 was appropriated. The estimates of this office for the fiscal 
 years ending June 30, 1887, 1888, and 1889 were $175,000 each. 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 187 
 
 "The failure to obtain any appropriation in 1886 for 1887 
 necessitated the practical abandonment of all permanent and 
 other defenses where there was no garrison or where an Ord- 
 nance Sergeant was not stationed. Portable property was 
 secured as well as possible, and the fort-keepers discharged, 
 except where they were willing to act as watchmen without pay, 
 in consideration of quarters rent free. Neglect of any struc- 
 ture, however massive or well built, results in more or less rapid 
 deterioration, and we find to-day, owing to a failure of the usual 
 appropriations for the past two years, everything connected with 
 our permanent defenses which is dependent upon annual ap- 
 propriations for maintenance and repair going to ruin : slopes 
 overgrown with grass and weeds and gullied by the rain ; walks 
 and roads ragged and untrimmed, and full of holes and gullies ; 
 ditches and drains filled up or fallen in, and pools of stagnant 
 water on the parades and in the casemates; the sewers in bad 
 order, with the consequent evils; mortar and cement falling out 
 of the joints of the masonry for want of repointing ; timber gun 
 and ammunition platforms rotten or decayed, and permanent 
 concrete or masonry platforms settling or out of plumb, thus dis- 
 abling the proper service of the guns ; casemates and quarters 
 leaky, unhealthy, and uninhabitable ; revetment walls on water- 
 fronts falling down, and waves making serious and rapid en- 
 croachments on valuable ground, and thus impairing eligible sites 
 for future works ; and generally about the ungarrisoned forts an 
 air and appearance of rack and ruin, and from the commanders 
 of garrisoned works continual and urgent appeals to the En- 
 gineers to keep their own works in proper repair for the com- 
 fort of the garrison and the efficient use of the armament." 
 
 Now let us see what guns we have in our forts and arsenals: 
 Smooth-bores: 
 
 20'inch caliber 2 
 
 15-ineh caliber 308 
 
 lo-inch caliber ggS 
 
 8-inch caliber 210 
 
 1,518 
 
 Parrott rifles: 
 
 lo-inch caliber, 300-pounders 38 
 
 8-inch caliber, 200-pounders 81 
 
 6.4-inch caliber, loo-pounders i73 
 
 292 
 
l88 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Converted from lO-inch smooth-bores to 8-inch rifles 210 
 
 Smooth-bore mortars ■ 45 
 
 2,065 
 
 I ought to add one 8-inch steel rifle obtained for experi- 
 mental purposes, and one rifled cast-iron mortar hooped with 
 steel. 
 
 These are all muzzle-loaders. The nine classes require 33 
 kinds of ammunition. They are totally inadequate to the de- 
 fense of our larger harbors, but may be utilized where only 
 vessels of light armor and draught can enter, and even there 
 they should be supplemented by the modern breech-loading 
 steel rifle, with its more rapid and efficient fire. ■ 
 
 The following memoranda sent me from the Ordnance 
 Department in May, 1888, show the lamentable condition of 
 that branch of the service. 
 
 ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT MEMORANDA. 
 
 "Owing to the failure of the Fortifications Bill, at both ses- 
 sions of the Forty-ninth Congress, the operations of the Depart- 
 ment in manufacturing and purchasing armament and supplies 
 for fortifications have practically ceased. For the past two years 
 no new contracts for guns, carriages, powders, projectiles, etc., 
 have been made, excepting in a very small way and for experi- 
 mental purposes, which were paid from the proceeds of sale of 
 obsolete or unserviceable ordnance material. There is at pres- 
 ent on hand a moderate supply of powder and projectiles for 
 the 15-inch smooth-bore guns and the 8-inch converted rifles — 
 the existing armament of our forts — and a small supply of 
 powder for the field-service ; but there is little powder for the 
 siege-service, and very few shell, and not any shrapnel on hand 
 for either siege or field service. 
 
 " The money available from proceeds of sales is now required 
 for the manufacture of the field-guns and the experimental 
 guns going on at the Watervliet Arsenal, so that the Depart- 
 ment has no funds for the procurement of new supplies of pow- 
 der and projectiles from that source. The alteration of exist- 
 ing sea-coast carriages to adapt them to improved powders and 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. I89 
 
 guns, which was being carried on at the Watertown Arsenal, 
 ceased two years ago by the failure of the Fortifications Bill, 
 and the force of mechanics who had been trained to the work 
 were discharged, and that industry — so to speak — destroyed, to 
 the decided loss of the government. As a consequence, many 
 of the 15-inch smooth-bore guns and 8-inch rifles cannot be 
 mounted, and where these guns have been needed by the ar- 
 tillery for drill and target practice the Department has been 
 unable to supply the necessary carriages. The Department 
 has no available funds for repairing carriages in service, for 
 mounting and dismounting guns and removing them for ship- 
 ment, or for working up new types. 
 
 " The failure of the Fortifications Bill also necessitated the 
 discharge of the force at the proving-ground, which contained 
 men of long experience in the handling of powders and ex- 
 plosives, and in the special mechanical work required in con- 
 nection with the testing of guns, etc. At present a detach- 
 ment of enlisted men is employed at the proving-ground, but 
 the absence of skilled mechanics is a great drawback to the 
 proper execution of the work there. The working up of a suit- 
 able steel for projectiles, improved fuses, etc., by actual firings 
 cannot be carried on ; and the new experimental guns now 
 under manufacture cannot be tested from lack of funds for 
 these purposes. At a time of enforced idleness, when no large 
 appropriations are available, the Department is even deprived 
 of the necessary funds to work up approved types of ordnance 
 material to have in readiness for reproduction when Congress 
 shall make the necessary appropriations for manufacturing in 
 quantity. The small permanent appropriation of $75, 000 per 
 annum, derived from the sales of obsolete or unserviceable 
 ordnance material, is applied, as far as it goes, to the manufac- 
 ture of experimental guns of large caliber and to small lots of 
 field-guns for issue to the service, but it is wholly inadequate 
 to the demands of the Department, and nothing is being done 
 in that most important work, the construction and test of new 
 types of carriages. A bill has been introduced in the House 
 at the present session of Congress to cut off all permanent ap- 
 propriations, and in the event of its becoming law the Depart- 
 
igO THE REPUBLICAN TARTY. 
 
 ment would be deprived of even these proceeds of sales, and,, 
 without other appropriations, the work of gun construction 
 inaugurated through strenuous efforts at Watervliet Arsenal 
 would be stopped, and the force of mechanics specially skilled 
 in gun work, now employed at that arsenal, would be dis- 
 charged. The injury resulting to the Department from such 
 an occurrence would amount to a calamity. 
 
 " Under the appropriations for the Ordnance Department,, 
 embodied in the Army Bill, the following items have for the 
 past two years been inadequate, viz.: 
 
 " 1st. For the purchase and manufacture of ordnance and 
 ordnance stores to fill requisitions of troops. The amount of 
 $75,000 appropriated for this purpose is insufficient for the sup- 
 ply of the army, and only such supplies as were indispensably 
 necessary for the troops liable to be called into actual service 
 have been procured. 
 
 " 2d. For mounting and dismounting guns and for the re- 
 moval of same for shipment. 
 
 " 3d. For repairing ordnance stores in the hands of troops, 
 and for issue at the arsenals and depots. For the past two years 
 the appropriations for these purposes have been only $5000 per 
 annum, in place of from $25,000 to $30,000 per annum during 
 the nine preceding years. 
 
 " 4th. For the overhauling, cleaning, and preserving of new 
 ordnance stores on hand at the arsenals. The appropriation 
 for this purpose has been only $5000 for the past two years, 
 while for the preceding fifteen years it was never less than 
 $20,000 annually. The appropriations to be granted for these 
 various items should correspond with the wants of the Depart- 
 ment, as stated in the book of estimates, as its current opera- 
 tions are ont he present basis of appropriations greatly crip- 
 pled." 
 
 Now, let me give a table that will illustrate the vast ad- 
 vances made in the character and power of heavy guns : 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 
 
 191 
 
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192 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 I place here directly in contrast an analogous statement of 
 the fighting value of the guns in our forts and arsenals: 
 
 Smooth-bore U. S. Ordnance. 
 
 Caliber. 
 
 Weight 
 of gun. 
 
 Weight 
 
 of 
 charge. 
 
 Weight 
 of projec- 
 tile. 
 
 Initial 
 velocity. 
 
 Muzzle 
 energy. 
 
 Energy 
 per ton 
 of gun. 
 
 20-irich. .. 
 
 15-inch 
 
 lo-incli 
 
 8-mch 
 
 Tons. 
 
 51 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 250 
 130 
 35 
 20 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 1,080 
 
 128 
 
 68 
 
 Ft.-secs. 
 
 I1560 
 1,700 
 1,702 
 1,770 
 
 Ft.-tons. 
 
 18,219 
 9,116 
 2>S70 
 1,477 
 
 Ft.-tons. 
 
 357 
 455 
 367 
 369 
 
 Penetration is not 
 given. Racking 
 effect is \vhat is 
 sought. 
 
 8-INCH Converted Rifles. 
 
 Caliber. 
 
 Weight 
 of gun. 
 
 Weight 
 
 of 
 charge. 
 
 Weight 
 
 of projec 
 
 tile. 
 
 Initial 
 velocity. 
 
 Muzzle 
 energy. 
 
 Energy 
 per ton 
 of gun. 
 
 Penetration in 
 
 wrought-iron at 
 
 1000 yards. 
 
 8-in 
 
 Tons. 
 7 
 
 Lbs. 
 35 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 180 
 
 Ft.-secs. 
 1,415 
 
 Ft.-tons. 
 2,514 
 
 Ft.-tons. 
 359 
 
 8-inch. 
 
 Our most powerful gun on land weighs 51 tons, caliber 20 
 inches, carries a round shot of 1080 pounds, muzzle-energy of 
 18.219 foot-tons. (A " foot-ton " represents the force required 
 to raise one ton one foot.) 
 
 The heaviest English gun has a caliber of 17 inches, weighs 
 108 tons, throws a shot of 2000 pounds, having a muzzle-energy 
 of 57,555 pounds. 
 
 Our 8 inch smooth-bore, weighing 4 tons, shot 68 pounds, 
 has a muzzle-energy of 14.77 tons. Our 6-inch steel rifle, weight 
 of gun 4.9 tons, throwing a projectile of 100 pounds, has a 
 muzzle-energy of 2542 pounds — almost precisely that of our 
 cast-iron smooth-bore of lo-inch caliber weighing 7 tons. 
 
 The round shot loses energy much more rapidly than the 
 elongated steel projectile of equal weight. 
 
 THE BRITISH NAVY. 
 
 A few figures concerning the British navy will be instruc- 
 tive. The total number of vessels on the official list is 39S ; 
 the total effective, 325. Of these, 275 are completed and 50 
 are building. 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. I93 
 
 There are 65 heavily armored vessels. Among these are 15 
 battle-ships of the first class, with 14 to 24 inches of armor, 
 and batteries of breech-loaders of 6 to 16.25 ir'ch caliber, and 
 batteries of muzzle-loaders of 12.5 to 16 inch caliber. There 
 are 33 battle-ships of the second class, with 4 to 14 inches of 
 armor batteries of 6 to 9.2 inch breech-loaders and 7 to 12.5 inch 
 muzzle-loaders. There are 9 armored cruisers, with 7 to 10 
 inches of armor, and batteries of 6 to 9 2 inch breech-loaders. 
 There are 8 coast-defense vessels with 4 to 10 inches of armor, 
 and batteries of 9 to 12 inch muzzle-loaders. Of protected ves- 
 sels, so-called, there are three classes. There are 6 cruisers of 
 the first class, from 4000 to 9000 tons displacement, having com- 
 pletely protected decks covered with armor 2 to 6 inches thick, 
 and batteries of 6 to 9.2 inch breech-loaders. There are 5 of 
 the second-class cruisers of 4000 tons displacement, with decks 
 completely protected, domes over the engines 2 to 4 inches 
 thick, and batteries of 6-inch breech-loaders. Besides this class 
 there are 22 partially protected vessels, and 37 unprotected swift 
 cruisers of three classes, carrying guns of from 5 to 9 inch cali- 
 ber, some muzzle-loaders and some breech-loaders. There are 
 133 gun vessels, with batteries of 4 and 5 inch breech-loaders 
 and 64-pounder muzzle-loaders. 
 
 We have one torpedo-boat building; the English have 143 
 ■effective torpedo-boats. 
 
 There are at least 80 or 90 vessels in the British list, either 
 one of which is more than a match for the best in our navy. 
 
 In the seventeen years ending last December the British 
 issued to their navy 475 breech-loading rifles, made of forged 
 built-up steel, ranging from 8o-pounders to guns of i6|-inch cali- 
 ber, weighing I lotons, and throwing a projectile of hardened steel 
 weighing 1800 pounds, with a muzzle-energy of 51,000 foot- tons; 
 furthermore, in the same time they issued 1332 muzzle-loading 
 rifles ranging from 64-pounders to 16-inch guns weighing 80 
 tons — a total of 1807 steel guns; during which time our navy 
 lias received about 30 steel guns, the largest being two of 
 1 0-inch caliber. 
 
 There are 9 British vessels waiting for 78 heavy guns, among 
 which are 10 of 9.2-inch caliber, and 16 of 12 and 13.5-inch cali- 
 
194 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ber. We have made no mention of the very large number of 
 Hotchkiss, Nordenfeldt, and GatHng guns which these ships 
 carry, whose projectiles range from an ounce bullet of lead to 
 a six-pound bolt of chilled steel. 
 
 While the British navy is the largest and most powerful in 
 the world in the number of its heavily-armored vessels and 
 the aggregate of its great guns, it fairly illustrates the effec- 
 tive character of all European navies. Even Brazil, Chili, 
 Japan, and China have more modern ships and effective guns 
 than the United States. Chili could lay San Francisco under 
 contribution. 
 
 OUR NORTHERN FRONTIER. 
 
 Now we propose to consider some of the exposed points 
 on our boundaries, and the facility with which they can be 
 reached by a hostile force. A report of the House Military- 
 Committee as long ago as 1862 said : 
 
 " The United States and Great Britain are equally pro- 
 hibited by treaty stipulations from building or keeping afloat 
 a fleet of war vessels upon the lakes. At the same time, on 
 the shores of these lakes the United States have many wealthy 
 cities and towns, and upon their waters an immense commerce. 
 These are unprotected by any defenses worthy of special notice, 
 but are as open to incursion as was Mexico when invaded by 
 Cortez. A small fleet of light-draught, heavily-armed armored 
 gunboats could in one month, despite of any opposition that 
 could be made by extemporized batteries, pass up the St. 
 Lawrence into the lakes and shell every town and city from 
 Ogdensburg to Chicago. At one blow it could sweep our 
 commerce from that entire chain of waters. To be able to 
 strike a blow so eflective Great Britain constructed a canal 
 around the Falls of Niagara. By this single stroke the entire 
 chain of lakes was opened to all British light-draught ocean 
 vessels. Perceiving our ability to erect works upon the St. 
 Lawrence that might command its channel, and thus neutralize 
 all they had done. Great Britain dug a canal from the foot of 
 Lake Ontario, on a line parallel to the river, but beyond the 
 
r, 
 
 ^^u^^a-oJlj 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. I95 
 
 reach of .American guns, to a point on the St. Lawrence below, 
 beyond American jurisdiction, thus securing a channel to and 
 from the lakes out of our reach." 
 
 The canals referred to have a navigable depth of 14 feet 
 from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, and of 9 feet to Ontario 
 from below. The latter canal is intended to have a depth 
 of 14 feet. 
 
 Official reports show that the British navy contains 102 
 vessels available for service in the lakes, while we are barred 
 from keeping there more than the one innocent creature used 
 as a sort of revenue police-boat. The British, under similar 
 obligation, have canals by which they can send a great fleet of 
 vessels there. Fifty-three of the list draw less than 12 feet 
 and over 9; 8 draw over 7 feet, and 41 less than 7 feet. Two 
 of the vessels are armored. Of the 41 vessels drawing less 
 than 7 feet, 24 carry each a lo-inch muzzle-loading rifle. The 
 others each carry either three or two 64-pounder muzzle-load- 
 ing rifles. So this little mosquito fleet has more vessels upon 
 the active list and carries more effective armament than oui 
 whole active navy. 
 
 ON THE WEST. 
 
 On our western coast is Victoria or Esquimault on Van- 
 couver's Island. In 1885 it was decided to defend it, and the 
 armament, as just stated in Parliament, is to consist of six 
 rifles, 6 to 9 inches cahber, eighteen other pieces of various 
 values, and six rifled machine guns. 
 
 The naval station at Victoria is 75 hours from San Fran- 
 cisco, calculated upon a speed of 12 knots ; 10 hours from the 
 bottom of Puget Sound, and 14 hours from the mouth of 
 the Columbia River. Four important forts are to be con- 
 structed there. Coal is abundant. This point is of great 
 importance to the British, as it is the western terminus of 
 the Transcontinental Railway. 
 
 ON THE EAST. 
 
 On the east lies Halifax, the best fortified and the most 
 important of the British naval stations bordering on the 
 
196 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 United States. Its forts are continually improving, It is 
 claimed, that the harbor is impregnable against attack from 
 sea. There are extensive docks, one of which, nearly finished, 
 will be the largest in the world, and the large machine-shops 
 are capable of undertaking any repairs. An abundant sup- 
 ply of coal is kept. Four torpedo-boats are there. 
 
 Bermuda is also strongly fortified. Its harbor is difficult 
 of entrance. Its forts contain at least fifteen ii-inch cannon, 
 besides extensive batteries of smaller caliber. Submarine 
 defenses have been fully developed ; four first-class torpedo- 
 boats are about to be permanently placed there. A large 
 supply of coal is always there. 
 
 The strong strategic position of Quebec is well known. 
 It is almost impregnable. 
 
 At Bridgetown, Barbadoes, are forts mounting heavy guns 
 and garrisoning 760 men. 
 
 In view of the completion of the Panama Canal, Port 
 Castries, Santa Lucia, is now being put in condition to serve 
 as a central coaling station and a rendezvous for British 
 vessels in West India waters. Large guns and other material 
 are being transported there ; the harbor is being dredged, and 
 coal-sheds are in process of erection. 
 
 In view of the development of the Panama Canal, it is pro- 
 posed by the French to establish an additional naval and coal- 
 ing station on the island of Guadaloupe. 
 
 There are Spanish stations of importance. Havana is the 
 chief. Its harbor, by form and position rendered easy of de- 
 fense, is surrounded by forts mounting many guns, some old 
 and useless, but among them are three 22-ton Krupp and a 
 number of 200-pounder Parrott rifles. 
 
 There are a small arsenal and some government machine- 
 shops ; a system of submarine defenses has been developed ; 
 torpedoes are on hand for planting. San Juan, Porto Rico, 
 has fortifications out of order, but easily put in condition for 
 defense. The same may be said of the Bay of Guantanamo 
 about fifty miles east of Santiago de Cuba. 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 
 
 197 
 
 THE SHORT DISTANCES TO EUROPE. 
 
 There is food for reflection in the following table of times and 
 distances. Under the name of several of our chief ports is given 
 its distance in sea miles from the foreign ports named in the 
 first column. In the columns of hours are given the times it 
 would take to reach our chief Atlantic ports from the several 
 foreign stations, at an assumed squadron speed of 12 knots an 
 hour. 
 
 Table of Distances. 
 
 Halifax 
 
 Bermuda 
 
 Bridgetown, Barbadoes... 
 
 Kingston 
 
 Port Castries 
 
 Quebec 
 
 Fort de France 
 
 Miguelon and St. Pierre... 
 
 Guadaloupe 
 
 Havana 
 
 Porto Rico (San Juan). . . . 
 Guantanamo 
 
 Boston. 
 
 Sea |„ 
 miles Incurs 
 
 420 
 720 
 1,900 
 1,600 
 1,850 
 1,250 
 1,800 
 720 
 1,700 
 1,450 
 1,55° 
 1.450 
 
 35 
 60 
 158 
 133 
 
 'S4 
 104 
 150 
 60 
 142 
 121 
 130 
 
 121 
 
 New York. 
 
 Sea „ 
 miles Hots 
 
 540 
 680 
 1,850 
 1,400 
 1,800 
 1,400 
 1.750 
 900 
 1,650 
 1,400 
 1,400 
 1.340 
 
 45 
 57 
 154 
 117 
 150 
 117 
 146 
 75 
 138 
 
 112 
 
 Capes 
 
 Charles 
 
 and Henry, 
 
 miles Hours 
 
 720 
 600 
 1,700 
 i(i5o 
 i,6zo 
 1,600 
 1,550 
 1,100 
 
 1,450 
 1,000 
 1,200 
 1,100 
 
 60 
 
 50 
 142 
 
 96 
 135 
 133 
 129 
 
 92 
 121 
 
 83 
 100 
 92 
 
 Charles- 
 ton. 
 
 mfles Hours 
 
 1,070 
 
 780 
 
 1,600 
 
 1,000 
 
 1.530 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,400 
 
 1,440 
 
 600 
 
 1,100 
 
 860 
 
 65 
 133 
 83 
 128 
 154 
 125 
 117 
 129 
 50 
 92 
 72 
 
 New 
 Orleans, 
 
 mfles Hours 
 
 1,125 
 1.S40 
 1.975 
 1,280 
 
 1.875 
 2,950 
 1,850 
 2,400 
 1,800 
 600 
 1,500 
 1,100 
 
 177 
 129 
 165 
 107 
 156 
 246 
 154 
 200 
 150 
 
 50 
 125 
 
 92 
 
 It should be added that the strategically very important 
 harbor of Portland, Maine, is 325 miles, or 27 hours, from 
 Halifax ; and 720 miles, or 60 hours, from Bermuda. 
 
 It will be seen that the harbor of Boston can be reached 
 from the great naval stations at Halifax and Bermuda in 35 
 and 60 hours respectively ; New York may be reached in 45 
 and 57 hours. Charleston and New Orleans are within 50 
 hours of Havana, etc., etc. 
 
 Captain Griffin has calculated and compiled with great care 
 and after consulting collectors and receivers of taxes, boards of 
 assessment, etc., etc., an interesting table of destructible prop- 
 erty within the reach of an enterprising enemy in eight of our 
 wealthy seaports. I give it in full. Of course the local esti- 
 mates of land valuations differ considerably for different cities. 
 In all items the full value of the land is deducted. 
 
198 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
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OUR COAST DEFENSES. I99 
 
 The very able Board of Fortifications, which made its ex- 
 ceedingly valuable report early in 1886, declared that the ports 
 along our sea-coast invite naval attack, and the richest ports are 
 the most defenseless. 
 
 The Chief Engineer of the Army in his last report says 
 that we have nothing to oppose to the entrance of hostile fleets 
 into our chief ports except a few incomplete mines stored at 
 four of them. I add that said mines are not planted, and 
 could not be operated if they were, until cover should be made 
 and electrical apparatus furnished for the operators. 
 
 It appears that in the eight harbors named there is a grand 
 total of four and a half billion dollars' worth of destructible prop- 
 erty without any adequate security against the vicissitudes of 
 war. New York City pays over a million and a half annually for 
 its fire department. The losses by fire in insured buildings have 
 only amounted to sixty-six and a half millions in twenty-eight 
 years, which the Board of Underwriters thinks is 90 per cent 
 of the total loss. New York pays over six millions a year for 
 insurance against fire, or eighteen millions every three years. 
 The elaborate reports of our engineering and ordnance officers 
 estimate that seventeen and a half millions would complete 
 the entire defense of the Narrows and East River, and that 
 the works once completed could be maintained by merely 
 nominal annual appropriations. 
 
 Official reports show that New York has destructible prop- 
 erty valued at $1,855,303,043. Similar statements can be made 
 •concerning the other cities named. It would make little differ- 
 ence to us whether Great Britain or France or Spain gave us 
 five days or forty days' notice of the opening of war. The 
 fleets of either nation sailing from their nearest stations could 
 •place themselves in easy command of our richest cities. 
 
 A ransom of a hundred millions levied upon New York 
 -would not be an extraordinary tax. Germany levied a thou- 
 sand millions upon France. 
 
 What, then, shall be done ? When the war closed we had 
 a navy that compared well with the navies of the world ; but we 
 had ourselves given them lessons which resulted in a complete 
 revolution in all the arts of fighting at sea. As our ships of the 
 
200 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 war time faded away we did not replace them. In tlie mean 
 time other nations built better still. We continued to renew 
 our old store of cast-iron guns, and experimented in a half- 
 hearted way for a series of years. Divine Providence favored 
 us. We had no quarrel. We sought no quarrel ; no one sought 
 to quarrel with us. 
 
 Our navy is down, as we have shown, to a mere shadow — 
 useless in a day of trouble. Nothing is done on any new sys- 
 tem of forts and fortifications in general ; for thirteen years 
 we have not spent a dollar to continue or to reconstruct the 
 old works. As they are they will be practically useless in a 
 war of the kind that will come if any comes. But they can 
 be made available to some extent by the ingenuity of our 
 engineers. 
 
 Nor are our cast-iron guns and antiquated cast-iron or 
 compound rifles altogether useless. Into such harbors as ad- 
 mit vessels of not more than twelve, fifteen, or eighteen feet 
 no enemy's vessel is likely to come that could not be seri- 
 ously injured by the old guns aforesaid. It is at the ten or 
 fifteen largest ports that fortifications of the newest kind 
 and of the best gun known should be first placed. 
 
 We have classed the navy as the outer line of defense — 
 that which ought to be able to engage the enemy, or, if we 
 are too economical for that, at least to check his advance, 
 and to report his probable aim. 
 
 The second line is of torpedo-boats, of which we should 
 have several at each principal port. Next in order are fixed 
 torpedoes (or " mines") anchored below the surface in the 
 channels, and connected with and governed by electrical bat- 
 teries in safe cover on shore. Batteries of the lighter orders of 
 guns, even down to Hotchkiss three and six pounders, or Gat- 
 lings, should be established where they could command the 
 fields of torpedoes and protect them. 
 
 In further defense of harbors come the self-moving tor- 
 pedoes of two classes, the independent travelers and those 
 whose movements can be directed from shore. Among harbor 
 defenses are floating batteries and our surviving monitors. 
 Also the new pneumatic dynamite gun which throws cylinders 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 201 
 
 containing dynamite charges up to 500 pounds one or two 
 miles. Its powers are limited, but valuable. 
 
 The functions of all these, save the latter, have been duly- 
 established and calculated for by those whose duty it is to 
 study our defense. 
 
 We come, then, to the shore. There we shall find in future 
 such use made as may be possible of our old defenses by cov- 
 ering them with sand or plating them with armor, and by sink- 
 ing in pits behind them guns mounted upon disappearing 
 carriages. We shall find also revolving turrets, in vital posi- 
 tions, containing 16-inch guns of more than a hundred tons 
 weight, throwing i8oG-pound chilled-steel shot, and with other 
 turrets covering 12-inch guns. The old batteries assembled 
 great congregations of the old cast-iron cannon to meet the 74- 
 gun ships of old style. Our new batteries will scatter their ter- 
 rible rifle-cannon of 16 and 12 and 10 and 8 inch caliber along 
 the defended channels, either in the turrets, or under cover of 
 steel or cast-iron in rounded turtle-back forms. 
 
 The perfected iron-clad of modern days can carry but few 
 of the modern heavy guns, and each is to be contended with 
 accordingly. Among the auxiliaries, however, must be the 
 lighter 6-inch rifle with its relatively small projectile of a hun- 
 dred pounds of steel. Auxiliary and still lower in the scale 
 come Hotchkiss revolving cannon, throwing six-pound, three- 
 pound, and two-pound steel shot. 
 
 In ably setting forth this and much more, the Fortifications 
 Board, the ablest committee that ever considered this subject 
 in this country, only adopted and extended the preceding re- 
 ports of Admiral Simpson's Gun Foundry Board and Colonel 
 Getty's Armament Board. 
 
 The Senate Committee on Ordnance and War-ships, ap- 
 pointed in July, 1884, reporting in February, 1886, after an ex- 
 amination of the navy yards and prominent steel manufactories 
 of this country and the leading establishments of Great 
 Britain, and a review of the reports above named, came to cer- 
 tain conclusions which to-day represent the opinion of the War 
 and Navy Departments and the great steel-makers and ship- 
 builders, and the skilled ordnance officers and engineers of the 
 
202 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 United States. I cannot now state the case more concisely than 
 by quoting the following from the report I assisted in making: 
 
 " (4) As a partial check upon private builders, and as a re- 
 source in case of necessity, some ships should be built in navy 
 yards, the parts to be furnished by private foundries. Ships in 
 general should be built by private contract, and private yards 
 are capable of doing the work. The uncertain nature of re- 
 pairs is such that some government yards should be kept ready 
 to make them. 
 
 " (5) Armor plate and engines should be obtained wholly 
 from private manufacturers. 
 
 " (6) The costly experiments of twenty-five years have 
 reached a stage which justifies certain conclusions. Guns 
 should be made of open-hearth steel, forged, breech-loading, 
 chambered, of calibers ranging from 5 to 16 inches, of lengths 
 ranging from 30 to 35 calibers. Armor and projectiles should 
 be made of forged steel. The hydraulic forging press produces 
 better results than the steam-hammer, costs much less, and 
 should be used for government work. Ships should be con- 
 structed of steel, but certain minor classes may be composite, 
 of steel and wood. 
 
 " (7) The manufacture of guns suitable for ships and coast 
 defense should be divided between private foundries and gov- 
 ernment shops ; the former providing the forged and tempered 
 parts, and the latter finishing those parts and assembling them. 
 
 " (8) The government should establish two factories for ma- 
 chine-finishing and assembling guns. The weight of opinion 
 among army and navy experts and prominent manufacturers 
 of heavy work in steel decidedly indicates the Washington 
 navy yard and the Watervliet Arsenal as the best sites for such 
 factories. When the determination to contract for hea\y o-uns 
 shall have been reached, the localities for finishing them can 
 easily be determined. 
 
 "(9) All needed private capital is ready for cheerful co- 
 operation with the government in whatever it may require. 
 
 "(10) Proposals for armor and guns should require such 
 quantities and extend over such a series of j^ears as to justify 
 private persons in securing the best plant. Payments should be 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 203 
 
 made only for completed work, and only the guaranteed bids 
 of persons having capital and experience should be considered." 
 
 Nothing is lacking but the action of Congress. 
 
 As to paragraphs 4 and 5 of the committee's conclusions, it 
 may be said that the navy is proceeding precisely upon that line. 
 The navy yards are building some ships the heavier parts of 
 which are furnished forged by private concerns. Other citizens 
 are building entire ships, and engines are obtained wholly from 
 private manufacturers. The navy has also contracted, on the 
 plan above suggested, with the Bethlehem Steel Works of 
 Pennsylvania for several thousand tons of armor and rough 
 parts of heavy guns. These parts are to be finished in the 
 Washington navy yard, where some admirable work has already 
 been done. 
 
 The beginnings of the navy are feeble compared with our 
 necessities. The army has been able to do next to nothing. 
 It ought to be authorized to day to contract for ten or fifteen 
 thousand tons of the forgings of heavy steel for the parts of 
 steel rifles ranging from 6 to 8, 10, 12, and 16 inches caliber. 
 Not directly authorized thereto, but under the general instruc- 
 tion, with a certain very limited appropriation to keep up its 
 stores, the army has been gathering tools at Watervliet for a 
 finishing-shop. A large appropriation is needed to put that 
 shop in perfect order. In two or three years we could be re- 
 ceiving from contractors abundantly capable, abundantly in- 
 genious, and with ample capital, forgings of the latest styles of 
 manufacture — rough pieces, the results of liquid compression 
 and hydraulic forging and of a quality unsurpassed, and these 
 could be rapidly put together in steel guns, the best in the 
 world. Nothing indeed is lacking but the will of Congress. 
 
 The ne-glect is astounding. I repeat that for thirteen years 
 not a dollar has been given to reconstruct or renew our coast 
 fortifications. Since 1885 not a dollar has been given even for 
 their preservation — nothing to paint the old gun-carriages and 
 guns ; nothing to reset and point the tumbling brick ; not a dime 
 even to cut the grass from the slopes. The frosts and rains are 
 reducing the once superior old forts to ruins. There is little 
 powder, and there are few projectiles ; the skilled mechanics at 
 
204 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the proving-grounds, men familiar with powders, explosives, and 
 fine work in cannon, have been discharged. The four or five 
 experimental guns under manufacture cannot be tested. In 
 short, for thirteen years in one case and three in the other the 
 United States Congress has absolutely refused to give a dollar 
 to renew or maintain its defenses. There is nothing more 
 extraordinary in the military history of the country. 
 
 It is said that in case of an emergency the genius and the 
 valor of our people will extemporize defenses. But it would 
 take the best of our mechanics three years to extemporize steel 
 guns of the first class. The highest authorities deem it wise 
 to justify some private concern in expending a million dollars 
 for a plant to furnish the rough parts of guns, and to put nearly 
 an equal sum in government shops for finishing the same. The 
 government can thus best invite competition. Few firms would 
 be willing to establish a plant of $2,000,000 to build complete 
 guns with the experience of John Roach before them. They 
 themselves named the conditious above quoted in paragraphs 
 5 and 6. 
 
 It is idle to say that we are adequate to any instant emer- 
 gency. Modern defenses are the work of years ; but they will 
 last for generations at little annual cost. A lo-inch rifle throw- 
 ing a 500-pound shot eleven or twelve miles can never be less 
 than formidable.* 
 
 We are pointed to the experience of the Rebellion for an 
 example of the rapid development of our resources. But the 
 forces of the Union were rallied against a people who had no 
 navy whatever, and no gun-shops worth naming. Yet it took 
 four years to subdue the Rebellion. The episode of the Moni- 
 tor was brilliant, but it took a hundred days to build that 
 wonder. As against modern European navies our richest ports 
 would within that period be five times over compelled to pay 
 ransom. 
 
 We are told to wait for new developments. We have been 
 waiting twenty years, until our navy consists of little more 
 
 * The 80-ton rifle's projectile will penetrate 25 feet of granite and concrete 
 masonry, or 32 feet of the best Portland cen:ient concrete, or 50 or 60 feet of 
 sand.— Capt. Griffin. 
 
OUR COAST DEFENSES. 205 
 
 than brave and skillful men, until our guns are all antiquated 
 and our forts crumbling. The hundreds of millions it has cost 
 Europe to experiment have been spent equally for our benefit, 
 and by one general consent all Europe has arrived at certain 
 conclusions that it would be the extremity of folly to reject. 
 There may be better and cheaper clothing next year, but we 
 must wear something to-day. There may be faster ships and 
 railway trains five years hence, but we must travel to-day. 
 There will be better and cheaper roofing some time, but we can 
 not live in the rain to wait for it. 
 
 It will cost us something to build even a good defensive 
 navy and good coast defenses. True. It was the bold and 
 frank estimate of the Fortifications Board that a proper system 
 of coast defense, though not a complete one, would cost $126,- 
 000,000. But that would be a smaller /^r capita cost than the 
 system that the country was professing to perfect between 1826 
 and i860. This would be $2.52 per head ; that was $3.35, on 
 the bases of the censuses of 1880 and 1884. 
 
 It is said that we intend no war, and nobody wants war with 
 us. True ; we are not a warlike but we are a military people. 
 The surest guarantee of peace is the ability to defend ourselves. 
 It is not only true that we cannot fight, but we cannot make 
 manly argument. We cannot " talk back." In the face of the 
 most grievous wrongs, our diplomatists must protest, and tem- 
 porize, and explain, and procrastinate, and compromise. 
 
 We shut our eyes to history and declare that we shall never 
 have war. From blue skies the awful War of the Rebellion 
 thundered. Some day there may be a demand made upon us 
 that for very shame — " for the glory of mankind to distinguish 
 him from the brute creation" — we must abruptly and finally 
 deny. Then the valor of ten millions of brave citizens capable 
 of making the best army in the world will be as idle as a sum- 
 mer wind, and a day of humiliation may come that will be a 
 stinging shame for a thousand years. Then if any are found 
 who can be called responsible for our stupidities, they will call 
 on the mountains to fall upon them. Then there will be build- 
 ing of guns and the launching of ships. Then there will be blaz- 
 ing hatred, nursed until the inevitable day of ample satisfaction ; 
 fierce and devilish rage, infinitely more demoralizing than a 
 
2o6 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 brave struggle of a ready people resulting in an honorable 
 defeat. 
 
 In 1882, when the Republicans had, for the only two years 
 in the last twelve, the control of the House of Representa- 
 tives, the first ships of what may be a new navy were ordered, 
 and public sentiment amply justifies the still cramped and 
 meager appropriations made annually for that purpose. Since 
 1882 and 1883 the conclusions already described had been 
 reached by manufacturers and ordnance officers. Yet the 
 Democratic House of Representatives stubbornly refuses to 
 take the indispensable steps to national defense. In the last 
 Congress the Republican Senate sent two simple propositions 
 to the Democratic House of Representatives, one to invite 
 bids for furnishing 10,000 tons of rough parts for steel guns 
 for the army, another authorizing a similar step in behalf of 
 the navy. The House paid no attention to either bill. 
 
 In the spring of 1886 the Senate took the meager House 
 Fortification Bill and amended it with a perfectly reasonable 
 proposition to build guns for land defense, and insisted upon 
 its amendment. The contest ran through both sessions of the 
 Forty-ninth Congress and resulted in the failure of any fortifi- 
 cation bill whatever. The Democratic House sent no practical 
 substitute. Whatever propositions came from the House 
 varied widely from those adopted by impartial experts outside ; 
 and if they meant anything more than delay, the purpose was 
 not visible. At this moment of writing, July 2, a fortification 
 bill has not been even reported to the House. The Repub- 
 lican party wisely and patriotically demands, in its national 
 platform, due regard to this great national necessity. 
 
 The leading and controlling forces of the present Democ- 
 racy spent twenty-four years in criticism of all the work of the 
 Federal Government. They have not yet learned to take up 
 that work. They have not yet become a true party of the 
 Nation. 
 
 We are 63,000,000, and we have countless wealth ; yet we 
 stand like Samson, blind and shorn, among the nations — 
 blind to our destiny aud our magnificent duties. In a great 
 day of calamity we could not even have Samson's satisfaction 
 of crushing our enemies in a common destruction. 
 
THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. 
 By Hon. Nelson Dingley, Jr. , M. C. from Maine. 
 
 The enterprising character of the early settlers of the United 
 States, their location on or near the sea-coast, the opportunities 
 for sea-fishing, the abundance and cheapness of excellent tim- 
 ber for ship-building, and the absence of manufacturing indus- 
 tries and other openings outside of the farm for ambitious 
 young men, early turned the attention of our people to mari- 
 time pursuits. 
 
 This maritime spirit was fostered by the founders of our 
 government, incidentally as a source of material prosperity, but 
 mainly to promote commercial independence and secure 
 national safety. The first Congress which assembled after the 
 adoption of the Constitution, on recommendation of Washing- 
 ton, and with the approval of Madison and Jefferson, enacted 
 that only American-built vessels should be entitled to an Amer- 
 ican register or enrollment and license ; that the coastwise trade 
 should be restricted to American vessels ; and that foreign ves- 
 sels participating in the business of carrying our exports and 
 imports should be subject to higher charges, and their cargoes 
 to higher duties, than the vessels of the United States and their 
 cargoes. 
 
 Under the influence of this protection of American vessels 
 in both the foreign and coastwise trade our merchant marine 
 rapidly increased, until the embargo and war of i8i 2 restricted 
 its growth. In 1789, the year in which the Federal Govern- 
 ernment went into operation under the Constitution, the total 
 tonnage of the merchant marine of the United States was only 
 201,562 tons, of which 123,893 tons were in the foreign trade 
 and only 77,669 tons in the coastwise trade. In 1807 the total 
 tonnage of our merchant marine had increased to 1,268,548 
 tons, of which 848,307 tons were in the foreign trade and 
 410,241 tons in the coastwise trade. 
 
 207 
 
208 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Between 1807 and 1840 our shipping in the foreign trade 
 had alternate periods of dedine and recovery without perma- 
 nent growth, our tonnage in that trade in the latter year 
 reaching only 899,765, or but a few tons more than in 1807. 
 But during this period our tonnage in the coastwise trade rose 
 to 1,285,154 tons. Up to 1840 sailing vessels almost exclu- 
 sively were employed in deep-sea trade ; and even in our coast- 
 wise trade steam tonnage to the extent of only 202,330 tons 
 appeared in the returns for that year. 
 
 In the fifteen years between 1840 and 1855, culminating in 
 the latter year, the merchant marine of the United States em- 
 ployed in the foreign trade had its highest prosperity — the ton- 
 nage rising each year and in 1855 reaching 2,535,136 tons, of 
 which all but 1 15,045 tons were sail. The same year our coast- 
 wise tonnage was 2,676,865 tons, of which 770,285 tons were 
 steam. 
 
 While the tonnage of our vessels in the foreign trade re- 
 mained very nearly stationary in the six years between 1855 
 and 1861, yet relatively, in consequence of the growth of our 
 exports and imports, it was slowly retrograding — showing that 
 the period of decline had been entered upon. In 1855 7Si 
 per cent of our foreign carrying trade was done by American 
 vessels. In 1861 this percentage had fallen to 69!- per cent — a 
 decline of 9 per cent, or i|- per cent per annum. 
 
 The real magnitude of this decline is most clearly shown 
 by the decadence in ship-building during this period. In 1854 
 there were 507 ships, barks, and brigs built in the United States 
 for the foreign trade. In 1856 there were 409 built. In 1857 
 there were 309 built ; in 1858 only 122 ; and in 1859 only 117. 
 At no period since has the decline in ship-building for the 
 foreign trade been so great year by year as in the six years be- 
 tween 1855 and 1861. 
 
 In 1 861 our tonnage in the foreign trade was 2,642,628 tons, 
 of which only 102,608 tons were steam-vessels. In the coastwise 
 trade we had 877,204 tons of steam-vessels and 2,020,981 tons 
 of sail — a total in our home trade of 2,897,185 tons. 
 
 During the four years of civil war the operations of the 
 Confederate cruisers resulted, directly by capture and indirectly 
 
THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. 209 
 
 hy sale to avoid capture, in a loss of more than one third of our 
 shipping in the foreign trade, our tonnage in that trade having 
 been but 1,602,583 tons on the 30th day of June, 1865, only 
 98,008 tons of which were steam. As our foreign commerce, i.e., 
 our exports and imports, were increasing, our relative loss was 
 much greater than these figures indicate — the percentage carried 
 in American vessels having been only 28 per cent in 1865, 
 against 66^ per cent in 1861 and 75^ per cent in 1855. 
 
 This decline of our foreign carrying trade has continued 
 slowly since the close of the civil war, the official statistics 
 showing that only 14.2 per cent of our exports and imports 
 were carried in American vessels in the fiscal year ending June 
 30, 1887 — a decline of about three fourths of one per cent per 
 annum. Our registered tonnage, some of which is in the 
 coasting trade or the trade between Atlantic and Pacific ports, 
 was 1,015,563 tons June 30, 1887, of which only 173,571 tons 
 were steam-vessels. Our coastwise tonnage of that date was 
 3,090,282 tons, of which 1,542,717 tons were steam-vessels and 
 1,447,565 tons sailing-vessels. 
 
 Computing by the accepted rule that one ton of steam is 
 equal in carrying power to three tons of sail, our coastwise 
 tonnage in 1869, after it had recovered from the disturbing 
 effect of the civil war, was the equivalent of 4,300,892 tons of 
 sail. Notwithstanding the unexampled development of com- 
 peting railroads, on June 30, 1887, we had in the coastwise 
 trade an equivalent of 6,075,716 tons of sail — an increase of 
 nearly 50 per cent in twenty years. It is worthy of note also 
 that our coastwise tonnage is more than three times as large as 
 the home fleet of Great Britain, and more than five times as 
 large as that of any other nation. 
 
 The decline of our merchant marine in the foreign trade is 
 a humiliating fact which has justly attracted wide-spread atten- 
 tion within a few years, and has caused an earnest discussion of 
 the causes, and the remedies which should be applied to recover 
 our position in the deep-sea carrying trade. 
 
 This topic is rarely alluded to by a free-trader in or out of 
 Congress without the assertion that the decline is the direct 
 result of the national protective poHcy of the country adopted 
 
2IO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 by the Republican party in 1861 and maintained since that 
 period, and the additional declaration that up to 1861, when 
 the revenue-tariff policy of the Democratic party was over- 
 thrown, our merchant marine was experiencing great and 
 increasing prosperity. 
 
 The conclusive reply to this free-trade assumption is that 
 the decline of our foreign carrying trade, as the official figures 
 already given show, did not commence with the adoption of 
 the protective tariff in 1861, but in 1855, when the Democratic 
 revenue-tariff policy was in force ; and that in the six years, 
 between 1855 and 1861 — while the Democratic tariff policy is 
 aHeged to have been doing so beneficent work for our shipping 
 interests — our foreign carrying trade and our ship-building for 
 the foreign trade declined more rapidly than in any similar 
 period since the war. It is noticeable, too, that the growth of 
 our foreign carrying trade was even greater under the protective 
 tariff of 1842 than under the revenue tariff of 1846, although it 
 does not follow that the existence of the one tariff policy or the 
 other had any more to do with the prosperity of our shipping 
 in this trade in either period than did the revenue tariffs of 
 1846 and 1857 with its prosperity up to 1855 and its decline 
 between 1855 and 1861. 
 
 It is not unfrequently asserted that if the revenue tariff of 
 1846 had not been supplanted by the protective tariff of 1861 
 and subsequent amendments, we should have been able to build 
 iron steamships as cheaply as Great Britain. 
 
 This assertion has no foundation in fact, for the reason that 
 the present tariff is as favorable as the tariff of 1846 for the 
 construction of vessels for the foreign trade. The tariff of 1846 
 imposed duties on all ship-building materials and supplies. 
 Under the present tariff all lumber, timber, hemp, manilla, iron 
 and steel rods, bars, spikes, nails, bolts, copper and composition 
 metals, and wire rope for the construction, equipment, and repair, 
 and all supplies of American vessels for the foreign trade are 
 admitted free of duty. The difference in cost of materials for 
 an iron steamship in this country and England was as great 
 before the war as now, so that if we had then been called upon 
 
THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. 211 
 
 to build such vessels we should have had the same difficulty as 
 at present. 
 
 It is frequently affirmed by free-trade writers and speakers 
 that our foreign commerce, i.e., our exports and imports which 
 furnish cargoes for vessels, has been diminished by the protec- 
 tive policy, and that in this way our foreign carrying trade has. 
 been crippled. 
 
 The unanswerable reply to this free-trade assumption is. 
 that our foreign commerce never increased so rapidly as it 
 has since the war under the protective policy. In 1865, when 
 the war closed, the value of our exports and imports was. 
 $404,774,883. In 1881 their value was $1,545,041,974 — a 
 growth of nearly 300 per cent in 16 years, and a growth far 
 greater than that of the foreign commerce of the United King- 
 dom. But the increase of our exports and imports in the i6< 
 years of revenue-tariff policy between 1846 and 1861, inclusive,, 
 was only 70 per cent. 
 
 If our shipping in the foreign trade had grown in proportion 
 to the increase of the cargoes provided by our foreign com- 
 merce, we should have had a most magnificent fleet of vessels, 
 engaged in transporting our exports and imports. The diffi- 
 culty has not been in a want of cargoes, but in the fact that 
 foreign rather than American vessels have taken these cargoes,, 
 simply because our vessels could not successfully compete with, 
 foreign vessels, which have all been admitted to participate in. 
 the carrying of our exports and imports on equal terms witL 
 our own vessels since January i, 1850, when the United States, 
 entered into reciprocal maritime arrangements with Great 
 Britain. 
 
 This brings out the fact that while on the one hand our 
 thoroughly protected merchant marine in the coastwise trade 
 has prospered because it has not been brought into competition 
 with foreign vessels, on the other hand our shipping in the 
 foreign trade, which has been" brought into free and open com- 
 petition with foreign vessels since 1850, has been gradually 
 driven from the ocean. In other words, protection — protection 
 to the extent of prohibition of foreign competition— has saved 
 our shipping in the coastwise trade, and made it the most 
 
212 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 magnificent home fleet in the world ; while free trade in the 
 business of carrying our exports and imports has well-nigh 
 ruined every American ship-master and ship-owner in this 
 trade. 
 
 A more complete demonstration of the wisdom, aye, the 
 necessity of protecting all our industries against free competi- 
 tion of similar foreign industries employing cheaper labor 
 •could not be had. Free trade as a theory seems very plausible 
 on paper ; free trade in its practical results may be seen by any- 
 one who looks for the American merchant marine in the foreign 
 carrying trade, which has been struggling against foreign com- 
 petition on free-trade principles for over thirty years. 
 
 It is argued by free-traders that the mortifying result of the 
 application of free-trade principles to our foreign carrying trade 
 would have been averted if we had also applied these principles 
 to the purchase of ships, and admitted foreign-built vessels 
 to American registry free of duty. Indeed, so confident are 
 our free-trade friends of the sufficiency of this remedy, that the 
 sole measure which they have presented in Congress to revive 
 American shipping since they came into control of the House 
 •of Representatives in 1875 has been a free-ship bill. 
 
 This argument proceeds on the assumption that the princi- 
 pal reason American vessels are not able to successfully com- 
 pete with British vessels is because the construction of iron 
 ships cost more than it does on the Clyde or Tyne, in 
 consequence of our higher wages of labor ; and hence 
 that this disadvantage may be overcome by allowing 
 the free importation and registry of foreign-built vessels. 
 In other words, the free-trade plan is to sacrifice the ship- 
 building industry in this country — at least as far as building 
 vessels for the foreign trade, now or in the future, is concerned — 
 and have our vessels built on the Clyde or Tyne in the expec- 
 tation that when we have given our ship-owners foreign-built 
 ships at foreign prices, they will he able to run these vessels in 
 open competition with foreign vessels. 
 
 But if we cannot build our vessels as cheaply as our British 
 competitors because our ship-carpenters receive higher wages 
 than the same class of mechanics on the Clyde, how is it ex- 
 
THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. 2 1 J 
 
 pected that we can run even a foreign-built vessel as cheaply 
 as our British competitors, when every man from master to sea- 
 man, engineer, and coal-heaver required to sail an American 
 vessel receives on the average 37 per cent more wages and 27 
 per cent better fare than similar employes on British vessels ? 
 
 That these are the serious facts with which we have to deal 
 is shown by a report of U. S. Consul Russell at Liverpool, 
 made to the State Department last November, and published in 
 the Consular Reports for February, 1888, from which I copy 
 the following summary : 
 
 " British vessels in domestic ports can procure crews for 
 from 37 to 32 per cent lower than those paid on American 
 vessels, which is a serious item in the disbursement account. 
 Then, again, the cost of maintenance on American ships is. 
 about 40 cents per day per man against the English 29 cents,. 
 or a difference of 27 per cent in favor of the latter. When it 
 is considered that provisions, such as beef, pork, and flour, 
 which are the principal articles of food consumed, can be 
 obtained in the United States, if anything, at a lower price 
 than in England, it seems remarkable that the crews of our 
 vessels should cost 27 per cent more per man for maintenance ; 
 yet such appears to be the case. It is an acknowledged fact that 
 the living on board our vessels is superior to that of other 
 nations, and it is generally asserted that larger quantities of 
 food are supplied to the crew, the scale of provision laid down 
 by Congress being rarely, if ever, resorted to." 
 
 It is the almost universal testimony of practical men — ship 
 owners, masters, and agents — who have been inquired of in this 
 matter, that the difference in first cost between an American 
 and British built vessel is now only ten to fifteen per cent, 
 which is a small matter in an iron vessel that will last thirty or 
 forty years (for we can build wooden vessels as cheaply as they 
 can be built elsewhere), and that the real difficulty experienced in 
 running American vessels in free competition with foreign ves- 
 sels grows out of the higher wages paid officers, seamen, en- 
 gineers, stokers,, etc., and the better fare granted them. 
 
 The objections to the free-ship policy, therefore, are, first,, 
 that it is an inadequate remedy, and would not revive Ameri- 
 
-214 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 can shipping in the foreign trade ; second, that it would have 
 a tendency to weaken the maritime spirit which is so essential 
 to maintain maritime enterprises, and which has its inspiration 
 in the idea that the ship on which one sails represents the in- 
 dustry, the genius, and the sovereignty of one's own country; 
 third, that no nation can be commercially independent, or even 
 maintain its prestige on the ocean, unless it builds its own ves- 
 sels ; and fourth (even if all other objections were removed, and 
 even if it were clear that free ships would accomplish all that is 
 claimed by free-traders), that it would be suicide for the United 
 States to deliberately adopt the policy of having its ships built 
 abroad, for the reason, as so well stated by Jefferson, that ship- 
 yards and skilled workmen experienced in constructing vessels 
 are as essential as forts to the safety and protection of the 
 nation. 
 
 In considering the question as to what remedies should be 
 applied to revive the American merchant marine in the for- 
 eign trade, it is important to have a clear understanding of the 
 causes which have brought about its gradual decline, beginning 
 about 1855. 
 
 These causes may be grouped under five heads : 
 
 First : The revolution in marine architecture from wood to 
 iron and in vessel propulsion from sails to steam, by which the 
 United States lost the advantage that she possessed in her cheap 
 -and abundant timber so long as wooden sailing-vessels con- 
 trolled the ocean carrying trade, and Great Britain gained a 
 greater advantage through her abundance of iron and coal in 
 juxtaposition near the seashore and her cheap labor to build 
 and run iron steamships. The cost of officering and manning 
 a steamship is so much more than that of a sailing-vessel, that the 
 difference of expense in running an American and a British 
 steamer has become the most serious obstacle to be overcome 
 in competing with British and other foreign vessels, since the 
 revolution from sail to steam. 
 
 Second : The adoption in 1850 of the policy of admitting 
 British as well as other foreign vessels to participate in the 
 carrying of our exports and imports on equal terms with our 
 own vessels, which gave free opportunity for Great Britain to 
 
THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. 21 5 
 
 use the advantage gained by the revolution from wood to iron 
 and sails to steam. 
 
 Third: The steady and systematic encouragement and aid 
 given by Great Britain to British steamship lines and ship-yards 
 by means of postal subsidies, construction grants, and govern- 
 ment contracts, while the United States, with two or three 
 temporary exceptions, has refused to extend any aid to Amer- 
 ican ship-yards or steamship lines. Between 1840 and 1887 the 
 government of Great Britain expended about $250,000,000 in 
 postal subsidies to aid in the establishment and maintenance of 
 British steamship lines, in addition to giving liberal contracts 
 for building government vessels to encourage the establishment 
 and enlargement of private ship-yards. The suggestion has 
 been made that within a few years she has been less liberal in 
 her grants in this direction than formerly. That is true, but 
 this has come about from the fact that prior subsidies had 
 accomplished their purpose. But let British lines be seriously 
 endangered by the competition of lines established by other 
 nations, and the British Government would at once come for- 
 ward with all necessary assistance. 
 
 Fourth : The civil war, which let loose the Alabamas that 
 drove one third of our shipping in the foreign trade from the 
 ocean, and gave Great Britain an opportunity to get far ahead 
 in the race for ocean supremacy by building up great iron ship- 
 yards and establishing her lines of steamships to all parts of 
 the world while our hands were tied. 
 
 Fifth : The unexampled internal development of the United 
 States in the two decades succeeding the close of the war, 
 which engrossed the energies and capital of our people in ex- 
 tending our manufacturing industries, building railroads, and 
 developing the new West, and which yielded profits that in- 
 vited investments, while no profits could be reaped on the 
 ocean in free competition with foreign ships. The investment 
 in railroad construction in the United States in excess of a 
 similar investment in the United Kingdom in a single year 
 (1882) would have built two hundred of the finest ocean steam- 
 ships afloat. 
 
 The situation, then, may be briefly stated as follows : 
 
2l6 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 
 The American merchant marine in the foreign trade has 
 been well-nigh driven from the ocean because the change from 
 wooden sailing vessels to iron and steel steamships in ocean 
 transportation has enabled foreign vessels employing cheaper 
 labor, and to a large extent aided by their governments, to run 
 at a less cost than American vessels engaged in the only busi- 
 ness in this country open to foreign competition on free-trade 
 principles — the only business which has experienced what free- 
 traders describe as " the salutary neglect of the government." 
 
 If we could return to the conditions which existed when 
 wooden sailing-vessels, requiring small crews, controlled the 
 ocean carrying trade, we could hold our own. But we cannot. 
 Even in the face of the revolution from wood to iron and sails to 
 steam, and in the face of European subsidies, our vessels would 
 hold their own if we could return to the protective legislation 
 which imposed higher charges on foreign vessels and higher 
 duties on their cargoes than on our own vessels and their car- 
 goes. But it is undoubtedly impracticable to do this now that 
 the principle of maritime reciprocity has obtained so firm a 
 foothold. The die was cast when the United States tendered 
 and Great Britain in 1850 accepted this rule of ocean trans- 
 portation. 
 
 The only possible way now in which we can give our ship- 
 ping in the foreign trade as effective protection against foreign 
 competition as we give all other industries by tariff duties is 
 through direct aid by government — substantially the same as 
 Great Britain gave her merchant marine and her ship-yards 
 before their supremacy had been established, and substantially 
 the same as France and Italy are to-day giving their shipping 
 by their construction and navigation bounties. 
 
 And this aid, too, can be extended, not by resorting to rev- 
 enue derived from ordinary taxation, but by drawing from the 
 revenue of twenty-eight millions of dollars derived by the 
 United States Treasury since the war from the tax imposed on 
 tonnage engaged in the foreign trade. 
 
 The Democratic party in Congress, with a few noteworthy 
 exceptions, have, up to this time, taken the ground that Con. 
 gress ought not to directly or indirectly aid American shipping 
 
THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. 21/ 
 
 in the foreign trade, either by postal subsidies or by navigation 
 or construction bounties, with the view of encouraging the 
 construction and maintenance of American steamships and 
 sailing-vessels for commercial purposes and for a naval reserve 
 in time of war. At the second session of the Forty-eighth 
 Congress, the Democratic House after a long contest concurred 
 in an amendment appropriating $400,000 to extend more lib- 
 eral pay to American steamship lines carrying American mails, 
 — nearly all the Republicans and thirty Democrats supporting 
 the proposition ; but Postmaster-General Vilas refused to carry 
 out the policy indicated by Congress, and the House has since 
 refused to join the Senate in inaugurating the policy of encour- 
 aging the establishment of American steamship lines. 
 
 At the second session of the Forty-ninth Congress the 
 House Committee on the Merchant Marine, by a vote of all 
 the Democratic members but one, reported adversely a bill 
 looking to the revival of the American merchant marine in the 
 foreign trade by a navigation bounty similar to that now in 
 force in France and Italy, and by the same vote reported the 
 free-ship bill favorably. All the Republican members of the 
 committee and one Democrat favored the first measure and 
 opposed the free-ship bill. These two bills were reported in 
 the same way, and on the same division, at the first session of 
 the Fiftieth Congress. 
 
 On the one hand, the great body of the Democratic Con- 
 gressmen take the ground that if our citizens are permitted to 
 import and register foreign-built ships as American vessels free 
 of duty, then the American merchant marine in the foreign 
 trade will slowly revive. They further hold that if this result 
 does not follow, then it will be demonstrated that foreigners 
 can carry on the business of ocean transportation more cheaply 
 than we can, and they should be allowed to do so without 
 resort to government encouragement or assistance. 
 
 On the other hand, the great body of the Republican Con- 
 gressmen oppose the free-ship policy as inadequate as a meas- 
 ure to increase our tonnage, destructive of our ship-building 
 interests, subversive of our commercial independence, and 
 dangerous in view of its tendency to deprive the nation of 
 
2X8 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ship-building plants as a resource for the construction of cruisers 
 and transports in time of war. They further hold that an ex- 
 penditure of a few millions of dollars annually as a navigation 
 bounty and postal subsidy would not only be the most economi- 
 cal method of securing a naval reserve, guarding against na- 
 tional dangers and providing for national defense, but also a 
 judicious and profitable expenditure to extend our foreign 
 trade and build up a powerful merchant marine which in ten 
 or fifteen years would secure such a foothold as to be able to 
 stand alone. 
 
 History shows that no nation ever reached the highest pros- 
 perity or developed permanent influence and power, unless it 
 possessed an effective merchant marine built in its own ship- 
 yards, and carrying its flag and its prestige to the countries of 
 the earth. The empire of the world is on the rocking waves 
 as well as on the rock-ribbed land. 
 
OUR FOREIGN TRADE. 
 By Hon. Julius C. Burrows, M. C. from Michigan. 
 
 The Democratic party in their fierce and persistent assault 
 upon our protective system has never hesitated to employ any 
 weapon or device which would be of advantage to them in the 
 attack. 
 
 To this end they constantly assert, in the face of the well- 
 established fact to the contrary, that our protective policy, as 
 established and maintained by the Republican party, tends to 
 cripple, and will if persisted in ultimately destroy, our foreign 
 trade ; and that, on the contrary, the abandonment of such a 
 policy and the adoption of free trade or a revenue tariff would 
 greatly stimulate international traffic, and materially enhance 
 our commercial prosperity. In controverting this assumption 
 it must not be inferred that its refutation is deemed essential 
 to a vindication of the wisdom of our protective policy, for 
 even if it were true that our foreign commerce would be aug- 
 mented by adopting free trade, yet it is affirmed that it would 
 be the supremest folly to abandon a system which in its prac- 
 tical workings has so developed our industries and diversified 
 our products as to render us measurably independent of foreign 
 nations for the necessities and even the luxuries of life. No 
 foreign trade, however opulent, could possibly compensate for 
 the impairment or loss of our domestic commerce. If, how- 
 ever, upon examination it shall be found that under protection 
 our foreign trade has had a steady and healthy growth, not 
 only will the Democratic assumption that it has declined be 
 refuted, but the wisdom of our protective policy will be doubly 
 vindicated. 
 
 No more direct or complete refutation of the charge that 
 protection cripples our foreign trade can be presented than 
 the following table, prepared by the statistician of the Treasury 
 Department, showing the extent of such trade, each year, since 
 
 2ig 
 
220 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
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OUR FOREIGN TRADE. 223 
 
 the foundation of the government, covering, therefore, the eras 
 both of protection and free trade. We have but to contrast 
 the one period with the other, in the light of this official ex- 
 hibit, to discover how utterly groundless the charge that pro- 
 tection restricts and revenue tariff promotes foreign commerce. 
 
 From this table it will be observed that in 1 861, at the 
 close of the last period of a revenue tariff which began in 1846, 
 our total exports were only valued at $219,553,833, while our 
 imports amounted to $289,310,542, aggregating a total foreign 
 trade of only $508,864,375 ; while in 1887, under continuous 
 protection since 1861, our exports increased to $716,183,211, 
 and imports to $692,319,768, swelling our foreign commerce in 
 1887 to the enormous value of $1,408,502,979 — an increase of 
 nearly 200 per cent. 
 
 From the close of our civil war in 1865 to 1881 our foreign 
 commerce increased from $404,744,883 to $1,545,041,974 — a 
 growth in 16 years of nearly 300 per cent; while the increase 
 in the 16 years of a revenue tariff was from $227,497,313 in 
 1846 to $508,864,375 in 1861 — less than 125 per cent. In this 
 connection it would be well to call attention to the fact that 
 while our foreign trade increased nearly 300 per cent from 1865, 
 to 1881, yet the foreign commerce of free-trade England only 
 advanced from $2,384,117,140 to $3,377,863,266— an average of 
 but 50 per cent. In a decade of a revenue tariff from 1851 to 
 1 861 our annual imports per capita averaged only $10.73, and 
 our exports but $9.94, aggregating an annual foreign trade per 
 capita of $20.67; while during a decade of protection, from 
 1871 to 1881, our annual imports averaged $13.50, and our ex- 
 ports $14.93 making an average foreign trade per capita of 
 $28.43. In a recent speech in the House of Representatives 
 Mr. Dingley of Maine, speaking upon this point, said : 
 
 " There is no basis for the oft-repeated assertion that the 
 protective tariffs of the United States since 1861 have restricted 
 the export trade of the United States, which, it is assumed, 
 the revenue tariffs in force from 1846 to 1861 had specially 
 fostered. 
 
 " According to the official statement of Mr. Evans, of the 
 Treasury Department, our exports increased only i6|- per cent 
 
224 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 in the revenue-tariff decade between 185 1 and 1861, or 60 per 
 cent if the years 1850 and i860 are compared; while in the 
 protective decades between 1861 and 1871 our exports increased 
 146 per cent, and between 1871 and 1881 increased 59I per 
 cent. Our total experts in the decade ending with i860 were 
 eight hundred and fourteen and one half millions ; in the 
 decade ending with 1880 they were fifty-one hundred and 
 twelve millions." 
 
 It is worthy of note, furthermore, in connection with the 
 foregoing table, that during the periods of a revenue tariff the 
 balance of trade was almost invariably against us, while the 
 periods of protection have usually been attended with a bal- 
 ance of trade in our favor. 
 
 It will be observed that previous to the tariff of 1824, cover- 
 ing a period of 35 years of inadequate protection, there were 
 but five years in which the balance of trade was not against us ; 
 while in the succeeding period of protection, from 1824 to 
 1832, there was not a single year in which the balance of trade 
 was not in our favor. In four years after the adoption of the 
 revenue tariff of 1833, the balance of trade was again adverse; 
 and from 1837 to 1846, in spite of the beneficial influence of 
 the tariff of 1842, the aggregate of our imports was in excess of 
 our exports by several millions. Then came the revenue tariffs 
 of 1846 and 1857, and from 1848 to 1861 inclusive, there was but 
 a single year in which the balance of trade was not heavily 
 against us. During the thirteen years of a revenue tariff, im- 
 mediately preceding 1861, there was but one year when the 
 balance of trade was in our favor ; while in the last thirteen 
 years under protection, there has been but a single year when 
 the balance of trade was against us. But further comment is 
 unnecessary. The simple presentation of our trade statistics 
 for the century is sufficient answer to the assumption that pro- 
 tection retards and free-trade promotes our foreign commerce. 
 
 But touching generally the question of our foreign com- 
 merce, there is no more effective ^ay of promoting it than by 
 the establishment of regular and speedy postal communication 
 with other nations. Without this, commerce is impossible. 
 We cannot expect to trade with a people until mail facilities 
 
OUR FOREIGN TRADE. 225 
 
 have been established. Sherman Crawford, a great English 
 statesman, speaking of the importance of such connection, said: 
 "Wherever postal communication has been extended there 
 commerce has invariably been attracted. In fact the convey- 
 ance of the mails has proved a most efficient agency for increas- 
 ing our trade in all parts of the world. I for one hold that 
 there are considerations to be taken into account in this matter 
 which are wholly apart from the question of the profit and loss 
 arising upon the accounts of the Post-office. This difference is 
 not considerable ; but whatever it is, that difference represents 
 the whole cost to this country of the means by which not only 
 the commercial but the social and political connection between 
 this country and the world is kept up." 
 
 Again, Sir Charles Wood wrote to the Secretary of the Post- 
 ofifice in October, 1867, as follows: 
 
 " It has been the perception of the bearing of increased 
 postal communication on the wealth and progress of the country 
 that has induced statesmen of late years to consent to fiscal 
 sacrifices for the purpose of obtaining it. There can be no 
 doubt that increased postal communication implies increased 
 relations, increased commerce, investment to English capital ; 
 and from all these sources the prosperity of England is greatly 
 increased." 
 
 Appreciating this necessity, the leading nations of Europe 
 establish and maintain, by means of liberal subsidies, postal 
 communication with all those countries with which they have 
 trade relations. There is scarcely a commercial nation on the 
 face of the globe, save the United States, that does not pay a 
 liberal subsidy for carrying its foreign mails, amounting in the 
 aggregate to many millions annually. The following are the 
 subsidies paid by some of the leading commercial nations : 
 
 France $5, 152,388 
 
 Great Britain 4,500,000 
 
 Germany 1,600,000 
 
 Italy 1,600,000 
 
 Austria 1,000,000 
 
 Belgium - • 1,000,000 
 
 Spain 1,000,000 
 
 Brazil 2,223,000 
 
226 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Holland 400;000 
 
 Hungary 400,000 
 
 The Netherlands .,. ■ 100,000 
 
 British India 550,000 
 
 The United States, for its entire foreign mail service last 
 year, paid only a trifle over $400,000, and seven eighths of that 
 we generously donated to foreign lines. While other nations 
 by means of liberal compensation for the carriage of their mails 
 are pushing their commerce into every part of the habitable 
 globe, we, by refusing to pay more than the postage on the 
 mail carried, are not only driving our mails from American 
 bottoms, but our flag from the seas. 
 
 While foreign nations are thus generously sustaining their 
 mail-steamship lines, we have restricted our postal authorities 
 to the payment of only the sea and inland postage on the mails 
 ■carried. Thus the postage on a letter from the United States 
 to the Argentine Republic, or to any of the countries of South 
 America, is five cents, the domestic being two cents, and the 
 sea postage three cents ; so that under this limitation the Post- 
 master-General can pay only five cents for canying a letter to 
 these or any foreign country by an American steamship, what- 
 ever the distance or whatever the advantage of the service. 
 How is it possible, therefore, for an American line, receiving 
 •only the sea and inland postage on the mails carried, to compete 
 for the ocean commerce with the heavily subsidized lines of 
 foreign nations? We protect our factory on the land, but 
 leave the American steamship to contend, unaided, with the 
 merciless competition of foreign rivals. 
 
 The practical result of this policy of restricting the compen- 
 sation for carrying our foreign mails to the sea and inland post- 
 age has driven the carriage of our mails to foreign bottoms, so 
 that our entire trans-Atlantic mail-service is to-day performed 
 by foreign lines, for which we paid last year the sum of $3 14,380; 
 while our trans-Pacific mails, for which we paid last year the sum 
 •of $38,465, were carried by foreign lines except that carried by 
 the Pacific Mail line, to which we paid only the sum of $965 1 ; 
 thereby putting $343,104 into the pockets of the foreign ship- 
 owners. We have refused even to aid in establishing postal 
 
OUR FOREIGN TRADE. 22/ 
 
 communications by American steamships with the countries of 
 Central and South America, and the result is that except in the 
 ports of Venezuela and Brazil, the American flag is seldom 
 seen. For years the Argentine Republic offered to contribute 
 annually $100,000 to establish a mail-steamship line between 
 her ports and the United States,- if we would donate a like 
 amount, but we persistently refused. As the result of this 
 policy we have substantially lost the trade of Central and South 
 America, aggregating an amount of more than $850,000,000 
 annually. Of this trade the United States has but $1 50,000,000. 
 It is humiliating to the last degree that we permit foreign na- 
 tions to carry off a trade lying at our very doors. 
 
 Mr. Polk, speaking of this subject in the American Congress, 
 said : " It is strange, sir, that men who are presumed to embody 
 the wisdom of the land should have to be reminded that they 
 are pandering to British power, that they are forgetting Ameri- 
 can interests, and losing sight of that greatness and grandeur 
 that belongs to this American government. I stand upon the 
 floor of the American Congress, and find men who are willing 
 to measure our greatness by the circumference of a dollar, 
 measure American prosperity, American greatness, by a round 
 dollar, and thus pander to British interests ; to bow the pliant 
 knee, and say to the power that assailed us at Lexington, that 
 flashed the first guns from Bunker Hill, that fought us upon 
 the sea and land in 1812, that has been jealous of our prosperity 
 and greatness ever since, ' Good mother, wont you carry our 
 mails for us ? ' Why, sir, I scorn, I despise this un-American 
 feeling and sentiment. The men who stand battling upon 
 these principles are behind the age. They are behind the 
 progress of this country. They know nothing of its power, and 
 are contributing to a combination of foreign policy designed to 
 overslaugh us." 
 
 The effect of this policy can be best shown by one or two 
 examples. Take the empire of Brazil, with which we have but 
 a single American steamship line. Her annual imports are 
 $90,000,000. In 1883 she bought of Great Britain more than 
 $15,000,000 worth of cotton goods, and in the same year of the 
 United State? but a little over $600,000. Is there any reason 
 
228 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 why we with our great cotton-fields and with a line open from 
 our ports to the ports of this empire should not supply her 
 people with the fabrics of our looms? The same year she 
 bought of Great Britain 92,000 hats and caps, of the United 
 States 119. Great Britain sold her of iron and steel in 1883 
 $5,674,000, while the United States sold her but a trifle over 
 $1,000,000. Of her wearing apparel Great Britain furnished her 
 $1,250,000 worth, the United States but $17,000. To summar- 
 ize the matter, in the last twenty years Great Britain has sold 
 to the inhabitants of Brazil $630,000,000 of manufactured prod- 
 ucts, while the United States has sold her but $138,000,000. 
 
 Why is it that we have so little of this Brazilian trade? 
 Simply because we have no adequate communication with her 
 people. We have but one steamship line of three vessels 
 making monthly trips between New York and the ports of this 
 empire, while at the same time there are three English lines 
 having 35 steamers, French lines with 19 steamers, German 
 lines with 1 5 steamers aggregating 89 vessels from these three 
 countries holding regular direct communication with this 
 empire. All these lines are paid liberal compensation for car- 
 rying the mails, Brazil herself paying a million dollars to aid in 
 the establishment and maintenance of these postal and com- 
 mercial relations, while we pay the American line only the 
 postage collected on the mail carried. 
 
 How is it with the Argentine Republic, a republic fashioned 
 after our own, with a president, two houses of congress, and 
 all the machinery of government modeled after this great re- 
 public. It has a population of 3,000,000 people. Its capital 
 city has a population of 500,000, 40,000 of whom are English- 
 speaking. In 1884 this republic purchased $94,000,000 worth 
 of manufactured products. Of this sum Great Britain sold her 
 $30,000,000; France, $17,000,000; Germany, $9,000,000; Bel- 
 ium, $7,250,000; the United States, $7,500,000; Spain, 
 $5,000,000; Italy, $4,000,000 ; the United States furnishing only 
 a trifle over 8 per cent of all her imports. In 1883 England 
 sold her in cotton goods alone $9,000,000 in value, while the 
 United States sold her only $150,000. How do we account for 
 this paucity of trade with the Argentine Republic? The an- 
 
OUR FOREIGN TRADE. ' 229 
 
 swer is plain. We have no postal communication with this 
 people. In 1884 there arrived at the harbor of Buenos Ayres 
 3626 steamships, not one of them carrying the American flag. 
 The same year 3775 sailing vessels anchored in that harbor, and 
 to-day 200 splendid steamers are plying between Buenos Ayres 
 and European ports. Of this total shipping 34 per cent is under 
 the British flag ; 16 per cent under the French ; 9 per cent un- 
 der the German ; 24 per cent under other nations, and this coun- 
 try has the miserable representation of 2 per cent only of the 
 sailing-v-'ssels. In 1862 there was no direct line of steamers 
 between Europe and the Argentine Republic. These lines have 
 all been established since that date through the instrumentality 
 of liberal subsidies. 
 
 The last Republican administration sought to remedy this 
 national folly, and for that purpose authorized the President of 
 the United States to appoint a commission to visit the countries 
 of Central and South America and report what steps were nec- 
 essary to increase our commercial intercourse with these nations. 
 That commission was appointed by President Arthur, com- 
 pleted its work, and made its report, in which among other 
 things it said, " That in order to secure more intimate commer- 
 cial relations between the United States and the several 
 countries of Central and South America there must be regular 
 and direct steamship communication." The commission further 
 say, " In order to encourage the construction of vessels, in 
 order to secure means of communication between the United 
 States and the markets of Central and South America, it has 
 been suggested that Congress authorize the Postmaster-General 
 to advertise for proposals for carrying the mails to and from 
 the ports of Central and South America for a period of ten 
 years, and make contracts for that period with the lowest re- 
 sponsible bidder under restrictions which will guarantee as low 
 charges per mile for freight and passengers as are paid to for- 
 eign vessels in order that the merchants of the United States 
 seeking the South American trade may enjoy the advantage of 
 nearness as an offset to the higher rate of wages paid for labor 
 in this country." Acting upon the report and recommendation 
 of this commission, the Republican party clothed the Post- 
 
230 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 master-General with power to contract for a South American 
 mail service upon a more hberal basis than the sea and inland 
 postage, by providing as follows: 
 
 " For the transportation of foreign mails, including transit 
 across the Isthmus of Panama, $800,000 ; and the Postmaster- 
 General is hereby authorized to enter into contract for the 
 transportation of any part of said foreign mails, after a legal 
 advertisement, with the lowest responsible bidder at a rate r.ot 
 exceeding 50 cents a nautical mile on the trip each way actually 
 traveled between the terminal points: Provided, That the 
 mails so contracted shall be carried on American steamships, 
 and that the aggregate of such contracts shall not exceed one- 
 half the sum hereby appropriated." 
 
 The enforcement of this law would have increased our postal 
 facilities with the South American countries, and brought to 
 us an enlarged commerce, and furnished an easy outlet for the 
 surplus products of our ever-increasing manufactures. But 
 before this law was put into operation the Republican party 
 went out of power. The present administration declined to 
 execute this law, and refused to use a single dollar appropriated 
 by the last Republican administration to encourage our trade 
 with the South American countries. 
 
 In the Forty-ninth Congress the Republican Senate attached 
 to the post-office appropriation bill a provision dedicating 
 $800,000 to increasing our mail facilities with the countries of 
 Central and South America, but the Democratic House of 
 Representatives refuse to concur. 
 
 And so upon this question the issue is made up between the 
 two parties. The Republican party believes in such liberal 
 pay to American steamship lines for the carriage of our foreign 
 mails as will stimulate American ship-building and promote 
 our foreign commerce. While the Democratic party refuses all 
 aid to American lines even for carrying the United States mails, 
 preferring to pay tribute to our subsidized foreign rivals. It 
 is to be hoped when the Republican party again resumes con- 
 trol of this government it will be able to carry out a policy 
 which will facilitate our foreign trade and restore the Repub- 
 lic to its rightful supremacy on the sea. 
 
INTERNAL REVENUE. 
 By Hon. Green B. Raum, of Illinois. 
 
 The total income of the government during the four years 
 of President Buchanan's administration, aside from loans, was 
 $205,126,374, while the expenditures for the same period were 
 $262,500,558, being $57,374,184 in excess of the receipts. 
 
 The Morrill tariff act, which was approved by Mr. Buchanan 
 the day before the inauguration of President Lincoln, greatly 
 increased the duties on imports, and laid the foundation for the 
 large receipts which afterwards followed from this source ; but 
 as soon as the War of the Rebellion began it was fully realized 
 by Republican statesmen that the preservation of the Union 
 would require not only marshaling of mighty armies, but the 
 expenditure of enormous sums of treasure. 
 
 The Session of Congress which convened in December, 1861 
 immediately took up the subject of providing the Ways and 
 Means for carrying on the war. It was fortunate for the coun- 
 try that the right man for this mighty work was then a member 
 of the House of Representatives, and was appointed Chairman 
 of the Committee on Ways and Means. This man was Thad- 
 deus Stevens of Pennsylvania. He possessed the knowledge, 
 experience, influence, and courage for the task. 
 
 At the very outset Mr. Stevens insisted that taxation and 
 loans must go hand in hand ; that it would be impossible to 
 carry on the war and maintain the credit of the government by 
 raising money by loans only ; that the receipts from customs 
 would be totally inadequate to supply the needs of the govern- 
 ment ; consequently, that resort must be had immediately to 
 direct and internal taxation. 
 
 An act was passed June 7th, 1862, levying a direct tax of 
 twenty million dollar.?, which, under the Constitution, was ap- 
 portioned amongst the several States according to population. 
 The amount levied against the people of the loyal States was 
 
 231 
 
232 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 $15,054,517, and the amount levied against the people of the 
 States in rebellion was $4,945,501. The law provided that 
 this tax should be levied and collected from the real estate of 
 the country. The legislatures of the loyal States wisely made 
 provision for the payment of this tax from the State treasuries- 
 If this course had not been adopted the tax would have been 
 assessed upon all the real estate of the country ; it would have 
 taken precedence of and interfered with the State levies ; and 
 would no doubt have bred a multiplicity of complications in 
 real-estate titles. This direct tax was enforced in parts of all 
 the rebellious States. The total amount collected in these 
 States was $2,414,284; and there yet remains uncollected of the 
 tax in the the Southern States the sum of $2,531,217 — the col- 
 lection of which has been postponed from time to time. A bill 
 recently passed the Senate of the United States which relieves 
 the people of Southern States from the payment of the amount 
 of this tax due from them, and refunding to the States the 
 amount paid by each of them respectively. The passage of 
 this bill was prevented by the systematic filibustering of a 
 large number of Democrats from the South, who obstructed 
 business for a period of eight days, and finally compelled the 
 House to postpone the consideration of the bill until the next 
 session of Congress. 
 
 It seems entirely reasonable that the amount paid by the 
 loyal States shall be refunded, or that the balance due from 
 the Southern States shall be collected. The opponents of the 
 Senate bill are opposed to both propositions. 
 
 The delays and difficulties attending the collection of a direct 
 tax from real estate are such, that it seems entirely improbable 
 that another direct tax law will ever be enacted. 
 
 On July I, 1862, an act to provide internal revenue to sup- 
 port the government and to pay interest on the public debt 
 was passed. It was the first of the series of laws creating the 
 present internal-revenue system. This act was followed by the 
 acts of March 3, 1863; March 7, 1864; June 30, 1864; and 
 March 3, 1865. 
 
 There probably never was in any country a more far-reach- 
 ing system of taxation devised — every occupation, business, or 
 
INTERNAL REVENUE. 233 
 
 industry, every source of income, every article owned and used 
 for luxurious enjoyment ; all railroads, canals, steamboats, ex. 
 press companies ; all banks, bankers, brokers, manufacturers 
 jobbers, merchants ; all wholesale and retail dealers, and all 
 places of amusement and public entertainment, were required 
 to contribute their share to the great fund necessary to save 
 the Union. Thousands of manufactured articles which entered 
 into the daily consumption of the people were taxed. Here 
 and there the law provided for small exemptions in the interest 
 of the poor ; but the whole plan and framework of the system 
 contemplated raising a large revenue from every individual in 
 the land by a tax upon him directly or upon articles which he 
 required for daily use. The men who planned and enacted 
 these laws were elected by the people, and represented the 
 public sentiment of the country ; the era was one of patriotism 
 and heroism, and this extraordinary system of taxation was 
 not only acquiesced in, but indorsed by the people, and the 
 payment yearly of the enormous sums of revenue which were 
 collected is one of the strongest possible evidences of the de- 
 votion of the people to the cause of the Union. 
 
 The receipts from internal-revenue taxation rose from forty 
 one million dollars in 1863, to more than three hundred and 
 ten million dollars in 1866. The following table will be of 
 interest : 
 
 Internal Revenue Collections, July ist, 1862, to June 30TH, 1887. 
 
 Total from distilled spirits, including special taxes of 
 
 dealers in the same 1,258,570,743 
 
 Total from tobacco and cigars 747,981,410 
 
 Total from fermented liquors .257,946,098 
 
 Bank circulation (other than National) 5,518,066 
 
 Penalties and forfeitures 11,992,904 ; 
 
 Manufactures and products 425,944,100 
 
 Gross receipts 55,924.678 
 
 Sales 37,588,907 
 
 Special taxes not included above 85,437,647 
 
 Incomes 346,967,388 
 
 Legacies 8,883,969 
 
 Successions 5,911.679 
 
 Special taxes from occupations 8,964,869 
 
234 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Bank capital and deposits 65.o55.539 
 
 Adhesive stamps upon proprietary medicines, matches, etc. 209,717,217 
 
 Miscellaneous items 36,064,456 
 
 Oleomargarine and special taxes on dealers therein 723,948 
 
 $3,569,174,618 
 
 From the direct tax 15,139,981 
 
 From the National banks on capital, circulation, and de- 
 posits 132,592.753 
 
 Total $3,716,907,352 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the receipts of revenue from these 
 laws, called into being by the exigencies of the Civil War, 
 have been during a period of twenty-five years more than 
 three billion seven hundred million dollars, and that $2,264,- 
 498,241 were collected from distilled spirits, tobacco and cigars, 
 and malt liquors — articles of indulgence, the purchase of which 
 (and therefore the payment of the tax) might have been avoided 
 at the pleasure of the tax-payer. 
 
 While it is true that in 1791, and again in 181 3, laws were 
 enacted levying internal taxes upon distilled spirits, carriages, 
 snuff, refined sugars, salt, auction sales, distilleries, licenses for 
 retailing wines and spirits, bills of exchange, bank notes, prom- 
 issory notes, etc., etc., the taxes were low and the amount of 
 revenue received was small, and but few officers were employed ; 
 and the laws were continued only a few years. So in point of 
 fact this broad and comprehensive system of taxation was new 
 and untried. Its extraordinary success has vindicated the wis- 
 dom and the capacity of the Republican law-makers who 
 placed these acts upon the statute-books. This new system 
 of taxation was in many respects experimental, both as to the 
 laws and the manner of their enforcement. As an illustration 
 of this, it may be cited that the tax on distilled spirits was first 
 fixed at 20 cents per gallon, and was afterwards changed to 60 
 cents, $1.50, $2; from which it has been reduced to 90 cents 
 per gallon, at which it now stands. 
 
 The internal-revenue system was made a special study, and 
 it is to the credit of the Republican party that it was brought 
 to the highest degree of perfection and efficiency. During the 
 nine years preceding the inauguration of President Cleveland, 
 
INTERNAL REVENUE. 235 
 
 more than eleven hundred millions of internal revenue were 
 collected without the loss of one dollar by the defalcation of 
 an internal-revenue ofificer, and about fifty million dollars were 
 disbursed for salaries and expenses in connection with this 
 service without loss by defalcation. Such a record is extra- 
 ordinary and exceptional in the history of any revenue service, 
 and fully certifies to the integrity and efficiency of the corps of 
 internal-revenue officers. 
 
 This state of efficiency was not accidental, but was the 
 result of most careful and painstaking training of the official 
 force. Periodically every officer in the service was examined as 
 to his knowledge and efficiency, and fully instructed by compe- 
 tent agents. The accounts of the collectors were subjected to 
 quarterly examinations, and their correctness verified by a c oun 
 of the money and stamps on hand, and a high standard of excel- 
 lence was insisted upon in connection \\'ith all clerical work. As 
 a consequence the business of the government was conducted in 
 the most methodical manner, and in a style equal if not supe- 
 rior to that of the best private business house;;. The Demo- 
 cratic cry of " Turn the rascals out " did not apply to the 
 internal-revenue service. The official force was honest, capa- 
 ble, and faithful ; and while the collectors and most of their 
 subordinates have been removed, it was because they were 
 Republicans, and not because they were wanting in any of the 
 requirements which go to make up an efficient and trustworthy 
 public service. 
 
 As soon as the war was over Congress took up the ques- 
 tion of reducing internal taxes, and a number ot acts were 
 passed from time to time repealing and reducing taxes, those 
 which were most objectionable and burdensome being taken 
 off first. 
 
 These repealing and reducing acts bear date July 13, 1866; 
 March 2, 1867; February 3, 1868; March 31, 1868; July 20, 
 1868; July 14, 1870; and June 6, 1872. By these acts reduc- 
 tions were made (taking as a basis the highest amount coUected 
 from each source) as follows: 
 
236 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Internal-revenue Reductions. 
 
 Manufactures and products $i33,579i lOQ 
 
 Gross receipts 11,262,430 
 
 Sales 8,837,395 
 
 Special taxes, not including spirits and tobacco 14,144,418 
 
 Incomes 72,982, 159 
 
 Legacies and successions 3i°9',825 
 
 Articles of luxury kept for use — i.e., pianos, yachts, etc 2,116,674 
 
 Slaughtered animals 1,291,571 
 
 Passports 3i. I49 
 
 Reduction of stamp tax on notes, etc 366,722 
 
 Reduction tax on tobacco 5,646,941 
 
 Reduction on stamp taxes 10,040,476 
 
 Reduction on borrowed capital of banks and certain deposits 873,111 
 
 $264,263,980 
 
 Act March i, 1879, reduction on tobacco 9,9°5,736 
 
 Act May 28, 1880, stamp-tax, rectifiers, andinterest on tax on spirits, 1,789,827 
 Act of March 3, 1883, reduction on tobacco, snuff, and 
 
 cigars $25,409, 551 
 
 Repeal of stamp-tax on checks, patent medicines, and 
 
 matches 8,139,218 
 
 Repeal of tax on capital and deposits, State banks, 
 
 and bankers 5,249,173 
 
 Repeal of tax on capital and deposits of National banks 5,959.702 
 
 44,757.644 
 
 Total reduction $320, 717, 187 
 
 Eight of the foregoing acts reducing taxation, and which 
 took off taxes to the amount of $309,060,624, were passed by 
 RepubUcan majorities in the House of Representatives. Since 
 March 4, 1875, to the present time the Democratic party has 
 had control of the House of Representatives except for two 
 years ; during the twelve years of Democratic majorities but 
 two acts have been passed reducing internal taxation, those of 
 March i, 1879, ^"d May 28, 1880, effecting a reduction of 
 $11,696,563. These acts were supported by Republicans in 
 Congress and met the approval of the Republican administra- 
 tion. In fact this whole reduction has been secured to the 
 people by the action of the Republican party. 
 
 It is conceded on every hand that the Treasury receipts are 
 greatly in excess of the needs of the government. 
 
INTERNAL REVENUE. 237 
 
 The present administration during the past three years has 
 been at its wits' end to know what disposition to make of the 
 steadily growing surplus. Several millions have been deposited 
 with National Banks for no better reasons than that it was not 
 needed by the government, and this disposition of it would be 
 a relief to business interests, while other millions have been 
 used for the purchase of bonds at a large premium. The 
 demand of the hour is that there shall be a reduction of taxa- 
 tion. Seven months ago the President in his message to 
 Congress pointed out the danger of the accumulation of great 
 and needless sums in the Treasury, and urged immediate action 
 upon Congress to pass laws reducing taxation. He, however, 
 confined his recommendation to a reduction of the receipts 
 from the tariff by lowering the rates of duties. 
 
 It was well known that legislation of this character upon 
 the lines recommended by the President would be resisted by 
 the Republican party, and it might have been confidently pre- 
 dicted that such a measure, if not actually defeated, would not 
 become a law for a number of months ; besides, it is practicably 
 impossible to determine in advance whether a reduction of the 
 rates of duties on a number of leading articles will result in a 
 reduction of revenue, as lowering the rates may stimulate im- 
 portation and actually increase receipts. A number of bills 
 were introduced early in the session for the repeal of the 
 tobacco tax and the tax upon distilled spirits. It has been 
 impossible, however, to bring the House of Representatives to 
 a vote upon any of the separate measures for reducing internal- 
 revenue taxation. 
 
 For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, the receipts from to- 
 bacco, snuff, cigars, and special taxes on manufacturers, dealers, 
 etc., were $30,108,067. If these taxes were abolished, there 
 would be no mistake as to the reduction of the Treasury receipts 
 to that extent, and there seems no just ground upon which this 
 tax can longer be maintained. The manufacturers of cigars 
 prefer that a nominal tax shall be levied upon their productions 
 as a means of protecting their brands. This might be done 
 with propriety, but the special taxes upon the 509,361 manufac- 
 turers and dealers in tobacco should be abolished at once. This 
 
238 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 would relieve a mighty army of people from the payment of 
 these taxes, and from the pains and penalties liable to be in- 
 flicted upon them for trivial violations of law without fraudulent 
 intent. 
 
 The position of the Republicans on this question is in har- 
 mony with the policy of the government from its foundation. 
 Internal-revenue taxation has never been resorted to except to 
 relieve the burdens of war, and has always been repealed as 
 soon as such demands were satisfied. It is the only " war tax" 
 remaining on our statute books to-day, and as such should be 
 dispensed with. 
 
 There is no question but what a proposition pure and sim- 
 ple to repeal these taxes if presented to Congress would pass 
 both Houses by overwhelming majorities. The fault for a 
 failure to dismiss them lies with the Democratic managers of 
 the House of Representatives. A bill to take the tax off dis- 
 tilled spirits used in the arts and manufactures would also un- 
 doubtedly meet the approval of both Houses, and would re- 
 duce receipts at least eight millions. These two items would 
 amount to over $38,000,000 of a reduction, and would be a 
 substantial beginning of the work of reducing the receipts 
 of the government to its needs for an economical administra- 
 tion of public affairs. 
 
 It must be remembered that under the Constitution the 
 power to originate revenue measures is conferred upon the 
 House of Representatives. The Senate may not properly take 
 up subjects of taxation until a bill involving such a question 
 has passed the House, and has been sent to the Senate for its 
 action. Therefore, the responsibility for a failure to reduce 
 taxes during the administration of President Cleveland rests 
 upon the Democratic party. As has been shown, while the 
 Republican party held the Presidential ofiflce and influenced 
 legislation, internal taxes were reduced more than 320 milhons 
 of dollars, while during the past three years of Democratic con- 
 trol of the Executive office and of the House of Representatives 
 that party has not reduced internal taxes one cent. 
 
 The enactment and enforcement of the internal-revenue 
 laws by the Republican party, were for many years the objec- 
 
INTERNAL REVENUE. 239 
 
 tive point of attack of Democrats in many States, and so 
 violent was the opposition of leading public men to these laws, 
 that whole communities were encouraged to engage in the 
 business of defrauding the government and in resisting its 
 officers. This hostility and opposition became so formidable 
 in some of the Southern States that it required the organiza- 
 tion of large parties of armed men to overcome resistance and 
 suppress fraud. The action of the Democratic leaders since the 
 inauguration of President Cleveland, in regard to this service 
 and its laws, is strongly at variance with their course during 
 Republican control. 
 
 Now the internal-revenue service supplies them with many 
 heretofore coveted offices, and being in possession of them, the 
 taxes which were denounced as odious are not now regarded 
 with such horror. A great change has come over the spirit of 
 their dreams. They no longer hold up to public contempt the 
 hated internal-revenue officer. This person is now a Democrat, 
 and of course must be regarded as a gentleman ; and if these 
 taxes are repealed, the occupation of this efficient Democratic 
 , worker will be gone. Hence the present splendid exhibition of 
 "how not to do it " in the way of repealing internal taxation. 
 
 Since the foregoing lines were written the National Con- 
 vention of the Republican party has performed its work : Gen- 
 eral Benjamin Harrison of Indiana and Hon. Levi P. Morton 
 have been chosen as candidates for President and Vice-Presi- 
 dent ; these able and distinguished citizens worthily represent 
 the lofty aspirations, the grand principles, and glorious achive- 
 ments of the party whose candidates they are. 
 
 The platform adopted by the Convention presents in plain 
 and unmistakable terms the issues involved in the present 
 political contest. The Republican party demands the preserva- 
 tion and continuance of the protective system of tariff legisla- 
 tion as a means of developing the resources of our own country, 
 and of maintaining such a scale of wages to our whole people 
 as will secure to Americans better houses and home comforts, 
 better advantages and prospects for their children, and abundant- 
 ly greater reasons for contentment and happiness, than is possible 
 for the people of the old world. The party demands that the ex- 
 
240 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 cessive revenues of the government shall be immediately re- 
 duced, and as a beginning insists that the tobacco tax and the tax 
 upon distilled spirits used in arts and manufactures shall at 
 once be repealed. It will be for the people to say whether the 
 party manifestly disregardful of the interests of a tax-paying 
 public shall be retained in power and whether it will not be 
 wise to restore the reins of government to that party which had 
 the wisdom to frame great tax laws when they were required, 
 and has proven its ability and willingness to lighten the burdens 
 of taxation when the revenues were excessive. 
 
A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 
 By Hon. William McKinley, Jr., M.C. from Ohio. 
 
 The general question of the tariff involves higher considera- 
 tions than we are wont to bring to its discussion. 
 
 Our political system differs from all others. Universal citi- 
 zenship and equal suffrage constitute the foundation upon 
 which our Republic rests, and the real and wider question, 
 therefore, of the tariff is, What will best maintain our industrial 
 pursuits and labor conditions suitable to the high political 
 duties of our people and the exalted trusts which are confided 
 to them ? That is the real question in its comprehensive view. 
 It touches the health and progress of the Republic, for it 
 touches the condition, moral, physical, and intellectual, of the 
 citizen from whom it must draw its force and character and 
 strength. You cannot affect the citizen either for good or ill 
 without the Nation feeling it. The relation of the people to 
 the government and the government to the people is so close 
 and intimate, that you cannot touch the one without its being 
 quickly felt by the other. 
 
 So long as American protective tariffs operate to foster and 
 cherish American enterprises which are enabled to provide 
 profitable employment to American labor, so long should 
 American protective tariffs be upheld and defended, whether 
 assaulted from influences at home or abroad. We cannot be 
 healthy and vigorous as a nation, we cannot successfully lead 
 in the race of freedom and progress, if the source of power — 
 the people — is discontented, ill fed, ill paid, and without the 
 comforts and deprived of the healthful conditions which should 
 be enjoyed by political equals. 
 
 It is not a question simply of whether we shall clothe our- 
 selves in cloths manufactured from American wools or in 
 
 241 
 
242 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 cloths fabricated from Australian wools, but how will the 
 Nation at large and the individual citizen be affected by the 
 policy which makes the latter necessary, if not inevitable. 
 
 It is not the narrow question of the cost of the clothes we 
 -vvear, or the food we eat, or the lumber which gives shelter to 
 our homes, but what will be the effect of such alleged reduced 
 cost, and all which must fohow it, upon our citizenship, and 
 ultimately its influence upon the strength and character of our 
 institutions. The government, which derives all its powers 
 from the people, must be mindful of their interests, considerate 
 of their character, and in every way possible favor their prepara- 
 tion for the responsibilities with which they are charged. It is 
 a broader question than the price of the foreign or the domestic 
 product ; and while the latter may in some instances cost a 
 little more than the former, it is of little significance when 
 measured by the ccmforts and advantages which might be 
 afforded the masses of our country, and which cannot be secured 
 without the maintenance of an American policy. 
 
 Free trade with every other nation of the world means to 
 us either the substantial abandonment of many of the chief 
 industries of the country, or, if they are to survive, it means 
 equal cost in the growth and manufacture of competing prod- 
 ucts. One of the two things must inevitably result from free 
 trade or a purely revenue tariff. 
 
 In some departments of industry the cost of production in 
 this country is greater than that in any other, and to remove 
 the protection which we secure by our tariffs will either sur- 
 render our markets in those departments to our foreign com- 
 petitors or, if we would hold them, we must diminish the cost of 
 the competing products, and that means — and there can be no 
 other result — a radical reduction in the wages of our workmen. 
 
 Our duty, therefore, is not limited to the mere question of 
 dollars and cents, but it is deeper and more far-reaching. It 
 involves our industrial independence and the welfare of our 
 people. Comparisons cannot be made with other nations. 
 This is a nation of citizens, not subjects. Whatever, therefore, 
 will secure to the laboring masses their full share in the joint 
 profits of capital and labor, favor the highest intelligence and 
 
A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 243 
 
 largest independence, should be adopted and become perma- 
 nently a part of our national policy. 
 
 Much idle talk is indulged in about manufacturing combines 
 and monopolies in the United States, and everything is called 
 a monopoly that prospers ; everybody who gets ahead in the 
 world is in the minds of some people a monopolist. 
 
 We have few manufacturing monopolists in the United 
 States to-day. They cannot long exist with an unrestricted 
 home competition such as we have. They feel the spur of 
 competition from thirty-eight States, and extortion and monop- 
 oly cannot survive the sharp contest among our own capitalists 
 and enterprising citizens. There are some here and there; and 
 yet those who shout the loudest against monopolies are usually 
 found advocating a doctrine which, if carried into practical 
 operation, would break down American manufactures, and give 
 England the unbridled monopoly of American markets. Eng- 
 lish monopoly does not disturb them ; it is American monopoly 
 that distresses their souls. Under the cry of a " bounty-fed 
 monopoly " they would transfer manufacturing from American 
 citizens to foreign citizens. 
 
 Would it not be better that America and American manu- 
 facturers should have the monopoly of American consumption 
 than that England should have it ; and is it not to be preferred 
 that the American laborer and the American mechanic should 
 have the monopoly of supplying the American markets than 
 that English laborers and English mechanics should have it ? 
 
 I would that all Americans had the love of country and of 
 home institutions that possessed the spirit of Washington. 
 His adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis, in a letter 
 to Thomas Carbery, dated April 7, 1839, relates an incident 
 which well illustrates the Americanism of the Father of his 
 Country. Says Custis : " In 1799, when in command of his last 
 army, in which I had the honor to bear a commission, a blue 
 coat with embroidery was the arrangement made by a board 
 of general officers as the costume of the chief. Washington 
 merely asked, ' Can this affair be done in the United States ? ' 
 On being told ' No,' that the embroidery must be executed in 
 Europe, the venerable chief declined the whole affair instanter." 
 
244 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 The manufacturers of this country, as a rule, are not deserv- 
 ing of being characterized as monopolists. They have no- 
 princely fortunes ; in general they have no independent means. 
 Their all is in the brick and mortar of their establishments, 
 in the machinery, in the organization, in their trade : and how 
 many of them to-day would be willing to sell out at first cost, 
 and below first cost, if they could do it ? He who would 
 break down the manufacturers of this country strikes a fatal 
 blow at labor. It is labor that "protection " protects. 
 
 Oyer three hundred millions of dollars must be raised 
 annually from some source to meet the expenditures and obli- 
 gations of the government. 
 
 This sum must be secured either by direct taxation or by 
 duties upon imports. The former system has never been 
 favored by our people, and has been resorted to only in case 
 of war and great public necessity. It has never been held as a 
 permanent system for raising revenue, but only as a temporary 
 expedient to meet immediate and pressing exigencies for which 
 the prevailing system of taxation was found for the time inade- 
 quate. It has been the accepted policy from the formation of 
 the government to raise our current and necessary revenues 
 from import duties. The only reason for a surplus in the 
 Treasury to-day is because we continue the dual system of taxa- 
 tion and still retain a part of the internal-revenue or direct 
 system of taxation which grew out of the necessities of the war. 
 If this were abandoned we would be able to raise the requisite 
 revenue from customs sources, and this taxation would be 
 lightly felt and prove less onerous than any other system. 
 
 It is only a question of time, if our surplus continues, when 
 the internal-revenue system will be wholly abolished and our 
 revenue be derived exclusively from duties upon imports. 
 It can well be left with the States to tax spirits and receive the 
 revenues derived therefrom. Whenever it becomes apparent 
 to the public that the one or the other must yield, the internal- 
 revenue tax will be abolished. 
 
 The division between the Republican and Democratic part- 
 ies is not about the raising of revenues from import duties, but 
 upon the class of articles on which these duties shall be im- 
 
A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 245 
 
 posed. The Republican idea is to place the duties upon 
 foreign articles imported which compete with those produced 
 here, and with the exception of luxuries to permit the non- 
 competing articles to enter our custom-houses free. The 
 Democratic idea is a revenue tariff purely, by which duties 
 are imposed upon foreign articles which do not compete with 
 articles produced at home. This results in there being a selec- 
 tion made from the list of imported articles of those which are 
 necessary to the wants of our people, and which we can procure 
 only from the foreign supply, and placing upon them the duty, 
 while permitting the articles which come from abroad in com- 
 petition with our domestic production to come in free. The 
 one makes the competing foreign product bear the burden, 
 the other the non-competing : and herein is found the real 
 division between the two great parties upon this economic 
 question. 
 
 If the duty is placed upon the non-competing foreign prod- 
 uct, that duty is manifestly paid by the American consumer, 
 for it is just so much added to the cost, there being no compe- 
 tition in this country to reduce or regulate the price. 
 
 But if the duty is paid upon the competing product which 
 comes from abroad, that duty is seldom, if ever, paid by the 
 consumer, but by the foreign producer, because for the sake of 
 getting into this market to sell alongside the domestic produc- 
 tion he accepts diminished profits. 
 
 To secure larger revenue from lower duties necessitates 
 largely increased importations ; and if these compete with 
 domestic products, the latter must be diminished or find other 
 and distant and, I may say, impossible markets, or get out of 
 the way altogether. 
 
 Any tax levied upon a foreign product which is a necessity 
 to our people, and which we cannot fully supply, will produce 
 revenue in amount only measured by our necessities and abihty 
 to buy. In a word, foreign productions not competing with 
 home productions are the proper subjects for taxation under a 
 revenue tariff, and in case these do not furnish the requisite 
 revenue a low duty is put upon the foreign product competing 
 with the domestic one — low enough to encourage and stimulate 
 
246 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 importations, and low enough to break down eventually domestic 
 competition. 
 
 As I have said before, a protective tariff imposes the duty 
 upon the competing foreign product; it makes it bear the 
 burden or duty. It says to our foreign competitor, If you 
 want to bring your merchandise here, your farm products here, 
 your coal and iron ore, your wool, your salt, your pottery, your 
 glass, your cottons and woolens, and sell alongside of our 
 producers in our markets, we will make your product bear a 
 duty ; in effect, pay for the privilege of doing it. Our kind of 
 a tariff makes the competing foreign article carry the burden, 
 draw the load, supply the revenue; and in performing this 
 essential office it encourages at the same time our own in- 
 dustries and protects our own people in their chosen employ- 
 ments. That is the mission and purpose of a protective tariff. 
 
 We have free trade among ourselves throughout thirty-eight 
 States and the Territories and among sixty millions of people. 
 Absolute freedom of exchange within our own borders and 
 among our own citizens is the law of the Republic. Reason- 
 able taxation and restraint upon those without is the dictate of 
 enlightened patriotism and the doctrine of the Republican 
 party. Free trade in the United States is founded upon a com- 
 munity of equalities and reciprocities. It is like the unre- 
 strained freedom and reciprocal relations and obligations of a 
 family. Here we are one country, one language, one allegiance, 
 one standard of citizenship, one flag, one Constitution, one 
 nation, one destiny. It is otherwise with foreign nations, each 
 a separate organism, a distinct and independent political 
 society organized for its own, to protect its own, and work out 
 its own destiny. We deny to those foreign nations free trade 
 with us upon equal terms with our own producers. The foreign 
 producer has no right or claim to equality with our own. He 
 is not amenable to our laws. There are resting upon him 
 none of the obligations of citizenship. He pays no taxes. He 
 performs no civil duties ; is subject to no demands for military 
 service. He is exempt from State, county, and municipal 
 obligations. He contributes nothing to the support, the prog- 
 ress, and glory of the Nation. Why should he enjoy unre- 
 
A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 247 
 
 strained equal privileges and profits in our markets with our 
 producers, our labor, and our tax-payers? We put a burden 
 upon his productions, we discriminate against his merchandise, 
 because he is alien to us and our interests, and we do it to pro- 
 tect our own, defend our own, preserve our own, who are always 
 with us in adversity and prosperity, in sympathy and purpose, 
 and, if necessary, in sacrifice. That is the principle which 
 governs us. I submit it is a patriotic and righteous one. In 
 our own country, each citizen competing with the other in free 
 and unresentful rivalry, while with the rest of the world all are 
 united and together in resisting outside competition as we \vould 
 foreign interference. 
 
 Free foreign trade admits the foreigner to equal privileges. 
 with our own citizens. It invites the product of foreign cheap 
 labor to this market in competition with the domestic product, 
 representing higher and better-paid labor. It results in giving 
 our money, our manufactures, and our markets to other 
 nations, to the injury of our labor, our tradespeople, and our 
 farmers. Protection keeps money, markets, and manufactures 
 at home for the benefit of our own people. 
 
 It is scarcely worth while to more than state the proposition 
 that taxation upon a foreign competing product is more easily 
 paid and is less burdensome than taxation upon the non-com- 
 peting product. In the latter it is always added to the foreign 
 cost, and therefore paid by the consumer, while in the former, 
 where the duty is upon the competing product, it is largely 
 paid in the form of diminished profits to the foreign producer. 
 It would be burdensome beyond endurance to collect our taxes 
 from the products, professions, and labor of our own people. 
 
 The value of the protective system consists in the encour- 
 agement it gives to American enterprise, the diversification of 
 industries, and the increased demand for labor. 
 
 It enables the American manufacturer to pay better wages 
 and supply steadier employment to labor, for under the free- 
 trade or revenue-tariff system our labor and, indeed, the whole 
 cost of production must of necessity be brought down to the 
 prevailing cost of production of competing countries. The fun- 
 damental argument of protection concerns the benefits it brings 
 
248 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 to labor. That it enables the manufacturer to pay more and 
 better wages than are paid for like services anywhere else will 
 not be disputed. There is no branch of labor in the United 
 States which does not receive higher rewards than in any other 
 country. Our laborers are not only the best paid, the best 
 clothed, and the best educated in the world, but they have 
 more comforts, more independence, more moral force and 
 political power, more savings, and are better contented than 
 their rivals anywhere else. 
 
 Mr. Hewitt of New York, on January 26, 1870, in a letter 
 addressed to Mr. Jay Gould, among other things, said : " Free 
 trade will simply reduce the wages of labor to the foreign 
 standard, and, as a matter of course, the ability of a laborer to 
 consume will be reduced, and serious loss will be inflicted on 
 commerce, general industry," etc. 
 
 In the discussion of the benefits of free trade or a revenue 
 tariff as contrasted with protection, the friends and advocates 
 of the former are in the habit of representing the tariff between 
 1846 and i860 under the revenue tariff law of 1846, commonly 
 known as the Robert J. Walker tariff, as giving the highest 
 evidence of prosperity and securing the highest profit to in- 
 vestors, and it is urged that greater possibilities, individual and 
 national, were secured under that system. 
 
 The Speaker of the House of Representatives, in his speech 
 made in the present (Fiftieth) Congress, May 19th, dwelt at 
 length upon this period as the exceptionally prosperous one in 
 our history, and accredited it to the revenue-tariff legislation 
 prevailing during that era. With such a claim from so high an 
 authority, it is worth while to ascertain what, in fact, was our 
 condition during this period. The low tariff of 1846 commenced 
 its havoc upon the business of the country even before 1850. 
 In December, 1849, the firm of Cooper & Hewitt speaks of 
 the condition of the iron trade in the following language : 
 
 "And first, what is the real condition of the domestic iron 
 trade ? Is it actually depressed and threatened with ruin, or 
 does all the outcry proceed from men who, having realized 
 " princely fortunes " annually, are now clamorous because their 
 profits are reduced to reasonable limits, or from another class, 
 
A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 249 
 
 who, having erected works in improper locations, desire not so 
 much to make iron cheaply as to build up villages and speculate 
 in real estate ? Undoubtedly to some extent there are such 
 cases ; . . . but as to the great fact, that the great majority of 
 establishments judiciously located and managed with proper 
 skill and economy have been compelled to suspend work 
 throughout the land for want of remunerating work, there can- 
 not be a shadow of a doubt." 
 
 On the 2d of December, 185 1, President Fillmore, in his 
 message advising Congress of the condition of the country, as 
 he was required to do under the Constitution, said : 
 
 " The values of our domestic exports for the last fiscal year, 
 as compared with those of the previous year, exhibit an increase 
 of $43,646,322. At first view this condition of our trade with 
 foreign nations would seem to present the most flattering hope 
 of its future prosperity. An examination of the details of our 
 exports, however, will show that the increased value of our 
 exports for the last fiscal year is to be found in the high price 
 of cotton which prevailed during the last half of that year, 
 which price has since declined about one half. The value of 
 our exports of breadstuffs and provisions, which it was supposed 
 the incentive of a low tariff and large importations from abroad 
 would have greatly augmented, has fallen from $68,701,921 in 
 1847 to $26,051,373 in 1850, and to $21,848,653 in 185 1, with a 
 strong probability, amounting almost to a certainty, of a still 
 further reduction in the current year. The aggregate values of 
 rice exported during the last fiscal j'ear as compared with the 
 previous year also exhibit a decrease amounting to $460,917, 
 which, with a decline in the values of the exports of tobacco 
 for the same period, make an aggregate decrease in these two 
 articles of $1,156,751. The pohcy which dictated a low rate of 
 duties on foreign merchandise, it was thought by those who 
 promoted and established it, would tend to benefit the farming 
 population of this country by increasing the demand and rais- 
 ing the price of agricultural products in foreign markets. 
 
 " The foregoing facts, however, seem to show incontestably 
 that no such result has followed the adoption of this policy." 
 
250 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Again, one year later, in his message to Congress, President 
 Fillmore stated the following to be the condition of the country : 
 
 " Without repeating the arguments contained in my former 
 message in favor of discriminating protective duties, I deem it 
 my duty to call your attention to one or two other considerations 
 affecting this subject. The first is the effect of large importa- 
 tions of foreign goods upon our currency. Most of the gold of 
 California, as fast as it is coined, finds its way directly to Europe, 
 in payment for goods purchased. In the second place, as our 
 manufacturing establishments are broken down by competition 
 with foreigners, the capital invested in them is lost, thousands 
 of honest and industrious citizens are thrown out of employ- 
 ment, and the farmer, to that extent, is deprived of a home 
 market for the sale of his surplus produce. In the third place, 
 the destruction of our manufactures leaves the foreigner with- 
 out competition in our market, and he consequently raises the 
 price of the articles sent here for sale, as is now seen in the in- 
 creased cost of iron imported from England. The prosperity 
 &nd wealth of every nation must depend upon its productive 
 industry. The farmer is stimulated to exertion by finding a 
 ready market for his surplus products, and benefited by being 
 able to exchange them without loss of time or expense of 
 transportation for the manufactures which his comfort or con- 
 venience requires. This is always done to the best advantage 
 where a portion of the community in which he lives is engaged 
 in other pursuits. But most manufactures require an amount 
 of capital and a practical skill which cannot be commanded 
 unless they be protected for a time from ruinous competition 
 from abroad." 
 
 Mr. Buchanan, on December 8, 1857, in his message to 
 Congress, used the following language : 
 
 " The earth has yielded her fruits abundantly, and has bounti- 
 fully rewarded the toil of the husbandman. Our great staples 
 have commanded high prices, and, up till within a brief period, 
 our manufacturing, mineral, and mechanical occupations have 
 largely partaken of the general prosperity. We have possessed 
 all the elements of material wealth in rich abundunce, and }'et, 
 notwithstanding all these advantages, our country in its mone- 
 
A PROTECTIVE TA.RIFf. 25 I 
 
 tary interests is at the present moment in a deplorable condi- 
 tion. In the midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the productions 
 and in all the elements of national wealth, we find our manu- 
 factures suspended, our public works retarded, our private en- 
 terprises of different kinds abandoned, and thousands of useful 
 laborers thrown out of employment and reduced to want. The 
 revenue of the government, which is chiefly derived from duties- 
 on imports from abroad, has been greatly reduced, while the 
 appropriations made by Congress at its last session for the cur- 
 rent fiscal year are very large in amount." 
 
 Again, in his next message, he says : " No statesman would 
 advise that we should go on increasing the national debt to 
 meet the ordinary expenses of the government. This would 
 be a most ruinous policy. In case of war our credit must be 
 our chief resource, at least for the first year, and this would be 
 greatly impaired by having contracted a large debt in time of 
 peace. It is our true policy to increase our revenue so as to 
 equal our expenditures. It would be ruinous to continue to 
 borrow. Besides, it may be proper to observe that the inci- 
 dental protection thus afforded by a revenue tariff would at 
 the present moment, to some extent, increase the confidence 
 of the manufacturing interests and give a fresh impulse to our 
 reviving business. To this surely no person would object." 
 
 In December, i860, the last month of the last year of this 
 free-trade period. Congress was called upon to authorize the 
 issue of treasury notes, redeemable at the expiration of one 
 year, to supply the government with money to meet its current 
 expenses. 
 
 This was after thirteen years of trial of the revenue-tariff 
 policy of the Democratic party. Ten million nine hundred 
 thousand dollars of these treasury notes were sold. About 
 nine milhon of them were sold at a discount of from 10 to 12 
 per cent, and the remainder at a discount of from 6 to gfr 
 per cent. On the 8th of February, 1 861, when we were still 
 within this revenue-tariff period, Congress authorized the sale of 
 twenty-five million dollars of bonds at 6 per cent interest, pay- 
 able at the end of twenty years. Only $18,000,000 of them 
 were sold in the market at Sg^ cents on the dollar. So bad 
 
252 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 had the credit of the government become that in January, 
 1861, the Secretary of the Treasury suggested to Congress, as 
 a last resort, that the several States of the Union be asked, as 
 security for the repayment of any money the government 
 might find it necessary to borrow, to pledge to the government 
 the deposits received by them under the act for the distribution 
 of the surplus revenues of 1836. The Secretary believed that a 
 loan contracted on such a basis of security, adding to the pHghted 
 faith of the United States that of the individual States, could 
 hardly fail to be acceptable to the lenders of money. 
 
 Thus was the United States driven by the Democratic rev- 
 enue policy, such as is now sought to be engrafted upon our 
 legislation, to the very brink of financial ruin, with neither 
 money nor credit. Instead of the era from '50 to '60 present- 
 ing a reason for a return to the policy then prevaihng, it fur- 
 nishes the very highest reason for avoiding it. 
 
 Under the protective system inaugurated in '61, and which 
 has continued from that time until now, we have witnessed the 
 highest prosperity among our own citizens and in the Nation at 
 large. The census of 1880 discloses the growth of the country 
 during the latter period, and the high credit attained by the 
 government is the world's wonder. No other nation of the 
 world has such credit as ours. Our Fours, due in 1907, are 
 sold at a premium of I27f. Our Fours-and-a-half, due in 
 1 891, sell at the premium of 107^, while the Treasury itself has, 
 instead of a deficit, a surplus, and, instead of selling treasury 
 notes and bonds at a discount, the government is paying large 
 premiums upon its obligations not yet matured, from its re- 
 dundant revenues. 
 
 Intimately associated with the idea of a protective tariff is 
 the manner of levying that tariff. All know the difference be- 
 tween the ad valorem system and the specific mode of levying 
 duties. One is based upon value, the other upon quantity. 
 One is based upon the foreign value, difificult of ascertainment, 
 resting in the judgment of experts, all the time offering a 
 bribe to undervaluation ; the other rests upon quantity, fixed 
 and well known the world over, always determinable and always 
 uniform. The one is assessed by the yard-stick, the ton, and 
 
A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 253 
 
 the pound-weight of commerce, and the other is assessed by 
 the foreign value, fixed by the foreign importer or his agent in 
 New York or elsewhere^ — fixed by the producer, fixed by any- 
 body, at any price, to escape the payment of full duties. Why, 
 the valuation under the ad valorem system is not even uniform 
 throughout the United States. 
 
 It is a system that has been condemned by all the leading 
 nations of the world. There is not a leading nation that ad- 
 heres to any considerable extent to '^^ad valor em rates of duty 
 upon articles imported into its borders ; and England has aban- 
 doned all ad valorem duties except one, for the very reason 
 that there can be no honest administration of the revenue laws 
 so long as the value is fixed thousands of miles away from the 
 the point of production and impossible of verification at home. 
 
 Henry Clay said fifty years ago : " Let me fix the value of 
 the foreign merchandise, and I do not care what your duty is." 
 
 Mr. Secretary Manning, in his very able report made to the 
 last Congress, has gone over the entire question, and he pub- 
 lishes in a volume the opinions of the experts of the Treasury, 
 the collectors, the naval officers, the special agents of the De- 
 partment, all of them declaring that there is nothing left for 
 the American Government to do but to abolish the ad valorem, 
 system and adopt the specific in the interest of the honest col- 
 lection of the revenue and for the safety and security of repu- 
 table merchants. And the Secretary himself says, in language 
 too strong and plain to be misunderstood, that it is the^duty of 
 Congress to abandon the ad valorem and establish specific 
 duties. 
 
 Not alone in the United States are the benefits which fol- 
 low a protective tariff appreciated. 
 
 The working people of England find the competition with 
 countries employing cheaper labor too oppressive to bear 
 longer, and are demanding in the interest of themselves and 
 families to be saved from the further degradation it will entail. 
 It is not American competition they dread ; it is the competi- 
 tion of France, Germany, and Belgium — countries whose labor 
 is even more poorly paid than the labor of England. They 
 have come to appreciate at last that nothing but tariffs which 
 
2S4 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 are defensive in their character will save them from utter ruin 
 and destitution. We shall be in precisely the same situation 
 if the Mills bill of 1888 becomes a law. Our competition is 
 ■with all the world, for no labor is so well paid as ours, and 
 being the highest paid labor invites the sharpest competition 
 from the lowest. We will have no objection to free trade 
 when all the competing nations shall bring the level of their 
 labor up to ours ; when they shall accept our standard ; when 
 they shall regard the toiler as a man and not a slave ; but we 
 will never consent while we have votes and the power to pre- 
 vent the dragging down of our labor to that of the European 
 standard. Let them elevate theirs ; let them bring theirs up 
 to our level, and we will then have no contention about revenue 
 or protective tariffs. We will meet them in open field, in home 
 and neutral markets, upon equal footing, and the fittest will 
 .survive. This is no time to seriously think of changing our 
 policy. The best sentiment, the practical judgment of man- 
 kind, is turning to it. 
 
 Sir Charles Tupper said, a year ago, in the Canadian House 
 of Commons : 
 
 " No person who has carefully watched the progress of 
 public events and public opinion can fail to know that a very 
 great and marked change has taken place in all countries, I 
 may say, in relation to this question [protection]. ... In Eng- 
 land, where it was a heresy to intimate anything of that kind 
 a few years ago, even at the period to which I am referring, a 
 great and marked change in public opinion has taken place. 
 Professor Sidgewick, a learned Fellow of Trinitj- College, 
 Cambridge, and professor of moral philosophy in that great 
 university, and the gentleman who read at the meeting of the 
 British Association in 1886 a paper on political economy, has 
 published a work in which opinions that would have been 
 denounced as utterly fallacious and heretical at that time have 
 been boldly propounded as the soundest and truest principles 
 of political economy. . . . Statesmen of the first rank, men 
 occupying high and commanding positions in public affairs in 
 England, have unhesitatingly committed themselves to the 
 
A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 25$ 
 
 Strongest opinion in favor of fair protection to British in- 
 dustry." 
 
 Why, even Canada, a dependency of free-trade England, is 
 too wise to favor the false doctrines of her mother, and has 
 rejected her teachings, and to-day is prosperous under a protec- 
 tive system, which she in the main borrowed from us. I wish 
 every citizen might read the budget speech of the minister of 
 finance in Canada, and contrast it with the arguments of the 
 misguided " revenue reformers" in the Fiftieth Congress. On 
 the 1 2th of May, 1887, in the Commons, Sir Charles Tupper, 
 in speaking of a previous period in the history of Canada under 
 free trade, said : " When the languishing industries of Canada 
 embarrassed the finance minister of that day, when, instead of 
 large surplus, large deficits succeeded year after year, the 
 opposition urged upon that honorable gentleman that he 
 should endeavor to give increased protection to the industries 
 of Canada, which would prevent them from thus languishing 
 and being destroyed. We were not successful — I will not say 
 in leading the honorable gentleman himself to the conclusion 
 that that would be a sound policy, for I have some reason to 
 believe that he had many a misgiving on that question — but at 
 all events we were not able to change the policy of the gentle- 
 man who then ruled the destinies of Canada. As is well 
 known, that became the great issue at the subsequent general 
 election of 1878, and the Conservative party being returned to 
 power, pledged to promote and foster the industries of Canada 
 as far as they were able, brought down a policy through the 
 hands of my honored predecessor, Sir Leonard Tilley, . . . and 
 I have no hesitation in saying that the success of that policy 
 thus propounded and matured from time to time has been such 
 as to command the support and confidence of a large portion 
 of the people of this country down to the present day." 
 
 Under this system he proceeds to show that Canada has 
 enjoyed a prosperity the like of which she never enjoyed be- 
 fore, and then, instead of recommending a reduction of duties, 
 proposes the increase of duties upon certain foreign merchan- 
 dise, to the end that Canadian industries may be fostered 
 thereby. 
 
256 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 The experience of this country, the experience of Canada, 
 the experience of every other country demonstrates the fact 
 that under a protective tariff a nation is more prosperous. Its 
 people are better clothed, better fed, better housed, and better 
 educated — more content and happy. And it is this condition 
 of affairs that is most to be desired. 
 
 " The state of civilized society and resources of nations are 
 the tests by which we can ascertain the tendency of the govern- 
 ment. It is to the condition of the people in relation to their 
 intercourse, their moral and physical circumstances, their com- 
 fort and happiness, their genius and industry, that we must 
 look for the proofs of a mild and free, or a cruel and despotic 
 government. Where agriculture, the arts and manufactures, 
 flourish, where domestic improvements have been encouraged, 
 where the more useful branches of education have been exten- 
 sively cultivated, where commerce and navigation have been 
 promoted, where the civil institutions are founded on justice, 
 mercy, and equality, where there is liberty of conscience and 
 freedom of speech and of the press — there it is that we can find 
 the demonstrations of the prosperity and happiness of a people. 
 In proportion as such principles and practices have been 
 adopted we estimate the wealth, power, and glory of the 
 Nation." 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 By Hon. Benj. Butterworth, M.C. from Ohio, and F. D. Mussey. 
 
 In endeavoring to present a comprehensive statement of 
 the progress, under the auspices of the Repubhcan party, of 
 internal development in the United States and a picture of its 
 present industrial condition, difificulty is found in the amazing 
 magnitude of the figures. 
 
 For instance, in the Treasury at this time there are two 
 hundred and one million dollars of gold. This weighs 519 
 tons, and packed in ordinary carts, one ton to each cart, it 
 would make a procession one mile long, allowing twenty feet of 
 space for the movement of each cart. The statement of the 
 figures may not be impressive, but the illustration makes it so. 
 
 The subject of the internal progress of the United States 
 is so vast, that an article within the limits of this must confine 
 itself largely to statistical facts, figures, and results, presented 
 as attractively as possible and leaving deductions to the reader. 
 The subject is treated of under the main general heads of 
 Agriculture, Manufactures, Railroads, Commerce, and Mining, 
 including other heads under these. 
 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 According to an estimate which is doubtless too small, we 
 have in our country a million and a half square miles of arable 
 land. 
 
 In 1850 we had about 300,000,000 of acres in farms, which 
 number increased to nearly 600,000,000 in 1880. The number 
 of farms has increased in the same time from less than 2,000,- 
 000 to, in round numbers, over 4,000,000, while the value of 
 the farms has increased from six thousand millions to ten thou- 
 sand millions of dollars. At the same time the average size of 
 
 257 
 
258 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 farms has decreased from 203 to 134 acres, a most encouraging 
 sign. 
 
 It is estimated by Mulhall that only about 15 per cent of 
 the total area is as yet under cultivation, with an invested capi- 
 tal of over ten thousand six hundred millions of dollars. But 
 even upon this small per cent of our available arable land we 
 produced almost one third of the grain of the world in 1880. 
 
 Since that year the progress in agriculture has been as rapid 
 as ever, and each year adds to the average of the stupendous 
 figure it takes to tell the almost bewildering story of the agri- 
 cultural industry of the United States. In one year Dakota 
 alone added six million acres to her farming area, equal, as 
 Carnegie remarks, to •' one third of all Scotland." Mulhall's 
 statement of the grain production will illustrate the amazing 
 increase in agricultural products. In 1850 the product was 
 867,000,000 bushels; in i860, 1,230,000,000 bushels; while in 
 1880 it had grown in round numbers to 2,700,000,000 bushels. 
 
 To-day we raise one fourth of all the wheat-crop of the 
 world, and our country is feeding mankind and furnishing all 
 the peoples of the earth with food of every description ; con- 
 suming more ourselves than any other nation, we yet export 
 more. The crop of wheat has increased from one hundred 
 million in 1850 to near five hundred million bushels a year; 
 and where we exported in i860 about thirty million dollars' 
 worth, we exported in 1887 wheat and flour to the amount of 
 nearly two hundred millions of dollars. England alone paid us 
 for her share of the "staff of life " we furnished her one hun- 
 dred and seventy-five million dollars. 
 
 Last year we exported breadstuff's alone to the value of 
 nearly two hundred and seven million dollars. Figures as 
 striking characterize the exports of all other products of the 
 agricultural industry, as will appear in dealing with them 
 farther on. In connection with the decrease in acreage of farms 
 is the further pleasant fact that fully three fourths of the farms 
 are cultivated by their owners. This fact is one of the most 
 encouraging that statistics develop, and one of the strongest 
 guarantees of the safety of the State. 
 
 In 1879 our food-crops were produced on 105,097,750 acres, 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 25g 
 
 or 164,215 square miles — less than one ninth the smallest esti- 
 mate of our arable lands. But after plentifully and luxuriously 
 feeding our fifty million people we had nearly three hundred 
 million bushels left to sell to the rest of the world. At this 
 rate, with all our arable soil under cultivation we could feed 
 four hundred and fifty million people and have two and a half 
 millions of grain (corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, 
 potatoes, etc.) left for export. 
 
 Mr. Edward Atkinson says that where we now support our 
 present population of about sixty millions, one hundred millions 
 could be sustained without increasing the area of a single farm 
 or adding one to the number, by merely bringing our product 
 up to an average standard of reasonably good agriculture ; and 
 then there might remain for export twice the quantity we now 
 send abroad to feed the hungry in foreign lands. 
 
 Says Josiah Strong : " If this be true (and it will hardly be 
 questioned by any one widely acquainted with our wasteful 
 American farming), 1,500,000 square miles of cultivated land- 
 less than one half of our entire area this side of Alaska — are 
 capable of feeding a population of 900,000,000, and of pro- 
 ducing an excess of 5,100,000,000 bushels of grain for exporta- 
 tion; or, if the crops were all consumed at home, it would feed 
 a population one eighth larger, namely, 1,012,000,000." It 
 need not, therefore, make a severe draught on credulity to say 
 that our agricultural resources, if fully developed, would sus- 
 tain a thousand million souls. The area of our farming ter- 
 ritory lying west of the Hudson River is three times greater 
 than -Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, 
 Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, and Greece combined. 
 The farms of the United States comprise an area nearly equal 
 in extent to one third of all Europe and greater than France, 
 Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Spain combined. 
 
 Carnegie says that the capital invested in our farms would 
 buy up the whole of Italy, " with its rich olive-groves and 
 vineyards, its old historic cities, cathedrals, and palaces, its king 
 and aristocracy, its pope and cardinals, and every other feudal 
 appurtenance." 
 
 The crop of 1880 was more than two biUiois and a half of 
 
26o THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 bushels. This crop built into a solid mass 365 feet high, — 81 
 feet higher than Trinity Church steeple and 144 feet higher 
 than Bunker Hill monument, — and made the width of an or- 
 dinary city block, would extend in a straight line, in those pro- 
 portions, over six miles. " It would make a pyramid three 
 times as great as that of Cheops. If loaded on carts, it would re- 
 quire all the horses of Europe and a million more (thirty-three 
 and a half millions) to remove it, though each horse drew two 
 tons. Were the entire crop of cereals loaded on a continuous 
 train of cars, the train would reach one and a half times around 
 the globe. Its value is half as great as all the gold mined in 
 California in the thirty-five years since gold was discovered 
 there. 
 
 In 1884 half a million animals and a billion pounds of meat 
 were sent across the ocean. The animals that furnished this 
 product, placed five abreast, would make a procession over one 
 hundred miles long. 
 
 Between i860 and 1880 the product of cereals increased 
 from one thousand two hundred and thirty million bushels to 
 two thousand seven hundred million, the amount already 
 named and illustrated — an increase of over 100 per cent — ■ 
 and three thousand million bushels in 1885. It is such facts as 
 have been given that led an English economic student and 
 statistician to complain that " dealing with the facts and 
 figures of American progress and possibilities made one dizzy." 
 
 Following are some further figures on such progress which 
 .are not calculated to dispel any sense of giddiness occasioned 
 by the foregoing. 
 
 The value of live-stock rose from one thousand million dol- 
 lars in 1 860 to two thousand million in 1880. The annual prod- 
 uct of the farms reached over two thousand millions, and the 
 annual value of food-products of all kinds is estimated at over 
 five thousand million dollars. In that same period (i860 to 
 1880) the number of people engaged in gainful occupations in- 
 creased from twelve million five hundred thousand to seventeen 
 million five hundred thousand. 
 
 For the year the total value of the wheat, corn, rye, oats, 
 barley, potatoes, hay, etc., was about two thousand five hun- 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 261 
 
 dred million dollars. Garden-truck, berries, orchard-products, 
 etc., added several millions more. England, in a single year, 
 paid our farmers six thousand millions of dollars for meat, 
 butter, cheese, grain, eggs, fish, lard, potatoes, and rice. 
 
 Italy, Spain, Austria, and Canada united do not produce one 
 third as much as the product of the United States. The total 
 value of the agricultural and pastoral product for 1880 in the 
 United States is reckoned at three thousand and twenty millions 
 of dollars, as has been stated. Russia produced two thousand 
 five hundred and fortj'-five millions ; Germany, two thousand 
 two hundred and eighty millions ; France, two thousand two 
 hundred and twenty millions ; and England, one thousand two 
 hundred and eighty millions of dollars. 
 
 During all these years of expansion not an article of con- 
 sumption has increased in price, except beef, mutton, and pork 
 (owing to the immense foreign demand), and the farmers have 
 been reaping the advantage of increased value of their farms. 
 The value of the total agricultural product of the Mississippi 
 Valley alone was one thousand six hundred million dollars. 
 
 Our wool-clip for 1830 was 18,000,000 pounds ; 1850, 
 52,000,000 pounds; i860, 60,000,000 pounds ; 1870,160,000,000 
 pounds; and 1884, 308,000,000. Last year it was 285,000,000. 
 The number of our sheep in 1881 was nearly forty-three and 
 one half millions. 'It went up to 50,626,620 in 1884, and 
 dropped to 44,759,314 last year (1887). 
 
 In i860 we had 22,471,275 sheep, and the wool-clip 
 amounted to 60,511,343 pounds. In 1883 the duty on wool 
 and woolen goods was reduced, as it was on other things, and 
 then the number of our sheep commenced to be reduced, and 
 the wool-clip was lessened so that in 1886 it only amounted to 
 285,000.000 pounds, and in 1887 to 265,000,000 pounds, as esti- 
 mated by Mr. Dodge, of the Bureau of Statistics of the Agri- 
 cultural Department. 
 
 For purposes of comparison upon this important product 
 the reader will find the following table advantageous : 
 
-S^Z THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Production of Raw Wool in each Principal Country. 
 
 Wool Produced. 
 Countries of Production. Pounds, 
 
 Russia in Europe (1884) 262,966,000 
 
 United Kingdom (1885) 135,936,000 
 
 France (1882) 80,138,000 
 
 Spain (1878) 66, 138,000 
 
 Germany (1881) 54,894,000 
 
 Hungary (1885) 43,146,000 
 
 United States of America (1886) 285,000,000 
 
 Argentine Republic (1885) 283,047,000 
 
 Uruguay (1884) 59,084,000 
 
 Australasia (1885-86) 455,470,000 
 
 British East Indies, Turlcey, and Persia 36,354,000 
 
 Cape Colony and Natal (1885) 46,605,000 
 
 Number of Sheep and Lames. 
 
 ... Sheep and Lambs. 
 
 Couf,TKiES. Number. 
 
 Russia in Europe (18S2) 47,508,966 
 
 United Kingdom (r886) 28,955,240 
 
 France (1885) 22,616,547 
 
 Spain (1878) 16,939,288 
 
 Germany (1883) 19,189,715 
 
 Hungary (1884) 10,594., 831 
 
 United States of America (1887) 44,759.314 
 
 Argentine Republic (1885) 75,000,000 
 
 Uruguay (1884) 15,921,069 
 
 Australasia (1884-85) 78,888,710 
 
 India (1877-78) 17,140,757 
 
 Cape Colony and Natal (1875 and 1885) 11,815,225 
 
 We have already given totals in this branch of our subject, 
 and there remains but little more to say. It will be interesting, 
 however, to take up some prominent instances to sho"w the 
 wonderful increase of each product in bulk and value. 
 
 Take barley, for instance, not considered a prominent crop 
 in our country. In i860 the crop was sixteen million bushels. 
 In 1880 it had increased to forty-five million, a tremendous 
 leap, and last year it was sixty million. In 1 887 the crop of oats 
 was five hundred and sixty million bushels ; rye, twenty-six 
 million bushels ; corn, nearly one thousand eight hundred mil- 
 lion bushels; buckwheat, twelve million bushels; molasses, 
 twenty-two million five hundred thousand gallons; sugar, 178,- 
 000 hogsheads, and so on through hundreds of products. 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 263 
 
 Of hay, the most valuable American crop, we produced in 
 i860 nineteen million tons. In 1880 the crop was thirty-six 
 million tons, raised on thirty million acres. 
 
 The tobacco-crop from 1870 to 1880 increased almost 100 
 per cent. In 1886 672,000 acres were planted, and the crop 
 reached nearly five hundred miUion pounds, valued at about 
 -thirty-three million dollars. 
 
 We produced one hundred and thirty-four million bushels 
 of potatoes in the year 1887, over two bushels for each man, 
 woman, and child ; and the value of our orchard-product was 
 fifty-three million dollars, and we imported twenty millions of 
 dollars' worth beside. 
 
 In 1830 we raised less than one million bales of cotton. In 
 1880 the crop was nearly six million bales, valued at $275,- 
 000,000. Last year (1887) the value of exported cotton, un- 
 manufactured, was $206,000,000, and of manufactures of 
 cotton $15,000,000. The total export for 1880 was $220,000,- 
 000. In 1830 the value of the export was $30,000,060. 
 Two thirds of our export is taken by England alone. 
 
 The following comparison of three staple crops will illus- 
 trate most forcibly the swift increase in our agricultural pro- 
 duction : 
 
 
 Corn. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 i860 
 
 ' Bushels. 
 
 838,793,742 
 1,754.861.535 
 
 Bushels. 
 
 173,104,924 
 459.479.505 
 
 Bushels. 
 
 172,643.185 
 407,858,999 
 
 1880 
 
 
 The product for 1887 is, of course, much larger. Carnegie 
 says the sum has been more than two thousand five hundred 
 million dollars, and Mulhall values the total agricultural pro- 
 duct for 1884 at no less than two thousand seven hundred and 
 twenty-one million five hundred thousand dollars, a sum it is as 
 impossible to conceive of or appreciate as the distance to a 
 given fixed star. 
 
 In the department of live-stock the figures are not less 
 amazing. In 1884 the total value of our farm animals was, 
 
264 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 according to the statistics of the Agricultural Bureau, as 
 
 follows : 
 
 Horses $833.734.40O 
 
 Mules 161,214,976 
 
 Cattle 1, 106, 715, 703 
 
 Sheep • ■ . 1 19.902 ,706 
 
 Swine 246,301, 139 
 
 Total $2,467,868,924 
 
 According to the census of 1870 the total value of farm ani- 
 mals at that time was $1,525,276,457, this being the currency 
 value. The gold value would have been $1,220,221,165. 
 Thus we have a gain from 1870 to 1884 of $1,247,647,759, or an 
 increase ofi02 per cent on farms exclusive of ranches. 
 
 The total number of hogs packed in 1880 was fifteen million,, 
 valued at three hundred million dollars. Including Chicago, 
 the Mississippi Valley alone packed 9,443,774 hogs, valued at 
 $155,425,360. Switzler gives the total value of live-stock ia 
 1880 as $1,525,276,457, and the number as 140,972,673, 
 
 We have about fifteen million horses, two million and a 
 half of mules and asses, and the grand cavalcade of domestic 
 animals would, marching five abreast, considerably more than 
 reach around the earth. In the statistics for our countr\', for 
 every family appears at least one horse, one cow, four pigs, and 
 three sheep, three bushels of potatoes, etc., etc., in like propor- 
 tion, including money and land. 
 
 This statement of the agricultural situation falls far short 
 of doing justice to the subject. In many instances allowance 
 must be made for the fact that nearly a decade has elapsed 
 since the last census was taken, and that the period has been 
 one of healthful growth and development. 
 
 But it may be safely assumed that in perhaps every instance 
 figures are short of the facts of the present day, and often far 
 short of them. The census-takers and statisticians and profes- 
 sional figurers are unable to keep up with the American industrial 
 progress as it strides on in its seven-league boots. Oftentimes 
 they gaze amazed and awed at the results of their own compu- 
 tations, as the sculptor shrank from the statue of Jove he had 
 fashioned. It is most pleasant to contemplate the fact that 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 265 
 
 this progress is not sectional ; that it appHes to all parts of the 
 country alike; that everywhere within the boundary-lines of 
 our vast land the same conditions endure, of advance, of prog- 
 ress, of growth and expansion in wealth and numbers. 
 
 It is especially pleasant to observe the figures of Southern 
 progress under the existing industrial and financial policy, and 
 which has prevailed since the Republican party came into 
 power. To show this we give the following table showing the 
 products of the Southern States for 1880 and 1888, though 
 some of the items do not come under the head of the braiich 
 of industry we are considering : 
 
 1888. 1880. 
 
 Railroad mileage 36,736 I9,43I 
 
 Yield of cotton, bales 6,800,000 5,755,359 
 
 Grain, bushels, 1887 626,305,000 431,074,630 
 
 Number of farm animals 44,830,972 28,754,243 
 
 Value of live-stock $573,695,55° $391,312,254 
 
 Value of cliief agricultural products, 1887 $742,066,460 $571,098,454 
 
 Coal mined, tons, 1887 16,476,785 6,049,471 
 
 Pig-iron produced, tons, 1887 929.436 397, 3°! 
 
 Number of cotton-mills 294 1 79 
 
 Number of spindles 1,495,145 713,989 
 
 Number of looms 34. 006 15,222 
 
 Value of cotton goods produced $43,000,000 $21,000,000 
 
 Number of cotton-seed-oil mills 60 40 
 
 Capital invested in cotton-seed oil mills $12,000,000 $3,504,000 
 
 Phosphate mined, tons 432,757 190,162 
 
 This alone, however, is a splendid exhibition for the South, 
 and is only a hint of what will occur in that section if there is 
 no legislative interference with existing policies, which make 
 such things possible in a section that is just awaking to a real- 
 ization of its own tremendous strength and inimitable resources 
 and has nothing to fear but its own "representatives." 
 
 In closing this subject, we give the following terse and 
 vigorous " round-number " statement from Porter : "The num- 
 ber of farms has doubled, 2,000,000 in i860 to 4,000,000 in 1880 ; 
 their value has increased in that period from $6,000,000,000 to 
 over $10,000,000,000. The production of cereals has increased 
 under protection from 1,230,000,000 bushels in i860 to 2,700- 
 000,000 bushels in 1880, an increase of over 100 per cent. The 
 
266 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 value of live-stock has risen from $1,000,000,000 in i860 to 
 $1,500,000,000 in 1880; while the annual products of the farm 
 have reached $3,000,000,000. The number of sheep, owing to 
 the duty on wool, has more than doubled — 22,000,000 in i860 
 to over 50,000,000 at the present time. The home product of 
 wool has increased from 60.000,000 to 325,000,000 pounds." 
 
 MANUFACTURING. 
 
 Agriculture and manufacturing are the great forces at work 
 to develop the resources of the country — one providing food 
 and material for clothing, and the other producing the clothing 
 and other necessaries and luxuries of life, for the whole people. 
 They are industries that go hand in hand, and neither can 
 prosper long without the other. 
 
 The force employed in trade and transportation is not a 
 productive force to any great extent, it being engaged simply 
 in the exchange of articles already produced by those engaged 
 in agriculture, manufacturing, and mining. 
 
 Agriculture naturally takes the first place in numbers, 
 amount of product, and importance. But important as our 
 agricultural industries are, our manufacturing industries are 
 second only to them, and even outrank them in value of prod- 
 ucts. Allowing the same ratio of increase, says a well-known 
 authority, for our manufacturing industries that had taken 
 place for a few years previous to the last census, there are 
 now in this country about 300,000 factories, employing nearly 
 4,500,000 people, with about $4,000,000,000 of capital invested ; 
 and the value of our manufactured products amounts annually 
 to nearly $8,000,000,000, an excess, it is said, over those of 
 Great Britain of more than $1,000,000,000 annually. How 
 important to all, then, that our manufacturing industries also 
 be encouraged and fostered by the government, equally and 
 side by side with our agricultural industries. 
 
 It is a truth that the English accept with doubt and amaze- 
 ment the fact that the United States and not England is 
 the greatest manufacturing nation in the world. The gen- 
 eral idea is that America is great only in agriculture and its 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 267 
 
 product, and even our own people are surprised at the fact that 
 Illinois, usually considered in her character of a great prairie 
 and agricultural State only, is the fourth State in the Union in 
 the value of her manufactured products. Only Massachusetts, 
 New York, and Pennsylvania lead Illinois in manufacturing. 
 
 Comparing the value of our agricultural with our manu- 
 factured products, it is shown that, although there are nearly 
 twice as many people employed in agriculture as in manufac- 
 turing, the value of manufactured products is nearly double 
 that of agricultural. This is accounted for in a great measure 
 by the extensive use of steam, water-power, and machinery 
 employed in manufacturing. According to statistics, the ap- 
 plication of steam-power to machinery in this country has 
 added a force equal to 2,183,488 horse-power; and the added 
 force of water-power is equal to 1,225,339 horse-power, — mak- 
 ing the increased force of steam and water combined equal to 
 3,408,827 horse-power. If we estimate one horse-power as 
 equal to the labor of six men, these two forces have added a 
 productive power equal to 20,452,962 men. The steam-power 
 alone used in driving factories is equal to 15,110,928 men. It 
 is said that the productive force derived from the steam-engines 
 and water and air of Great Britain, including her navy, is 
 equivalent to the labor of 75,000,000 men. 
 
 The gain of power by the use of steam, water, and machin- 
 ery is illustrated in our factories, where girls of 15 are attending 
 machines which in one day spin a thread 2100 miles in length 
 — long enough to reach from New York to California. 
 
 Fifty years ago nearly all the spinning in this country was 
 done by the common household spinning-wheel. An active 
 woman working ten hours a day could spin a thread only three 
 and eight-tenths miles in length, walking more than five miles 
 in doing it. Says Mr. Miller: "Before the invention of the 
 cotton-gin a man could clean only four pounds of cotton in a 
 day. Now, by the use of machinery, he can clean 4000 pounds 
 in the same time. A single boot and shoe factory in Massa- 
 chusetts, employing 1000 men, will turn out nearly as many 
 boots and shoes in a year, by the aid of steam and machinery, 
 
268 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 as 30,000 French shoemakers. Some of our American factories 
 will take the raw leather and cut and make in twenty minutes 
 a pair of ladies' shoes ready for wear." It is true that farmers 
 also have a great addition to their working forces in the machin- 
 ery which is worked by horses, mules, and oxen, and lately by 
 a modicum of steam-power also ; but steam-power, as a produc- 
 tive force in manufacturing, is far greater than all these. As a 
 force to add to our national wealth and to promote the pros- 
 perity of the people, manufacturing, if possible, outranks all 
 other industries. 
 
 Steam-power and machinery add more than one billion of 
 dollars to our productive force in manufacturing every year, 
 independent of human exertion. Foreign countries gain this 
 wealth when they do our manufacturing for us. 
 
 The returns of the tenth census (1880) give the following 
 statistics of manufactories in the United States : 
 
 Number of establishments, 253,840 ; capital invested, $2,790,- 
 223,506; total amount paid in wages, $947,919,674; value of 
 materials, $3,394,340,029; value of products, $5,369,667,706. 
 
 Spofford gives the aggregate returns for other years as 
 follows: 1870, $4,232,325,442; i860, $1,885,861,676; 1850, 
 $1,019,106,616. This shows an increase in value of manufac- 
 tured products between 1850 and 1880 of $4,350,472,575, a sum 
 too large for the mind to grasp. But since then it has taken 
 another leap, and the figures of the next census, if the present 
 rate of progress continues, will be just as bewildering. During 
 the same period British manufactures increased only 100 per 
 cent, while our increase was, everything considered, nearly 
 600 per cent. 
 
 In the flouring and grist mills alone the product in 1880 was 
 five hundred and five millions of dollars. The figures for this 
 industry last year showed an increase almost past belief. There 
 were even in 1880 25,000 mills, with a capacity to grind five 
 million bushels daily, enough to feed our own people and 300,- 
 000,000 Europeans, who consume annually one billion three 
 hundred and forty-seven million bushels. 
 
 In the slaughtering and beef-packing industry in 1880 
 $50,000,000 capital was invested, 30,000 persons employed, and 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 269 
 
 a product turned out valued at three hundred and three million 
 dollars. Nearly two million cattle were killed, two million 
 three hundred thousand sheep, sixteen million hogs, as we have 
 stated under another head. 
 
 The production of steel rails has grown so enormously that 
 we now manufacture more than any other country in the world. 
 The importation of steel rails has also declined from 182,135 net 
 tons in 1882 to 2395 tons in 1885. Importations under the rise 
 in prices are now increasing again. It is estimated that more 
 than $1,800,000,000 worth of steel rails have been made in this 
 country, and the money which this vast production has cost 
 has been kept at home to build up our own towns and cities. 
 
 In the year 1850 we manufactured 564,755 tons of pig-iron, 
 while in 1883 we made 5,146,972 tons net, and in the latter 
 year we also imported 490,875 tons. Since the reduction of 
 duties in 1883 the production of pig-iron has fallen off, in 1885, 
 I'I35;S95 tons. In 1886 we surpassed Great Britain both in 
 production of steel and consumption of iron. It is not possible 
 to calculate the general good derived from the building up of 
 this mammoth industry by a protective policy. It brought into 
 and retained in the country vast sums of money, to go into 
 and quicken all the avenues and arteries of trade, to build 
 up cities, and by so doing creating home markets for the agri- 
 culturist, and adding greatly to the volume of trade and the 
 business of transportation. 
 
 Our lumber trade in 1880 employed 150,000 men who were 
 paid $32,000,000, and turned into market a product valued at 
 two hundred and thirty-four million dollars. In one year 
 8,000,000,000 feet of lumber has been cut in three States alone ; 
 1,500,000,000 feet of pine was cut in the South, and 216,000,- 
 000,000 left standing. The supply of timber cannot soon be ex- 
 hausted, and the amount untouched cannot be estimated in fig- 
 ures. Recently Senator Palmer of Michigan was asked whether 
 the lumber of Michigan, between lumbermen and fires, was not 
 about exhausted. He replied that there was yet standing in 
 the single State of Michigan enough timber to make a board 
 fence fifteen boards high around the earth three times every 
 year for fifteen years. 
 
270 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 But we have not the space to name in detail the thousands 
 of branches of manufacturing in the country. That industry 
 and the inventions to simplify it are the marvels of the world. 
 The communities that have grown up about the great manu- 
 factories with their pretty cottages, paved streets, gas, elec- 
 tricity, telephones, telegraphs, railroads, street-cars, parks, 
 churches, schools, libraries, lyceums, and all the other concomi- 
 tants of our advanced civilization, make the ideal industrial 
 community that students of political economy and statesmen 
 and scholars have dreamed of and theorized about in the past, 
 and finally relegated to the limbo of Utopia as impossible of 
 realization. 
 
 But here we have it, and nearly every one of these neat 
 homes of the operatives is owned by the man who resides in it, 
 just as nearly all the farms of America are owned by the men 
 who till them. As an evidence of the prosperity of our opera- 
 tives and wage-workers who own their own homes, send their 
 children to the free schools, the high schools and even col- 
 leges, the savings-bank deposit is a faithful index. Last year 
 the total deposit was $1,235,247,371, and the number of de- 
 positors was 3,418,013. The miU operatives of Massachusetts 
 alone have in deposit $274,098,413 ; those of New York, S506,- 
 000,000, which is $100,000,000 more than the entire accumu- 
 lation in the savings banks of England in four centuries. The 
 laboring men of little Rhode Island alone have to their credit 
 in the savings banks fifty-two millions of dollars. Our deposits 
 have been more than three times as much under protection as 
 under free trade. 
 
 The English savings banks in thirty-four years of free trade 
 increased their deposits $350,000,000. During nineteen years 
 of protection in the United States, deposits in the banks of 
 nine States increased $628,000,000. Our operatives deposit 
 seven dollars to the English operatives' one. 
 
 In this condition of welfare and money-saving, largely the 
 fruit of Republican policy, the laboring man has leisure and 
 ease of mind, and can give his attention to devices for improvino- 
 machinery and methods. Nearly all the ingenious mechanism 
 of our workshops is invented by practical workers themselves. 
 
IMEKNAL DEVELOPMENT. 2/1 
 
 T\: e. foreign laborer, pinched by poverty, brutalized, ignorant 
 and neglected, has no chance to think about the machinery or 
 anything else, except his few coarse and oftentimes degraded 
 pleasures. 
 
 Thus we are given one of our greatest advantages in the 
 ingenuity and intelligence of our operatives, who possess inven- 
 tiveness as a national trait. Herbert Spencer testified that 
 " beyond question, in respect of mechanical appliances, the 
 Americans are ahead of all nations." The fact of superior 
 tools would alone give us no small advantage, but the posses- 
 sion of the best machinery implies much more^namely, that we 
 have also the best mechanics in the world. 
 
 While the manufactures of France from 1870 to 1880 in- 
 creased $230,000,000, those of Germany $430,000,000, and those 
 of Great Britain $580,000,000, those of the United States 
 increased $1,030,000,000 — an increase almost equal to that of 
 these three great nations combined. While England's coal is 
 growing dearer, ours will be growing cheaper. The development 
 of our vast resources will greatly increase, and hence cheapen raw 
 materials. Every year the superior intelligence and inventive 
 genius of our workmen elevate the standard of excellence in 
 our machinery and mechanical appliances, and will continue to 
 do so. 
 
 Even now, in almost every manufactured commodity, we can 
 and do undersell foreign countries in their own marts, cheapen 
 the steel in Sheffield, the watches in Switzerland, the cotton in 
 Manchester, and the electric plate in Birmingham. And while 
 we undersell them on their own door-sills, it is no wonder they 
 put forth every effort to procure free trade with America, and 
 break down the protective barrier thrown around our industries, 
 or that their sympathy is with the Democratic party and against 
 the party which considers it a patriotic duty to uphold the 
 "American System." 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 In estimating the growth and development of our com- 
 merce during the last thirty years we must not consider merely 
 
272 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the greater bulk, but the change in character and increase in 
 variety, of the subject-matter of commerce. 
 
 Science has disclosed more important uses for thousands of 
 articles which have been held as worthless, and the inventive 
 genius of the country has produced numberless novel and useful 
 improvements in the devices and instrumentalities for lighten- 
 ing the labor of and lifting the burdens from our people, while 
 multiplying their comforts a thousandfold. Of course our 
 industries have been and are the parents of our commerce, 
 furnishing as they do the materials for that commerce. Thirty- 
 five years ago the commerce of our country was confined, in 
 the main, to a comparatively limited number of articles. Our 
 industries were then to what they are now as one to ten. 
 They presented a scene of drudgery and struggling poverty. 
 
 Under a wise policy of favorable and encouraging legisla- 
 tion they have grown to the vast proportions that have been 
 indicated under previous heads in this article. 
 
 With this advance, commerce and trade have kept pace 
 with adequate improvements in shipping, handling, and trans- 
 portation, and with them have come improved facilities for ex- 
 change, a perfection of national currency, increase of wages, 
 increase of wealth, the upspringing of great States, communi- 
 ties, and cities, unparalleled increase of population, procurement 
 of comforts and luxuries, and upraising of the general standard 
 of living, of education and intelligence — thus raising and ad- 
 vancing the condition of a people beyond anything ever known 
 in a like time in the world's history. Our tremendous rate of 
 progress may be judged by the fact that last year after supplying 
 our sixty million people with everything needful, far beyond 
 what the general people of any other country can afford, we 
 sold to the world merchandise to the value of over seven hun- 
 dred and sixteen million dollars, as against two hundred and 
 eighty-one millions in 1856, and that in 1850 our total domestic 
 export was $136,946,912, against $703,022,923 last year (1887). 
 
 We were able to sell to the world in 1850 one hundred and 
 twenty-four million dollars' worth of agricultural products, and 
 last year we made the rest of the world pay us for our surplus 
 cir^ricultural product five hundred and twenty-three million 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 273 
 
 ■dollars. Meanwhile our population increased from 23,000,000 
 in 1850 to 50,000,000 in 1880. From 1850 to i860 our increase 
 in population was over 35 per cent ; from i860 to 1870 nearly 
 23 per cent; and from 1870 to 1880 it was over 30 per cent. 
 From 1880 up to the present our increase from immigration 
 alone has been fourteen million. Seven hundred and eighty- 
 nine thousand arrived in one year (1882). 
 
 Some startling facts as to our commerce have been given 
 under preceding heads when they were deemed appropriate for 
 purposes of comparison, which is the first object of this article. 
 Indeed to separate absolutely from one another the different 
 topics is difficult, so closely are the interests of all interwoven, 
 and so much is one dependent upon another. 
 
 Our total imports last year were $726,042,923, against 
 $75,000,000 in 1830 and $163,186,510 in 1850, specie values. 
 But the account of our exports is more astonishing in its in- 
 crease. Beginning in 1790 at $20,000,000, it leaped to $60,000,- 
 000 in 1830, and bounded from that sum to $137,000,000 in 
 1850, and to $726,000,000 last year. 
 
 In 1886 we exported to Canada $15,000 worth not em- 
 braced in the United States customs accounts. Spofford under 
 the head of " Commerce of Nations " puts our total export 
 last year at $752,180,902, and imports $762,490,560. Under 
 " Progress of American Exports in Thirty Years," Spofford 
 puts the increase from 1850 to 1880 at $689,000,000. 
 
 These figures show vividly the great advance made under 
 the policy of protection. With this advance, wages have be- 
 come higher and rates of transportation lower. The building 
 up of great cities and commercial centers creates home markets 
 for farmers. The nearer the producer and the consumer can 
 be brought together the less is paid for transportation, and the 
 less the products of industry are absorbed by middlemen. 
 The construction of cheap transportation routes has been 
 stimulated. By making all kinds of business prosperous a de- 
 mand is created for a greater number of railroads and increased 
 facilities for moving freight. The more railroads we have, and 
 the more waterways and other means of transportation, the 
 
274 THE REPUBLICAN TARTY. 
 
 less the cost of transporting the farmers' products, as well as 
 manufactured goods. There is no country in the world where 
 there are so many railroads as in this, and no country where 
 the freight rates are so low. 
 
 In 1865 the average charge per ton per mile for moving 
 merchandise over the New York Central and Hudson River 
 Railroad was $3.27 in gold. In the year 1 885 the average charge 
 per ton per mile on the same road was 68 cents, a decrease 
 since 1865 of $2.^59 per ton in gold. The United States also 
 builds more ships than any other nation in the world except 
 Great Britain. Our vessels, however, are nearly all used along 
 our coast and on our inland waters for transportation in our 
 domestic commerce. 
 
 In 1885 we built 920 vessels of all sorts with a gross tonnage 
 of 159,056 tons. But our shipping is of little consequence 
 compared with our railroads, canals, and water^vays, and Amer- 
 ica turns her back to the sea and faces the enormous field of 
 internal commerce and development. She can well afford to 
 use the ships made and manned by the cheap labor of Eng- 
 land. American thrift and energy and industry will instinctively 
 seek the most promising field ; when the sea becomes that 
 field, the Yankee will promptly take possession of it. Since 
 she has turned her face inward toward internal development 
 and commerce, she has built up a property she would not ex- 
 change for all the kingdoms of the earth — a railroad property 
 worth more than all the fleets that float. 
 
 The coasting trade of America presents a tonnage of 
 34,000,000 tons. Our total tonnage in 1884 was over 3,000,000 
 tons, next to that of Great Britain. The shipping engaged in 
 internal commerce has a tonnage of 1,000,000, giving a total 
 tonnage of 4,250,000 compared with the 7,000,000 of Great 
 Britain. The American coasting tonnage alone is more than 
 double the entire foreign traffic, while domestic commerce by 
 rail, lake, and river is twenty times greater than the foreign 
 trade. 
 
 In closing let us take a glance into the wonderland of the 
 West. Consider for a moment these astounding statistics for 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 275 
 
 the city of Minneapolis: During 1887, 6428 miles were added 
 to the railroads entering her depots; 6,375,250 barrels of flour 
 were manufactured, against 940,786 in 1879; 46,000,000 bushels 
 of wheat were handled in 1887, or 11,000,000 more than in 
 1886. In 1887 $11,010,537 was disbursed for freight by rail on 
 wheat, flour, and bran, received or forwarded. The value of 
 articles manufactured at Minneapolis last year, exclusive of 
 lumber and flour, was $23,461,000, against $5,696,000 in 1878 
 The city, with a population of 200,000 souls, has nineteen 
 banks, and the bank clearances had jumped from $87,978,000 in 
 1883 to $194,267,737 in 1887. In 1880 the population did not 
 exceed 46,887. 
 
 This is the most amazing progress ever made by any city. 
 Forty-five years ago the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis 
 neither existed nor were thought of. In 1887 the country 
 tributary to St. Paul produced 95,000,000 bushels of wheat, 
 half as many bushels of corn, 90,000,000 bushels of oats 
 $18,000,000 in silver, $5,000,000 in gold, $5,000,000 in copper 
 2,500,000 head of cattle, 1,622,000 head of sheep, and an 
 equally large amount in proportion of many other products, 
 including an immense lumber product. No less than 3535 
 miles of railway by 1887 centred at these two cities, and the 
 value of manufactured products had been increased from 
 $6,150,900 in 1878 to $35. 713-314 in 1887. 
 
 At St. Paul there were fourteen banks with a business capital 
 of $6,675,000, whose loans aggregated $19,599,000, and whose 
 exchange dealings footed up $160,427,000, while the money 
 orders of the post-office there amounted to $4,153,215, and the 
 population was estimated at 225,000. 
 
 By the census of 1880 the population of St. Louis was 
 350,000, and was enumerated at 450,000 in 1886. In 1887 the 
 aggregate tonnage of freight by river and rail received and 
 shipped at St. Louis was 4,895,457 tons, against 2,122,624 in 
 1878 from the South. The total shipments and receipts of 
 freight by river and rail from all quarters in 1887 were 14,359,059 
 tons, against 6,995,241 tons in 1878. Bank clearances aggre- 
 gated $894,527,791 in 1887, against $810,769,962 in 1886. 
 
 Kansas City adds its great chapter to the thrilling story. 
 
2/6 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Her population was but 2000 in 1857, and 5000 in 1865. Her 
 population in 1887 had reached 166,000, while the transactions 
 of her clearing house were increased from $204,333,000 in 1885 
 to $311,895,000 for the year ended on June 30, 1887, the 
 place then taking rank as the tenth city in the United States 
 in^the magnitude of its clearances. Bank deposits were in- 
 creased from $11,249,000 in 1886 to $21,289,000 in 1887, 
 loans from $8,024,000 to $14,278,000, specie from $832,000 to 
 $1,914,000, and legal tenders from $945,000 to $1,664,000. 
 The assessed valuation was increased from $9,000,000 in 1878 
 to $53,917,000 in 1887. 
 
 In 1880 Omaha had a population of but 30,000; to-day it 
 numbers 125,000. The wholesale trade during 1887 nearly 
 doubled that of 1886. Here has grown up one of the largest 
 reduction works of the money metals in the world. Omaha 
 is already the third place in the country in respect of the 
 slaughtering of animals and packing of meat. Its bank clear- 
 ings for 1887 more than doubled those of 1884, and were in- 
 creased from $93,793,835 in 1886 to $144,414,148 in 1887. 
 The industrial establishments of this city have had a phenom- 
 enal growth even for the Mississippi Valley. Hogs, beef, and 
 sheep were slaughtered there last year to the value of $ 1 3,708, 1 20. 
 
 This is but a small part of the interesting story, and only 
 these cities are chosen to illustrate a progress that is not a 
 steady moving on, but a progress by tremendous bounds that 
 clear spaces which in other countries it took centuries to cover. 
 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 There is no more interesting subject connected with the 
 internal development of the United States than the rise, growth, 
 and present condition of the railway system. 
 
 While the figures of railway progress are almost beyond be- 
 hef, there are a thousand matters connected with this develop- 
 ment that cannot be covered by these figures. They have 
 nothing to say of the civilizing and humanizing influence of 
 the tremendous system of railroads and steam horses that make 
 a network of steel, the meshes of which cover all the land. 
 
INTERNA!. DEVELOPMENT. 2/7 
 
 The railroad statistics of themselves do little beyond sug- 
 gesting to the thoughtful something of what the industry has 
 been and is to the country, in the way of education, and raising 
 the high standard of intelligence and knowledge and mental 
 activity of our people, who, through encouragement of railways, 
 and internal improvements, free schools, protection to American 
 labor from foreign competition, free homes, and absolute free 
 trade between the States and Territories of the Union, have 
 become the most intelligent, ingenious, progressive, and pros- 
 perous people in the world, aided as they have been by an un- 
 told wealth of varied natural resources such as God has blessed 
 no other nation with. 
 
 The development of our railway system is only partially 
 shown by an exhibit of the number of miles of increase in lines 
 built. A hundred other considerations enter into the matter. 
 We must consider the character of the roads, the nature of the 
 machinery, and equipment in reference to safety, speed, and 
 capacity, all tending to reduce the cost of shipment and trans- 
 portation, and greatly simplifying the problem involved in the 
 wonderful growth of our commerce. 
 
 We must know that by these improvements business is done 
 by merchants and manufacturers and producers of all kinds, in 
 transportation of goods, at one half the gross profit charged and, 
 in fact, indispensable thirty-five years ago. The improvements 
 in the handling of goods, of grain, of farm animals, of heavy 
 substances and every description of production, have kept full 
 pace with the progress of the railways in efficiency toward the 
 goal of comparative perfection. 
 
 It is only about fifty years ago that the first rail was laid. 
 It is wholly within that period that our people have learned to 
 travel by rail. Passengers were carried in lumbering stage- 
 coaches, and mails taken by stage or upon horseback. In 1835 
 the speed of communications achieved by the " Express Mail " 
 was presented as the triumph of fast traveling. The mail 
 express took one day and eight hours between New York and 
 Washington, and four days and sixteen hours between New 
 York and Columbus, Ohio. The discomforts of those times 
 can readily be recalled by many people who now ride from 
 
273 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 New York to Washington in five hours, and enjoy on the way 
 every comfort and even every luxury they have in their own 
 homes, no matter how well provided they are with this world's 
 goods. 
 
 People are excusable for smiling when they think of Clay's 
 account of his first railroad ride when he "swept along at the 
 amazing rate of fifteen miles an hour," when they are sweeping 
 along at the rate of from fifty to sixty miles an hour on the 
 road between Washington and Baltimore, or Philadelphia and 
 New York. 
 
 In the carrying trade of commerce the advance has not 
 been less remarkable, and the difference between the old 
 ordinary passenger-cars and the present palace hotel-cars is 
 not less striking than the difference between the ancient and 
 modern cars for transporting animals. The terms "ancient" 
 and "modern" in American progress often represent a differ- 
 ence of time of only a decade, or at the most a generation. 
 
 In 1830 the first mile of railroad in America was graded, 
 and in 1880 we had in our country nearly 88,000 miles of com- 
 pleted road, which is more than long enough to reach around 
 the globe three times. During that time we laid rail enough 
 to wrap a steel string around the globe eight times in case she 
 showed any signs of bursting or bulging out from internal 
 pressure. 
 
 Our areas, distances, length of rivers and canals, and coasts 
 and railroads are bewildering to our European friends, and 
 especially to the denizens of our mother-country treading 
 about in the peck measure of their "tight little island." Even 
 our own people are often astonished bej'ond measure at the 
 comparisons made between things American and things foreign. 
 If you combine the great empire of German)- with the vast 
 republic of France, or with England herself, \-ou can put the 
 result inside of the boundaries of the single State of Texas, and 
 leave room for Mr. Mills and his tariff bill to get lost in. 
 
 The total train mileage last year \\'as 569,772,990, and the 
 number of passengers carried was 382,284,972. The number 
 of tons moved was 482,245,254. The total freight earnings 
 were $550,359,054; the passenger earnings were $211,929,857, 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 279 
 
 and the income from other sources was $60,000,000. The total 
 earnings of our entire railroad system were $882,191,949. The 
 operating expenses were $524,880,334. Net earnings were 
 $297,311,615. Continuing to give the cold figures of ouf 
 railroad industry, which make the skeleton furnished by the 
 statistician upon which the writer may put the warm flesh of 
 deduction and illustration and comparison, we find that the cost 
 of equipment of the railway system as it existed last year was 
 $7,254,995,223. The total assets were $8,548,315,333, and the 
 total available revenue $363,511,704. 
 
 These figures contrast startlingly with those of the railroads 
 as late as 1838, when .the following notice appeared in the Phila- 
 delphia Public Ledger : " Fare Reduced ! Leech & Co.'s Packet 
 Line to Pittsburgh, via railroads and canals. Through in four 
 and a half days ! " Such rapid and reckless traveling in those 
 days was looked upon as almost " tempting Providence." Yet 
 men who made that trip are still alive, and making the same 
 trip in a few hours in the magnificent " vestibule " trains run- 
 ning at the rate of from 45 to 50 miles an hour. To-day San 
 Francisco is practically as near New York as was Pittsburgh in 
 those good old days. 
 
 In i860 we had a total of 30,635 miles of railroad ; in 1870, 
 52,914 miles ; in 1880,93,349 miles; and by the end of 1887 
 we had reached the enormous figure of 148,987 miles. From 
 1883 to 1887, inclusive, there were constructed 34,174 miles; 
 thus the increase in these 5 yeai's was greater than our total 
 mileage in i860 — the product of over 30 years of effort. The 
 length of rails in 1886 was about 270,000 miles, of which over 
 105,723 were steel. There were in use 27,000 locomotives, 
 20,000 passenger cars, and 845,914 freight cars. 
 
 The progress of transportation facilities in the United States 
 from pedestrianism to railroads and steamboats is a fascinating 
 subject, but we have space for dealing with it only in a cursory 
 way. Having given the totals illustrating the immensity of 
 the system, let us take some practical illustrations from a single 
 railway company. 
 
 As good a representative line to use in this connection as 
 any is the great Pennsylvania system, taken all in all the most 
 
28o THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 notable railway system in the world, though there are several 
 others in the United States that are its close rivals. The num- 
 ber of miles controlled by the Pennsylvania Company is nearly 
 8,000. The total number of miles of track belonging to the 
 company is nearly 12,000. The total number of miles of rail 
 owned by the company is 23,000, which would nearly reach 
 around the earth. The company owns nearly 3000 locomo- 
 tives. These engines placed in a straight line would reach 
 from Jersey City to Steelton. The company owns 2600 pas- 
 senger cars, a line 2"] miles long. The number of freight cars 
 is nearly 100,000. In a straight line they would reach 550 
 miles, or if one end was in Jersey Ci'"y the other end would 
 be west of Canton, Ohio. Maintenance-of-way cars number 
 1000, making a line 6 miles long. Hand-cars and hand-trucks 
 number 3,000, a line 5 miles long ; and the 140 sleeping-cars 
 would reach 3 miles. 
 
 As we said in our preliminary remarks, the total of rolling 
 stock would reach, on a straight track, 605 miles, or from 
 Jersey City to a point near Lucas Station, 165 miles west of 
 Pittsburgh. 
 
 A locomotive of the present day costs on an average of 
 $8100. The total value of Pennsylvania engines is about 
 $14,000,000. At any given hour there are moving on the lines 
 of the company 249 trains, made up of 1033 cars ; of these, 
 164 passenger trains are east of Pittsburgh, and 85 west. At 
 the same time there would be moving on lines east and west 
 of Pittsburgh 500 freight trains with 1400 cars. At the Jersey 
 City station 181 passenger trains arrive and depart daily, with 
 nearly looo cars. At Broad Street Station, Philadelphia, 400 
 passenger trains arrive and depart daily, with nearly 2000 cars. 
 
 The company has, from president down, 44,000 employes. 
 The average daily pay-roll is nearly $69,000 ; and last year the 
 total pay-roll was nearly $25,000,000. The number of men, 
 women, and children directly and indirectly dependent upon 
 the company for a living is a little over 220,000. Last year 
 the company carried 5363 tons of freight an hour, 128,711 tons 
 a day, and a total in the year of 46,979,537 tons. 
 
 The total number of passengers carried last year was 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 28l 
 
 40,677,313, an average per day of 111,445, and per hour of 
 4644. The company took into and out of Jersey City 5,336,319 
 passengers, a daily average of 14,620. From 1864 to 1886, in- 
 clusive, the Pennsylvania Company carried in round numbers 
 283,000,000 passengers. 
 
 This stupendous organization has grown up entirely -within 
 the knowledge of some men still connected with it, and from 
 the humblest beginnings, and is a magnificent evidence of the 
 power of human genius and the progress of our country. Yet 
 there are several other systems scarcely inferior to it in the 
 statistics. From these figures a better general idea can be ob- 
 tained of the magnitude of our railroad system. 
 
 But the magnitude is not the only test to apply. We must 
 consider the cost of moving freight, which is the lowest in the 
 world ; much less than European prices. 
 
 Again, consider the present track with its heavy steel rails 
 and fish-plates ; its solid stone-ballasted bed ; its iron bridges 
 or stone-arched bridges and viaducts ; its wonderful system of 
 switches, " block " stations, and signals made almost the acme 
 of perfection, in conjunction with electrical appliances from 
 the telegraph to the incandescent light ; and the tanks from 
 which water is taken while the engine is going at the highest 
 rate of speed. It is but a few years since any of these appli- 
 ances, and hundreds of others that may be named, were un- 
 known. We well remember the thin iron rails, their battered 
 ends failing to join neatly in the " chairs," producing the pound- 
 ing " chuggety chug " noise we can recall. 
 
 We remember the little and inconvenient cars with high win- 
 dows, big wood-stoves and wood-box, the two tallow candles, 
 the hand-brakes, and the link and pin coupling; the cars in 
 almost every instance being " odd-mated," and the coupling 
 toggled up with chains, sticks of wood, and even with ropes. 
 These cars were like egg-shells for crushing purposes and tele- 
 scoping, as the bloody record of deaths by that cause will testify. 
 Only eight years ago we rode in trains answering this descrip- 
 tion, on tracks that were little better than " two lines of rust," 
 in the South, at the rate of 5 miles an hour, where now 
 
282 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 trains of vestibule cars go sweeping over steel rails at from 45 
 to 50 miles an hour. 
 
 It is a splendid and thrilling sight to see one of these 
 magnificent trains rushing along at 50 miles an hour, some- 
 times running 60 miles an hour, flying over the bridges, plung- 
 ing into the tunnels from which it issues with a roar, gliding 
 through peaceful pastoral lands, or among the black and 
 blasted regions of the coal and iron countries. Now it is high 
 in the air, hanging over a boiling flood, now deep down in the 
 bowels of the mountain, anon dashing into and defying the 
 storm and the darkness ; on, on, never pausing in the wild 
 flight across a continent, mountains, rivers, lakes, and plains. 
 
 And all the while the people in the cars read and gossip, 
 and eat and drink, and sleep, and write, and knit, and smoke, 
 and have and do almost everything they could in their own 
 homes and hotels. Mothers are petting their babies ; little ones 
 are romping, or are saying their evening prayers at mother's 
 knee before being curtained away in the luxurious couch; 
 lovers are wooing ; young married couples shyly " spooning ;" 
 " drummers" telling amazing yarns of which they are the 
 heroes ; — and all the time the great train is flying across the 
 country like a meteor, emblematic, in its splendid perfection, its 
 fierce energy, its irresistible onward rush, of the great American 
 people themselves. 
 
 WATERWAYS. 
 
 Besides the artificial highwaj-s furnished by the railroads, 
 we have the greatest system of naturahwaterways in the world, 
 aided as it is by an elaborate canal system. 
 
 East of the Rocky Mountains we have a river-flow of more 
 than 40,000 miles, counting no stream less than 100 miles in 
 length, while Europe has but 17,000 miles. It is estimated 
 that the Mississippi with its affluents affords 35,000 miles of 
 navigation. A steamboat may pass up the Mississippi and 
 Missouri 3900 miles from the Gulf, as far as from New York to 
 Constantinople. Thus a vast system of natural canals carries 
 our seaboard into the very heart of the continent. 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 283 
 
 Although the traffic of our waterways is not large, compara- 
 tively, the system of waterways under favorable conditions is 
 able to exert a great influence in the regulation of internal 
 transportation, which without the rivers would be in the 
 hands entirely of the railroads, without competition. There is 
 not another waterway system in the world to compare with 
 the Mississippi. The number of square miles in the United 
 States is 3,025,502, and the Mississippi system embraces an 
 area of 1,238,642. Its navigable streams number 45, and 
 furnish the people more than 16,000 miles of river navigation — 
 a line more than four times the length of the ocean line from 
 New York to Liverpool. 
 
 " The people of the United States possess in the Missis- 
 sippi and its 44 navigable tributaries highways of commerce 
 and cheap transportation to the seaboard of the commercial 
 value of $2,000,000,000 ; that is to say, lines of railroad of 
 equal length and tonnage with that river and its tributaries, if 
 constructed at the usual expense of such improvements, would 
 cost the people of the United States this enormous and almost 
 incomprehensible sum, and these great water-ways capable of 
 bearing to the markets of the country, and from thence to 
 foreign ports the tonnage indicated, are free gifts of nature." 
 
 One third of the fresh water in the world is in our lakes, 
 and we have the largest river in the world in the Mississippi, 
 sweeping along its awful flood of 2,000,000 cubic feet per hour. 
 We have a dozen or more rivers which permit navigation into 
 the country to distances of from 150 to 200 miles, and steam- 
 ships of 3000 tons burden ply upon our inland seas. These 
 great natural waterways have been supplemented and con- 
 nected with each other by artificial canals. There were in 
 the United States in 1880 4468 miles of canals, which had 
 cost $265,000,000. Nearly 2000 miles of canal had, however, 
 been abandoned, having b.een rendered valueless by the supe- 
 rior facilities offered by -railroads. Freight traffic in canals in 
 1880 amounted to 21,144,292 tons, yielding a gross income of 
 $45,000,000. 
 
 The traffic upon the western rivers is immense, and we may 
 consider some cases in point, though the matter properly comes 
 
284 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 
 under the head of internal commerce. Of the Ohio River a 
 well-known authority has stated that the total of its trade 
 from its head at Pittsburgh to its mouth at New Cairo exceeded 
 in 1874 $800,000,000. It is upon the Ohio that the cheapest 
 transportation in the world exists. Coal, coke, and other 
 bulky articles are transported at the rate of one twentieth of a 
 cent per ton per mile. 
 
 The records of 1884 show that there were owned in the one 
 city of Pittsburgh, for use on the Ohio, 4323 vessels, including 
 barges, with a tonnage of 1,700,000. One hundred and sixty- 
 three of these were steamboats. " Twenty thousand miles of 
 navigable waterways lie before these Pittsburgh craft, and 
 many thousand miles more are ready to be opened by easily- 
 constructed improvements in the lesser streams. This work 
 the General Government is steadily performing year after year, 
 as well as improving the existing navigation. Even to-day a 
 boat can start from Pittsburgh for a port 4300 miles distant, as 
 far as from New York to Queenstown and half way back, or as 
 far away as the Baltic ports are from New York." 
 
 To the tourist there is no grander scenery in the world than 
 he finds along the banks of the rivers of America, and nowhere 
 else exist such magnificent steamboats as ply upon those 
 waters, floating palaces that make worthy companionship with 
 the palace vestibule trains on land. 
 
 MINING. 
 
 With all the visible gifts with which Providence blessed this 
 country, its limitless plains of rich soil, its great lakes, mighty 
 rivers and innumerable harbors, its unequaled climate, the 
 beneficent provision for building up the greatest nation and 
 greatest people on the earth did not stop. 
 
 Under our soil, as well as upon it, nature placed riches un- 
 told, a wealth that has made us the foremost mining as we are 
 the leading agricultural, pastoral, and manufacturing nation of 
 the world. 
 
 From 1 870 to 1880 we produced $732,000,000 of the precious 
 metals. The United States now produces one half of the gold 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 285 
 
 and silver of the world's supply. Iron ore is to-day mined in 
 twenty-three of our States. A number of them could singly 
 supply the world's demand. Our coal-measures are simply in- 
 exhaustible. English coal-pits, already deep, are being deep- 
 ened, so that the cost of coal-mining in Great Britain is con- 
 stantly increasing, while we have coal enough near the surface 
 to supply us for centuries. As one author puts it: "When 
 storing away the fuel for the ages, God knew the place and work 
 to do which he had appointed us, and gave us twenty times as 
 much of this concrete power as to all the peoples of Europe." 
 
 Our mineral products (of all kinds) are of equal richness and 
 variety. The remarkable increase from 1870 to 1880 places us 
 at the head of nations. Our mining industries exceed those of 
 Great Britain three per cent, and are greater than those of all 
 continental Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Mexico, and 
 the British colonies collectively, and as yet we have hardly 
 begun to develop these resources. While the farmers are 
 gathering upon the surface a crop almost large enough to feed 
 all the people upon the earth, the miners are bringing up from 
 beneath the hidden riches of the earth, stored in quantities in- 
 exhaustible. Gold, silver, minerals of every description known 
 to man, coal, iron, precious stones, clay, salt, and so on, in end- 
 less variety and abundance, these riches are stored beneath and 
 are being brought to the surface to enrich mankind. 
 
 Nature, in her seeming eagerness to shower upon this land 
 and this people blessings unprecedented and favors unlimited, 
 does not rest with storing her good things to wait the toilsome 
 burrowing of man. In her own way, with surface hints, in 
 strong odors and oily smears and small blue flames, she sug- 
 gests to man to probe the soil, and rewards him with rivers of 
 oil and the flame and roar of natural gas. These she sends up 
 to him freed from all toil of delving or pumping, fairly forcing 
 upon him the vast supplies from her inexhaustible storehouse 
 of riches. 
 
 She lays her coal and iron, in quantities sufficient to supply 
 all the world, almost upon the surface, and combines with them 
 all other products necessary for reduction and manufacture, 
 and leads out from such locations the greatest and cheapest 
 
286 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 system of water-transportation in the world. In places she 
 puts, side by side, mountains of iron and mountains of coal 
 and mountains of limestone, and laves their common base with 
 rivers that give waterway communication to every part of the 
 world, while in and out among the richly-stored hills wind 
 the railroads, the iron arteries of land commerce. It is not in 
 quantity and quality alone that nature has favored us, but in 
 conditions and location she has added an hundredfold to her 
 gifts, giving us facilities no other nation possesses, even to a 
 single degree of comparison. 
 
 In 1845 we began to produce gold, and not until 1859 were 
 our silver-mines discovered. Yet in the forty years up to 1886 
 we have taken out of the earth gold to the value of $1,718,348,301, 
 and in only twety-nine years of silver-mining we have pro- 
 duced $748,893,760. From these two sources alone in the 
 mining industry we have added to the wealth of the world 
 $2,479,236,971. The total production of precious metals in all 
 the countries of the earth from 1493 to 1879, including the 
 enormous products of Mexico, Peru, and Potosi (Bolivia), was 
 $10,802,329,343, of which the United States furnished $1,175,- 
 000,138. During the calendar year of 1886 we produced in gold 
 and silver $86,190,500, and our total coinage was $57,703,413. 
 
 In the year 1886, from our coal area of 195,403 square 
 miles, we produced 106,780,033 tons, according to Saward's 
 estimate, England and America producing twice as much as all 
 the rest of the world. According to the last census, we pro- 
 duced in 1880 70,481,426 tons, valued at $94,558,608. At the 
 same time the total world's production was 405,988,554 tons of 
 2240 lbs. Our production of cast or pig iron was 6,433,851 
 tons, with 6,566,107 tons of steel ingots and 3,712,726 tons of 
 rails. 
 
 Now, to enable us to more clearly comprehend the value of 
 these productions, particularly those of gold and silver, let us 
 make another practical illustration with the money in the 
 Treasury, such as was given in the preliminary remarks. 
 
 When the figures for these illustrations were obtained 
 the Treasury assets were $281,096,417 in gold and nearly 
 $250,000,000 in silver. The weight of this $281,000,000 is, as 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOI'MENT. 28/ 
 
 ve said, 519 tons, and we have given an illustration of the cart- 
 age of this sum. Counted as gold, the surplus would weigh 
 86|- tons; counted as silver it would weigh 1385 tons. Each 
 million of gold adds 3685 pounds to the surplus, and each 
 million of silver adds 58,930 pounds. Applying cubic measure- 
 ment to the Treasury gold and silver, and piling the two metals 
 on Pennsylvania Avenue as cordwood is piled before delivery to 
 the purchaser, we find that the gold would measure 37 cords 
 and the silver 490 cords, and that both would extend from the 
 Treasury Department to Four and a Half Street, or from the 
 Treasury to the Pension Office in a straight line, and forming a 
 solid wall eight feet high and four feet broad, the distance 
 being eight long city squares. 
 
 As yet natural gas is too new a product, and its increase too 
 great, to admit of giving definite figures concerning it ; and if 
 these figures could be given, they would be incomprehensible. 
 
 This new factor promises to be one of the most tremendous 
 agents in the wealth-production of the world, and already is 
 revolutionizing methods of manufacture and conditions that 
 have long endured. As for petroleum, the value of our export 
 alone of that prodnct in 1884 was over $625,000,000 The flow 
 both of oil and gas goes on increasing year by year. As the 
 United States furnishes one half of the annual gold product of 
 the world, so she leads the world in the annual product of 
 silver, viz., $46,200,000. At the present rate the close of the 
 present decade will show that the United States has added 
 $500,000,000 in silver to the world's wealth during the ten 
 years. 
 
 America and Spain together furnish more than one half the 
 total lead product, and the country ranks only third in the 
 production of zinc, though a dozen of years ago very little was 
 produced. 
 
 In copper production, as in gold and silver, the United 
 States stands pre-eminent. One half the total product is fur- 
 nished by her and Chih. To-day nearly seven times as much 
 copper is produced as in i860. We have increased our output 
 from 650 tons in 1850 to over 63,000 in 1884. It is now much 
 more, and this decade will double the product of 1880. One 
 
288 THE REPUBLICAX PARTY. 
 
 mine furnishes nearly 40 per cent of the whole (Calumet and 
 Hecla). 
 
 Our coal-field is twenty-five times as large as that of Great 
 Britain, and is equal to three quarters of the coal-field area of 
 the world. We have contributed one-half of all the world's 
 gold, and we produce annually one-third the total silver. We 
 furnish more than one fourth the copper-supply of the world, 
 and the same proportion of the lead product. The mere state- 
 ment of figures shows that in the matter of production theUnited 
 States is already leading the world, but these figures give no 
 hint of the great advance and improvement in all other ways 
 that goes along with this enormous production of wealth. For 
 instance, the mining and consumption of coal means force, 
 power, energy for manufactures, transportation, and the crea- 
 tion of wealth. England now mines 160,000,000 tons of coal a 
 year. 
 
 This applied to her machinery gives her the producing and 
 wealth-creating capacity of 600,000,000 of men, though her 
 population is less than 40,000,000. 
 
 In 1 86 1 our output of coal was only 16,000,000 tons. In 
 1882, after twenty-one years of protective tariff, it had risen to 
 90,000,000 tons, being a gain of 462!- per cent. That means 
 that the effective capacity of the machinery of this country, and 
 its power to create wealth, are 5f times what they were twenty- 
 one years ago. Twenty years more of like progress, and our 
 output of coal will exceed that of England or any other country 
 on the globe, and will give us a capacity in productive machin- 
 ery of at least 600,000,000 of human beings. 
 
 In a thousand ways the country is benefited by the mining 
 industry, aside from the direct wealth of its products. The 
 opening of mines, like the building of railroads, develops new 
 regions and plants cities and villages, and builds up manufac- 
 turing and industrial communities. There are handsome cities 
 with fine public buildings, paved streets and street-cars, schools 
 and churches, and daily newspapers, standing to-day where 
 twelve or fifteen years ago the only inhabitants were grizzlies 
 and coyotes. There are cities in the South to-day that number 
 tlTcir people by the thousands, and even tens of thousands, 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 289 
 
 that boast of broad streets and boulevards, electric and cable 
 cars, hotels, public halls, churches and schools, telephones, 
 electric lights, daily newspapers, half a dozen railroads, with a 
 busy, pushing, prosperous people, where ten years ago there 
 was hardly a house. 
 
 The private residences will compare with almost any in 
 architecture and taste — as, for instance, the suburban homes of 
 Birmingham, Ala., which in many cases already are in the midst 
 of beautiful parks and private grounds. Such instances are 
 almost numberless of the sudden upbuilding of cities about 
 newly-discovered mines, and in each case an agricultural com- 
 munity springs up about it rapidly, to supply its needs, showing 
 the blessing and even the necessity of a " home market " to 
 agriculture ; showing how dependent our industries are upon 
 one another: that as one prospers, others are benefited; and 
 likewise as one is injured, others suffer. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In conclusion we may say that no one can deal with the 
 subject of American progress without being painfully conscious 
 of the futility of any attempt to convey an adequate idea of 
 the vastness of the subject, the comparative character of the 
 progress made, and the grandeur of the condition as it now 
 exists. 
 
 Yet all this pales into insignificance before the distinct 
 promise of what is to come, that looms up vast and awful as the 
 specter of the Brocken. 
 
 It is no wonder that an English writer in a recent magazine 
 article takes up the subject of the already gigantic greatness of the 
 United States and raises the alarm that they will soon domi- 
 nate the whole world ; that even now they are almost at the 
 point where they can make any demand upon England, and 
 which they can enforce upon threat of shutting off the food- 
 supply, and that they will soon be able to hold all the nations 
 of the earth in subjection with peaceful weapons more forceful 
 than armies and war-ships. It is no wonder that the Cobden 
 
290 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Club fights desperately to cripple and obstruct this portentous 
 and colossal growth. 
 
 The figures we have been giving cover a period of high 
 tariff for protection, as contrasted with the period of a revenue 
 tariff ; and he who runs may read the story of the influence of 
 the protective policy. We give few arguments and deductions 
 from the figures and facts set up. The average American in- 
 telligence will do that for itself, as it reads the record of what 
 has been achieved. 
 
 So bold, far-seeing, and courageous was the Republican party, 
 under whose control all this has come about, that it unhesitat- 
 ingly, when it came into power, invested $3,000,000,000, and 
 sacrificed lives innumerable, to decide the question without the 
 solution of which no advance was possible, and the carrying on 
 of the plan of the men who formed the Union would cease, and 
 end in the old-world system of separate States and standing 
 armies, pauper labor, and the continued settlement of all con- 
 troversies by war. 
 
 The Democratic influence has always been in that direction. 
 It never would trust the people. 
 
 It would not reduce postage for fear the receipts would not 
 equal the expenditures of the post-office. It is impossible to 
 estimate the benefits which have accrued to the Nation through 
 this work, accomplished in spite of the opposition of the 
 Democrats. They held that the great expense would deprive 
 certain sections of mail facilities, as the government could not 
 afford it. The friends of the measure held that the greater 
 intelligence of the people of the free States would make up the 
 deficiency by an increase in the number of letters. This puts 
 fairly in contrast the two policies ; one progressive, trusting 
 and having confidence in the people; the other narrow, preju- 
 diced, and judging the future by the long ago. 
 
 The latter policy could no more have conceived and set up 
 our present banking system than a mole could make a moun- 
 tain, a system of which the London Times says : " The genius 
 of man has never invented a better system of finance than the 
 national banking system of the United States." The Demo- 
 crats in their tariff measures from 1846 to 1861, especially, 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 29I 
 
 discriminated against, rather than in favor of, the mechanical 
 industries of the United States. 
 
 The policy of granting land for homesteads and railroads 
 has built up the most magnificent empire in the world. But 
 the last act of Buchanan was to veto a homestead bill, and one 
 of the first acts of Lincoln was to sign one. The figures given 
 of the empire of the Mississippi Valley and the great West, 
 and, indirectly, of the whole country, are sufficient tribute to 
 the policy of giving " homes to the homeless" in the Home- 
 stead Act. 
 
 There are a thousand things as illustrative as the foregoing 
 that we can hardly glance at in this sketch. One might as well 
 attempt at a glance to note every brilliant point and com- 
 bination in a mammoth kaleidoscope. 
 
 Let us, however, illustrate one splendid point, and that is the 
 treatment by the Republicans of the debt they incurred to 
 " solve the great problem." The public debt reached the 
 highest point in August, 1865, when it was $2,381,530,295. 
 The general reader will better appreciate the vastness of this 
 sum when informed that it represents 70,156 tons of silver, 
 which would make a procession of carts that would extend 
 from Richmond, Va., to a point 12 miles north of Philadelphia, 
 the distance it would thus cover being 266 miles. 
 
 The interest-bearing debt is (not including the Pacific Rail- 
 road bonds) $1,001,976,850, showing that the sum paid has been 
 $1,379,553,44.5, or more than one half of the total amount, and 
 representing 40,637 tons of silver dollars, which would extend 
 154 miles, if packed in carts containing one ton each. 
 
 Reducing these figures to a basis where they may be in- 
 telligently comprehended, and that the rapidity with which the 
 government has reduced its bonded debt maybe fully realized 
 by the general reader, we find that the reduction has been at 
 the average rate of $62,706,975 ^each year, $5,225,581 each 
 month, $174,186 each day, $7258 each hour, and $120.47 for 
 every minute of the entire time. 
 
 Pursuing the calculations to the smallest divisible space of 
 time, the bonded debt of the United States has been decreased 
 at the rate of $2,007 for every second, or for every swing of 
 
292 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the pendulum, for the entire period from August 31, 1865, to 
 July 31, 1887. This is an exhibition of recuperation and 
 material progress on the part of the country, and of sterling 
 honesty and integrity on the part of the government and peo- 
 ple, that is without parallel in the world's history. 
 
 Under a revenue tariff in 1857 the United States Treasury 
 was empty, while $400,000,000 in gold, taken from the mines of 
 California in the preceding eight years, had been sent to the 
 British Empire; in 1887 the silver and gold have accumulated 
 at home. In 1857 our money was in the hands of foreigners, 
 our manufactories were suspended, our public works retarded, 
 our private enterprises of different kinds abandoned, and thou- 
 sands of useful laborers thrown out of employment and re- 
 duced to want. In 1887, under the system inaugurated by a 
 Republican administration, the money remains in our own hands, 
 our manufacturers are actively at work, private enterprises 
 vigorously pushed, while the wage-workers are generally em- 
 ployed at remunerative wages. 
 
 Last year the expenses of Austria, England, France, Ger- 
 many, Italy, Russia, and Spain were $22,000,000 more than 
 their receipts ; our receipts were $94,000,000 more than our ex- 
 penses. : A well-known author says '" The wealth of the United 
 States is almost fabulous. It is more than enough to buy the 
 Russian and Turkish empires, the kingdoms of Sweden and Nor- 
 way, Denmark, and Italy together with Australia, South 
 Africa, and all South America — lands, mines, cities, palaces, fac- 
 tories, ships, flocks, herds, jewels, moneys, thrones, sceptres, 
 diadems, and all, — the entire possessions of a hundred and 
 seventy-seven million people. Great Britain is by far the 
 richest nation of the Old World, and our wealth far exceeds 
 hers." 
 
 Estimates made by Chas. S. Hill, statistician of the De- 
 partment of State, in evidence taken by the Tariff Commission, 
 are as follows : Population — United States, 50,150,000; Great 
 Britain, 34,505,000; France, 37,166,000 ; Germany, 45,367,000 ; 
 Russia, 82,400,000; Austria, 39,175,000. Wealth — United 
 States, $55,000,000,000 ; Great Britain, $45,000,000,000; France, 
 $40,000,000,000; Germany, $25,000,000,000; Russia, $15,000,- 
 
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 295 
 
 000,000; Austria, $14,000,000,000. Since that estimate our 
 population has increased nearly ten million, and our wealth in 
 proportion. 
 
 There is nothing to prevent our country sweeping on^\ard 
 and upward to the triumphal position awaiting her, higher and 
 broader, and more glorious than we, even with this showing, 
 can conceive of, except some stupid and wicked policy that 
 shall throw down all barriers and let the hordes of the \\orld 
 in to prey upon her magnificence, as the Goths poured in and 
 devastated the " Eternal City." 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE. 
 
 By Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, M. C. from Mass. 
 
 Two great Democratic leaders introduced the system 
 ^which made the civil service of the country an election prize, 
 and a Republican member of Congress struck the first blow 
 against this system after forty years of habit had rooted it 
 deeply in our political soil. Andrew Jackson practised and 
 William L. Marcy formulated the doctrine that to the victors 
 belong the spoils, and the two removals of John Quincy 
 Adams's entire term rose to two thousand in the first ten 
 months of the rule of the hero of New Orleans. 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Thomas Allen Jenckes of Rhode Island took up 
 the subject of the civil service, and as chairman of the Joint 
 Select Committee on Retrenchment made on May 25, 1868, an 
 exhaustive report in which he showed the rapid growth of the 
 civil service and depicted the evils and perils of the existing 
 system of patronage and favoritism. The defects of the 
 system had been brought to public notice years before, and 
 had been attacked by Calhoun and Webster. But the only 
 result of their efforts had been the introduction of "pass- 
 examinations," which served perhaps to check the flow of 
 absolute incompetency into the public service, but did not 
 reach at all the root of the trouble. In the fierce struggle 
 over slavery and in the shock of civil war minor questions 
 of administration were lost sight of, and therefore the honor 
 was reserved to Mr. Jenckes of being the first to take up the 
 question thoroughly and scientifically, and to strike hard at 
 the source of the existing evils. 
 
 Congress paid little or no attention to Mr. Jenckes. So 
 fixed had the patronage system become, that this attack upon 
 it was regarded as the eccentricity of an amiable enthusiast, 
 and the author of the report found himself for the moment 
 in that unenviable and not uncommon position known as 
 " crying in the wilderness." Mr. Jenckes, however, kept on, 
 
 294 
 
/' 
 
 ?, 
 
 , "-^ 
 
 m 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE. 295 
 
 and outside of Congress that impalpable and all-powerful force 
 known as public opinion began to awaken and take form and 
 substance as to the civil service. So rapid was the growth of 
 public sentiment, indeed, that President Grant in his message in 
 1870 called the attention of Congress to the subject, and in 
 March, 1871, Mr. Tucker had the pleasure of drawing an 
 amendment to an appropriation bill which gave the President 
 authority to establish regulations for the admission of candi- 
 dates to the civil service and for ascertaining their efficiency, 
 authorized him to appoint a commission, and appropriated 
 $25,000 for that purpose. The commission was appointed, 
 with Mr. George William Curtis as its chairman ; rules were 
 adopted, and open competitive examinations were established in 
 the Departments at Washington, in the custom-house and partly 
 in the post office at New York. 
 
 At the end of two years the commission made a report 
 showing by the testimony of the heads of Departments, and 
 by other evidence, that the system had worked well despite 
 many difficulties and obstacles, and that the service had been 
 improved. Meantime Congress had given a second appropria- 
 tion ; but when President Grant transmitted the report of the 
 commission and asked for another appropriation, they saw that 
 the movement had passed beyond the bounds of amiable 
 ■eccentricity, and they refused to give any more money. The 
 result was, of course, disastrous. It was impossible to carry 
 ■on the work without money, and General Grant, disappointed 
 in his own efforts and refused support by Congress, frankly 
 abandoned the whole policy. Not being given to sham and 
 pretense, he gave up the new scheme squarely and avowedly, 
 and the civil service relapsed into patronage and pass-examin- 
 ations. 
 
 Outside of Washington, however, the agitation on this sub- 
 ject went on with fresh and increased vigor, and the subject was 
 pressed with especial energy at the time of the Republican Con- 
 vention in 1876. The result was seen in the fact that President 
 Hayes favored the reform strongly in his letter of acceptance, 
 and urged suitable legislation in his inaugural and in his mes- 
 sages. Congress took no action, but under the administration 
 
296 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 of President Hayes the system of competitive examination for 
 filling vacancies in the civil service was introduced in the Interior 
 Department, and in the custom-house and post-office at New- 
 York. This was a purely administrative measure, and had no 
 greater vitality than came from the good-will and the belief in 
 the reform of persons who happened to be in ofifice. Two 
 facts, however, were demonstrated : one, that without the 
 sanction of law the new system merely as an administrative 
 measure could have no enduring strength ; the other, that the 
 system worked well in practice, tending to improve the quality 
 of office-holders and greatly relieving the political pressure upon 
 the appointing officers. 
 
 Meantime the outside agitation continued. Associations 
 for the promotion of the new system were formed in different 
 parts of the country and rapidly increased in number and in 
 membership. Both parties declared for the reform in their 
 platforms, and public opinion on the question gathered form 
 and consistency. The efforts of the supporters of the reform 
 became more concentrated and direct, and aimed at the enact- 
 ment of laws which should regulate and fix the conditions of 
 obtaining places under government. 
 
 The whole movement received, however, an enormous and 
 tragic impulse from the murder of President Garfield by a 
 man known to the public only as a disappointed ofifice-seeker. 
 Bills were introduced into Congress with a view of changing the 
 existing system, but no action was taken upon them. The 
 elections of 1882 gave, however, such vivid examples in certain 
 instances of the activity of the civil-service reformers, and of a 
 strong public opinion aroused by the crime of Guiteau, that 
 Congress was spurred to immediate action. President Arthur 
 had already pledged his support to the reform, and had asked for 
 an appropriation ; and now Congress took up the bill drawn by 
 Mr. Dorman B. Eaton and introduced by Mr. Pendleton, whose 
 name it bears, and passed it rapidly through all its stages. It 
 was signed and became a law on the i6th of January, 1883. 
 President Arthur at once appointed a commission which was 
 headed by Mr. Dorman B. Eaton and composed of well-known 
 friends of the reform. The law applied, roughly speaking, to 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE. 297 
 
 clerks in the Washington Departments, and in custom-houses 
 and post-offices of a certain size. It went into immediate 
 operation ; it was vigorously and honestly sustained by Presi- 
 dent Arthur, and was thoroughly enforced by the various col- 
 lectors, postmasters, and heads of departments. It speedily 
 proved that the new system was a success, and where honestly 
 enforced improved the service and did away with many of the 
 evils of patronage. 
 
 Such was the condition of the civil-service question when 
 the Republican party went out of power and when the Dem- 
 ocrats came in in 1885. A great step had been taken and a 
 great victory won. The principles of the new system which 
 require the removal of the civil service from politics had been 
 enacted into law. It will be observed that the first attack upon 
 the patronage system was made by a Republican representa- 
 tive. The first message on the subject was written and the 
 first commission appointed by a Republican President. Another 
 Republican President was the first to put the new system in 
 force as an administrative measure. The first civil-service law 
 was passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a third 
 Republican President, who honestly enforced it and gave it suc- 
 cessful existence. There is no intention of implying by this 
 that the Republican party was free from shortcomings in re- 
 gard to the question of civil-service refoim, or that all Repub- 
 licans have been or are now civil-service reformers. The 
 subject was a new one, and when brought forward by Mr. 
 Jenckes was little understood, and was at variance with the 
 traditions and practices of nearly forty years. The Republican 
 party was the first to learn the lesson of the times in this re- 
 spect ; almost all those actively engaged in promoting the 
 reform were Republicans, and a large majority of the party 
 soon became and have remained steadfast friends of the reform. 
 Some Democratic leaders and a small minority of the party 
 were honestly favorable to the reform, but the great majority 
 of the Democratic party were either indifferent or openly 
 hostile to it. The proof of this lies in the fact, which can 
 neither be denied nor explained away, that every affirmative 
 act in advancing the reform, as a national policy, has been 
 
298 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 thework of a Republican administration and a Republican Con- 
 gress. During this period, too, and under Republican adminis- 
 trations political assessments on office-holders were given up 
 and the civil servants were, in conformity with the spirit of the 
 law, withdrawn from the business of political management. 
 
 It now remains to review the history of the reform since the 
 Democratic party came into power. In the campaign of 1884 
 the question of civil-service reform played a conspicuous part in 
 the Northern States, where alone elections turn on questions of 
 public policy. Mr. Cleveland as Governor of New York had 
 shown himself, despite some inconsistencies, a friend of the re- 
 form. His election was therefore urged more strenuously on 
 this ground than on any other. A majority of the members 
 of the civil-service associations were Republicans who left their 
 party on account of the nomination of Mr. Blaine, and the same 
 was true of the newspapers that most constantly advocated the 
 reform. The " independents " both in the press and on the 
 stump gave such small portion of their time and attention as 
 was not devoted to purely personal politics and violent abuse 
 of Mr. Blaine to urging the election of Mr. Cleveland, as in 
 the direct interest of civil-service reform. Mr. Cleveland was 
 elected, his term has nearly expired, and we are now in a 
 position to see just what has been accomplished on this im- 
 portant question. In his letter of acceptance Mr. Cleveland 
 pledged himself to the reform system of civil service, and de- 
 nounced in the strongest terms the evils of the spoils system. 
 After his election he wrote to Mr. George William Curtis : 
 
 " I am not unmindful of the fact to which you refer, that 
 many of our citizens fear that the recent party change in the 
 national executive may demonstrate that the abuses which 
 have grown up in the civil service are ineradicable. I know 
 that they are deeply rooted and that the spoils system has been 
 supposed to be intimately related to success in the maintenance 
 of party organization, and I am not sure that all those who 
 profess to be the friends of this reform will stand firmly among 
 its advocates when they find it obstructing their way to patron- 
 age and place. But fully appreciating the trust committed to 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE. 299 
 
 my charge, no such consideration shall cause a relaxation on 
 my part of an earnest effort to enforce this law. 
 
 " If I were addressing none but party friends, I should deem 
 it entirely proper to remind them that, though the coming ad- 
 ministration is to be Democratic, a due regard for the people's 
 interest does not permit faithful party work to be always re- 
 warded by appointment to office; and to say to them that 
 while Democrats may expect all proper consideration, selec- 
 tions for office, not embraced within the civil-service rules, will 
 be based upon sufficient inquiry as to fitness, instituted by 
 those charged with that duty, rather than upon persistent im- 
 portunity or self-solicited recommendations on behalf of candi- 
 dates for appointment." 
 
 In his inaugural address delivered March 4, 1885, he made 
 the following declarations of his views as to reform : 
 
 " The people demand reform in the administration of the 
 government and the application of business principles to public 
 affairs. As a means to this end, civil-service reform should be 
 in good faith indorsed. Our citizens have the right to protec- 
 tion from the incompetency of public employes who hold their 
 places solely as che reward of partisan service, and from the 
 corrupting influence of those who promise and the vicious 
 methods of those who expect such rewards ; and those who 
 worthily seek employment have the right to insist that merit 
 and competency shall be recognized instead of party subser- 
 viency or the surrender of honest political belief." 
 
 In his first annual message to Congress, delivered December 
 8, 1885, he said : 
 
 " I am inclined to think that there is no sentiment more 
 general in the minds of the people of our country than a con- 
 viction of the correctness of the principle upon which the law 
 enforcing civil-service reform is based. 
 
 " Experience in its administration will probably suggest 
 amendment of the methods of its execution, but I venture to 
 hope that we shall never again be remitted to the system which 
 distributes public positions purely as rewards for partisan ser- 
 vice. Doubts may well be entertained whether our govern- 
 ment could survive the strain of a continuation of this system, 
 
300 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 which upon every change of administration inspires an immense 
 army of claimants for office to lay siege to the patronage of 
 the Government, engrossing the time of public officers with 
 their importunities, spreading abroad the contagion of their 
 disappointment, and filling the air with the tumult of their dis- 
 content. 
 
 " The allurements of an immense number of offices and 
 places exhibited to the voters of the land, and the promise of 
 their bestowal in recognition of partisan activity, debauch the 
 suffrage and rob political action of its thoughtful and delibera- 
 tive character. The evil would increase with the multiplication 
 of offices consequent upon our extension, and the mania for 
 office-holding, growing from its indulgence, would pervade our 
 population so generally that patriotic purpose, the support of 
 principle, the desire for the public good, and solicitude for the 
 Nation's welfare would be nearly banished from the activity of 
 our party contests and cause them to degenerate into ignoble, 
 selfish, and disgraceful struggles for the possession of office and 
 public place. 
 
 " Civil-service reform enforced by law came none too soon 
 to check the progress of demoralization. 
 
 " One of its effects, not enough regarded, is the freedom it 
 brings to the political action of those conservative and sober 
 men who, in fear of the confusion and risk attending an arbi- 
 trary and sudden change in all the public offices with a change 
 of party rule, cast their ballots against such a change." 
 
 He wrote in the same spirit to Mr. Eaton, the head of the 
 civil-service commission, and spoke in like fashion in an inter- 
 view in the Boston Herald in January, 1885. The most bitter 
 opponents could find no fault with these utterances, except to 
 say, perhaps, " Methinks he doth protest too much." Let us 
 now see how these noble declarations have been carried out 
 in practice. At first the new administration moved slowly, 
 and retained here and there some prominent Republican 
 officer whose name was identified with civil-service reform. 
 Thereupon premature paeans of praise went up from the civil- 
 service associations, who informed every one that at last they 
 had a true civil-service-reform administration. The pseans con- 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE. 
 
 301 
 
 tinued for a long time,— they have only recently been hushed 
 into silence, — but the policy of the administration quickly 
 changed as the Democratic party became settled in the gov- 
 ernment. The first open attack on the reform was the circular 
 of Mr. Vilas asking for charges of "offensive partisanship" 
 against postmasters, so that he might have an excuse for their 
 removal. No more petty and more miserable sham to effect a 
 mean purpose was ever employed for the sake of seizing the 
 spoils of office. The President, however, was silent, the pagans 
 of the professional civil-service reformers still rose to heaven, 
 and the changes began. It would extend this article unduly 
 to follow out the work in detail. 
 
 The following table made up to June 11, 1887, which I bor- 
 row, together with many other suggestions, from the very able 
 speech of Senator Hale upon the civil service in January last, 
 shows compactly the work of a little more than two years. 
 
 Offices. 
 
 Whole 
 
 Places filled 
 
 number of 
 
 by Cleve- 
 
 places. 
 
 land. 
 
 2,359 
 
 2,000 
 
 52,609 
 
 40,000 
 
 33 
 
 32 
 
 21 
 
 16 
 
 219 
 III 
 
 138 
 100 
 
 33 
 6 
 
 33 
 6 
 
 36 
 
 34 
 
 13 
 
 n 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 85 
 
 84 
 
 n 
 
 8 
 
 70 
 
 65 
 
 70 
 
 64 
 
 30 
 
 22 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 18 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 224 
 
 190 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 59 
 
 51 
 
 83 
 
 79 
 
 56,134 
 
 42,992 
 
 Presidential postmasters (estimated). . , 
 Fourth-class postmasters (estimated). . , 
 
 Foreign ministers 
 
 Secretaries of legation, 
 
 Consuls 
 
 Collectors of customs 
 
 Surveyors of customs 
 
 Naval officers of customs 
 
 A ppraisers, all grades 
 
 Superintendents of mints and assayers 
 Assistant treasurers at subtreasuries . . . 
 
 Collectors of internal revenue 
 
 Inspectors of steam-vessels 
 
 District attorneys 
 
 Marshals 
 
 Territorial judges 
 
 Territorial governors 
 
 Pension agents 
 
 Surveyors-general 
 
 Local land officers 
 
 Indian inspectors and special agents. . . 
 
 Indian agents , 
 
 Special agents, General Land Office. . . , 
 
 Total 
 
302 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 On July 1st of the same year the Civil Service Record of 
 Boston announced that the percentage of removals in the un- 
 classified service of the Interior Department hacj risen to 90 
 per cent. This may have been an extreme case at that time^ 
 because the head of that department, Mr. Lamar, had been 
 strongly eulogizing Mr. Calhoun for his opposition to the 
 spoils system, but there can be no doubt that in the year which 
 has elapsed since this table was prepared changes have gone 
 on with accelerating rapidity. The best estimates put the 
 number of changes at this time (May, 1888) at 50,000; and 
 when we add the petty ofificers dependent on these 50,000 
 thus changed directly by the administration, we have a total of 
 at least 100,000 ofifices which have been taken as spoils by the 
 new reform government in three years. There are probably not 
 5000 ofificers outside the classified service who still hold over 
 from the former administrations. 
 
 The present reform administration has carried out the spoils 
 doctrine with a thoroughness that would have satisfied Jackson 
 himself. The law still protects the 15,000 classified ofifices it 
 was designed to cover, but in some cases it has been evaded, 
 and in others so notoriously disobeyed as to call for an investi- 
 gation. 
 
 The results of this greedy haste in seizing upon the offices 
 are apparent already, although the time which has elapsed since 
 the work began is so short. The Maryland appointments have 
 been so scandalous, and the whole service in that State has 
 been so debauched, that it has attracted the attention of the 
 Nation. In Indiana it has been almost as bad, and in that State 
 the public service in all its branches there has been seriously 
 crippled. In Chicago and Philadelphia scandals in the govern- 
 ment service have called for official investigation, and the New 
 York custom-house has greatly deteriorated. Throughout the 
 country and in the diplomatic service there have been appoint- 
 ments which are in the highest degree discreditable, and show 
 that the spoils system when carried out in the name of reform 
 is, like most hypocrisies, much worse than the vice itself prac- 
 tised without disguise. Of the first seven territorial judges 
 selected by Mr. Cleveland, five within a week were publicly de- 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE. 
 
 303 
 
 nounced as " morally and professionally unfit," and three of the 
 five have since been retired for misconduct. 
 
 A list of objectionable appointments made during the first 
 half of the Presidential term showed that fifty-nine have been 
 of persons who have been convicted or indicted for various 
 crimes — ten have been concerned in political crimes, three de- 
 serters and one expelled from the United States Senate, three 
 disqualified from office for violation of oaths, three, the tools of 
 persons so disreputable that they could not hold office, and six 
 more, of whom three were appointed to enforce the internal- 
 revenue laws, were either themselves liquor-sellers or attorneys 
 of liquor-sellers. To these are to be added sixty-one notorious 
 political hacks. 
 
 In a word, the spoils system in its worst form is once more 
 supreme in the patronage ofifices, and the civil-service law is im- 
 perfectly enforced in the classified service. These facts are 
 beyond denial. The Maryland and Indiana civil-service asso- 
 ciations with entire honesty and courage denounced the course 
 of the administration more than two years ago. Very recently 
 such extreme Cleveland partisans as Mr. Curtis and Mr. Godkin 
 have admitted in their newspapers that in civil-service reform 
 the administration has failed, and on May 7th, the New York 
 civil-service association declared that " in those positions not 
 covered by the civil-service rules the changes have gone on with 
 such steadiness that the hopes cherished during the early days 
 of the administration of a substantial gain during its term in 
 the general stability of the service have not been justified by 
 the results." 
 
 The only offset to all this has been the repeal of the tenure 
 of ofifice act by the 49th Congress through the efforts of Sena- 
 tor Hoar and Governor Long, who introduced and suceessfully 
 advocated bills for that purpose in the House and Senate. 
 
 There has been also great injury to the cause of the reform 
 in other and more general ways. Headquarters were opened 
 in Washington and money collected by fifty-cent subscriptions 
 for the benefit of the Democratic campaign in New York last 
 fall. Mr. Cleveland set the example by sending a check to 
 the Democratic State Committee, and by writing a letter in be- 
 
304 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 half of one of the Democratic candidates. It is the first time, I 
 believe, that a President has so far forgotten the dignity of his 
 great office as to interfere publicly in a local election of a 
 district attorney. This general demoralization grows, of course, 
 by what it feeds upon, and this spring an order has gone out 
 from one of the heads of bureaus in Washington directing each 
 postmaster to return the names and party relations of each 
 voter in his town or city. This converts the whole vast body 
 of postmasters into a great canvassing committee, and makes 
 these public ofificers a part of the Democratic machine. 
 
 The result has been seen in Democratic conventions, both 
 State and National, filled and controlled by Federal office-hold- 
 ers. 
 
 Civil-service reform has been grievously injured by Demo- 
 cratic ascendency, and by the insincerity of the Cleveland wor- 
 shipers in the reform associations. It will survive the blow if 
 the present administration is not re-elected, for the new system 
 rests on the sound business principle of taking the routine 
 offices of the government out of politics. That is the whole 
 of civil-service reform. Competitive examinations are merely 
 the means and not the end of the reform. The purpose is 
 to substitute some fair, impartial, and mechanical test for 
 favoritism and patronage, which are both thoroughly un-Ameri- 
 can and mere survivals and imitations of the fashions of aristo- 
 cratic and despotic governments. Progress toward these ob- 
 jects must be made by legislation. An individual in high 
 .administrative office can throw his influence for civil-service re- 
 form, but it may well be doubted if any President or head of 
 Department can administer patronage offices otherwise than by 
 patronage. If Mr. Cleveland had frankly said that he would 
 administer the patronage offices by patronage wisely and hon- 
 estly bestowed, and the classified service according to law, it 
 -would have been difficult to assail his position. But he made 
 loud and high-sounding pledges and promises as to the civil 
 service generally, and has broken them all without withdrawing 
 one of his pretentious declarations. At the same time he has 
 allowed the law to be weakened and evaded, political assess- 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE. 305 
 
 ments to be renewed, and civil-service officers to become a con- 
 trolling faction in the political machine. 
 
 The Republican party is pledged to extend the reform. 
 The Democratic National convention passed this great ques- 
 tion by in contemptuous silence. The Republican party has 
 again adopted the resolution of 1884 which was drawn by Mr. 
 George William Curtis. Thus the issue is fairly and distinctly 
 made up. 
 
 Every solid step thus far taken has been by a Republican Con- 
 gress or a Republican administration. The only chance for the 
 extension of the principles of the reform lies in the return of 
 the Republican party to power. Whatever its shortcomings, 
 it is the author of all that has been practically accomplished 
 for the new system, and to it we must look for further progress 
 in the future by means of additional legislation. 
 
 The following table shows the manner in which the Repub- 
 lican party as compared with the Democratic party collected 
 and disbursed the national revenues. 
 
3o6 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
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THE NEW SOUTH. 
 By Hon. John S. Wise, of Virginia. 
 
 " Out of the eater came forth meat. 
 And out of the strong came forth sweetness." 
 
 The earliest recorded triumph of Samson was when he went 
 down into the vineyards of Timnath in the land of the Philis- 
 tines and, unarmed, slew a young roaring lion. The story runs 
 that after a time Samson returned to view the carcass of the lion, 
 and behold there was a swarm of bees and honey within the 
 carcass. This was the occasion of his giving forth, at his wed- 
 ding-feast, the famous riddle which heads this article. 
 
 The earliest recorded triumph of the Republican party was 
 its battle with, and conquest of, that young roaring lion, African 
 Slavery. If Republicanism could be personified and return to 
 behold the carcass of the victim in the South, it would, like 
 Samson of old, find that carcass filled with a swarm of busy 
 bees, and teeming with the honey of diversified industries un- 
 known to it in the dreamy days of slavery. 
 
 I am not sure that my simile is original. It seems to me 
 that some one else has used the same. Who, if any one, I do 
 not know. But whether it be original or not, I will appropri- 
 ate it. 
 
 Two great ideas were born at the same time that our 
 Federal Government was created by the Convention of 1787. 
 One was the National Idea, the other the Federal or States- 
 rights Idea. Very soon the advocates of the national idea 
 adopted the name of Federalists, and the States-rights advocates 
 became known as Republicans or Democrats. From that time 
 until this, under changing names, the two ideas have been re- 
 spectively the basis of party organization in the two leading 
 parties, although the Federalists have at last assumed the name 
 of Republicans, and the States-rights advocates have fallen 
 back upon the simple name of Democracy. 
 
 Both parties, as they were originally formed, professed faith 
 
 307 
 
3o8 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 in and attachment to the Union, but in the " strict construction" 
 party at the outset was to be found every man who opposed 
 the formation of the Union. And in both have been found, 
 from the first, men who have pressed their respective theories 
 far beyond the bounds of reason. But a study of the history 
 of the Federahst party plainly discloses that in its struggles for 
 supremacy it has always shown more regard for the preserva- 
 tion of the autonomy of the States than has been shown for the 
 preservation of the Union by those who have put the idea of 
 States rights above that of Union. 
 
 In their originthese two conflicting ideas were not sectional. 
 Ultra Federalists were abundant in the South, and theoretical 
 secessionists and nullifiers were to be found in the North. In 
 time, local interests and the surroundings of men, those most 
 powerful of all molders of opinion, consigned the national 
 idea to the domain of the North, and the States-rights doctrine 
 recognized the South as its true habitat. Negro slavery pro- 
 duced this territorial array of opinion. As it, almost alone, gave 
 rise to the supremacy of the " strict-construction " theory in the 
 South, I propose to show that with the abolition of slavery has 
 died almost every reason why the South should longer adhere 
 to that idea, and that, following the abolition of slavery, many 
 reasons have arisen why the South should, above any other 
 section of our country, become the advocate of a liberal con- 
 struction of Federal powers. 
 
 In the Federal Convention of 1787, when parties first 
 became arrayed upon these ideas, the Southern States had a 
 powerful and eloquent representation favoring the national 
 idea. The conception of one Incorporate Union in lieu of the 
 old Articles of Confederation originated no less with Messrs. 
 Randolph and Madison of Virginia than with Mr. Hamilton 
 and other Northern men. Mr. Randolph's plan, known as the 
 " Virginia plan," which was first adopted by the convention and 
 afterwards voted down, conferred much more power on the 
 Federal Government than any of the other plans submitted. It 
 was supported by Southern representatives, and its opponents 
 were from Connecticut, New Jersey, and other Northern 
 States. They insisted that it was too national. 
 
THE NEW SOUTH. 309 
 
 The plan ultimately agreed upon was that presented by Mr. 
 Pinckney of South Carolina. Hamilton and Jay of the North, 
 Washington and Madison of the South, became its most 
 eloquent advocates. The Union was as much the work of the 
 South as of the North. The most splendid appeal for the per- 
 petuity of the Federal idea to be found in our language is the 
 Farewell Address of George Washington, a Southern man. And 
 this feeling was most natural. The South had played a con- 
 spicuous part, not only in the achievement of our liberties, but 
 in all the proceedings which brought about the Government of 
 the United States. Her representatives aided in drafting our 
 Constitution, and counseled its adoption. Her people rejoiced 
 in the consummation of the scheme, and re-echoed the senti- 
 ments of Washington that it was a compact of perpetual union. 
 At that day slavery had not become the all-controlling power, 
 and sectionalism, its legitimate concomitant, had not taken 
 absolute possession, as it did later, of the advocates and 
 opponents of the States-rights theory. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson of Virginia, the ablest and most powerful 
 strict-constructionist of his day, was an abolitionist. Yet at the 
 same time he was a man whose views on the affairs of the 
 Union were as broad as those of the most pronounced Fed- 
 eralist. The Federal idea never had a more eloquent ex- 
 pounder than Virginia's John Marshall, Chief-Justice of the 
 United States. Indeed, Virginia was the natural home of a 
 love of the Union and of those views which favored a broad and 
 liberal construction of the Constitution. 
 
 The slavery question became dominant very soon after the 
 Union was formed. It arose with more violence at the admis- 
 sion of each new State, and every agitation intensified the 
 sectional feeling. The South was wedded to slavery. It felt 
 that slavery was safe so long as Federal power was limited and 
 circumscribed and the absolute control of domestic affairs left 
 to the States. It felt that the one danger to slavery from 
 Federal power was from the free States acquiring a preponder- 
 ance of power in Congress through the admission of new States, 
 which would enable them to pass laws enlarging Federal juris- 
 diction. 
 
3IO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 The North, on the other hand, chafed, and was indignant 
 that the power and growth of the Nation should be retarded, 
 and all things subordinated to, and allowed to advance only at 
 even pace with, slavery. The slave power was in the ascendant 
 for half a century, and right jealously and dictatorially did it 
 hug the States-rights idea as the sheet-anchor of slavery. 
 
 It is proper enough for philanthropists to say that slavery 
 was wrong and was a curse. Grant it. But until human nature 
 is framed upon a higher model than that of the present, the 
 man who is hereditary owner of slaves, in the enjoyment of the 
 luxury which their possession brings to him, will not see it 
 either as a sin or as a curse, and will not voluntarily yield up 
 his wealth to an abstract principle. 
 
 If the climate of the North had suited slavery, and the con- 
 ditions of the two sections, as they were, had been reversed, I 
 have no doubt in my own mind that the political views of the 
 people of the two sections on slavery, and their consequent 
 States-rights notions, would have been fevefsed also. We are 
 very much alike, and all creatufes of circumstances governed 
 by our surroundings. None of us are as much better than the 
 others as we are wont to think ourselves. 
 
 Whether slavery was right or wrong, it was very comfort- 
 able for the slave-owner, and he was the only one in that sec- 
 tion who had a voice as to whether it should be abolished. It 
 is all very well to say he pursued a ruinous system of agricul- 
 ture. Grant that he did not make as much as he might have 
 done. Still he made enough to support his slaves, and furnish 
 himself in luxury. Only one family was to be made luxurious 
 where many contributed to that end. It was easy to waste a 
 great deal and yet do that. We may say that he had no 
 schools. He did not want them. White population was sparse 
 even if he had desired to educate his "poor white" dependents. 
 He did not. He owned the slaves, and it was better for his 
 interests that poor whites should not be so elevated as to be- 
 come independent of him, their patron. As for his sons and 
 daughters, his wealth enabled him to employ the best of private 
 tutors, and to send them to Europe and the universities. 
 
 We may say that he had no manufactures. He could not 
 
THE NEW SOUTH. 
 
 311 
 
 afford to have them. It was bad policy to cultivate slave in- 
 telligence to the point of making a slave a skilled manufacturer, 
 and it was worse policy to introduce free skilled labor into a 
 slave community. This made the people of the slave-holding 
 States free-traders of necessity. When the American system 
 was first propounded, Mr. Calhoun was very much captivated 
 with it. He knew his community were great cotton-producers, 
 and he, at first, conceived that under a system of protection 
 they might become great manufacturers also. But in a little 
 while Mr. Calhoun perceived that slavery and manufactories 
 could not coexist. He realized that agriculture, and agricul- 
 ture alone, was the true field for slave labor, and so he aban- 
 doned his protection ideas and became a free-trader of the most 
 pronounced sort, on the erroneous theory that a purely agri- 
 cultural community, as his must remain, derived no benefit 
 from the protection of manufactured goods. Thus it was that 
 slavery warped all ideas of public policy by its overwhelming 
 pressure. 
 
 We may say that the old South had no railroads and means 
 of intercommunication. She did not want them. It was bet- 
 ter to incur difficulties in moving her crops away than to have 
 such commercial facilities as would fill the land with prying 
 eyes of strangers, and the atmosphere with the spirit of the 
 outside world of freedom. 
 
 To concede power in the Federal Government to aid in 
 education, to improve rivers and harbors, to build railroads 
 and make internal improvements, was to cultivate a notion of 
 vigor and vitality of Federal power always liable to culminate 
 in encroachments dangerous to slavery. Was the Southern 
 slave-holder, then, simple in his fierce contention for strict con- 
 struction ? No. Far from it. He had a possession of untold 
 wealth and luxury ; one that anybody holding it would have 
 struggled to retain. And yet a delicate and dangerous posses- 
 sion, liable to be wrenched from him at any time by the jeal- 
 ousy or philanthropy of others. He was, numerically speaking, 
 in a pitiable minority. And yet, surrounded by all sorts of 
 dangers and difficulties, without any real moral support, with 
 all the odds against him, he managed to maintain his suprem- 
 
312 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 acy for three quarters of a century, and died with his boots on 
 fighting for its continuance. It is becoming common nowa- 
 days to speak of the old slave-holder as if he was not shrewd. 
 His hospitality, his luxury, his arrogance, his bravery — all these 
 are admitted. But by many he is classed as weak, thriftless, 
 and impracticable. 
 
 I hold that no idea is more radically erroneous. The old 
 slave-holder was as shrewd as any down-east Yankee. He held 
 himself together surprisingly long in a difificult situation, and 
 displayed a keen judgment all the while as to which was the 
 path of danger and which of safety. He declared the largest 
 dividend on the smallest capital ever declared by any one in 
 business, and is entitled for his long-successful battle against 
 overwhelming numbers and prejudices to be classed with the 
 shrewdest and most successful of our people. 
 
 The question remaining to be determined now is whether 
 the Southern people will, in their new situation, show the same 
 shrewdness and adaptability since the abolition of slavery that 
 they showed while defending it. 
 
 Their being Democrats, strict-constructionists, and free-trad- 
 ers during the days of slavery showed their keen appreciation 
 of the demands and necessities of slavery. Their alliance with 
 the Democracy immediately after the conclusion of the war 
 was not only their natural position as against the Republican 
 party, which had freed their slaves, but was brought about and 
 encouraged by a feeling (in fact false, however) that the Democ- 
 racy, being out of power, had been in some sort their friends 
 during the struggle. The feeling that they had something to 
 expect from a triumph of the Democracy over their old enemy, 
 the Republican party, was hard to argue against, until the 
 Democracy triumphed and the New South realized by actual 
 experience how little that undefined something was. 
 
 The South is not Democratic because of any innate jealousy 
 and antagonism towards the Union. 
 
 Whatever prejudice existed there at any time against the 
 Union was the result of apprehension for the safety of their 
 property in slaves. In the old States which were of the original 
 thirteen the spirit of secession and disunion was against every 
 
THE NEW SOUTH. 313 
 
 tradition and teaching, and only stimulated by the presence of 
 slavery. Even that was not strong enough to destroy the feel- 
 ing altogether. In the Southern States, bought with Federal 
 money from European despots^ or conquered with the blood 
 of the Nation, it is almost impossible to conceive how, even 
 under the influence of selfish fear and alarm for their slave 
 property, they could discover a right to " resume sovereignty " 
 as against the United States, when they never possessed any 
 until the Federal Government breathed the breath of life into 
 their nostrils. 
 
 But, without discussing the reasoning upon which they 
 acted, there is little doubt that their action, hostile to the Fed- 
 eral idea, was begotten solely by slavery, and that with slavery 
 gone forever the New South is freed from the only malign 
 influence which could make the citizen of Virginia, Carolina, 
 or Louisiana less loyal to, or proud of, or broad in his construc- 
 tion of the Federal Constitution than the citizen of Massachu- 
 setts or of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Democratic party cannot, therefore, in the future, as 
 in the days of slavery, count confidently upon unanimity of 
 advocacy of strict-construction views in the South ; nor need 
 the Republican party despair of a deep Federal feeling there. 
 On the contrary, the tide is setting strongly towards Federal 
 ideas, and the once insuperable barrier of slavery no longer 
 restrains its flow. 
 
 The New South is really Republican. I do not refer to the 
 fact that if the vote were honestly counted it would show Re- 
 publican results. I mean that the men who are voting with, 
 and assenting to the stuffing of ballot-boxes for the Democracy 
 to-day are really Republicans in their views, and being such will 
 vote the Republican ticket as soon as they learn what it takes a 
 little time to teach them, that they cannot give effect to those 
 views in the Democratic party ; and as soon as they overcome 
 some lingering prejudices against the name of Republican and 
 the negro voter. All that is necessary to win them ultimately 
 to Republicanism is a broad policy of conciliation. It is idle 
 to say we do not want them. We do. To succeed in the 
 South the Republican party must have more white men than 
 
314 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 she has ever yet had. So long as the whites are banded to- 
 gether in the South in the Democratic party they will control. 
 They are ready to die before they will yield their government 
 to the negroes, whether under the name of Republicans or 
 Democrats ; and until the Republican party can sufficiently 
 recruit itself from the white voters in the South to deprive its 
 victories there of the aspect of a triumph of blacks over whites, 
 it had as well stop trying to succeed ; for by fair means or foul, 
 by trickery or by violence, the whites will frustrate negro domi- 
 nation. I do not state this fact approvingly, but state it as it is. 
 
 There is no trouble about getting this accession of white 
 voters with a proper management. 
 
 We have principles in exact accord with the needs of the 
 New South, and a thousand times more attractive than those 
 of the Democracy. The people of the South are becoming 
 eminently practical, and applying themselves to all sorts of new 
 enterprises. The passions and prejudices of slavery and war 
 are fast dying out. The feeling is in favor of a to-day and a to- 
 morrow broad as a continent, and against a yesterday narrow 
 as a section. As they feel that way themselves, they are re- 
 pelled from a party that insists on past recollections and sec- 
 tionalism. True, they are in such an one now, but they are 
 not satisfied with it ; and as the Republican party becomes more 
 broadly national in spirit, thousands, nay, hundreds of thou- 
 sands in the New South, who have heretofore been Democrats 
 rather from circumstances and surroundings than from choice, 
 will flock to its standard. 
 
 The Republican party struck at the root .of the extreme 
 jealousy of the Union in the South when it abolished slavery. 
 With that went the only real feeling against the Union. By 
 its triumph in arms it not only destroyed the motive but the 
 hope. It demonstrated the impossibility of such a thing as 
 secession. 
 
 But it went farther. With the power in its hands to push 
 its triumphs far beyond the worst fears of the South ; with the 
 Southern States prostrate at its feet, it has proved to these 
 people, who had been taught by the ultra States-rights politi- 
 cians to expect an annihilation of State rights whenever Re- 
 
THE NEW SOUTH. 
 
 315 
 
 publicanism triumphed, that they had been duped and deceived 
 by their own leaders ; for no sooner was the war ended than 
 the Supreme Court of the United States, a creature of Federal 
 power, composed almost entirely of Republicans, solemnly de- 
 clared, in the famous Slaughter-house cases, that the war had 
 not been waged for the annihilation of State sovereignty ; that 
 it had not destroyed the autonomy of the States; and that, 
 with the exception of the amendments bestowing new citizen- 
 ship and suffrage, the war had effected no organic change, and 
 States were as sovereign as ever. 
 
 These decisions rendered by Repubhcan tribunals at a time 
 when the Republican party had the unquestioned power to 
 decide anything it saw fit and enforce it, and followed as they 
 have been for years by a series of other decisions recognizing 
 States rights, and placing the doctrine upon a firmer and more 
 intelligent basis than was ever done by the so-called party of 
 States rights, have profoundly astonished the Southern masses, 
 who had been studiously educated to fear that the Republican 
 party in power would destroy their State governments, and 
 build upon their ruins a consolidated central government in 
 which the States were to be dwarfed to utter insignificance. 
 With the departure of their fears has come, not only a feeling 
 of respect for the conservatism of Republicanism, but a feeling 
 of resentment against those who excited their alarm so falsely. 
 
 Time must elapse in every case of revolutions such as the 
 Republican party wrought in the whole social and political 
 organization of the South, before those in whose affairs they 
 are effected, against their supreme protest, can be brought to 
 realize that the change was a blessing and a benefit. 
 
 It was idle at first to tell the bleeding and impoverished 
 South that her desolated homes, her new-made graves, hvir 
 vanquished armies, her enfranchised slaves, her dead hope of 
 independence, her poverty, and the long and weary struggle 
 for recuperation that lay before her, were all blessings in dis- 
 guise. If they were in fact, the only way to teach her was to 
 let her learn it for herself, and confess it when the bitterness 
 of her defeat and disappointment was past. Could she have 
 
3l6 THE REPUBLICAN tARtV. 
 
 seen it then, and she could not, her pride and her pain would 
 have made her refuse to confess it. 
 
 But the time has come when she has learned that she is 
 happier in the Union than she ever could have been out of it ; 
 that the emancipation of her slaves was an emancipation of 
 their owners as well from a narrow, limited, and unevenly de- 
 veloped civilization ; that her poverty has quickened what else 
 had been a languid energy, and taught her both the dignity 
 and the limitless possibilities of labor, whereas she once looked 
 down, upon and despised it as menial. 
 
 The time has come when the Southern people begin to 
 realize that she has passed through fire and blood not in vain, 
 but inevitably for an all-wise purpose ; and that what has hap- 
 pened was necessary to make her present regeneration possible. 
 The feeling now is almost universal that by reason of what has 
 passed she is in condition to attain and is attaining a degree of 
 wealth, civilization, importance, and prosperity which was im- 
 possible under old conditions. This feeling is not only revo- 
 lutionizing all the old feelings and prejudices of the South, but 
 is bringing her people to the views if not to the name of Repub- 
 licans. With the principles of Republicanism once espoused, 
 taking the name and allying themselves with that party is only 
 a matter of time. 
 
 Take, for example, the tariff question. In the days of 
 slavery the South had no manufactures. But what do we 
 behold there now? 
 
 No sooner were her people forced to abandon slave agricul- 
 ture than all sorts of industries sprung up. In Virginia, coal and 
 iron industries rivaling those of Pennsylvania, mining towns, fur- 
 naces, railroads, granite quarries, mills, and factories. In Georgia, 
 every branch of manufacturing, from the most important rail- 
 road enterprises to patent medicines of national reputation. 
 In Alabama and Tennessee, the development of a wonderful 
 juxtaposition of coal and iron that has turned their sedge- 
 patches into cities where town-lots sell as high as in Wall 
 Street. And even in South Carolina we find her competing, 
 with her cotton fabrics, for the markets of Shanghai. In this 
 land which a quarter of a century back knew nothing but cor- 
 
THE NEW SOUTH. 317 
 
 duroy roads and water-transportation, railroad-building is pro- 
 gressing with a rapidity putting the busy West to its mettle to 
 keep apace, and the New South is a perfect network of iron. 
 The first fruit of all this is what ? Will these " infant indus- 
 tries " submit to free trade ? No. Have no fear that they 
 will long consent to remain in the party of " a tariff for revenue 
 only." Older and well-established manufacturing communities 
 may be silent ; but, with the enthusiasm of youth, the voice of 
 the New South, the South which was but yesterday the free- 
 trade South, is clamorous for protection. 
 
 As yet she has not learned that to have protection she 
 must be Republican. She has been so long Democratic that 
 she still hopes to reconcile impossibilities, and thus it is that 
 the Southern protectionist deludes himself by calling himself a 
 " Randall Democrat." When he learns, what Mr. Randall has 
 long since ascertained, that a protection Democrat is one in a 
 hopeless minority of his party, and that he must always sacri- 
 fice his protection principles and remain in the background for 
 the privilege of the name of Democracy, the Southern protec- 
 tionist, having more regard for his pecuniary interest than for 
 the name, will go into the Republican party as the only hope 
 of carrying out his views. A Randall Democrat is a brevet 
 Republican, and all such, except Mr. Randall, will ultimately be 
 in full commission. 
 
 It was difficult to teach the Southern protectionist that he 
 had no hope from Democracy when out of power. But now 
 in power their purpose to force free trade upon the country 
 ultimately is seen in their every act, and is having its effect. 
 
 As an illustration : Coal has become a great industry in the 
 Democratic States of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and 
 Alabama. Thousands of men engaged in the coal trade in 
 those States are Democrats, but their livelihood is dependent 
 upon its protection. The Canadian fishery treaty was lately 
 promulgated. It contained not a syllable about coal. But in 
 the debates in the Canadian Parliament, and in the Canadian 
 newspapers and our own, it was stated freely that, although 
 there was no written stipulation, there was a verbal understand- 
 ing at the time the treaty was consummated that Mr. Cleve- 
 
3l8 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 land's administration would use its influence to have " coal, 
 lumber, and salt " put upon the free-list. Although this state- 
 ment has been given great publicity, I have seen no denial of 
 its truth. On the contrary, the message of President Cleve- 
 land gives countenance to it, and the Mills tariff bill at its 
 130th line, as if in pursuance of the agreement, declares that all 
 mineral or other substances in a crude state shall be admitted 
 duty free. In further corroboration of the statement, the 
 Treasury circulars for March direct customs officers to admit 
 all coals with 20 per cent or less of carbon duty free, classed as 
 anthracite. Now it is known that anthracite has really but 8 per 
 cent, and that the sub-carbons of Pennsylvania, and the Mary- 
 land, West Virginia, Virginia, and other Southern coals, none of 
 them run higher than from 12 to 17 per cent. Thus we behold 
 the Democratic administration straining the construction of 
 our present laws, which admit anthracite coals free, so as to ad- 
 mit other coals which are far below the anthracite standard 
 into duty-free competition with our own protected products. 
 This is but one of many instances of the same policy. With 
 such a spirit manifest in the Democracy in all things, with a 
 direct pecuniary interest against free trade, I think there is no 
 doubt whatever that the growing manufacturing interests in 
 the New South will find themselves forced very soon to array 
 themselves with their true friends, the Republican party, out of 
 sheer self-protection. 
 
 Again : The South must be with us on the internal-revenue 
 question. 
 
 Nowhere is the excise tax so odious as there. It was de- 
 nounced by the Democracy as a Republican measure so long 
 as the Republicans were in power. Hatred of it by our people, 
 and the promise of its repeal as soon as Democracy was in- 
 stalled, made thousands of Democratic votes in the South. It 
 ought to be repealed. It would have been repealed if the Re- 
 publicans had remained in power. President Arthur made it 
 the subject of a special message to the Forty-eighth Congress, 
 recommending its repeal. The Democratic masses of the 
 South made the promise of its immediate and unconditional 
 repeal the basis of their support of the party all through the 
 
THE NEW SOUTH. 319 
 
 South. Yet there it stands, and there it will stand so long as 
 Democracy is in power. For they have resolved upon a re- 
 duction of tariff duties as the thing of first importance, and 
 that reduction is impossible if the system of internal-revenue 
 taxation is repealed. From one or other source revenue must 
 come, and the internal-revenue tax is the real and only source 
 of taxation under Democratic theory. The people of the South 
 are beginning to realize this, and thousands of men who have 
 heretofore voted the Democratic ticket feel that they were de- 
 ceived in the promise of its repeal and must vote the Repub- 
 lican ticket if they hope to accomplish that end. 
 
 No revolution of public sentiment in the South is more 
 marked than that concerning education and the power of the 
 Federal Government to aid the States in this and other ways 
 by appropriations of money. 
 
 According to Democratic doctrine the government has no 
 power to do any of these things. 
 
 In the olden time the South not only denied this power in 
 the Federal Government, but when Congress made such ap- 
 propriations the Southern States refused to receive them. 
 Virginia and Mississippi declined for many years to accept 
 their share of the public moneys in the Treasury from the pro- 
 ceeds of the sale of public lands, distributed to the States for 
 purposes of public education under the act of 1839. ^^ was 
 only after the war, as late as 1870, that they laid aside their 
 pride and quietly took their share of the money. A changed 
 public sentiment justified such action then. 
 
 I have heard it stated that so stiff-necked were the South- 
 ern States in the days of slavery in their opposition to and re- 
 fusal to accept appropriations for rivers and harbors, as beyond 
 Federal authority and against public policy, that up to the 
 outbreak of our civil war the outlay by the Federal Government 
 on Boston Harbor alone exceeded the whole amount expended 
 on the Southern coast from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. 
 
 Among the older Southern politicians that feeling still 
 exists and is often manifest. They cannot yield or change 
 opinions which they have spent a lifetime in uttering and de- 
 fending. 
 
320 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Not SO with the people of the New South. In nothing are 
 their feehngs more thoroughly revolutionized than in this. 
 The existence of this feeling is made manifest in the greedy- 
 demand for Federal aid of all sorts by the younger class of 
 Southern Democratic leaders — demands so multiform and ex- 
 acting, stretching the doctrine of liberal construction so far, as 
 to make their pretense that they are Democrats, favoring the 
 doctrine of strict construction, an absolute absurdity. The de- 
 mand for a liberal exercise of Federal power in aid of the 
 Southern people is almost universal in the New South. It 
 matters not what the people with such views may call them- 
 selves ; these views are ingrained and essentially Republican 
 and not Democratic ; and the people holding them are fast 
 finding out that they cannot remain Democratic and obtain 
 what they have so plainly resolved upon having. 
 
 The most pointed instance of this popular demand, deluded 
 and thwarted by Democratic promise, is in the matter of Fed- 
 eral aid to education. This measure, as embodied in the Blair 
 (education) bill, is a necessity in the New South. The Fed- 
 eral Government saw fit to free and enfranchise the colored 
 population. The burden of educating this class and fitting 
 them for an intelligent exercise of the rights of citizenship was 
 very great, and fell with peculiar hardship on the impoverished 
 and debt-ridden South. That the Federal Government should 
 aid in the task seemed plain to the North, and to the delighted 
 South it not only held out almost the only hope of doing this 
 right thing, but seemed a fair and honorable action on the part 
 of the Nation. Of course it is a Republican measure. No 
 consistent Democrat can reconcile it with the doctrines of his 
 party. But Southern Democrats, seeing the almost universal 
 demand for it in their constituents, did not hesitate to pledge 
 their party to the support of the measure. To have done 
 otherwise would have been to insure their defeat. Yet how 
 have they redeemed their pledge ? They have been utterly 
 unable to induce a majority of their party, now in power, to re- 
 deem their pledge, and the Blair bill, thrice passed by a Re- 
 publican Senate, languishes and is dead in the hands of the 
 Democracy. 
 
THE NEW SOUTH. 321 
 
 I know of nothing which has so brought home to our people 
 a deep and bitter sense of disappointment in Democracy. 
 
 One of the great blessings brought to the South by Repub- 
 licanism is a change from the utter apathy touching popular 
 education once existing there to a feeling amounting almost to 
 enthusiasm in its favor. No measure proposed for many 
 years has met with more unanimous suppoi;t in the South than 
 the Blair bill. It was calculated to benefit the Southern 
 people peculiarly, for the fund appropriated for educational 
 purposes by that bill was to be distributed to the States on the 
 basis of illiteracy, and this would have carried the great bulk of 
 it to the Southern States. The sight of that measure slaugh- 
 tered in a Democratic House of Representatives has done more 
 than anything I know to awaken the Southern people to a 
 realization that the narrow, jealous, and illiberal views of 
 Federal power entertained by Democracy are unfitted to the 
 changed conditions and necessities of the South. 
 
 I might multiply instances indefinitely, but the foregoing 
 will suffice. 
 
 Prejudice against pohtical affiliation with the blacks has 
 undoubtedly deterred and still deters Southern whites from 
 becoming Republicans. But this unreasonable prejudice 
 is fast dying out. It cannot force men to remain in the 
 Democratic party against their interests and convictions, any 
 more than the fact that the negroes are nearly all Baptists can 
 keep white men who believe in the doctrine of immersion from 
 joining the Baptist Church. All that is necessary is a little 
 time. Let me give some figures showing the advances which 
 Republicanism has made with white men in Virginia in the 
 last twelve years. My illustration is from Virginia be- 
 cause I know her matters best, and in a border Southern State 
 a movement of this sort naturally begins. Look at these six- 
 teen counties in Virginia— counties containing 37,370 white 
 voters and but 4381 blacks. In 1876 and 1880 they cast a 
 Republican vote barely equal to the colored voters m their 
 Hmits. Yet in 1884 they registered nearly 18,000 Republican 
 votes whereof 14,000 must have been white, and show a gain 
 of i3',400votes in sixteen counties. Let the Democrat who 
 
^22 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 boasts of a Solid South, and the Republican who despairs of 
 breaking it, ponder on these figures : 
 
 Alleghany. . . 
 
 Bland 
 
 Buchanan . . 
 
 Floyd 
 
 Highland. . . 
 Montgomery 
 
 Page 
 
 Rockingham. 
 
 Russell 
 
 Scott 
 
 Tazewell. . . . 
 
 Lee 
 
 Shenandoah . 
 
 Stafford 
 
 Wise 
 
 Wythe 
 
 Males of Voting- Age as 
 
 
 
 stated in Census of 
 
 Number of Votes 
 
 1888. 
 
 
 
 White. 
 
 Colored. 
 
 1876. 
 Hayes. 
 
 18B0. 
 
 Garfield. 
 
 1,074 
 
 391 
 
 146 
 
 146 
 
 1.034 
 
 43 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 1,036 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 2,421 
 
 224 
 
 440 
 
 345 
 
 1,044 
 
 86 
 
 50 
 
 75 
 
 2,664 
 
 768 
 
 810 
 
 601 
 
 1,973 
 
 224 
 
 139 
 
 149 
 
 5.871 
 
 644 
 
 508 
 
 690 
 
 2,593 
 
 221 
 
 117 
 
 I go 
 
 3.231 
 
 I2g 
 
 531 
 
 519 
 
 2,253 
 
 337 
 
 148 
 
 148 
 
 2,826 
 
 140 
 
 290 
 
 267 
 
 4,019 
 
 226 
 
 265 
 
 350 
 
 1.323 
 
 351 
 
 234 
 
 268 
 
 1,496 
 
 17 
 
 13S 
 
 126 
 
 2.512 
 
 565 
 
 430 
 
 382 
 
 37.370 
 
 4,381 
 
 4,308 
 
 4,349 
 
 Bla 
 
 932 
 
 465 
 
 243 
 
 1,097 
 
 461 
 
 1,308 
 
 i,o8g 
 
 2,761 
 
 1,079 
 1.509 
 1.284 
 1,020 
 1,872 
 762 
 461 
 1,406 
 
 17,749 
 
 The truth is, the South is beginning to find out that it 
 needs Republican principles to achieve its greatest possibili- 
 ties, at about the same time that the Republican party is be- 
 ginning to learn how much it needs the South. 
 
 This is a happy conjunction of knowledge. It shows that 
 the South is broadening and expanding in every view ; and it 
 imposes upon the Republican party the duty of realizing that 
 its principles, so admirably adapted, in the present and the 
 future, to all sections of our land and all its people, are only 
 marred and weakened by that class of persons who feel called 
 upon on all occasions to thrust forward things of the past which 
 are sectional and embittered, however glorious they may be. 
 
 In the approaching campaign it behooves every Republican, 
 North, South, East, and West, whether in antecedents he was a 
 Union man or a Confederate, to unite in making the Repub- 
 lican party what it really is, the only truly national party in 
 America. The Democratic party is intensely sectional. Let 
 not the Republican party fall into an error so odious. 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 
 By Hon. John J. Ingalls, U. S. Senator from Kansas. 
 
 The Republican party, in its platform adopted at Chicago, 
 June 21, 1888, among other things, declares: 
 
 "We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the National Con- 
 stitution and the indissoluble Union of the States ; to the 
 autonomy reserved to the States under the Constitution ; to 
 the personal rights and liberties of citizens in all the States 
 and Territories in the Union, and especially to the supreme 
 and sovereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native 
 or foreign-born, white or black, to cast one free ballot in public 
 elections, and to have that ballot duly counted. We hold the 
 free and honest popular ballot and the just and equal repre- 
 sentation of all the people to be the foundation of our. republi- 
 can government, and demand effective legislation to secure 
 the integrity and purity of elections, which are the fountains 
 of public authority. We charge that the present administra- 
 tion and the Democratic majority in Congress owe their exist- 
 ence to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullifica- 
 tion of the Constitution and laws of the United States." 
 
 Why was such an emphatic declaration of these political 
 axioms necessary, and what is the foundation for the indict- 
 ment against President Cleveland, and his supporters in the 
 House of Representatives? 
 
 The answer requires a brief review of the record of the 
 Democratic party in national elections. 
 
 Long before the Republican party was organized, the De- 
 mocracy entered upon a systematic career of frauds upon the 
 suffrage, to which it has persistently adhered, and to \\'hich its 
 success is alone due. It has never been sustained by an hon- 
 est majority of the votes of the American people, and is now 
 in power by revolutionary and unconstitutional methods, as 
 
 323 
 
324 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 intolerable and despotic as those which prevail in the most 
 degraded nations of the earth. 
 
 The Presidential elections of 1844, of 1852, and of i856were 
 carried for the Democracy by corruption and fraud. Failing 
 in i860 in their nefarious attempt to nationalize slavery, and 
 defeat Lincoln, the Democratic party rebelled rather than sub- 
 mit to the will of the majority, lawfully and peaceably ex- 
 pressed at the polls, and deliberately presented the issue of 
 dissolution and civil war. 
 
 In the election of 1844 the vote in the Electoral College 
 stood, Polk, 170; Clay, 105. New York, with 36 electoral 
 votes, Georgia, with 10, and Louisiana, with 6, making 52 in 
 all, were counted for Polk. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, on the 7th of January, 
 1845, ex-Senator Clingman, of North Carolina (who is still 
 living), delivered a speech upon the Democratic frauds in that 
 election, in which he declared that the States above named 
 were carried by corrupt assessments and levies upon officials 
 in the custom-house in New York, by the illegal naturaliza- 
 tion of foreigners, and by frauds upon the suffrage. 
 
 A similar condition of affairs he alleged prevailed in Mary- 
 land, fifty men in Baltimore alone having been convicted of 
 double voting, who were subsequently pardoned by the Demo- 
 cratic governor. In New York City above 7000 foreigners 
 were naturalized, many of whom had not been in the country 
 for six months, whose votes were cast for the Democratic can- 
 didate. 
 
 He alluded to the Empire Club, of New York City — an 
 important Democratic auxiliary — characterizing it as " an as- 
 sembly of gamblers, pick-pockets, and persons under indict- 
 ments for murder and various crimes." A conspiracy was 
 formed to secure through this organization 14,000 illegal votes 
 for Polk, but in consequence of difficulties that were not an- 
 ticipated they were able only to secure 11,000. The sailors 
 on several ships-of-war in the harbor of New York were un- 
 lawfully directed to participate in the election, and were so 
 unacquainted with the duties required of them that they voted 
 in the wrong district, in consequence of which a Democratic 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 32$ 
 
 member of Congress from Brooklyn was defeated, and his 
 colleague in New York, on the opposite side of the bay, was 
 elected. 
 
 Polk's apparent plurality in New York over Clay, notwith- 
 standing the fraudulent votes cast, was but 5106. 
 
 Mr. Clingman further alleged that voters were transferred 
 from Philadelphia to the city of Albany, in pursuance of this 
 conspiracy. In the county of St. Lawrence more than 1500 
 fraudulent votes were cast, making a total of above 20,000 as- 
 certained illegal voters in that State alone. He averred that 
 in four counties in Georgia more fraudulent votes were cast 
 than the declared majority of Polk in that State, which was 
 2071. 
 
 Clay was undoubtedly entitled to the electoral vote of 
 Louisiana, and it was subsequently clearly established by testi- 
 mony that the State was carried for Polk by a gang of New 
 Orleans ruffians and repeaters who were taken on a steamboat 
 to the voting-place of Plaquemines Parish, where they cast 701 
 votes for the Democratic electors. Upon the face of the re- 
 turns the Democratic majority was 699. 
 
 There is no fact in history more clearly established than 
 that in 1868 New York was carried for Seymour by the most 
 shameless and systematic frauds perpetrated by Tweed and 
 his confederates in crime. The State was largely Republican, 
 outside of the city of New York, where such spurious majori- 
 ties were manufactured by the Democratic officials, who had 
 all the election machinery, that the verdict of the people was 
 apparently reversed and the mercenary misrule of Hoffman 
 and Tweed continued, until public indignation was aroused by 
 the plunder of the revenues, the prostitution of the judiciary, 
 and the corruption of the suffrage. 
 
 Li 1876 New York was counted for Tilden by the repeti- 
 tion of the same depraved practices. A majority of the hon- 
 est vote of that State unquestionably was cast for Hayes, but 
 the simulated returns from New York City and Kings County 
 were repeated, with the usual result. Many of the Southern 
 States were also undeniably Republican, but the "Mississippi 
 plan" was invented for that occasion, and by terrorizing and 
 
326 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 murdering colored citizens the organization of the party was 
 destroyed, the canvass was interrupted, and entire communities 
 were prevented from voting. In several States the plan suc- 
 ceeded, but notwithstanding the bloody and brutal methods of 
 the Democracy, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana were 
 carried by the Republicans, although thousands of electors 
 were illegally prevented from casting their votes. Because 
 Republican returning boards had the courage and intelligence 
 to reject the votes of precincts and parishes where violence 
 and intimidation had been employed to defeat the will of the 
 majority, the Democratic party threatened another revolution, 
 and declared their purpose to seat Tilden by force. 
 
 To avoid civil war and secure a peaceable solution of the 
 difficulty, the Republicans finally accepted the Democratic 
 proposition for an Electoral Commission, consisting of five mem- 
 bers of the Democratic House of Representatives, five members 
 of the Republican Senate, and the five senior members of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, constituting a tribunal 
 that, as the court was then organized, would be in favor of 
 seating Tilden, the Democratic nominee for the Presidency, by 
 a majority of one. 
 
 Had the Hon. David Davis, the fifth member of the Su- 
 preme Court, not been chosen to the Senate of the United 
 States from Illinois in the place of Hon. John A. Logan (whose 
 term had expired), rendering necessary the appointment of Mr. 
 Bradley as the fifteenth member of the commission, its deci- 
 sion would undoubtedly have been in favor of Mr. Tilden in- 
 stead of Mr. Hayes, by a vote of eight to seven. 
 
 When it became evident that the decision of the Electoral 
 Commission would be adverse to the claims of the Democratic 
 party to the votes in the disputed Southern States, they entered 
 into further machinations for the purpose of preventing the 
 anticipated result, by attempting to purchase the vote of a 
 Presidential Elector in the State of Oregon. The negotiations 
 were conducted by the intimate friends and trusted relatives of 
 Mr. Tilden, in his own house, by means of the notorious cipher 
 dispatches, whose genuineness and authenticity were never de- 
 nied. Agents of Mr. Tilden were also' sent to Florida, to South 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 327 
 
 Carolina, and to Louisiana with large sums of money, which 
 they were instructed to use if necessary to secure the requisite 
 majority in the Electoral College. Detected in their nefarious 
 schemes, and thwarted in their corrupt and unpatriotic effort 
 to overthrow the will of the people, the Democratic party sul- 
 lenly acquiesced in the decision of the Electoral Commis- 
 sion, and since that time have endeavored to distract public 
 attention from their frauds upon the suffrage, by their allusions 
 in national and State platforms to " Hayes, and the fraud of 
 1876." 
 
 Since 1876 the Republican party has been practically disor- 
 ganized and extinct in the South. The " Mississippi plan " of 
 outrage, intirtridation, and murder has yielded to the "South 
 Carolina plan" of ballot-box stuffing, fraudulent registration, 
 and fictitious returns, which have been found to be equally effec- 
 tive, with the additional advantage of not arousing public 
 indignation in the North. The Republicans in nearly every 
 Southern State, both in local and Presidential elections, have 
 for the past eleven years been disfranchised. Occasionally 
 massacres have occurred, as in Copiah County, Mississippi, and 
 at Danville, in Virginia ; but that species of " persuasion," as, 
 it is denominated by the Senators from Louisiana, has been 
 generally abandoned. The tissue ballot has been found equally 
 effective, more scientific, and more difficult of detection, than 
 the bowie-knife, the bludgeon, and the revolver. 
 
 During the past eight years, therefore, there has been hardly 
 the semblance of a contest by the Republicans in the old slave 
 States. Knowing that it was of no use to attempt to vote, 
 they have quietly refrained. The results are plainly visible in 
 the returns upon Congressional elections. While in the North- 
 ern States the average vote cast in a Congressional district is from 
 15,000 to 20,000, in Georgia it is about 4000. At the election 
 of 1882 for Congressmen in the twenty districts of Illinois, 
 525,270 votes were cast ; while in the 38 Congressional districts 
 in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, 
 including one member elected at large, the total number of 
 votes cast was 498,973. Thus the vote of one elector in either 
 
328 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 of these States counts for more than the votes of two men in 
 Illinois, or any other Northern State. 
 
 Oregon has one member of Congress, and the total vote in 
 that State this year was a httle in excess of 60,000. Georgia 
 has ten Representatives in Congress. The total vote cast for 
 these ten members was 23,806, and but 1900 votes were re- 
 corded against them. Kansas has seven Representatives in 
 Congress, for whom 251,971 votes were cast. Mississippi sends 
 the same number, with 45,557 votes. These enormous excesses 
 of representation which the South receives in Congress and in 
 the Electoral College are upon the uasis of a large population, 
 whose vote is suppressed, coerced, or thrown out of the count, 
 representing the Republican party south of the Potomac River. 
 
 The most recent illustration of Democratic methods in the 
 Southern States appears in the election in Louisiana, held on 
 the 17th of April last, at which the governor and other State 
 officers, together with the legislature, charged with the election 
 of two United States Senators, were chosen. 
 
 There had been a serious quarrel in the Democratic party of 
 that State between the factions headed respectively by ex-Gov. 
 NichoUs and Gov. McEnery, both of whom were candidates for 
 the gubernatorial nomination. In a speech delivered at New 
 Orleans in January, during the canvass that preceded the elec- 
 tion of delegates to the nominating convention, Gov. McEnery 
 pledged himself to an honest and fair election. He declared 
 that he would see that every vote was counted as cast, that no 
 substitution of ballots was practiced, and that the voice of all 
 the voters in the State, as deposited in the ballot-box, should 
 find expression and receive recognition, and that the officers 
 elected should be commissioned. He also publicly announced 
 that he would remove any registrar or returning officer in 
 the city or State that he had reason to believe aided in sup- 
 pressing or changing the popular will. 
 
 The declarations of the Governor admitted that grounds of 
 complaint had hitherto existed, and vindicated all that had 
 been said by Republicans about the condition of the suffrage 
 in the South. Relying upon the public assurances of Gov. 
 McEnery, the Republicans organized, made nominations, and 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 329 
 
 entered actively into the canvass. The nominating convention 
 assembled on the loth of January, and after an animated and 
 bitter contest Nicholls was successful in obtaining the nomina- 
 tion. The partisans of Nicholls refused to support a resolution 
 indorsing Gov. McEnery's administration, whereupon the sup- 
 porters of McEnery declared that unless he was unquahfiedly 
 indorsed a resolution would be introduced committing the 
 Democratic party in Louisiana to a " free vote and a fair count." 
 Yielding to this threat, the refusal of the supporters of 
 Nicholls was reconsidered, and the administration of Mc- 
 Enery was indorsed. 
 
 Subsequently, in a personal interview between McEnery 
 and Warmoth, who had been nominated by the Republicans, 
 McEnery repeated his declarations that he would hold himself 
 personally and officially responsible for a fair, honest, and free 
 election in April. He repeated his assurances again and again 
 upon the stump during the campaign, but, as the canvass pro- 
 ceeded, it became apparent that there was danger of Repub- 
 lican success, and of the election of Warmoth. The tone of 
 Gov. McEnery's speeches suddenly changed. Early in March 
 he said : 
 
 " I tell you there is danger, and north Louisiana will have to 
 save this State from disgrace. If you permit the negroes to 
 organize, you will have to break it by power, and go right now 
 and break it in its incipiency. Before I will see such another 
 state of affairs I will wrap the State in revolution from the 
 Gulf to the Arkansas line. The white people under the radical 
 rdgiine were fast going toward the condition of Hayti, and I 
 now ask you to establish to the world that we, the white peo- 
 ple, intend to rule the destinies of this country. We have now 
 a Gaul at our doors, and it is time we shall say that the law 
 shall be silent, and uphold our liberties at all hazards." 
 
 As the campaign was drawing toward its close, and the suc- 
 cess of Warmoth became more probable. Gov. McEnery pre- 
 pared a circular letter, which was sent to the returning officers, 
 whose duty it is under the statutes of Louisiana to select the 
 polling places, appoint the commissioners and clerks of elec- 
 tion, and return the votes in all the parishes of the State, in 
 
330 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 which he said : " Warmoth is developing too much strength.. 
 We must beat him. See to it that your parish returns a large 
 Democratic majority." 
 
 Gov. Warmoth has publicly challenged Gov. McEnery to 
 deny the authenticity of this letter, which was sent not alone 
 to the returning officers, but to leading Democrats in different 
 portions of the State. At the meeting in March, previously 
 referred to. Gov. McEnery was followed by Col. Jack, of 
 Natchitoches, who said : 
 
 " You have heard the assurances of our chief executive that, 
 come what will or may, he will wrap this State in revolution 
 from the Arkansas line to the Gulf, rather than have radicalism 
 come into power. And I tell you we are in danger with the 
 astute and wily Warmoth as a leader — the wily, crafty, and in- 
 sidious gentleman from New Orleans. 
 
 " If this state of affairs should confront him, all Gov. McEn- 
 ery would have to do would be to issue his fiat or manifesto, 
 and the people of North Louisiana would come to his rescue 
 and redeem the State as they did before ; and if what I say is 
 treason, let them make the most of it." 
 
 The largest Democratic vote heretofore cast in Louisiana 
 was at the spring election of 1884, when McEnery received 
 88,794. Cleveland in the same year received 62,546. Li 1880 
 Hancock received 65,067. There had been no considerable 
 increase of population in Louisiana, and the registration re- 
 mained practically the same ; but under the impulse of the 
 appeals of Gov. McEnery, and the instructions issued to the 
 Democratic officials, the total vote returned for Nicholls on 
 the 17th of April was 131,899, a majority of 83,699 over War-, 
 moth, being 43,000 more than were cast for McEnery in 1884, 
 and 67,000 more than were cast for Hancock, and nearly 70,000 
 more than were cast for Cleveland. 
 
 This astounding result is a striking commentary upon the 
 " fair and honest count" which was promised by the Governor 
 of Louisiana. The returning boards evidently thoroughly 
 obeyed the injunction of Gov. McEnery to see to it that their 
 parishes returned a large Democratic majority. Intelligent and 
 thoughtful observers believe that, upon a reasonable estimate 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 331 
 
 of the vote in Louisiana, Warmoth carried the State by not 
 less than 25,000 majority, which was converted by ballot-box 
 stuffing, by spurious and fabricated returns — in many cases 
 exceeding the entire registered vote— into a majority for 
 Nicholls of more than 83,000, Even the Democratic news- 
 papers of the State protested against the extraordinary and 
 preposterous proceedings. They declared that the majority 
 was ridiculous and unnecessary ; that it would excite derisive 
 sneers throughout the North, and go far toward electing a Re- 
 pubHcan President. One editor declared that only a suspen- 
 sion of the law could produce such exaggerated majorities, and 
 that if the Demoratic party indorsed such methods it would 
 become a by-word and a reproach. 
 
 Upon the subject of spurious and manifestly fabricated 
 majorities, or majorities that exceed the entire registered vote, 
 the statistics are interesting. For instance, in the parish of 
 Bossier, giving Nicholls 4213 votes and Warmoth 95, making a 
 total of 4308 cast, the registered vote of the parish is but 3603, 
 making a difference between the votes returned as cast and the 
 registered vote of 705. 
 
 In East Carroll parish the registered vote was 2576. Nich- 
 olls received 2680, or 104 in excess of the entire registration, and 
 Warmoth received 285, being a total of 389 votes more than 
 appeared upon the lists. 
 
 Adjoining the parish of East Carroll is Madison, where 
 the law was entirely ' suspended.' The registered vote in 
 Madison was 3360, of which 279 were white and 3081 colored. 
 Nicholls's vote was 2530, with not a single vote for Warmoth, 
 so that Nicholls received 170 votes more than the entire num- 
 ber of votes, white and colored, in the parish. 
 
 The parish of Concordia had a registered vote of 4201, of 
 which 448 were white and 3753 colored. Nicholls received 
 4219 votes in Concordia, being 18 votes more than the entire 
 registration ; and the Democracy gratuitously gave Warmoth 
 145, making a total of votes cast apparently 4364, or an excess- 
 of 163 votes above the entire registration. 
 
 In Red River Parish the result was still more 'unanimous.' 
 The registered vote was 1181, of which Nicholls received 1679- 
 
332 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 and Warmoth 78, being a total of 1757, an excess of 576. Sub- 
 tracting the registered vote of the parish from the vote received 
 by Nicholls, it will be perceived that the ' reform ' candidate 
 was given 498 votes more than the entire parish contains. This 
 is a free vote and an honest count! 
 
 Coming 'down to the parish of West Baton Rouge we find 
 a total of 181 1, of which 504 are white and 1307 colored. In 
 this parish Nicholls was given 171 2 and Warmoth 454, a total 
 of 2166, making an excess of votes counted above votes reg- 
 istered of 355- 
 
 Another illustration of the fulfillment of McEnery's pledge 
 that he would see an ' honest and fair election ' is found in the 
 vote of Vermillion, in southwestern Louisiana, a parish whose 
 registered vote is 2099, of which Nicholls received 1687 and 
 Warmoth 619, total 2306, an excess of 211. 
 
 In Washington parish the registered vote was 965, of which 
 Nicholls received 763, Warmoth 271, a total of 1034, or 69 more 
 votes than the registration shows to have been in the parish. 
 In these precincts and parishes to which I have referred, con- 
 taining a registered vote of a little less than 20,000, the excess 
 of votes cast above the registration is more than 2600. 
 
 But it is not in the Southern States alone that the Demo- 
 cratic party has displayed its inherent and ingrained propensity 
 to falsify the returns, and to steal what they could not honestly 
 and fairly obtain. 
 
 From 1884 to 1887 the Senate of the United States was Re- 
 publican by only two majority. The members of the legisla- 
 tures elected in those years in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana were 
 to choose successors to three Republican Senators. It is a 
 curious and instructive coincidence that in each of those three 
 States the most desperate and determined efforts were made 
 by the Democracy through fraud, theft, perjury, and forgery 
 to secure enough legislators to elect Democratic successors to 
 Logan, Harrison, and Sherman. 
 
 On the morning after the election in 1884, in Illinois, it ap- 
 peared from the unofficial returns that the Republicans had ^6 
 members of the House and 26 in the Senate, a total of 102 ; 
 while the Democrats had "jt members of the House and 24 of 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 333 
 
 the Senate, with one member in each body independent. If 
 the Republicans could be deprived of one Senator and one 
 Representative, the Democrats, through a coalition with the 
 independents, would have a majority of two on joint ballot. 
 
 In the Sixth Senatorial District it appeared that Henry 
 W. Lehmann had been chosen over Rudolph Brand, Demo- 
 crat, by 390 majority. The returns from the Second Precinct 
 of the Eighteenth Ward in Chicago gave the vote as follows : 
 Lehmann, 420 ; Brand, 274. Six days later, when the official 
 canvass was made, it was discovered that the returns had 
 been changed. They then read, Lehman, 220 ; Brand, 474 ; 
 which gave Brand a majority of 10 in the district. The evi- 
 dences of fraud and forgery were so clear that the United 
 States Grand Jury, then in session, promptly found an indict- 
 ment against Joseph C. Mackin, the alleged instigator of the 
 crime, and the man who ordered the bogus tickets printed ; 
 Henry W. Gallagher, the expert penman who forged the tally- 
 sheets ; and Richard Gleason, a clerk in the County Clerk's 
 office, through whose connivance the ballot-boxes and tally- 
 sheets were changed. 
 
 Mackin and Gallagher are now convicts in the penitentiary 
 in Illinois. The case against Gleason was dropped upon some 
 legal technicality. 
 
 In Ohio, in 1886, the same tactics were resorted to by 
 the Democratic party in Cincinnati and Columbus, but the 
 thieves and forgers of Ohio were less expert than those in Illi- 
 nois. Instead of preparing an entirely new tally-sheet, the 
 figures on the original were changed, and so clumsily and 
 awkwardly that the fraud was plainly visible. In Columbus 
 the tally-sheets were stolen. Judge Thurman, the present can- 
 didate of the Democracy for Vice-President, was retained as 
 counsel for the prosecution in some of these cases, and has 
 diminished his own vote, in Ohio at least, by assisting to 
 incarcerate several of his brother-Democrats in the State 
 penitentiary. 
 
 The Democracy of Ohio do not regard this subject as an 
 agreeable topic of discussion ; but one of the most prominent 
 members of that party, ex-Gov. Hoadly, in a speech delivered 
 
334 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 in Cincinnati, just before his departure for New York, where 
 he is now residing, gave his party associates some valuable ad- 
 vice, which they will do well to heed. He admitted that at 
 the fall election of 1885, votes had been counted for him that 
 had been cast for Gov. Foraker, and urged his party friends 
 never again to allow an honest man to be put into the position 
 of knowing that he had been credited with votes that had 
 never been cast for him. 
 
 But reputable Democrats, who would not participate in 
 frauds upon the suffrage, have little influence on the party or- 
 ganization. 
 
 In Indiana, in 1886, the Democrats were more successful. 
 The State Senate was Democratic, and it refused to recognize 
 the Lieutenant-Governor elected in that year. The President, 
 pro tempore, of the Senate retained his place. Two Republican 
 Senators who had been elected were arbitrarily excluded, and a 
 majority on joint ballot being thus obtained, Mr. David Tur- 
 pie was chosen to succeed Senator Harrison, and his title to his 
 seat has been confirmed by the Senate. 
 
 The latest exhibition in the State of New York of the 
 Democratic attitude upon the subject of a free ballot and fair 
 count is the veto of the Saxton Electoral Reform bill by Gov. 
 Hill — a veto generally approved by the Democratic press. 
 The object of this measure was to guard against illegal voting, 
 repeating, ballot-box stuffing, and all species of fraud upon 
 the suffrage. It was passed almost unanimously by a Repub- 
 lican legislature, but, not agreeing with the ideas of the Demo- 
 cratic machine, it failed to receive the approval of the Execu- 
 tive. 
 
 TPIE QUESTION IS ANSWERED. 
 
 The Republican party demands a free ballot and a fair 
 count because a free ballot and a fair count are denied by the 
 Democrats in nine States to such an extent that voting is a 
 mockery, and because in other States frauds on the suffrage are 
 committed whenever they appear necessary. It demands a 
 free ballot and a fair count because they are at the basis of re- 
 p iblican institutions; because there is no safety for the Re- 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 335 
 
 public unless the purity of the polls is preserved ; because the 
 Democratic party, always and everywhere, has been and is 
 more careful for partisan success than for the preservation of 
 our institutions ; because a free ballot and a fair count would 
 ire-enfranchise a million voters in the Gulf States and break up 
 the menace of a solid South. 
 
 If the South were kept " solid " by fair means, the Repub- 
 lican party would have no right to complain. If, upon an 
 'Open, fair, honest expression of opinion on the part of all cit- 
 izens, white and black, one hundred and fifty-three electoral 
 votes were recorded for the Democratic party in the South, 
 nobody could find fault. If this result were reached by the 
 voluntary refusal of sixty per cent of the population to vote at 
 •all, even this could be endured. But when more than one 
 half of the entire body of citizens desiring to vote are either 
 forcibly prevented, or fraudulently deprived of their votes by 
 false returns, the situation is widely different. 
 
 One hundred and fifty-three votes in the Electoral College 
 .are assured to the Democracy in November without any other 
 effort than that required to write the certificates. It will not be 
 necessary to make a speech nor contribute a dollar for the ex- 
 penses of that campaign. Forty-eight more in the North will 
 ■give Cleveland another term. To secure these, the patronage 
 of the administration, the contributions from ofifice-holders, 
 the services of the repeaters, the rounders, and the heelers of 
 New York, Ohio, and Indiana will be strenuously devoted. 
 While the South is kept " solid," the North is to be divided by 
 ialse pretenses, by efforts to array labor against capital, the 
 poor against the rich, the farmers against the corporations. 
 They need but forty-eight votes, while the Republicans in this 
 ■unequal contest must secure two hundred and one, or fail. 
 JSIor should it be forgotten that of the one hundred and fifty- 
 1;hree Southern votes, thirty-eight were obtained by the addi- 
 tional representation arising from the enfranchisement of the 
 negroes, who thus increase the political power of their former 
 -masters, by whom they are deprived of the prerogatives of cit- 
 izenship guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the 
 United States. 
 
336 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 The purpose to eliminate the negro as a factor in the pol- 
 itics and society of the South is no longer concealed. It is 
 avowed openly by their representatives in the Senate. They 
 declare their intention to prevent the negro from voting, " by 
 persuasion "! They affirm that he is destitute of capacity for 
 self-government. If this be true, let them then in honor and 
 justice relinquish the increment they acquired by his enfran- 
 chisement ; so that equality of suffrage may be preserved, 
 and the equilibrium between the North and the South main- 
 tained. 
 
 The approaching contest is the most important of the cen- 
 tury. It will be the Gettysburg of our politics. Its result 
 will determine the course of our history for another gener- 
 ation. Should the next administration be Democratic, the 
 Supreme Court will be reconstructed upon the basis of hostility 
 to the war amendments and the great statutes of freedom. 
 From its decision there will be no appeal except by revolution. 
 
 The great economic questions of protection to American 
 labor, the currency, the surplus, internal improvements, our 
 foreign policy, education, the public credit, affecting not alone 
 the walfare of the Nation, but the wages of every laborer and 
 the values of all property, will be the subjects of legislation, 
 and when we insist that the decision shall be made by legis- 
 lators and an Executive honestly chosen by a free ballot and a 
 fair count, we are insolently told that it is " none of our bus- 
 iness "! That is to say, by the suppression of majorities, by 
 stuffing ballot-boxes with votes that were never cast, by forg- 
 ing certificates of election, Cleveland may be declared Presi- 
 dent, and Senators and Representatives may be returned to 
 Congress, who are to impose taxes, dispose of the revenues, 
 and direct the destinies of the Nation, while representing only 
 a minority of the people, and it is " none of our business"! 
 
 The Constitution of the United States does not confer upon 
 any citizen the right to vote. That right is not one of the 
 privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States. 
 When possessed at all, even for electing Representatives in 
 Congress and Presidential Electors (the only national officials 
 chosen by popular vote), it is conferred by State constitutions 
 
A FAIR VOTE AND AN HONEST COUNT. 337 
 
 .and State statutes. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Consti- 
 tution does not, as is sometimes supposed, grant the right of 
 suffrage to any one. It only exempts citizens of the United 
 States from discrimination in the several States in the exercise 
 of the right to vote on account of " race, color, or previous con- 
 dition of servitude," and empowers Congress to enforce that 
 right of exemption by appropriate legislation. The power of 
 the States to qualify or deny the elective franchise upon other 
 grounds, such as nativity, sex, illiteracy, non-payment of taxes, 
 remains unchanged. The authority of Congress to legislate at 
 all upon the subject of suffrage in the different States rests alone 
 upon the Fifteenth Amendment. It can be exercised only by 
 providing punishment when the votes of the qualified electors 
 at any State or national election are refused by the State au- 
 thorities, on account of race, or color, or previous condition of 
 servitude, and the only punishment that can be inflicted upon 
 the State is the reduction of its representation in Congress and 
 the Electoral College. 
 
 It is no answer to say that these crimes against suffrage are 
 not committed by the State, but by individuals ; that as there 
 are no statutes forbidding negroes to vote, they are not de- 
 prived of their rights by the " State." The State permits 
 these wrongs to be perpetrated, and refuses to punish the 
 malefactors. The officials of the State direct and authorize 
 the proceedings by which majorities are suppressed, elections 
 corrupted, citizens outraged, and the Nation dishonored. 
 
 In a political system based like ours upon the absolute 
 equality of all men before the law, if the humblest citizen is 
 deprived of his rights, without redress, the government ceases 
 to be republican in form. If injustice is inflicted upon one, all 
 are the victims. It is not a local question. It transcends 
 State boundaries and becomes national. The fraudulent elec- 
 tion in Louisiana affected not only those who were deprived 
 of their votes, but those who voted also, and all the voters of 
 every party in every State in the Union, and every material 
 interest of the American people. There can be neither peace 
 nor prosperity while the equality of suffrage is disregarded. 
 The legality of every election will be challenged, discontent 
 
338 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 will be succeeded by exasperation, respect for law will disap- 
 pear, and some fatal catastrophe will follow. 
 
 The Constitution and the Union derive their force and sanc- 
 tion from, and depend for their permanence and stability upon, 
 the will of the people expressed at the polls. Our fabric of 
 government rests upon popular suffrage, as a temple upon its 
 foundation-stones. It cannot stand unless justice is impartial 
 and equality universal ; unless it is as safe for a black Republi- 
 can to vote in Mississippi as for a white Democrat to vote in 
 Colorado ; unless at every poll, at all elections, in every State 
 and Territory, each citizen can cast one vote freely and have it 
 honestly counted. 
 
THE FUTURE MISSION OF THE PARTY. 
 
 By Hon. Geo. F. Hoar, U. S. Senator from Massachusetts. 
 
 Certainly no political party in history, not even that to 
 which was committed the great function of inaugurating the 
 Constitution, ever in so brief a space accomplished so much that 
 was important and beneficent as the Republican party in the 
 fourteen years in which it held legislative and executive power. 
 It was formed for the sole purpose of preventing the exten- 
 sion of slavery into the Territories. The providence of God 
 imposed upon it far larger duties. 
 
 In fourteen years it enacted a protective tariff, which 
 made the United States the greatest manufacturing nation 
 on earth ; it enlisted, organized, and sent back to civil life 
 a vast army ; it created a great navy, constructed on prin- 
 ciples not invented when it came into power ; it put down 
 a gigantic rebeUion ; it made freemen and citizens of four 
 miUion slaves ; it contrived the national banking system ; it 
 created a currency which circulates throughout the world on 
 an equality with gold ; it incurred a vast debt, and made 
 provision for its payment ; it made the credit of the country 
 the best in the world ; it restored specie payment ; it devised 
 and inaugurated the beneficent homestead system ; it built 
 the Pacific railroads ; it compelled France to depart from 
 Mexico ; it exacted apology and reparation from Great Britain ; 
 it overthrew the doctrine of perpetual allegiance, and required 
 the great powers of Europe hereafter to let our adopted citizens 
 alone ; it made honorable provision for invalid soldiers and 
 sailors. 
 
 To no one of these things did the Democratic party contrib- 
 ute. Most of them encountered its bitter and strenuous oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 339 
 
340 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF THE TWO PARTIES. 
 
 The elements that make up the two parties to-day are, in 
 substance, Httle changed. The men who, to the utmost of 
 their power, opposed every one of these things are still all-pow- 
 erful to direct the policy of the Democratic party. Subtract 
 from that party the old slaveholders and the liquor-dealers and 
 criminal classes of the great Northern cities, and it would no 
 longer be formidable. 
 
 The farmers of the West, the manufacturers and skilled 
 laborers of the East, the soldiers, the church-members, the 
 clergymen, the school-teachers, the reformers, the men who 
 are doing everywhere the great work of temperance, of 
 education, of philanthropy, make up now, as they have ever 
 made up, the strength of the Republican party. They will 
 deal with the questions which arise in the future in the same 
 temper, with the same purpose, and with the same capacity 
 with which they have dealt with them in the past. 
 
 There may be, there will be, while human nature remains un- 
 changed, periods when the Republican party may fall short of 
 its high standard. We know well that no people can always 
 dwell on the tops of the mountains ; that it is 
 
 " The most difBcuk of tasks to keep 
 
 Heights which the soul is competent to gain." 
 
 We cannot now foresee the great questions of the future, 
 any more than we could foresee them in i860. But we can- 
 not doubt that when they come, the honest, wise, safe, liberal, 
 progressive American counsel will be given by the party 
 whose history we have sketched, made up of the free men of 
 the free North, from whom such counsel has always come, and 
 that the unwise, unsafe, illiberal, obstructive, un-American 
 counsel will still come from the party whose strength is in the 
 solid South, allied with the li-quor-sellers and the criminal 
 classes of the great Northern cities, from whom such counsel 
 has always come. 
 
ITS FUTURE MISSION. 341 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN FAITH. 
 
 The Republican party is not a church, nor a conclave. 
 Extending over nearly fifty States and Territories, of varying 
 history, interests, opinions, and character, it must comprise and 
 tolerate a large variety of opinion in matters non-essential. 
 But it has its creed and its statement of faith, from which no 
 man departing can maintain his Republicanism. That state- 
 ment of faith is to be found in the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence and in most of our State constitutions. 
 
 It is that it is the right and the duty of every citizen to take 
 his equal share in the government of his country. 
 
 To that end the obligation rests upon the State to see that 
 every citizen has an education which shall fit him for that 
 duty and privilege. 
 
 To that end the obligation rests upon the State to pursue 
 such policy as will keep the standard of wages up to the 
 highest possible point, so that the citizen may have the com- 
 fort and leisure for himself and the education for his children 
 without which he cannot discharge this duty with intelligence 
 and honor. 
 
 To that end the ballot-box must be made sacred and kept 
 sacred. The man who, by fraud or violence, defeats the true 
 will of the people, expressed by a fair majority of equal votes, 
 or who debauches that will by corrupting the individual voter, 
 should be punished by the severest penalties of the law, and 
 made infamous by an aroused and indignant public sentiment. 
 
 To that end, polygamy, which destroys the sanctity of the 
 home, must be extirpated. 
 
 To that end, the drinking-saloon, which corrupts and de- 
 bauches the soul and destroys the health of body and mind, 
 must be suppressed. 
 
 These are the great essentials of free government. Without 
 all of them the Republic itself cannot long endure. These are 
 the six points of republicanism. That the Republican party 
 alone is to be looked to for their accomplishment will be seen, 
 
342 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 when we reflect how ridiculous and out of place any one of 
 them would seem in a Democratic platform. 
 
 OTHER IMPORTANT OBJECTS TO-BE ACCOMPLISHED. 
 
 There are other things also for which we can look only to 
 the wisdom and courage of Republican statesmanship. 
 
 We desire a dignified and spirited foreign policy, instead of 
 the timid and supplicatory tone which now pervades our diplo- 
 macy. We want an administration which is neither afraid to 
 hold the great railroads of the country in check on the one 
 hand, nor to do them full and exact justice on the other. We 
 want an administration that will develop our foreign commerce 
 and our foreign carrying trade, that will build up our navy and 
 no longer leave our coasts undefended. We want life and 
 vigor and health to pervade every part of the country. The 
 Republican party, from 1861 to 1874, the only years when it 
 has wielded the legislative forces of the country, has shown 
 what it could accomplish with the forces of a people of thirty 
 million in a time of war, when one third of the country was 
 attempting the destruction of the rest. 
 
 When it shall return to power in both the legislature and ex- 
 ecutive branches of he Government, it -will do far greater things 
 with the forces of a people of sixty million in profound peace, 
 dwelling together in unity. North and South divided only by 
 a generous rivalry which shall contribute most to the common 
 glory of their country. 
 
 America has a destiny even greater than all this. When 
 she shall resume her triumphant march on her accustomed 
 pathway of safety, of honor, and of glory, it will not be for 
 herself alone. She is to be, as ever before, aye, as never before, 
 " the enlightener of the nations, the beautiful pioneer in the 
 progress of the world." The sinking hearts of the poor, the 
 down-trodden, the oppressed, everywhere shall still be borne 
 up by a new courage, as they think of her. 
 
 The torchlight of her great Declaration shall still blaze on 
 the heights, cheering and blessing and comforting humanity 
 everywhere with its beam. 
 
ITS FUIURE MISSION, 
 
 FORWARD. 
 
 343 
 
 The mission of the Republican party is not yet ended. Its 
 record and policy, the personal character of its membership, 
 its stalwart Americanism, will make it a potent and lasting 
 force in the future, as they have made it in the past, history of 
 the country. 
 
 Not till the American ballot-box is as sacred as the Amer- 
 ican hearth ; not till every American citizen is an educated 
 American citizen ; not till American labor is shielded in tem- 
 perance and thrift at home, and from competition with pauper- 
 ism abroad ; not till the American flag is the unchallenged 
 symbol of American rights; not till the Republic is a synonym 
 for the universal intelligence, freedom, equality, and political 
 and social happiness of everyone of its citizens, will the mission 
 of the Republican party be ended. And to that mission, to 
 that worthy expansion of its great achievements in the past, it 
 summons to its banner now and henceforward the ardor and 
 patriotism and conscience of American manhood, the enthu- 
 siasm of its youth, and the wisdom of its maturer years. 
 
 So marshaled and so inspired, its motto Forward, the Great 
 Republican Army will go on conquering and to conquer. 
 
344 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE REPUBLICAN 
 PARTY: 1888-1893. 
 
 By J. Harris Patton, Ph.D. 
 
 During the canvass in 1884, the vilest personal attacks were 
 made on the Republican candidate. The Republican party 
 was charged with financial dishonesty in office, and the fairest 
 promises were made by the Democratic party if the people 
 would replace them in power. Thousands of honest* voters 
 were led to think there might be some truth in these claims 
 and promises, and so gave their votes to Mr. Cleveland. 
 
 Through undoubted fraud in the City of New York he was 
 given the electoral vote of the State, and was declared elected. 
 
 No doubt the Democrats thought they would find some 
 basis for their charges of financial irregularities upon the long 
 succession of Republican administrations. They knew what 
 they would have done had they been in power, they under- 
 stood the wholesale robberies committed by their party in the 
 City of New York, and they supposed that. Republicans were 
 only different in name. 
 
 No sooner, therefore, was Mr. Cleveland settled in Wash- 
 ington than the Democratic party began the most remarkable 
 auditing of financial accounts known to history. These ac- 
 counts covered the administrations from March 4th, 1861, to 
 March 4th, 1885, including the great war period, in which the 
 collections and disbursements were unprecedented. Experts, 
 after months of labor, with a zeal born of political hate, verified 
 all the vouchers in the various departments, and their reports 
 vindicated the integrity with which the financial affairs had 
 been conducted during the entire time of Republican rule. 
 
 During the Cleveland administration no measure of nation- 
 al importance was originated and adopted. The Presidential 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1 888-1 893. 345 
 
 succession ; The counting of electoral votes : The establishment 
 of a Department of Agriculture ; The reconstruction of the 
 Navy, etc., all originated under previous administrations. The 
 law which required, for actual settlers, the restoration to the 
 public domain of the lands forfeited by certain railroads, was 
 enacted during President Arthur's administration (June 28, 
 1884), and yet was mentioned in the Democratic platform of 
 1888 as if it had originated dnr'mg Mr. Cleveland's administra- 
 tion. Mr. Cleveland's administration was, however, very suc- 
 cessful in finding places for its followers. In spite of all pro- 
 fessions in favor of Civil Service Reform, it had, before June 
 II, 1887, appointed Democrats to 42,992 out of 56,134 posi- 
 tions then subject to Presidential appointment. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland's administration made strenuous efforts to 
 change the financial poHcy of the government, the President 
 himself personally and by message urging the most radical 
 measures. 
 
 This led to the introduction in Congress of the " Morrison 
 Tariff Bill," which virtually called for a " horizontal reduc- 
 tion " of 20 per cent, from the tariff of 1883. 
 
 Next followed the " Mills Tariff Bill." Its primary object 
 appears to have been to obtain revenue, while it was deemed 
 of only secondary importance to guard the industries of this 
 country against ruinous competition with the low wages paid 
 in Europe. The more thoughtful Democrats, knowing the 
 value of protection, approved of the Republican policy, and 
 united with the Republicans in Congress to defeat these bills. 
 
 Four years of Democratic misrule, during which no meas- 
 ure of national importance was instituted, and which, by its 
 persistent attempts to change the financial policy of the gov- 
 ernment, had tended to greatly unsettle business, were enough 
 to show the people that their true interests were in the 
 keeping of the Republican party. 
 
 HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The administration of President Harrison was one of the 
 most important in the history of the United States. It never 
 failed to accomplish whatever it undertook, and its great sue- 
 
346 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 cesses will be more clearly understood and approved as they 
 pass into history. It was conducted without any desire for 
 show or to catch the people, but simply and solely for the 
 good of the Nation. 
 
 While President Harrison's quiet, unobtrusive manner 
 of conducting public affairs was at first not understood or 
 appreciated, the people soon saw that the administration 
 moved grandly and steadily onward, with no failures and many 
 successes. He was known to be of more than ordinary ability, 
 but it was not till he made his tour through the country that 
 his real power was felt and understood. The wonderful series 
 of speeches delivered by him in various sections of the Nation 
 made people think. Never hiding his views, never concealing 
 the principles and policy of his administration, and yet so ad- 
 dressing his hearers everywhere as to show his desire for the 
 common good of our common country, he won universal praise 
 and silenced his enemies. 
 
 It was, however, in its wise diplomacy and its carefully 
 prepared financial measures, intended to protect and build up 
 all the interests of the country, that the Harrison administra- 
 tion gained its greatest successes. 
 
 THE "SAMOAN AFFAIR." 
 
 The parties specially interested in Samoa were Germany, 
 England and the United States. Factions had been in existence 
 for some time among the native chiefs in relation to the suc- 
 cession to the throne, which was then occupied by the aged 
 Malietoa, the legitimate high-chief or king, who was said to be 
 friendly with the United States. 
 
 The German consul was charged with fomenting dissensions 
 among the chiefs in favor of one of the two aspirants less 
 worthy of the office of king than Malietoa. This same German 
 consul took the responsibility of sending ashore a company of 
 marines with orders to seize old Malietoa, and bring him aboard 
 a ship, in which he was afterward carried as an exile to the 
 Marshall Islands, 1,000 miles or more distant. 
 
 Then commenced a series of conflicts among the chiefs and 
 their respective adherents. These were put an end to by the 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1888-1893. 347 
 
 American consul raising the Stars and Stripes above the Ger- 
 man ensign, thus intimating that the legal government was 
 under their protection. 
 
 Negotiations were promptly commenced, and during their 
 progress, Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State, in behalf of the 
 administration, insisted as an ultimatum that Malietoa should 
 be brought back from his exile and restored to his rights. 
 After some delay, the action of the consul was disavowed by 
 Bismarck, and in due time a German war vessel was ordered to 
 the Marshall Islands to bring the old king home. 
 
 Thus Malietoa was restored to his throne, where he still 
 rules, and American diplomacy and justice completely tri- 
 umphed. 
 
 An extradition treaty with England, including Canada, was 
 satisfactorily negotiated. The main features of the treaty con- 
 sist in an addition of a much larger number of offences for 
 committing which persons, when escaping to either country^ 
 can ^^ extradited. 
 
 The main contention in the Behring Sea controversy 
 pertained to certain rights claimed by the United States Gov- 
 ernment in regard to the fur seals that frequent that sea as 
 their breeding place. The entire subject in dispute between 
 Great Britain and the United States was transferred for settle- 
 ment to a Court of Arbitration, in accordance with a treaty 
 made and ratified by both parties. Meanwhile a modus 
 Vivendi, similar to the one of the summer of 1891, was ar- 
 ranged and our rights were carefully protected. 
 
 The friendly relations existing between Italy and the 
 United States were suddenly broken by a mob in New Orleans, 
 which punished by death a number of Italians who were accused 
 of murder. Among these were persons who were not natural- 
 ized, but were still subjects of Italy. The administration 
 at once condemned the outrage, and expressed to the 
 Italian authorities its deepest regret. After the interchange 
 of a few diplomatic notes, the President waived all techni- 
 calities, and offered a suitable indemnity, to be distributed 
 by the Italian Government to the families of those of its 
 citizens who had been the victims of the outrage. The offer 
 
348 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 was accepted and the former friendly relations thereby re- 
 stored between the two governments. 
 
 During the late civil war in Chili, the Baltimore, one of our 
 government vessels, was lying in the harbor of Valparaiso. 
 A number of the seamen, having permission, went ashore, 
 where they were attacked by a mob and treated with great 
 violence. The government firmly maintained the rights of the' 
 American sailors. The result of the negotiations was that 
 Chili offered an apology for the insult to our flag, and agreed 
 to pay a suitable indemnity to the families of those injured on 
 that occasion. In consequence, amicable relations were re- 
 stored between the two sister republics. 
 
 The Act to encourage ship building in this country, passed 
 by the Harrison administration, was far-reaching in its effects. 
 The bill was hardly announced before England became alarmed 
 and attempted to change its results. With the largest, fastest 
 steamers in the world flying the Stars and Stripes, the Ameri- 
 can shipping interests took on a new life. Our ship yards began 
 at once to show unusual activity. As steamer after steamer is 
 added to the fleet under our colors, giving us the greatest line 
 of transatlantic steamers the world has ever seen, the value of 
 this measure will impress itself on the people more and more. 
 
 The Harrison administration was a practical one, and stood 
 always for the greatest good of the United States. It studied 
 all governmental questions carefully and from all sides, and 
 its wisdom in reaching conclusions is unquestioned. 
 
 The Silver Question has long been the ghost troubling both 
 political parties. The administration was anxious to do all 
 that could be done to restore silver to its proper condition in 
 the monetary world, but it understood how ruinous it would 
 be for us to stand alone in the matter. Gold would be driven 
 abroad and would command a premium — silver would be the 
 standard. Trade would be interrupted and business irreparably 
 injured. But if England would unite with us in such action other 
 European countries would follow, and the benefits, without the 
 injuries, would accrue to us. Soon after the failure of Baring 
 Brothers the administration quietly commenced negotiations 
 with Europe looking to a monetary conference. These negotia- 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1888-1893. 349 
 
 tions were constantly continued, and a conference was agreed 
 upon looking to an enlarged use of silver as a currency. 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 
 
 The Harrison adnainistration gained the approval in gen- 
 eral, even of its opponents, by its careful appointments and its 
 adherence to the principles of Civil Service. At the annual 
 meeting of the Civil Service Reform League, in Baltimore in 
 1892, it was credited with "having appointed an admirable com- 
 mission, which has enforced the requirements of the law> 
 awakened confidence in the Southern States in its honest 
 operations, and everywhere stimulated a wholesome apprehen- 
 sion." 
 
 The League also recognized and approved Secretary 
 Tracy's endeavors to introduce a sound system into the 
 naval service. 
 
 THE M^'KINLEY BILL. 
 
 Among the great triumphs of the Harrison administration 
 was its action on the tariff. 
 
 Free trade, a tariff for revenue only, and a protective tariff 
 
 4iave presented their claims to the people. The free traders 
 
 unite with the Democratic party as tending to free trade. The 
 
 Republican party is the distinctive advocate of protection to 
 
 our industries. 
 
 It beHeves that the tariff should impose duties so as to 
 produce the necessary revenue, and at the same time protect 
 all our industries that are subject to foreign competition, so 
 that the products of the cheap labor of oppressed classes abroad 
 shall not be brought in here to destroy our industries and re- 
 duce the wages of our workingmen. It further claims that 
 these industries, thus protected, will gradually become able to 
 compete in prices (through the increased intelligence of the 
 working classes and by improved machinery) even with the 
 products of cheap-labor countries. 
 
 Its position rests on experience, the history of our own 
 country, and information carefully collected from abroad. 
 
 A tariff for revenue only was enacted in 1833. It pro- 
 
3 so THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 duced a surplus, but at the expense of the general depression 
 of the mechanical industries of the country, because the sur- 
 plus was derived from low import duties on common articles, 
 which, under proper protection, the people could have made 
 themselves, but were then unable to make because the coun- 
 try was flooded with these commodities, which were imported 
 and sold at cheap prices on account of the low wages paid 
 abroad. 
 
 The result was that the government became rich, while the 
 industries were virtually ruined and the people almost bank- 
 rupted. 
 
 The tariff of 1861 was the first comprehensive attempt at 
 protection, and proved its value. The protection granted not 
 only raised enormous revenues to carry on the War of the 
 Rebellion, and later to pay ofl the National Debt, but also 
 caused the mechanical and agricultural industries of the coun- 
 try to increase with unprecedented rapidity. 
 
 Since 1861 only such changes have been made as have 
 more carefully protected the people. During the administra- 
 tion of President Hayes steps were taken to ascertain through 
 our consuls the amount of trade with the United States at 
 their several ports, the wages paid operatives in various 
 industries, the modes of living, home comforts, etc., of the 
 workingmen abroad. The reports proved that the wages paid 
 in the United States were double those paid in England, 
 three times as much as in Italy, Spain and Germany, four 
 times as much as in the Netherlands, and about two-thirds 
 more than in France, Belgium and Denmark. 
 
 The wages of operatives constitute the greater amount of 
 the cost of production everywhere, but are from fifty to sixty 
 per cent, more of the first cost in the United States than in 
 Europe. 
 
 During President Arthur's administration a Commission 
 was appointed to investigate the questions pertaining " to the 
 establishment of a judicious tariff, or a revision of the existing 
 tariff upon a scale of justice to all interests." 
 
 Every available source of information was sought by this 
 Commission. Its reports, made December 4, 1882, covered 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1888-1893. 3$! 
 
 the testimony taken, the conclusions of the Commission, and a 
 new tariff bill. This was virtually adopted by Congress, and 
 remained in force until suspended by the McKinley Tariff. 
 
 The McKinley Bill was framed after the most careful 
 study of the tariffs of 1833, 1861 and 1883, and of the reports 
 of our consuls and of the Commission mentioned above, to- 
 gether with the consideration of the immense territory of the 
 United States, covering the choicest portions of this continent, 
 with its great diversity of climate, soil and productions, including 
 almost inexhaustible supplies of the precious metals, iron ores, 
 coal and petroleum, and those physical and climatic conditions 
 which, utilized by industry, intelligence and thrift, and pro- 
 tected by judicious tariffs, make us the greatest manufacturing 
 nation and food producer in the world. The McKinley Tariff 
 is peculiarly adapted to the present requirements of the Na- 
 tion, as it is more judicious and more symmetrical in its out- 
 Hnes than any one of its predecessors. It covers in its 
 provisions a much greater number of industries that should be 
 protected from unfair foreign competition than was done in 
 the one it superseded. It aims to introduce the essential pro- 
 visions that constitute^ a genuine American tariff — one that 
 should produce sufficient revenue, and at the same time equally 
 encourage all our industries, according to the varied conditions 
 under which these are carried on. 
 
 RECIPROCITY. 
 
 Reciprocity is pre-eminently a Republican measure. The 
 initiatory movement made in that direction was in 1881, 
 when Mr. Garfield was President and Mr. Blaine Secretary of 
 State. The Secretary wrote to the sister republics on this 
 continent that, if they were brought more in sympathy with 
 one another and with us by means of reciprocal and friendly 
 acts, the common prosperity might be greatly promoted. To 
 this end the President invited these republics to send dele- 
 gates to the City of Washington, there to meet representatives 
 of the United States in order to confer as to the best interests 
 of all parties. The invitation was accepted by nearly all the 
 republics, and the Empire of Brazil asked the privilege of 
 
352 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 sending delegates. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the 
 day appointed for the meeting of the Convention, President 
 Garfield died. 
 
 There the matter rested for nearly eight years, when one 
 of the senators from Maine introduced into the Senate the 
 following resolution : " That the President is requested and 
 authorized to invite the Republics of Mexico, Central and 
 South America, Hayti and San Domingo and the Empire of 
 Brazil to join the United States in the Conference to be held 
 at Washington in 1889." (Approved May 24, 1888.) The 
 Pan-American Convention, as it is named, was held in Novem- 
 ber of that year. 
 
 It remained in session several months, and thoroughly dis- 
 cussed the measures of international interest that were sug- 
 gested in the letters of invitation. Meanwhile, as guests of 
 the Nation, the members of the Convention were invited to 
 visit quite a number of important and manufacturing centres 
 in different sections of the Union. The friendly courtesies 
 strengthened the previous good feeling existing between the 
 governments of the New World, thus preparing the way for the 
 series of reciprocity treaties afterwards made by the United 
 States with these sister Republics. 
 
 THE BENEFICENT RESULT. 
 
 In the above narration of facts can be traced the origin as 
 well as the reason for that provision in the McKinley Tariff 
 Bill, by which the President, under certain conditions, is author- 
 ized to make treaties of reciprocity with certain nations. This 
 is a new and important departure from our usual custom in 
 respect to numerous classes of imports. As soon as the Gov- 
 ernment was relieved of a portion of the drain upon its funds 
 which grew out of the expenses of the Civil War, it began to 
 admit free of duty the raw material used in manufacturing 
 when it was of a class that we could not produce. The com- 
 modities affected by the present treaties of reciprocity come 
 almost universally from tropical regions, such as india-rubber, 
 gutta-percha, etc., for our factories, and for our domestic com- 
 fort, tea, coffee, chocolate, spices, etc. When this tariflf was 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1 888- 1 893. 353 
 
 under consideration in Congress these various tropical articles, 
 with the exception of sugar, were admitted to our market free 
 of duty, while at the same time, in not a single instance did 
 our products, such as flour and other food provisions, find cor- 
 respondingly free admission into the countries whence these 
 articles came. On the contrary, our commodities had imposed 
 upon them duties in some instances so high as to be almost 
 prohibitory in their effect. 
 
 To meet this contingency an amendment quite unique in its 
 character was made to the McKinley Bill. It provided that in 
 case any country from which we admit free of duty certain 
 articles, such as sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, hides, etc., imposes 
 duties upon the products of the United States which they 
 may import, which duties the President may " deem to be re- 
 ciprocally unequal and unreasonable, he shall have the power, 
 and it shall be his duty to suspend, by proclamation to that 
 effect, the provisions of this act relating to the free intro- 
 duction " of the articles mentioned above. 
 
 This amendment opened the way for the President to con- 
 clude treaties of reciprocity with these several countries. For 
 the most part the amendment was more applicable to those 
 countries that produced tropical agricultural products, which 
 we could not raise because of climatic influences. These 
 treaties have opened a new and large field for our exports, 
 especially of agricultural productions in the form of wheat, 
 flour and other food products, and also a goodly share of our 
 manufactures. 
 
 Under the McKinley Bill sugar is admitted free of duty. 
 The duty formerly imposed upon sugar amounted to about 
 $50,000,000 annually, and this the consumers paid because the 
 sugar producer fixed his own price, to which was added the 
 duty. We were unable to raise sufficient sugar to supply our 
 wants; if we could have done so we would, and then the 
 American producer would have fixed his own price in accord- 
 ance with the cost of production, and to that price the for- 
 eigner would have to conform upon entering our market ; he 
 could not increase that price, but he might lower it. 
 
 Jn connection with this provision of the bill there was an- 
 
354 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 other — that of giving a bounty of two cents a pound to the 
 producers of domestic sugar. This bounty enables the latter 
 to enter the market and sell their product at a fair profit. 
 The policy of paying this bounty is far-reaching in beneficial 
 results. It is reasonable to suppose that in time, by this 
 means, we shall learn how to supply our own sugar from our 
 own soil, as has been done in France, Germany and other 
 countries in Europe. 
 
 It is estimated that the increased amount of sugar used in 
 consequence of its free admission would, under the former rate 
 of duty, afford the government $55,000,000 annually. This 
 estimate shows that an average of about Jive pounds of sugar a 
 year is now used by each person, old and young, of our popu- 
 lation. It is evident the cheapening of this article of food has 
 been a great benefit to the masses of the people. 
 
 It is singular but true that prominent members of that 
 polititical party which confesses to be pre-eminently " the 
 friend of the poor man " are blatant against a bounty of two 
 cents a pound on sugar obtained from our own resources, 
 though by that means is promoted a home industry in which 
 are invested millions of capital, and which give employment 
 to many thousands of " poor men," or those who earn their 
 living by working for wages. 
 
 The item of free sugar, as has been said, saves annually to 
 those who use it $55,000,000, but out of this is paid yearly 
 about $7,000,000 in the bounty mentioned above, leaving a net 
 gain to the consumers of sugar of $48,000,000. 
 
 Still further : in the McKinley Bill 99 per cent, of the duty 
 paid on a raw material which enters into an American manu- 
 factured article is refunded when that article is exported. 
 This is to enable, as far as possible, our manufacturers to com- 
 pete in foreign markets, where wages are so much lower. 
 
 APPROPRIATIONS. 
 
 The Fifty-first Congress was charged with being extrava- 
 gant in the amount of its appropriations. The Republicans, 
 when in control of the House of Representatives, wherein 
 appropriations legally originate, have always made them in 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1 888-1 893. 355 
 
 good faith, and never for the sake of poHtical effect ; hence 
 they appropriated the amounts that were called for by the care- 
 ful estimates for the coming financial year. On the contrary, 
 when the Democrats are in control of the lower House, they 
 have uniformly, if a Presidential canvass was impending, made 
 appropriations that were inadequate in their amount. Then 
 they go to the country on this fictitious economy, urging the 
 rank and file to witness how saving they have been of the 
 money of the dear people. 
 
 In course of time these inadequate funds are about ex- 
 hausted, and the departments appeal to Congress to make up 
 their respective deficiencies. The money is quietly voted, and 
 in an unobtrusive manner mentioned in the newspapers of the 
 party, where it excites little notice, the people remembering 
 only the hue and the cry about the marvelous economy of the 
 party when in control. 
 
 The Fifty-first Congress, in addition to the regular appro- 
 priations, took in hand the payment of honest debts which had 
 been neglected for years. It refunded to the loyal States 
 $13,000,000, that being the amount of a direct tax paid by 
 them to aid the Government during the Rebellion. It also paid 
 the French spoliation claims $1,004,095. In its first three 
 years the Harrison administration paid off $259,000,000 of the 
 National debt, and saved to the people an annual interest of 
 nearly $12,000,000. It also, in order to meet the wants of the 
 business of the country, in the same time increased the circu- 
 lation to about $205,000,000. 
 
 THE PERSISTENT FOE OF OUR INDUSTRIES. 
 
 American industries had an inveterate foe in the govern- 
 ment ofificials of the mother country, even when our ancestors 
 were an integral portion of the British domain. When they 
 became an independent nation, ParHament could no longer 
 make laws that would injure their industrial interest directly. 
 The antagonism, however, remained, but changed its tactics 
 by taking the form of competition. This hostility began to 
 manifest itself immediately after the close of the war of 18 12. 
 During that period of three years our mechanical industries, 
 
356 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 untrammeled by English competition in this country, advanced 
 with remarkable energy and success. This fact attracted the 
 attention of the manufacturers and merchants in England, 
 and Lord Brougham in his place in Parliament (1816) advised 
 them to send their goods of every kind to the United States 
 in large quantities and sell them even at a loss, " in order by 
 the glut to stifle in the cradle those manufacturers which 
 the war (that of 18 12) had forced into existence, contrary to 
 the nature of things." (Hansard's Pari. Debates, 1st series, 
 xxxiii., p. 1009.) 
 
 The last phrase plainly meant that England ought " in the 
 nature of things" to be the workshop of. the world. 
 
 The tariff of 1846 lowered the rate on imported iron much 
 below that of 1842. The iron masters in England at once 
 began to lower their prices on iron of all grades which they 
 were sending to the United States, their agents here mean- 
 while keeping them informed as to the effect produced, espe- 
 cially noting that furnace after furnace in Pennsylvania had to 
 put out its fires. 
 
 At length came the announcement : " That there was no 
 longer any danger from American competition." The re- 
 sponse immediately came, "Advance prices" (1848). In less 
 than a year the price of English rails was increased 100 per 
 cent. (Amer. Protectionists' Manual, p. 68.) 
 
 A Parliament commission reported in 1854 as to the losses 
 sustained by English manufacturers in their efforts "to destroy 
 foreign competition and to gain and keep possession of foreign 
 markets, to overwhelm all foreign competition, to step in for 
 the whole trade when prices revive." Afterward Lord Gode- 
 rich stated in the House of Lords that England meant by 
 means of her trade " to get the m.onopoly of all their (those of 
 other nations) markets for her (own) manufacturers and to 
 prevent them, one and all, from ever becoming manufacturing 
 nations. 
 
 Later on, in 1882, an article in Blackwood, entitled " Fi- 
 nance West of the Atlantic," it is noted as a bad omen that 
 " American ingenuity (in inventions) is proverbial," but the 
 writer finds consolation in the fact that the phrase " Tariff Re- 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS: 1 888-1 893. 357 
 
 form," instead of " Free Trade," had been adopted in " Demo- 
 cratic electioneering speeches." 
 
 The London Engineer of April 8, 1892, in speaking of the 
 falling off of English exports to the United States, editorially 
 says : " The (McKinley) Bill was intended to foster native pro- 
 ductions, and this it is doing to a very satisfactory extent 
 from the American point of view. The general idea in Eng- 
 land is that the bill will be repealed before long, or its provi- 
 sions most objectionable to the British manufacturers be modi- 
 fied." 
 
 Lord Salisbury in his famous speech of May, 1892, admits 
 the value to the United States of our reciprocity treaties, 
 insists that free trade has been carried so far in Great Britain 
 as to deprive the English of the means of securing reciprocal 
 trade, and urges that within certain limits that feature of the 
 McKinley Bill be adopted by the English Government. 
 
 THE COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 This association is the avowed enemy of our industries. 
 Its president declared that it " cannot rest while the United 
 States are unsubdued ; not only England but the whole world 
 is to be brought into obedience." The " club " is sustained by 
 a great number of the most influential men in the kingdom, 
 and the funds forthcoming to carry out its plans are almost 
 unlimited. Against all these, and their avowed coadjutors in 
 the Union, the friends of American mechanical industries have 
 to contend to-day. 
 
 Earl Spencer presided at a meeting of the club during the 
 Presidential canvass of 1880, and made an opening address, in 
 which he not very cautiously outlined the plans and designs of 
 the club. The latter were to utterly destroy in the world any 
 industry wherever existing that competed with English manu- 
 factures. He exclaimed : " It is to the New World that the 
 Cobden Club is chiefly looking as the most likely sphere for its 
 vigorous foreign policy." 
 
 The London Times intimated quite clearly that the speak- 
 ers at the dinner were too sanguine, and it mildly suggested, 
 using the word of a correspondent, that the people of " the 
 
358 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 United States do not approach the question from the same 
 standpoint as ourselves ; " then adding : " The object of their 
 statesmen is not to seaire the largest amount of wealth (revenue) 
 for the country generally, but to keep up by whatever means the 
 standard of comfort among the laboring classes." — London Times, 
 fuly 12, 1880,//. 12, 13. 
 
 Could there be a higher compliment, though perhaps un- 
 consciously given, than this to the statesmen who now for 
 thirty years have thus protected the comfort of the wage- 
 earners — about three-fourths of our population — and cherished 
 our mechanical industries in such manner as to give them em- 
 ployment at living wages ? 
 
 This club uses influence and money freely to gain its ends. 
 It flatters any Americans who may toady to British opinion 
 and who like to seem " English," elects them honorary mem- 
 bers, and calls them " distinguished Americans." 
 
 It subsidizes the press, offers prize medals to students of 
 certain American colleges for essays in favor of free trade, and 
 in every possible way endeavors to so control American 
 politics as to enable England to profit by our foolishness. 
 
 There has not been a Presidential election here for years 
 in which this " club " has not taken part, and in its peculiar 
 way labored for the election of the Democratic candidate. 
 
 It has been earnest and diligent in scattering far and wide 
 its tracts against protection, and has used its American " hono- 
 rary members " as agents. 
 
 It is working for its home interest. Americans should 
 understand this situation, and see that, while it may be for 
 English interest "to destroy absolutely America's mechanical 
 industries," it is for our interest to cherish and protect our 
 every industry as has always been done by the Republican 
 party. 
 
^^e-i-o. ^S^e-i'C-p, 
 
 ,Q-<3-M_/ 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS — 1892 TO DATE. 359 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1 892. 
 
 In 1892 the Republican Party renominated General Harrison 
 for President, with Whitelaw Reid for Vice-President, on a 
 platform reaffirming the vital principles and policies which had 
 been adhered to during its entire history. 
 
 The Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland for President 
 and Adlai E. Stevenson for Vice-President. They made glow- 
 ing promises and drew beautiful pictures of the prosperity that 
 would be sure to come if the Democrats gained the entire con- 
 trol of the Government. Many voters were deceived by these 
 specious promises, and Grover Cleveland was elected President, 
 with a large Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress. 
 For the first time since the War of Rebellion the Democratic 
 Party had the long-desired opportunity to shape the National 
 policy. Let history tell its sad stciry of the results. 
 
 When the Republican Party went out of power the country 
 was prosperous and happy, business was good, labor was in de- 
 mand and was well paid, the National debt was being steadily 
 reduced, our credit was good, and we were respected among 
 the nations of the world. 
 
 The Democratic Party came into power, pledged by their 
 party platform to comparatively free trade : " We declare it 
 to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party that the 
 Federal Government has no constitutional power to impose and 
 collect tariff duties, except for the purpose of revenue only." 
 
 From the first the Democratic Administration showed its un- 
 fitness for its work. In almost every step it made blunders, 
 due partly to incapacity and partly to its erroneous principles. 
 As a result, men of all parties became distrustful of the future, 
 business became dull, thousands were out of work, mills shut 
 down, banks failed, railroads covering more than half of the 
 iron tracks in the United States went into' the hands of re- 
 ceivers, and the people everywhere suffered from the disastrous 
 results of a change of policy. 
 
 THE WILSON-GORMAN TARIFF. 
 
 One of the first acts of the Democratic Administration was 
 
3.60 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 an attempt to carry out its tariff pledges ; but, confronted by 
 a condition instead of a theory, they began to see the great 
 danger to the laboring classes in any attempt to lower the tariff 
 even, much more in bringing it down to " a tariff for revenue 
 only." Still the party w^as pledged to do something, and in spite 
 of protests of the Republican leaders, backed by the business 
 condition, the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Bill was forced through 
 Congress in 1894. 
 
 The reduction of the tariff has proved a wonderful object- 
 lesson to the people, who, learning thus practically the value 
 of a protective tariff, in succeeding State elections rebuked the 
 Democrats in the most effective manner. The results of the 
 Wilson- Gorman Tariff were everywhere seen in paralyzed busi- 
 ness, ruined industries, idle workmen, and loss of revenue. 
 
 Month after month the revenue decreased until the Govern- 
 ment was obliged to borrow money to pay its expenses, passing 
 from a surplus to a deficiency in less than a year. 
 
 THE BOND ISSUE. 
 
 The total incapacity of the Democratic Administration to 
 handle the financial policy of the Government was so evident 
 as to cause a general feeling of distrust at home and abroad. 
 Gold began to flow out of the country, and the reserve was 
 rapidly depleted. This was another effect of the Wilson- Gor- 
 man Tariff, which was greatly decreasing the revenues and 
 leaving monthly deficits in the Treasury. 
 
 The Democratic Administration, under pretense that it was 
 necessary to keep the gold reserve intact, determined to fill the 
 Treasury by an issue of bonds. The Republicans showed that 
 this was a mere pretense, and urged a return to the high tariff,, 
 under which the Treasury was full and the gold reserve abun- 
 dant. Even influential Democratic journals, like the New York 
 " World," admitted that " much of the Treasury's perplexity 
 arose from a deficiency of revenue," but the Administration 
 blindly placed the Treasury under the control of a Trust Syndi- 
 cate, which forced the Administration to its own terms and 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS — l8g2 TO DATE. 36 1 
 
 bought from the Treasury, at 104^, $100,000,000 worth of 
 bonds, whose market value was 120. 
 
 But the deficiency in revenue still continued, and soon the gold 
 reserve was again depleted. Another secret bargain was nearly 
 completed for a second sale of bonds at the same low prices when 
 the Republicans, aided by the wiser Democrats, compelled the 
 Administration to sell them to the highest bidder, at a gain of 
 millions to the Treasury and a loss of millions to the Bond Trust. 
 
 INDEBTEDNESS. 
 During the preceding Republican administrations the in- 
 debtedness of the United States had been largely decreased. 
 President Harrison's Administration reduced the interest- 
 bearing indebtedness nearly $300,000,000. In President Cleve- 
 land's Administration the increase of the National debt, with its 
 interest, amounted to over $500,000,000, while the losses in 
 business and in the decrease df property value were so enor- 
 mous as to be almost incredible. 
 
 THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 
 
 In 1823 President Monroe, in a message to Congress, declared 
 the position of the United States toward European interference 
 in the affairs of independent American governments as follows : 
 
 " We owe, therefore, it to candor, and to the amicable rela- 
 tions existing between the United States and the allied powers, to 
 declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to ex- 
 tend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous 
 to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or depen- 
 dencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall 
 not interfere, but with the governments who have declared their 
 independence and maintained it, and whose independence we 
 have, on great consideration and just principles, acknowledged, 
 we could not view ah interposition for the purpose of oppressing 
 them or controlling in any other manner their destiny (by any 
 European power) in any other light than as a manifestation of 
 an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." 
 
 The Republican Party has always held this doctrine to be es- 
 sential to the protection of our country's interest. As oppor- 
 
362 , THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 tunity has occurred while it was in power, it has effectively 
 carried out this doctrine without bluster or threats, but simply 
 by acting up to it. When a foreign prince was placed on the 
 Mexican throne, and was supported by foreign troops, a quiet 
 statement of our position in the matter, made by a Republican 
 President to the Government interested, caused a recall of its 
 troops and the downfall of the usurper. In numerous other 
 instances the Republican administrations have made themselves 
 felt as protectors of our National interests, while also caring for 
 our sister republics. 
 
 Where a Republican Administration would have acted wisely, 
 promptly, successfully, and with dignity, the Cleveland Admin- 
 istration contented itself with an inflammatory, threatening mes- 
 sage, after which it took the necessary steps to allow the doctrine 
 to fall into its previous state of innocuous desuetude. 
 
 The spirit of the Monroe Doctrine is more than the letter. 
 It encourages a government of the people, at least in this part 
 of the world. When, therefore, in Hawaii the desire for a rep- 
 resentative government modeled after our own was made 
 manifest by a rebellion against the^ ignorant native queen, the 
 Republicans naturally sympathized with the newly formed re- 
 public. The Democratic Administration, on the contrary, en- 
 deavored by every means except force to restore the queen, 
 and repelled all attempts on the part of the Hawaiian Republic 
 to enter into the closest relations with this country. 
 
 Fortunately, it was well understood in Hawaii that the Ad- 
 ministration did not represent true American sentiment, and 
 the republic, under the wise rule of President Dole, gradually 
 overcame all opposition and became firmly estabHshed, content 
 to wait the action of the United States. 
 
 THE MONEY QUESTION. 
 
 The Republican Party has always been the party of sound 
 money. It has never believed in any legal tender inferior to 
 that of the most enlightened nations. Knowing that if two 
 grades of currency are used the inferior will inevitably go to 
 the laboring man for his work, while capitalists will control the 
 
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ITS RISE AND PROGRESS — 1892 TO DATE. 363 
 
 more valuable currency, it advocates for the protection of labor 
 a financial system that will make one dollar as good as another. 
 
 The Republican Party, in carrying the country through the 
 War of Rebellion, issued the greenback and sold a large amount 
 of coin bonds. When the war was over, in spite of an enormous 
 debt and the distrust of European financiers, the Republican 
 Party gained the confidence of the world by paying honestly 
 what the nation had borrowed. It soon had all its issues on a 
 par with gold. In fact, at times its paper currency has com- 
 manded a premium over gold, and its bonds have been sought 
 for all over the world at a very low rate of interest. 
 
 The Republican Party is therefore committed to so use and 
 protect the various kinds of currency it stamps with the nation's 
 honor that each and all shall be what it claims to be, thus pro- 
 tecting all classes from a debased currency on the one hand, 
 and from the power of European bankers on the other. 
 
 It is unalterably opposed to the free and unlimited coinage 
 of silver, as well as to any scheme which threatens to debase or 
 depreciate the National currency. 
 
 It favors the largest use of silver as currency under such reg- 
 ulations as will maintain its parity with gold while this re- 
 mains the standard of the United States and of the civilized 
 world. It has urged and will continue to advocate a bimetallic 
 International Conference, for the purpose of an agreement by 
 which a universal ratio for silver and gold will be determined. 
 Until this can be brought about, for the safety of this country's 
 industries gold must be the standard for the measure of values, 
 while silver must be given its proper place as a circulating 
 medium, and coined as freely as it can be absorbed in business 
 transactions without disturbing the financial standard. 
 
 THE FUTURE. 
 
 The Republican Party is the child of the American people. 
 It grew out of their needs. It has served them faithfully through 
 the inspiration that comes from a true and lofty conception of 
 the necessities of National growth. In all the p4st the nation 
 has been prosperous while it was governed by Republican prin- 
 
364 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ciples, and has suffered whenever it consented to try the Demo- 
 cratic theories in tariff and finance. Experience and facts speak 
 louder than theory and sophistical arguments. This experience 
 has written the story of our Nation's growth in factories, count- 
 ing-houses, fields, and countless happy homes. It tells of the 
 reunited nation, of the restoration of credit, of the honest pay- 
 ment of the National debt, of the establishment of diversified 
 industries, and of wonderful growth. 
 
 The Republican Party has proved itself to be the people's 
 friend, able, honest, progressive, the party of good wages, good 
 work, good money, good markets, and good homes. All this 
 is history, the result of protection and sound money. 
 
 But we are confronted with a new and a greater danger to 
 our prosperity than any in the past — a danger to the prosper- 
 ity of the working-men, which, unless wisely met, will seriously 
 injure the entire Nation. 
 
 The China-Japan War has opened up great countries for 
 manufacturing enterprises. In China and Japan labor costs 
 but a few cents a day. A great variety of manufactories are 
 already being established there. They will be steadily pouring 
 into this country all kinds of manufactured articles made so 
 cheaply as to be sold here far below our cost of manufacture. 
 The Pacific Coast sees this now. Soon we shall all realize it. 
 The principle of protection of American labor must be main- 
 tained and extended, or our working-men will find their wages 
 reduced, and in many cases cut off entirely, through the ruin 
 brought by this competition. 
 
 A protection that protects labor has, in spite of theory, made 
 this country prosperous. Such protection as will in the future 
 give American markets to American products, and place a 
 sufficient tariff on foreign pauper-made articles to keep them 
 from destroying our own sales, is more essential than ever to 
 the well-being of the laborer in every branch of industry. To 
 this protection the Republican Party stands pledged by its 
 record. To this protection the workman must look for his future 
 prosperity. Under this protection, wisely regulated, the Nation 
 will enter a new period of development and progress. 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS — 1 892 TO DATE. 365 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1 896. 
 
 The people cannot be fooled always. As the time for a presi- 
 dential election approached, " it was in the air " that the people 
 were tired of waiting longer for the fulfilment of the promises 
 made by the Democrats during the campaign of 1892. 
 
 The business depression which followed the election of 
 Cleveland had constantly increased during his administration. 
 Prices declined, mills closed, failures increased, mortgages were 
 unpaid, farmers suffered, wages were lower, business was almost 
 dead, money feared to seek investment, the unemployed cried 
 in vain for work at any wages ; our national and our foreign 
 policy caused distrust at home and abroad; and from the 
 pockets of the poor and the vaults of the United States Trea- 
 sury there was alike the cry of poverty. 
 
 The shrewdest Democratic leaders saw, in 1896, that defeat 
 was inevitable in the coming election unless some new issue 
 could be sprung on the people. Their party had had control 
 of the government, and they could not therefore claim that Re- 
 publican principles and policies had caused the hard times. 
 
 A large number of leading Democrats gradually drew away 
 from the Democratic administration, and began to seek a new 
 issue as the shibboleth in the coming campaign. When the 
 Democratic Convention met in Chicago there was a fierce contest 
 between the two wings of the party for control. A new Moses, 
 William J. Bryan of Nebraska, suddenly mounted the platform, 
 and by an ingenious declamation gained the nomination for 
 the Presidency, and wrote silver as the party platform, leav- 
 ing A TARIFF FOR REVENUE ONLY as scarcely a secondary 
 issue. 
 
 This was their forlorn hope. Their tariff (the Wilson Bill) 
 had proved a failure. The attention of the people must be 
 drawn from the tariff and fixed upon something that could again 
 be bolstered up with promises of great resulting benefits to the 
 people. If the voters did not find out before election the fool- 
 ishness of these promises the Democrats might retain power 
 
366 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 for another four years. To give greater respectability to the 
 ticket, and in the hope of getting campaign funds, a rich old 
 banker, Arthur Sewall, of Maine, was given the second place. 
 The honest followers of Democracy were disgusted at the re- 
 sults of the convention, and turned to the Republican party as 
 the nation's only hope. 
 
 They were not disappointed. Before the Republican Con- 
 vention met at St. Louis, Mo., the people had selected William 
 McKinley of Ohio as the Republican nominee for President, 
 and the convention ratified the people's choice. Garrett A. 
 Hobart of New Jersey was given the second place. The plat- 
 form spoke as fully and as frankly as ever in behalf of the Vital 
 Principles and Policies of the Party. The workman must be 
 protected by a proper tariff. The Treasury must be full. De- 
 ficiency must be turned into surplus. The poor man's money 
 must be as good as any the world over. Our foreign policy 
 must be dignified, firm, and in accordance with our past history. 
 Prosperity must be restored to the people. 
 
 The Democrats had skilfully made their platform and nomi- 
 nated the leading candidate to catch the votes of the Populists ; 
 -and Mr. Bryan coquetted with the Populist leaders until they 
 indorsed him for President. They refused, however, to accept 
 Sewall for Vice-President, and nominated Thomas Watson of 
 Georgia for that place, with Bryan as presidential nominee. The 
 people were not deceived. The great common sense of the 
 -nation responded to the call of the Republican party. William 
 McKinley was elected President, and a feeling of confidence 
 ^nd hope spread through the nation and even extended to Eu- 
 rope. Cheap money, cheap labor, and free trade were buried 
 runder the mass of votes cast for the Republican candidates. 
 
 On the accession of President McKinley, an extra session of 
 "Congress was called to take action on the tariff as the first step 
 to prosperity. In spite of the Democrats and Popuhsts in Con- 
 gress, who tried to introduce at this extra session many measures 
 that tended further to disturb business, the Republican leaders 
 kept the party promises, and adjourned after passing a carefully 
 considered tariff bill known as the Dingley Bill. This bill was 
 in. strict accordance with the tariff principles of the party as 
 
ITS RISE AND PROGRESS — 1 892 TO DATE. 367 
 
 Stated by President McKinley in his article published in thi§ 
 book, and as covered by tlie previous tariff known as the 
 McKinley Bill. 
 
 The good effects of this tariff were at once evident. The 
 confidence felt in the administration was shown in a gradual 
 increase of business. But the depression had been great, 
 and the country had suffered too long from misgovernment to 
 leap at once into its old-time prosperity. Still, the tide had 
 turned. It was running strongly, and while full tide does not 
 come in a minute, its strong, steady swell was felt and recog- 
 nized. After March 4, 1897, times grew better. Business 
 improved, mills were opened, the markets became active ; wages 
 were increased ; employment was found for more workmen ; 
 farmers paid off their mortgages ; cities and corporations re- 
 duced their indebtedness, or refunded it at a very low rate of 
 interest ; and the new era of prosperity, under a Republican 
 administration, was welcomed by the people. 
 
 The results of the clean, wise, prudent, and statesmanlike 
 policy of President McKinley were shown in every department 
 of business even during the first year of his term of service. 
 
 In 1897, for the first time in the history of our country, the 
 ■domestic exports exceeded $1,000,000,000, and their variety 
 was as satisfactory as their value. A wise protective policy had 
 established manufactories all over the land, which, by reason of 
 improved machinery and natural facilities, had begun to reach 
 out for foreign trade and to compete with the products of cheap 
 labor abroad. Manufactured goods — the products of labor and 
 skill — swelled- the total of our exports beyond all previous 
 records. Steel, iron, cottons, wood, and leather, and their 
 manufactured products, with an unprecedented Ust of other 
 goods, were sold to foreign countries. The percentage of manu- 
 factured articles was nearly double in 1897 what it had been in 
 previous years. For the first time in our history, the United 
 States was recognized as the leader in the making of iron and 
 steel, made at higher wages than are paid abroad, and yet at 
 lower cost of the product. The economic effect of this fact is 
 too far-reaching to be overlooked. It extends into every de- 
 partment of business, gives us the power to control the world's 
 
368 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 commerce to a great extent, and establishes the beneficial re- 
 sults of a wise protection of our industries. 
 
 A new economic record was made in the United States in 
 1897 in the payment of mortgage indebtedness. The farmers 
 of the country were among the first to feel the effects of pros- 
 perous times. Money began to flow into their pockets, and 
 January i, 1898, saw eighty per cent, of the farmers in our great 
 West free from mortgages. Their lands, their homes, their 
 stock and crops, were free from the claim of the money-lender. 
 
 The Treasury of the United States also felt the return of the 
 world's confidence in the administration. The gold reserve 
 steadily increased without the artificial aid of bond-buyers and 
 brokers. January, 1898, showed a gold reserve in our Treasury 
 of over $150,000,000, besides about $40,000,000 in gold bullion, 
 with a total cash balance of about $216,000,000. The govern- 
 ment receipts for the year amounted to about $350,000,000. 
 
 The financial strength of the United States was fully demon- 
 strated, and steps were carefully taken for such a revision of 
 our currency system as would retain its good features, while 
 guarding the parity of all issues bearing the government stamp. 
 
 The presidential message in December, 1897, was generally 
 approved. Its wise statements of our relations with foreign 
 nations were well received abroad as showing that there would 
 be no return to the Jingo policy of threats and bombast, but 
 that the administration would stand firmly and consistently for 
 our just rights, while it would in no way infringe on the rights 
 of other nations. Thus Spain felt the force of the strong, fair 
 words in regard to Cuba, while understanding that they were 
 written in that friendly spirit that should characterize the deal- 
 ings of all nations with one another ; Japan no longer attempted 
 to influence our action in regard to Hawaii, but was willing to 
 believe that we would honestly protect her rights there ; and 
 Europe in general seemed to have understood that the United 
 States had once more regained its lofty and influential position 
 as a nation of the earth. In spite of factions and the opposition 
 of its political opponents, the Republican administration steadily 
 maintained the party pledges, and upheld the grand principles 
 under which the country had grown great and prosperous.