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NATIONAL CAPITAL, WASHINGTON, D. C.

MEN AND ISSUES
OF '92.
A GftAND NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

CONTAINING

PHOTOGRAPHS ,
OF LEADING MEN OF ALL PARTIES;
WITH A FULL AND FAIR PRESENTATION OF THE
GREAT NATIONAL QUESTIONS
OF THE DAY

PROTECTION— FREE TRADE— THE McKINLEY BILL— RECI
PROCITY— THE SILVER QUESTION— BI-METALISM,
MONO-METALISM, ETC.

ALSO THE LIVES OF
REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC
CANDIDATES FOR
PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT,
WITH NATIONAL PLATFORMS.

BY JAMES P. BOYD, A.M.,
Author of the Lives of " Grant," " Sherman " ahd " Sheridan."*

PUBLISHERS UNION.
1892.

Copyright, 1892,
By JAMES P. BOYD, A. M.

INTRODUCTORY.

A National Election in a Republic of forty-four States,
embracing well nigh 65,000,000 freemen, is imposing as a
spectacle and momentous as an event. All the world looks
upon it with curious eyes and anxiously awaits its results.
In the almost magical evolution of new ideas and in the
bewildering whirl of events which characterize American
progress, a short four-year term pf political administration
serves to fix the date, if it does not establish the necessity,
for a grand National audit.
The questions which spring spontaneously from a rich
loam of thought, or which grow and shape under the gar
dening hand of statesmen, organizations and political par
ties, and which do not, or cannot, find solution in regular
legislation, are naturally and properly crowded over into the
campaign year. They are carried, as it were, by popular
appeal into the high court of the people, where final hearing
and arbitrament is sought as in a tribunal of last resort.
The American people, by virtue of intelligence, patriotism
and sense of responsibility, do not shrink from the grave
duty of hearing and judging what has thus been referred
to them. Indeed, they regard the electoral privilege as
their one glorious opportunity, and the year of a National
campaign is to them a year of anxious inquiry, quickened
perception, keen mental excitement, strenuous exertion and
not a little hurly burly. This is entirely as it should be. It
(5)

6 INTRODUCTORY.
is highly creditable to them as factors of the body politic
and as j'udges in an august tribunal. Nothing so intensifies
the interest in and exalts the importance of a National cam
paign and nothing so sanctifies its results to every partic
ipant. What more noticeable to even the careless observer than
the fact that each National campaign opens a series of ques
tions which come down closer and closer to the people and
touch more and more deeply their very pockets, personal
comfort and general welfare, and just in the same propor
tion the people, responsive as an electric current, rise to the
discussion and study of those questions, broaden their
reasons to new situations and throw their hearts into succes
sive campaigns and elections. A vote to-day is fuller of
significance than ever before.
No sight is more sublime than that of 12,000,000 of
voters wrestling with the problems that concern their dinner
pails and contents, their hats and coats, their daily wages,
their home productions, the worth of their dollars. Nor is
there anything so inspiring to honorable citizenship or more
hopeful for the perpetuity and progress of the Republic than
the thought that each voter feels that his destiny is in his
own keeping and that he is at liberty to shape it as he will.
It is just as noticeable and as much of a fact that as these
questions descend toward the people at large and they rise
to meet them, the old fashioned partisan narrowness and
party bitterness of the National campaign give place to a
more genial and liberal spirit. Fanaticism yields to toler
ance ; denunciation to discussion ; bigotry to patient hearing.
Blind partyism merges in the greater problems of general
welfare and National honor. A campaign year may still be
one of excitement and enthusiasm. Political waves may
run high and dash about furiously. But these are no

INTRODUCTORY. 7
longer devastating. Their roar is not a menace to peace.
Their clash does not mean destruction. They speedily dis~
solve in the great sea of tolerance and the spirit of liberal
ity broods o'er the deep.
Never in all our political history has the National cam
paign year brought broader, deeper and more pervading
questions down closer to the people. There is not an issue
that does not touch a vital spot in what most concerns the
masses. Parties may proclaim and plead, politicians may
conjure and manipulate, but the questions are pre-eminently
of and for the people. They are questions of economy,
home, family, labor, food, clothing, personal rights, money.
They will make of the campaign a school of education, and
the school will swarm with interested and enthusiastic
scholars, all intent on knowing what is, best for their com
fort and prosperity.
This work has been written with a view of providing a
text-book for the scholars in the universal school of the
National campaign. It has been made broad and full, so as
to embrace the questions that press for solution and present
them without reference to preconceived notions or partisan
leanings. It regards the entire mass of voters, all the people,
as scholars, and endeavors to simplify for them the lessons
presented by the campaign, no matter to what party they
belong. It presumes that the seriousness of the questions,
their intimacy with every personal concern, the immense in
fluence their decision will have upon the enjoyment and
prosperity of the citizen and voter, demands for them im
partial consideration, and that every one will be glad of the
opportunity to consider them in their historic rather than
in their limited party bearings.
The mission of the ordinary campaign book passed with
the era of narrow and bitter partisanship and with the com-

8 INTRODUCTORY.
ing down to the voter of the very class of questions which
distinguish the National election of this year. The time,
the duty to be performed, the character of the issues, require
that full, dispassionate and historic presentation which we
haVe aimed at. We have striven to be plain even to the
level of the commonest understanding. We have sought
to enlighten generally, leaving the result entirely to the
reader and trusting entirely to his judgment as to what is
best for him in a political and party sense, after he is in
formed in a general sense.
The subjects amplified in the above spirit are Free-trade,
Protection, Silver Coinage, Tariff Legislation, the new policy
of Reciprocity, all of which are championed or opposed by
statesmen, legislators and party leaders, whom it is desirable
to see and to know better. They are given a place in the
book, with their biographies. Excellent photographs of
nearly one hundred of them are presented, greatly adding
to the worth and beauty of the book.
In accordance with the design of the book a large spa^e
is devoted to biographies of the National Candidates.
These biographies are full and complete and are accom
panied by excellent portraits of their subjects.
Valuable tabular and historic matter relating to former
Presidential elections are given and add much to the
value of a work devised in the interest of, and written
plainly and carefully for, a people who have in their hands,
on the momentous occasion of a National election, the
choice of their Chief Magistrate for a period of four years,
and the decision of measures which intimately concern their
welfare and may affect their prosperity and happiness for all
time. The consciousness that such a work is timely and
will have a high mission has greatly lightened the labor of
preparing it.

CONTENTS

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
Outline of the Situation — Satisfactory Outlook — No Novel
Issues — No Personalism — Partisanship at a Discount — An
Active and Laborious Campaign — Absence of Pyrotechnics
— The "School- House" Plan — Printing Press and Club
Room — A Full and Deliberate Verdict-h^-The Tariff as
an Issue — Principle of Protection and Free-Trade —
Tariff of 1883 — Tidal Wave of 1882-83 — Attitude of Par
ties — The "Morrison Bill" — Cleveland's Inaugural —
Randall's Position — Sentiment in i886^An Issue Needed
for 1888 — Cleveland's Tariff Reform Message — Demo
cratic Commitment — Party Lines Distinctly Drawn — The
Mills Bill — Campaign of 1888 — Tariff of 1890 — Tidal
Wave of 1890 — Carlisle's Review of the Situation —
Mills and Crisp — The " Divide and Conquer " Plan —
Elections of 1891-92 — Their Meaning — The Tariff Issue
a Square One — Free Silver Coinage — Attitude of the
Two Parties — Opinion of Henry Cabot Lodge — The Farm
ers' Alliance — Greenback and Free Silver Parties — The
Bland Bill — Warner Silver Bill — The Silver Question
in Party Platforms — Cleveland's Silver Position — Silver
Act of 1890 — Drift of Democracy Toward Free Silver —
The Republican Attitude — Demands of the Alliance —
The Silver Miners — A Free Ballot — The Force Bill —
The "Billion Dollar Congress" — The "Nickel Con
gress" — Opinions of Political Leaders . . . .17
(9)

10 CONTENTS. II.
THE DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
Definition of Free-Trade— Principle of a Tariff — Early Free
traders — Tariff for Revenue — Tariff Reform — Politics
confuses Terms — The English Idea — Old and New Theo
ries — Law as to Capital — As to Labor — Productiveness
and Labor — Increased Price — Doctrine of " Laissez Faire "
— Protection Iniquitous — Class Taxation — Diminished
Labor — Wrong of the Custom House — Division of Labor
— Aggregate of Labor — Diversified Industry — Produce
for Produce — Value of Free Competition — Facility of
Exchanges — Diminution of Labor — Capital and Employ
ment — Independence of Foreigners — Free-Trade in Poli
tics — Tariff a Tax — Monopolies and Trusts — Views of
Gladstone and Patrick Henry — Protection invokes Wars
— England Repudiated her own Protection Laws —
Reaches Free-Trade— Views of Wells, Taussig, Robert
Peel, Jackson, Rowan, Dallas — Protection Leads to
Smuggling — Comparison of Free-Trade and Protection
Eras — Views of Buchanan, Lloyd, Garfield — Smith — Free-
Trade Era of 1850 to i860 one of Prosperity . . . 6g
III.
DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
Principle not in Doubt — Practiced by all Nations — Neces
sary to Commercial Supremacy — For Industrial and
Manufacturing Independence — Protection Unites Art and
Nature — Protective and Revenue Tariffs — Revenue Du
ties Fall on Necessaries — Protective Duties Fall on
Competitive Articles — Rate and Adjustment of Protective
Duties— Prohibitory Rates— Essence of Labor in Pro
ducts — Per Cent, of Labor — Application of Protection
to Labor — Effect of Protection on Labor — Protection
does not Increase Cost to Consumer — Competition Regu
lates Cost— Encouragement to Capital — To Invention-
More and Better Goods — Tariff for Protection not a
Tax— Producers Pay the Duty-t— Sentiment in Bradford—

CONTENTS. n
Opinions of List, Smith, Mill — Advantage of Protection
to Agricultural Communities — "The American System"—
Opinions of Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Taussig —
American Conditions — European Conditions — Protection
Cures Monopoly — Gives Competing Power Abroad — Reve
nue Tariff a Tax — Doctrine of Natural Right — Duty of
Development — Use of Natural Gifts — Our Own Econom
ics — Absolute Cheapness not Desirable — Protection
does not Tend to Overproduction — Protection since i86i
— Carey's Deductions — Uses to Farmers — Free " Raw
Material " — Protection not for Privileged Classes —
Does not Contribute to Great Fortunes — Nor to Trusts
— Tends to Fairer Profits — Our Material Growth . . 96
IV.
OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
English Colonial System — The Confederation and Free-
Trade — The Constitution and Imposts — Tariff Act of
1789 — Protective Era — Embargo and Tariff of 1812 —
High Protective Era — Act of 1816 — Disasters of 1817-19
— Act of 1824 and the " American System " — Attitude of
Parties — Act of 1828— Hostility to It and Compromise
Act of 1833 — Nullification — Panic of 1837 — Protective
Rates of. 1842 — Repealing Act of 1846 — Effect of Mexi
can War, Discovery of Gold, Foreign Wars and Famines
— Tariff Act of 1857 — Panic of 1857 — Protective Act of
1861 — Effect of Civil War — Panic of 1873 AND AcT OF
1874 — The Tariff Commission and Tariff of 1883 — The
Morrison Bill — The Mills Bill — Tariff Act of 1890 —
Policy of Reciprocity — Tariff Legislation in 1892— Tariff
Sentiment Abroad — Lord Salisbury's Views — Tariff Fig
ures   124
V.
THE SILVER QUESTION.
Importance of the Question, "What is Money? — Kinds of
Money — Money Values — Money Systems — American Coin-

12 CONTENTS.
age — First Coinage Act — Gold and Silver Values — Rea
sons for a, Change — Coinage Act of 1834 — Mistaken Ra
tios — Silver Monometallized — " Gresham's Law" — "Mint
Act" of 1837 — Coinage Act of 1849 — Effects of the Dis
covery of Gold — Alarm of the Commercial World — Our
" Legal Tender Acts " — Resumption of the Coinage Act
of 1873 — Silver Demonetized — The "Trade Dollar" of
1876 — Extent of Coinage to 1878 — Coinage Act of 1878 —
Free and Unlimited Coinage System — Restoration of the
Silver Dollar — Coinage Act of 1890 — What it Did — The
Proposed Free Coinage Act of 1892 — What it Seeks —
Compared with other Acts — Mint Figures — How to Figure
Silver Ratios and Values  193
VI.
RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
General View of Reciprocity — Commercial Treaties — "Most
Favored Nation" Clause — Reciprocity and the American
Republics — Modern Commercial Era— Escape from Eu
ropean Dominion — The " Monroe Doctrine " — Prophecy of
John Adams— The International Conference — Report on
Reciprocity — Blaine's Review and Recommendation — Reci
procity and Tariff Act of 1890 — Second Stage of Reci
procity — Acceptance by Foreign Nations — Effect upon
Commercial Relations— General View of its Operations . 261
VII.
ELECTORAL AND POPULAR VOTES.
Electoral Vote for 1888 by States— The Popular Vote-
Vote by States in 1884— The Electoral Vote— The Popu
lar Vote — The Electoral College in all Presidential
Years — Candidates and Parties — Disputed Elections—
The Effect of the Twelfth Amendment — Votes for Each
Candidate — The Popular Vote — When Popular Vote Be
gan to be Counted— As Cast for Each Candidate — Valua
ble and Interesting Data  342

CONTENTS. 13
VIII.
LIFE OF BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Parentage and Early Life — At College — A Law Student —
Marriage — At the Indianapolis Bar — Rise in his Profes
sion — Partnerships — In the Army — Colonel of 70-ra
Indiana— With Hooker's "Fighting Corps"— On to At
lanta — A Brigade Commander — At Dalton — The Bloody
Battle of Resaca — At Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta —
A Full Brigadier — At Nashville with Thomas — Return
to Political Life — Candidate for Governor — Election to
U. S. Senate — Tariff Measures of 1883 — Victory over
Voorhees — Position on "Civil Service" — The Anti-" Chi
nese Bill " — Coin and Currency Question — Land and
Labor Question — High Rank as Senator — Hard Campaign
of 1886 — Reverses the Democratic Majority in the State
— Again at the Bar — At Home — Family and Domestic Re
lations — Political Situation in 1888 — The Chicago Con
vention — Attitude of Factions — Blaine's Position — Harri
son's Nomination — Splendid Party Indorsement — Triumph
ant Election — Cabinet and Policy — Harrison's Adminis
tration — Splendid Foreign Policy— The Italian Affair —
The Chilian Imbroglio — Behring Sea and the Seals —
Wisdom of Appointments — Travels and Public Speeches
— Masterly Messages — Shaping Lines for 1892 — Blaine's
Letter to Clarkson — Harrison's Popularity in the Coun
try — His Clean, Able Administration — Confidence of all
Business and Commercial Interests — The Minneapolis Con
vention — Blaine's Resignation from State Department —
Strength in Convention — The Balloting — Nomination
for Second Term — Overwhelming Approval of Nomina
tion — Acceptance; — Platform of 1892  353
IX.
LIFE OF HON. WHITELAW REID.
Birth and Education — Teacher— Editor of Xenia " News " —
Newspaper Correspondent — War Correspondent — Author —
Managing Editor New York "Tribune" — Editor-in-Chief
— Offered German Mission by Hayes and Garfield — Minis
ter to Fran6e — Nomination for Vice-Presidency . . 509

14 CONTENTS. X.
LIFE AND SERVICES OF EX-PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELANE'.
Xineage and Birth— Early Life — A Student and Teacher-
Bound for the West — A Clerk and Law Student — Admis
sion to Bar — Career as a Lawyer — Elected Sheriff —
Reforms in Office — Elected Mayor — A Vigorous Adminis
tration — Nomination for Governor — Great Popularity —
Character of the Opposition— Phases of the Campaign —
Overwhelming Victory — Idol of the Masses — His Gu
bernatorial Administration — Appointments and Vetoes —
Executive Habits — National Convention of 1884— Nomina
tion for President — Political Situation — Campaign of 1884
— The Doubtful Ground — Triumphant Election — View of
his Splendid Administration — His Messages and Measures
— Cabinet Officers — The Man and his Methods — His
Marriage — Convention of 1888 — The Celebrated Message
of 1887 — Renomination by Acclamation — Campaign of 1888
— The Drift of Sentiment — Defeat and its Causes — In
Private Life — At his Profession — Traits of Character —
Interest in Public Affairs — Popularity with the Masses
— Pointers for '92 — Convention of 1892 — Character of
Opposition — A Winner from the Start — The Logical
Candidate — Details of Chicago Convention — Placed in
, Nomination— Splendid Marshalling of his Forces — First
and only Ballot — Renomination made Unanimous — Full
Tejkt g*™»Platkorm — Receftioi? ; of-'<"the News — Sentiment
of press and People — A Splendid Nomination . . . 521
XL
LIFE OF HON. ADLAI E. STEVENSON.
Birth, Parentage and.Education — Legal Career — In Politics
— A Campaignist — DistrTct .Attorney — Congressional Cam
paigns — Career in Congress — Strength ^wit-h-ose People —
Standing at the Bar — Appearance and Home Life — Assist
ant Postmaster-General — Official Methods — Industry and
Popularity — The Contest at Chicago — Nomination by
Acclamation — Reception of the News — Strength of the
Nomination  643

HALF-TONE PHOTOGRAPHS.

The Capitol at Wash
ington . . Frontispiece.
Hon. Leon Abbett . . . 19 '
Hon. N. W. Aldrich . . 122
Gen. Russell Alger . . 380
Hon. John B. Allen . . 32
Hon. Wm. B. Allison . . 367
Hon. Thos. F. Bayard . 548
Hoh. Chas. E. Belknap . 33
Hon. Jas. G. Blaine . . 358
Hon. Richard P. Bland 253
Hon. Horace Boies . . 52
Hon. W. C. Breckinridge 532
Hon. Calvin S. Brice . . 218
Hon.-W. J. Bryan . . . 61
Hon. M. C. BuTLEk. . . 67
Hon. Wilkinson Call . 74
Hon. James 5$, Campbell 128
Hon. Jos. M. Carey . . 80
Hon. John G. Carlisle . 620
Hon. Leyman R. Casey . 81
Hon. Wm. E. Chandler . 87

Hon. Grover Cleveland 525
Hon. W. B. Cochran . . 94
Hon. Chas. F. Crisp . . 629
Hon. D. B. Culberson . 224
Hon. Shelby M. Cullom 109
Hon. John Dalzell . . 1 15
Hon. Henry L. Dawes . 402
Hon. C. M. Depew . . .418
Hon. Don M. Dickinson 614
Hon. Jos. N. Dolph . . 135
' Hon. Fred. F. Dubois . 142
Hon. S. B. Elkins M . . 439
Hon. Wm. C. Endicott . 583
Hon. Chas. S. Fairchild 554
Hon. J. B. Foraker . . 492
Hon. Chas. Foster . . 433
JHon.^Wm. P. Frye . . .374
Hon. Aug. H. Garland . 576
Hon. James Z. George . 148
Hon. Randall L. Gibson 157
Hon. Nathan Goff . . 163
Hon. John B. Gordon . 170
(15)

16

HALF-TONE PHOTOGRAPHS.

HoN. Arthur P. Gorman 651
Hon. Isaac P. Gray . . 129
Hon. Isham G. Harris . 176
Hon. Benj. Harrison . . 352
Hon. M. D. Harter . . 177
Hon. Jos. R. Hawley . . 501
Hon. Anthony Higgins . 183
Hon. David B. Hili, . . 598
Hon. James K. Jones . . 190
Hon. John E. Kenna . . 196
Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar . . 563
Hon. Robt. T. Lincoln . 205
Hon. John Lind . . . .211
Hon. Henry Cabot
Lodge  389
Hon. Wm. McKinley, Jr. 100
Hon. James McMillan . 225
Hon. John R. McPherson 231
Hon.Chas. F. Manderson 238
Hon. W. H. H. Miiaer . 244
Hon. R. Q. Mills . . .635
Hon. Levi P. Morton . . 485
Hon. John W. Noble . . 452
Hon. John M. Palmer . 307
Hon. Robt. E. Pattison 266
Hon. W. A. PEFFER . . 272
HON. R. F, PETTIGREW . 273

Hon. W. Walter Phelps 279
Hon. Thos. G. PlaTT . . 39
Hon. Thos. C. Power . . 286
Hon. Redfield Proctor 292
Hon. James L. Pugh . . 301
Hon. M. S. Quay .... 479
Hon. Thos. B. Reed . . 470
Hon. Whitelaw Reid . 508
Hon. Jeremiah Rusk . . 459
Hon. Wm. E. Russell . . 314
Hon. John Sherman , . 329
Hon. J. Simpson .... 323
Hon. Wm. M. Springer . 46
Hon. Leland Stanford 336
HonI Adlai E. Stevenson 642
Hon. Wm. M. Stewart . 345
Hon. Alfred A. Taylor 424
Hon. Henry m. Teller . 411
Hon. B. F. Tracy . . .446
Hon. Zebulon B. Vance . 259-
Hon. Geo. V. Vest . . .541
Hon. Wm. F. Vilas . . . 591
Hon. Danl- W. Voorhees 607
Hon. John Wanamaker 453
' Hon. Wm. D. Washburn 395
Hon. Wm. C. Whitney . 570
Hon. Geo. D. Wise ... 26

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
The political situation pending the Presidential election
of 1892 is one of the most satisfactory since the adoption
of the Constitution. It is free from the doubts and suspic
ions that existed from 1787 to the war of 1812. It is free
from the vacillations up to 1824. It is free from the in
trigues and bitter turmoils to 1861. It is free from the
exceeding gravity of armed strife and problems of national
unity and honor to 1884.
Not that something of all that ever went before will not
be involved in the issues of 1892, but there is nothing on
the surface to indicate a dangerous aggregation of the things
which make people shudder at the thought of a national
election and thank God that it is over.
The situation of 1892 has been pointed to by the attitude
of parties, by the trend of political events, by the course of
administrations, for some years. It is, therefore, a situation
which is reasonably well understood by statesmen and
political leaders. The issues are not novel. There are
metes and bounds within which parties must play for
supremacy. Nothing has thus far developed to lead to the conviction
that the personalism of candidates will cut any conspicuous
figure in the campaign of 1892. This should be a matter
of rejoicing. There is nothing so degrading as personal
attack, nothing so humiliating as personal defence. The
campaign of 1884 began on the very lowest plane of per
sonal politics. It shamed both parties, disgusted adherents,
disparaged our campaign methods, and diminished respect
(17)

18 CAMPAIGN ISSUES QF 1892.
for us at home and abroad. Happily the period »f surfeit
soon arrived, and the campaign took on more rational show.
The questions that had been submerged, beneath the vitu
perative wave -reached the surface eventually, and reason
found a throne. The deliberative mood, so violently ruffled
at the start, may have remained nervous, but the vital issues
got a fair hearing, after the initial storm blew over, and the
result was such as the country could sanction.
Nor is there anything to indicate that partisanship; of an
ascerb or offensive kind need characterize the campaign.
It is hardly £ time for narrowness or bitterness. The issues
are of a. broad and serious nature, They concern people
rather than parties. They reach further than mere triumphs
and successes for organizations, arid go down to the masses
as servers of themselves rather than as servers of parties.
Dispassionate discussion will operate as a more potential
lever than hfeated words, loud expletives, incorrect asser
tions, false logic, and idle promises. The orator will have
a mission of broader scope and greater merit than ever
before. He will have more critical hearers, auditors more
numerous and interested, audiences less vociferous, assem
blages for thinking rather than for cheering and waving
torches. There may be localities where the sound of bitter
ness shall be as sweetness, where the voice of malice shall
win applause, and where the vituperative tongue shall wag
with favor, but these will be wide apart. In general-, con
viction will be hard to clinch, and will refuse to be satisfied
with the arts of abuse, the fires of denunciation, or the
dynamite of malignity.
There is every reason to suppose that the activities and
energies of the campaign will be unsurpassed. The reach
ing of the masses, without the aid of fiery display, and
through another medium than the eye, the absence of

Hon. Leon Abbett.
Born in Philadelphia, October 8, 1836; educated for the bar; moved
to Hoboken in 1862; appointed City Attorney in 1863; elected to Gen
eral Assembly in 1864, as Democrat ; acquired distinction as a speaker
and parliamentarian ; re-elected for next term ; moved to Jersey City in
1866 ; elected for two terms to Assembly from First District of Hudson
co. ; a recognized party leader, distinguished for energy and ability ; be
came Speaker of the House ; elected to Senate in 1874 ; chosen Speaker
of Senate in 1877 ; elected Governor of New Jersey in 1883 ; elected
Governor a second time ; prominently spoken of for position of United
States Senator. (19)

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. '21
inflammatory opportunity, impose the burden of much
assiduity upon leaders. We have all heard of " The School
House Campaign " and " The Campaign of Education.",
The issues of 1892 require these. They mean tedious,
prolonged, minute work, agency the most vigorous and
untiring, energy the most restless and persevering, devotion
the most sincere and uncompromising. Document rooms
will shower their hitherto unrevealed treasures. Literary
bureaus will pour forth their floods of persuasion. Clubs
will inspire with their enthusiastic resolutions. Expounders
will go up and down the land distributing wisdom at every
corner store and cross-roads. Avenues will be provided
for carrying the issues to every accessible part of the body
politic, and enlightenment will reach deeper than ever before
in our history. It is a pleasing contemplation that the
verdict of 1892 will be full. It is equally pleasing to con
template that it will be deliberate, and rendered only after
intelligent and patient hearing. Since the asperities of civil
war have been removed, there is really no occasion for other
than dispassionate popular verdicts upon national questions,
and it is complimentary to our civilization that parties are
growing to place a higher value on such verdicts, and there
fore becoming more willing to employ the agencies of in
dustry, perseverance and minute detail to win them. What
a blessing it will be when the era of wild declamation,
partisan denunciation, vituperative epithet, inflammatory
appeal, unscrupulous trick and villanous intrigue shall give
place to honest, earnest presentation of issues, sincere per
suasions, organized opportunities for all to hear, full and
fair expression by ballot, faith in the popular verdict.
The year 1892 cannot escape the issue of the Tariff.
There is no need of going further back than the Tariff Act
of 1883 to find that Democratic and Republican lines were

22 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
hardening for battle on this issue, and that there would be
no yielding till mastery was made emphatic at the polls.
The Tariff Act of 1883, a Republican measure, was enacted
amid a cloud of Republican reverses. The political tidal-
wave of 1882, partially repeated in 1883, had turned the
Republican majority of nineteen in the House of Repre
sentatives ofthe Forty-seventh Congress into a Democratic
majority of sixty-nine in the Forty-eighth Congress. Many
Governors had been lost to the Republicans in their
strongest States. Under these circumstances the Tariff
legislation which led to the Act of March 3, 1883, was
hampered. Opposition was emboldened by Democratic
successes, and advocacy was rendered nervous and halting.
Though the legislation had for its guide the testimony taken
by an able Tariff Commission, which sat at various places
and heard testimony representative of all conflicting interests,
during most of the year 1882; though said Commission had
framed a lucid and exhaustive report for the use of Con
gress ; though the object of legislation, to equalize rates and
abolish the incongruities of existing tariffs, was kept steadily
in view by the friends of revision, it cannot be said that the
Act as an entirety was a success. It was too much in the
nature of a compromise to please contending elements and
sections, and the lower rates designed to benefit manufac
turing sections drew the criticism and hostility of the pro
ducing sections.
The encouragement the Democrats had received in the
elections of 1882-83, united with the demoralization which
defeat had spread in Republican ranks, lent political impor
tance to the Tariff, and drew more distinctly the lines be
tween Protection and Free Trade as distinctive party issues.
With the thought that they had the country with them, as
indicated by the elections, and bent on taking advantage of

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 23
their majority in the House, the Democrats formulated what
became known as the " Morrison Bill," or plan of " hori
zontal reduction of the Tariff," a general scaling of duties
to the extent of twenty per cent. Though Mr. Carlisle, of
Kentucky, had been elected speaker, as an exponent of this
idea, it was picked to pieces by the protectionists in the
Democratic ranks, and finally fell a prey to a motion to strike
out the enacting clause.
While this was deemed a master stroke as a preparation
for the Presidential Campaign of 1884, and as leaving the
Democrats in a position where they would not be called
upon to explain a doubtful method of attack upon existing
tariffs, and while it served to keep the question of Free Trade
and Protection in abeyance during the second and short
session of the Forty-eighth Congress, December 1, 1884-
March 4, 1885, it did not prevent its reappearance in the
first session ofthe Forty-ninth Congress, December 7, 1885-
August 6, 1886, in which there was a Democratic majority
of forty-three votes. But meanwhile President Cleveland
had delivered his inaugural, in which he had practically given
away the case of the free trade element in his party and,
though stopping short of the doctrine of protection, had
landed pretty squarely on the position occupied by Mr.
Randall and the " protection " minority in his own party.
This served to dampen the ardor of those who had cham
pioned " horizontal reduction." The Morrison Bill appeared
in fresh garb, to be sure, but it only proved to be a stum
bling-block to its friends, and was finally defeated by a united
Republican and Democratic vote, upon a motion to go into
the Committee of the Whole to consider it as reported by
the Committee of Ways and Means.
The situation was now anything but pleasant for the
Democrats as a party, and especially for those who repre-

24 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
sented the free trade wing of the party, which was a large
majority. In the Congressional Campaigns of 1886 there
was a decided drift of sentiment toward the Republicans,
who drew the lines sharply between Protection and Free
Trade, and forced to the uttermost the advantage offered by
the divided sentiment in the Democratic ranks. The Demo
cratic majority of forty-three in the Forty-ninth Congress
was reduced to a slender majority of fifteen in the Fiftieth
Congress, and more than two-thirds of this loss of twenty-
four members was fully and fairly accounted for by the dis
taste of constituents for the free trade leanings of the dis
placed members. It was very clear, then, that the attitude of
parties respecting tariff legislation was such as that their
political successes at the polls, and their majorities in the
Congress, could be made to turn on opposition to or advo
cacy of the doctrines involved, viz. : Free Trade and Pro
tection. The successes of 1886 encouraged and emboldened the
Republicans. They felt that they could do nothing more
in accord with their traditions nor more conducive to party
success than to fully elaborate the doctrine of Protection and
press it as an issue. Driven home upon the Democrats,
divided as they were, it would prove an entering wedge and
assure their discomfiture. Then would come the oppor
tunity to remedy the defects of the Act of 1883, and still
further commit the party to protective measures. Sagacious
men in the Democratic ranks saw the disadvantage they
were laboring under. Division meant disaster. To retreat
far enough to reorganize broken forces meant a confession
of weakness or cowardice. Mr. Cleveland, in his message
to the Forty-ninth Congress, at the opening of its second
session, December 6, 1886, assured the Carlisle or free
trade wing of the party of the encouragement of the admin-

Hon. George D. Wise.
Born in Accomack co., Va., 1835 ; graduated from University of
Indiana, and from Law School of William and Mary College, Va. ;
served throughout the war, in the Confederate army, as Captain and aid
to General Stevenson ; resumed practice of law in Richmond, Va. ;
elected Commonwealth Attorney in 1870, and to 1880; elected, as
a. Democrat, to 47th, 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st and 52d Congresses, to repre
sent the Third Virginia District; member of Committee on Interstate
and Foreign Commerce and on Expenditures in Department of Justice ;
a pleasing orator and popular member. (26)

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 27
istration. The Tariff was grappled with renewed energy,
but the time of the session was frittered away by Commit
tees of Conference, which repeatedly agreed to disagree.
Thus passed the Forty-ninth Congress, which was Demo
cratic in the House. It had left Tariff legislation practically
where it found it. The party stood badly in need of an
issue which would harden its lines for the Campaign of
1888. It was manifest that the Republicans were about to
stake their all on the policy of protection. Their lines were
rapidly forming for battle upon that issue. What could the
Democrats do but bravely form on the opposing side ? Was
it not time to precipitate a struggle and fight in real earnest
all along the lines, instead of charging here and retreating
there, obeying discordant leaders, falling a prey to divisions,
promising and disappointing, venturing and failing, eter
nally? This question was answered by President Cleveland in his
celebrated message of only 4,500 words to the first session
ofthe Fiftieth Congress, December 5, 1887. This message
was in the nature of a special paper called forth by an exist
ing demand for definite legislative action during the session.
The character of the legislation demanded was not left in
doubt, for the President cut entirely loose from the conser
vatism of former messages and boldly espoused the cause
of the free trade wing of his party. This departure sur
prised everybody except the initiated. The bulk of the party
hailed the message as a clear statement of a true situation,
and as a timely declaration of the principles of Democracy
as they must take shape in the next campaign. It threw
around the free traders the cloak of " Tariff Reform," and
left the " Revenue Reform " element of the party in the un
enviable position of a minority too small to be considered, or
weak enough to be crushed. The Republicans accepted it

88 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
as a gauntlet thrown into the arena, and prepared to act ac
cordingly. The Democrats were ably led in this Congress. Mr. Car
lisle was re-elected Speaker. Mr. Mills, able, bold, untiring,
took hold of the Tariff legislation which the Democrats were
bound to present. He framed a bill which lowered existing
rates of duty and placed many articles before dutiable,
among them wool, on the free list. This bill was cham
pioned so ably and persistently that it passed the House by
a majority of thirteen votes, and never were party lines more
closely drawn on a bill of this kind in the lower chamber.
But it was to meet with a strange reception in the Senate.
So much time had been expended upon it in the House,
that for the Senate to consider it fully would be to unduly
prolong an already lengthy session. Moreover, it was re
garded as a bill prepared as a campaign issue, whose discus
sion in public was to be taken as an expression of the eco
nomic views of the Democratic party. It was therefore met
in the Senate by another bill, which had been laboriously
prepared and lengthily debated, but not passed, which em
bodied the Republican doctrine of Protection, and whose
discussion in public would set forth the economic views of
the Republican party. The two houses, as well as the two
parties, were now squarely opposed, and ready to go to the
country on the issue as made up. Mr. Cleveland, who had
so bravely and timely struck in the direction of an affirma
tive stand by his party, became its logical candidate, and was
nominated by acclamation. The Republicans chose Ben
jamin Harrison, who was as pronounced for Protection as
Mr. Cleveland was for Tariff Reform. The campaign was
clean, earnest, determined. The country was in a delib
erative mood. The central issue was seldom befogged.
Not, for years, had there been such opportunity for mature

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 29
judgment. The popular verdict favored the Republicans.
In the Fifty-first Congress, they converted the former Demo
cratic majority of fifteen into a Republican majority of ten.
Despite these reverses, Mr. Cleveland, in his message to the
second session of the Fiftieth Congress, December 3, 1888,
and the Democratic leaders in general, remained firmly ad
hesive to the " Tariff Reform " faith, whose banners they
had carried during the Presidential campaign. In this they
were consistent and hopeful. One battle does not neces
sarily settle a war. Time would come to their aid. The
responsibility of an affirmative was now with the Republi
cans. This fact would serve to heal Democratic differences.
They might be stronger on the defensive than in direct
attack. The Republicans ofthe 51st Congress, encouraged by
their newly-elected President, and led by Reed and McKin
ley in the House, and Sherman and Aldrich in the Senate,
took early advantage of their victory to formulate a Tariff
Bill more in consonance with the views of the party, and in
closer keeping with their doctrine of Protection than the
Act of 1883 had ever been. This bill drew party lines
quite as close as the Mills Bill of the prior Congress.
After full and prolonged debate it became the Tariff Act
of October 1, 1890, popularly known as the " McKinley
Act." It gave emphasis to the Republican doctrine of Protection
by an attempt to remove the incongruities of the Tariff of
1883, many of which had become glaring as time progressed,
by raising duties on industries, notably those of wool and
woolens, which experience had shown were not amply pro
tected, by lowering duties on articles whose home manufac
ture had been sufficiently established, by imposing rates
en, for instance, tin plate, with a view to establishing new

30 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
industries, by enlarging the free list, especially as to
articles like sugar, a necessary of life, and which had all
along borne a duty for revenue only, by offering a bounty
to home sugar growers, by incorporating into its provisions
the policy of reciprocity, designed to extend trade with
those countries most affected by the enlargement of the free
list. This legislation was the most pronounced and comprehen
sive in the history of Tariff Acts. Nothing could have
been more defiant of the attitude assumed by the Democrats
as a party. Defeated at every point in the House, the Sen
ate, and by the Harrison administration, they carried their
contest to the country in the elections of November, 1890,
and for members to the 5 2d Congress. Such was the fury
and persistency of their attack, and such the peculiar state
of public mind, that the magnitude of their success was
surprise even to themselves. They elected even more Gov
ernors in Republican States than in 1882-83. They turned
the Republican majority in the 51st Congress into a Demo
cratic majority of more than two-thirds in the 52d Congress.
Everywhere they proclaimed their signal triumphs as a
national rebuke of the theories and methods of Protection
ists, and a national vindication of the principles of Tariff
Reform. True, other than strictly tariff issues were injected
into the campaign, and affected it seriously. True, argu
ments on economic questions were loose, and based on an
ticipation of facts, rather than on facts established. But these
did not serve to diminish the importance of the victory to
the Democrats.
In a deliberative review ofthe elections of 1890, the Hon.
John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, thus sketches causes and
effects : —
" So great a political revolution as has been effected by

Hon. John JB. Alien,
Born at Crawfordsville, Ind., May 18, 1845 ; educated at Wabash
College; served in Union army, in 135th Indiana Volunteers; moved
to Rochester, Minn., and resided, there until 1870; admitted to bar and
began practice ; In 1870 moved to Washington Territory and resumed
practice of law ; appointed United States District Attorney for Wash
ington, 1875 ; continued in said office till 1885 ; Reporter of Supreme
Court of Washington, 1878-85 ; elected Territorial Delegate to 51st
Congress ; on admission of State, elected United States Senator, as a
Republican, for term beginning December 2, 1889, and ending March
3, 1893 ; Chairman of Committee on Canadian Relations and member
of Committees on Claims, Public Lands, etc.
(32)

Hon. Charles E. Belknap.
Born at Massena, St. Lawrence CO., N. Y., October 17, 1846; moved
with parents to Grand Rapids, Mich., 1855; left school, August 14,
1862, and enlisted in 21st Michigan. Volunteers ; promoted to Captain
January 22, 1864, at the age of 17 yrs., 3 mos.; served till end of war
in Army of Cumberland; wounded seven times; engaged in manufact
uring business; served terms as Chief of Grand Rapids Fire Depart
ment; member of Board of Control of State Institutions ; Alderman and
Mayor; elected to 51st Congress as a Republican ; elected to 52d Con
gress, by 1500 majority, November 3, 1891 ; member of Committees on
Military Affairs and Patents ; an earnest worker and stout defender of
Republicanism. (33)

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 35
the recent election cannot be accounted for by the stereo
typed statement that this was an ' off year ' and a full vote
was not polled, or that local divisions and dissensions
diverted the attention of the people from the public ques
tions involved. There has scarcely, if ever, been a Con
gressional campaign in this country in which purely local
questions were so little discussed, or in which local party or
personal dissensions had so little influence as the one just
closed. With perhaps a very few exceptions, the use
of money for the purpose of corruption had little or
no influence upon the result, and it may, therefore, be
properly accepted as the deliberate judgment of a large
majority of the people upon the questions submitted to
them. " If the result of an election in this country means any
thing, if the people by their votes actually pronounce judg
ment upon the public questions submitted to them, the
result of the recent one is undoubtedly an emphatic and
conclusive condemnation of the Tariff Act, and its kindred
measures granting bounties and subsidies to private en
terprises. By the tariff schedules the whole people are
taxed for the benefit of a few. Such a gross abuse of the
power of taxation evry naturally alarmed the whole country.
" The proposed Federal Election Law was another
measure which the people did not expect, and for which the
country was not prepared. The Force Bill is better calcu
lated than any other measure that could have been devised,
to demoralize labor and destroy the value of investments at
the South ; and this, in fact, will be about the only practical
effect of its passage, because no statute can permanently
control the political action of the people in this country.
It is evident that the country does not want such a law, and

36 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
the Senate will probably allow it to die on the calendar and
be buried with other rubbish at the end of the session.
" There has never been in our history a more extravagant
Congress than the present one. It is doubtful whether its
prodigality in the expenditure of the public money has ever
been equalled by any body of legislators, except the itiner
ant statesmen who infested some of the capitals in the
Southern States during the period of reconstruction.
Large expenditures afford an excuse for heavy taxation,
and, therefore, economy in the administration of public
affairs is regarded by many Protectionists as inconsistent
with the fiscal policy of that party, and is condemned for
that reason.
" The rules of the present House were so framed, and the
authority of the Speaker and the Committee on Rules has
been so exercised, as to enable the majority in that body at
any time to put an end to all opposition to its measures and
pass them in any form it may choose. If the rules, unjust
as they are to the minority, had been strictly adhered to in
the transaction of business, there would have been at least
a limited opportunity for debate and amendment, and no
important measure could have been passed without some
thing like proper consideration. But notwithstanding the
unfair advantage held by the majority under this severe and
unprecedented code of rules, it was not satisfied with the
almost absolute power conferred upon it and its presiding
officer." The above, coming from one of the foremost and clearest-
headed of the Democratic leaders, may be accepted as the
judgment of the party. In it may also be found the satis
faction of the party with its position and its determination
to fight to the end upon the lines laid down in that and
previous campaigns. It was with this determination that

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 37
the elated Democratic majority entered upon its career in
the 5 2d Congress. Flushed with success, it rallied around
its logical and best equipped economic leader, Mr. Mills, of
Texas, father of the Mills' Bill in the 49th Congress, and
would gladly have honored him with the Speaker's Chair,
which would have given full play to his powers. But there
suddenly came a change of sentiment in Democratic coun
cils. Mr. Mills had won fame as an ardent, indefatigable,
able and honest advocate of the anti-protection measures of
his party. He had appeared on the stump in many States
during the campaign of 1890, and had been outspoken in
his views respecting the doctrines of Free-trade and Protec
tion. Under ordinary circumstances he might have been
entrusted with the leadership of his party, but the circum
stances were not ordinary. In the overwhelming Demo
cratic majority in the House there were seeds of danger.
Excess might dwarf and blight success. Democrats really
feared to trust themselves. It was well known what Mr.
Mills would do. He could not, in vindication of his past
efforts and out of respect to his present judgment and to
the verdict of the country, but hew to the lines he had laid
down in the 49th Congress, and in his subsequent career.
This meant a Tariff Act as a counter to the McKinley Act.
For this the party did not seem to be ready, despite the em
phatic verdict of the country, and its loud and oft repeated
professions of Tariff Reform.
The time had come for shaping lines for the Presidential
campaign of 1892. While no abatement of the free trade
or tariff reform sentiment was noticeable, while the determi
nation was still paramount to continue hostility to the Re-
publicaa doctrine of protection as embodied in the Tariff
Act of 1890, and to repeat, if possible, the splendid tri
umphs of that year in a Presidential campaign, it was

38 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
deemed wisest not to antagonize too much in advance and
too directly the doctrines they hoped to overwhelm in the
end. Ere the Fifty-first Congress could assemble in Decem
ber, 1891, there were evidences of reaction in the public
mind. A suspicion began to dawn that, after all, the situ
ation of 1890 might not prove to be as real as it had been
pictured. At any rate, there was no need of taking any
risks. Mr. Mills was sacrificed, and Mr. Crisp, of Georgia,
was given the gavel. Out of this sprang the plan of indi-
direct, rather than direct, attack upon the doctrine of pro
tection ; attacks by piecemeal rather than by stupendous
charge. The large Democratic majority in the Fifty-second Con
gress adopted this plan, not heartily, but as an expedient.
It would serve all the purposes of keepjng party lines de
fined, of pressing Tariff Reform as a party measure, and
•of exposing the fallacies of Protection. It would be free
from the dangers which attended the opening of the whole
tariff subject in a House composed of so many untried
members, each inordinately flushed by his victory at the
polls. If it involved disrespect for the popular verdict, the
use of discretion was urged -as an excuse. If it proved
disappointing to constituents, promise of the later, greater
and grander victory in store, was the ointment of healing.
If it showed that the party lacked the courage of its con
victions, it was answered that diplomacy was wiser than
haste. If the charge of cowardice was made, the adage was
handy that " to divide and conquer " was one of the oldest
and best approved of the arts of war.
And so there came into the Congress no definite, entire
Tariff Act, but a series of measures, attacking what was
deemed most offensive in the Act of 1 890. These were de
bated with great fullness, and so as to serve the object of

Hon. Thomas C. Platt.
Born in Owego, N. Y., July 15, 1833; studied at Yale College;
became President of Tioga, N. Y., National Bank, and engaged in
lumber business in Michigan; elected to Congress, as a Republican,
1872-74; elected to U. S. Senate, January 18, 1881; resigned with
Roscoe Conkling, May, 1881 ; defeated for re-election ; Secretary and
Director of U. S. Express Co., 1879; President of same since 1880;
Commissioner of Quarantine, N. Y., 1880-1888; member of Republican
National Conventions, 1876-80-84-88-92 ; President of Southern Cen
tral R. R. since 1888 ; conspicuous in Republican National Convention
of 1892 as leader of Blaine forces ; an acute and natural party leader
in New York. (39)

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 41
their introduction, to wit, the feeling of its way on the part of
the majority, and the keeping on parade the iniquities they
were aimed at. There was no manifest faltering of party
lines during these debates, though individual members of cer
tain sections expressed dissent by vote when they felt that
the interests of their constituents would be touched ad
versely. This was notably the case with the bill to place
wool on the free list and to reduce the duties on woolens,
which bill was the first of the series submitted for debate,
and perhaps the most important of the series.
What was remarkable about this method was the fact that
it served the purpose of satisfying so large and enthusiastic
a majority, and that, too, in the face of the daily growing
fact that interest in the plan faded as the session dragged
along. Members seemed to reconcile themselves to it solely
for its time-consuming features, although they had come
with bosoms full of revenge and brains full of overwhelming
measures. The excuse grew familiar, that there was really
no use bothering about such legislation at all, since it was
sure to.be crushed by an adverse Senate or President. It
was a time for abeyance rather than positive assertion, and the
time would be short. The momentum acquired by the elec
tions of 1 890 would serve to carry the party over the chasms
of 1892, without the intervention of bridges built out of the
composite and doubtful material found in a suddenly ac
quired and untried House majority of two-thirds.
The elections of 1 891, and the spring of 1892, were far
from assuring to the Democrats. The operations of the
Tariff of 1890 were subverting many of their theories, dis
appointing their promises and dissipating their facts. In a
more dispassionate discussion of the merits of the Act than
any that had been had, between men better equipped for
argument than usual, and at a time when mere visions and

42 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
declamations could not be made to do duty as logic, the
champion of the Act of 1 890 was elected the Governor of
his State by a large majority. The Rhode Island contest
was similar to that in Ohio, in the respect that it turned
almost solely on the merits of Protection and Free Silver
Coinage, both questions of national moment.
But even if these evidences of reaction had not occurred,
the Republicans could not have changed their fighting-
ground for 1892. Their commitment to the Tariff Act of
1 890, and to the policy of Protection it involved, was complete.
They made the most of their brief innings, took a very bold
affirmative, staked the success of their party on their legisla
tion, and so must be bound by the consequences, not only
for this but for several campaigns, for it is in the very nature
of Tariff legislation that it is necessarily thrown on the
defensive for a long time. Its merits are never fully manifest
except after prolonged trial. The business interests touched,
and at large, are impatient of tampering with legislation that
so vitally concerns them.
It is not, therefore, possible for either of the great parties
to escape the issue of Protection and Free Trade, or Tariff
Reform, in 1892. Their histories for ten years lead to this
issue at this time. The battle will be fought with greater
stubbornness and with better defined lines than ever before.
The victory will be more decisive for the winning side.
Another issue, one hardly less important and equally
inevitable, will be the Free Coinage of silver. The Demo
cratic party is not such a unit upon this question as to make
it a desirable issue, but it is one with which a majority of
that party has coquetted so long, and in their strongest
States, as that there is no rational escape from it.
Of it, the Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge says : —
"There are always a good many people who are capti-

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 43
vated bythe cry of ' cheaper money ; ' and recently, from one
cause or another, there has been sufficient financial strin
gency to make the demand for cheaper money peculiarly
strong and widespread. But that which now really forces
the question of free coinage of silver so strongly to the front
is the fact that it has been made a test question by large
bodies of voters who have been drawn into certain new
political movements, of which the most conspicuous is the
Farmers' Alliance. These movements are not confined to
farmers or men of any particular occupation. A wave of
unrest and dissatisfaction with existing social conditions is
passing over the country, and has had many and varied
manifestations, chiefly of a socialistic tendency. Their in
tensity and enduring qualities have not yet been measured,
although it is quite obvious that in their present form they
show no signs of permanence. Many desires, propositions,
and demands, some of far-reaching character, have been
made known, but the one question which has been put for
ward out of the mass, and which is to be made the test of loy
alty and victory alike, is this question of free silver coinage,
behind which lies the additional demand for cheap money.
The free-silver movement existed long before the present
agitation began, arid finds support among large bodies of
people who have no sympathy or connection with the
general readjustment of social and financial arrangements
which organizations like the Farmers' Alliance are demand
ing. For this very reason, free coinage becomes a peculiarly
available issue for men bent on political changes of a much
more fundamental and far-reaching character. Hence, the
free coinage of silver comes daily more and more to the
front, while the opposition to it, an essential in making up
any issue, is as strong and determined as the forces united
in its support.

44 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
y
" The attitude and condition of the two great parties tend
also strongly in the same direction. The Democrats must
champion free silver, while the Republican party must just
as surely oppose it. As the foe of the Republicans, as the
controlling ally of the Democrats, the Alliance can select
its issue until its power wanes."
It is known that the Democratic and Republican parties
drew wide apart, and with well-defined lines, respecting
legislation upon the currency question during and sub
sequent to the war. They became particularly hostile
during 'the discussions which led to the resumption of
specie payments, against which the Democratic party threw
itself squarely in 1876, and thus placed itself in position for
that singular alliance with the " Greenback Party," which
actually took place in several States, and that, too, under
some of the most distinguished Democratic leaders. As
the " Greenback Party " had for its main object the relief
of financial stringency and business depression by using the
Government credit in the shape of " Greenbacks," whose
issue should be ample for the relief sought, it resembled in
its object and in not a few of its essentials those who favor
at present the free and unlimited coinage of silver dollars.
And further, as the coalition between the Democrats and
Greenbackers became so solid in the New England States,
the great West and in nearly all the South, as that the two
parties could with difficulty be distinguished, so now the
Free Silverite and the Democrat are identical in a large part
of the South and West.
One can hardly think that the gradual commitment of
the Democratic party to Free Coinage was deliberate, or in
accord with the better judgment of the party. While »t
very naturally opposed the legislation of 1873, which led to
the demonetization of silver, it did not oppose it on that

Hon. William M. Springer.
Born in Sullivan co., Indiana, May 30, 1836 ; moved to Illinois, 1848 ;
graduated at Indiana State University, 1858 ; admitted to bar, 1859;
Secretary of Illinois State Constitutional Convention, 1862 ; member of
State Legislature, 1871-72 ; elected to represent Thirteenth District in
Congress, in 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 49Lh, 50th and 51st Congresses ;
elected as a Democrat to 52d Congress by a majority of 5000 ; Chair
man of Committee on Ways and Means ; an excellent parliamentarian,
able orator and recognized party leader ; was prominent candidate for
Speaker of 52d Congress. .(46)

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 47
ground, but because that legislation looked to the resump
tion of specie payments. When the Bland Bill of 1878
came up and was passed, to be vetoed, which bill had for
its object the remonetization of silver by the compulsory
coinage of $2,000,000 a month, the then Democratic House
was able to muster to its aid sufficient Republican strength
to pass it over the President's veto. This legislation, there
fore, was not sufficiently Democratic in type to warrant the
impression that the party was doing more than yielding to
a demand from the silver-mining States, which might
ultimately land them in the Democratic columns. Doubt
less, the same thought largely actuated many of the Repub
licans who came to the support of the bill.
But be this as it niay, it was not long before the Demo
crats cohered about the principle of silver coinage as em
bodied in the Bland Act. In the Second Session of the
Forty-fifth Congress the Republicans made a determined
effort to repeal the Act authorizing the Coinage of Bland
dollars. In this they were defeated by an almost solid
Democratic vote. Thus party lines became hardened on
the silver question as it stood at that day.
At the Extra Session of the Forty-sixth Congress, called
March 18, 1879, in which the Democrats had a majority in
House and Senate, those of the House passed the Warner
Silver Bill, which provided for the unlimited coinage of
silver. Their majority in the Senate did not take to it
kindly, and rebuked the House majority by refusing to
consider it. In his message to the regular session of the
Forty-sixth Congress, President Hayes took decided ground
against further coinage of the Bland dollar. As the period
of resumption had now arrived the Republicans could not
but oppose any and all legislation which threatened its
consummation. The remonetization of silver by the further
3

48 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
coinage of a legal tender, whose intrinsic value was less than
its face value, would certainly, in their opinion, jeopardize
the experiment of resumption of- payments in gold, by ex
pansion of a currency which would itself require redemption.
It cannot be said that either party stood squarely to what
now seemed to be its conviction respecting silver coinage in
the national platforms of 1880. The Republicans general
ized by pledging the payment of all national obligations in
coin, and the Democrats did the same by favoring " honest
money." But President Hayes, in his last message, again
announced his views, and those of his party, in favor of the
coinage of a silver dollar equal in value to the gold dollar.
In so far as the silver question affected the campaign of
1880, the result was a rebuke of the Democratic position,
for the Republicans not only elected their President but a
majority of Congressmen.
In the Forty-seventh Congress, Tariff legislation was so
supreme as to exclude serious consideration of the silver
question, and very little was heard of it during the first
session of the Forty-eighth Congress, except as President
Arthur advised in his message the redemption and recoin-
age of the trade dollars. But at the second session of the
Forty-eighth Congress, which was largely Democratic, the
whole country was amazed by the introduction of a bill to
suspend the coinage of two million Bland dollars per month.
This bill was said to have been introduced at the instigation
of Mr. Cleveland, who had just been elected President, and as
an aid to his proposed administrative policy. It was defeated
by the Democrats themselves. The platforms of both
parties in 1884 passed gingerly over the silver question,
that of the Republicans simply demanding " an international
standard for gold and silver," and that of the Democrat* " *

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 49
circulating medium of gold and silver, or money convertible
into the same."
In his message to the Forty-ninth Congress, December 7,
1885, the House being Democratic, President Cleveland por
trayed in sharp, bold outline the dangers of further coinage
of the Bland silver dollar, and urged that such coinage be
stopped. He was fairly on the ground occupied by the Re
publicans prior to the resumption of specie payments. His
party paid little heed to his suggestion, but rather got into a
muddle which was not straightened out till the second ses
sion of the Congress, and then in a way which brought satis
faction to nobody. The free silver coinage law of the session
provided for the issue of one, two and five dollar certificates,
based on the coin stored in the vaults, and was only a post
ponement of the silver problem. There was but little discus
sion of the silver question in the Fiftieth Congress, and its
merits hardly affected the national campaign of 1888, the
tariff being the absorbing theme. But in the Fifty-first
Congress, both houses being Republican, the question came
prominently forward and was handled in a spirit which
showed a determination to settle it for a long time. A Bill
framed in a Committee of Conference, of which Senator
Sherman was Chairman, was passed, which authorized the
Secretary of the Treasury to purchase, from time to time,
silver bullion to the amount of 4,500,000 ounces per month,
or less, at the market price thereof, not exceeding one dol
lar for 371.25 grains of fine silver, and to issue in pay
ment for the same treasury notes of not less than one
nor over one thousand dollars in denomination.
This was the Silver Act of 1 890, and became known as
the Sherman Act. It was a compromise measure, and at tfce
time was acceptable to the silver-producing States. It did
away with the compulsory coinage of 2,000,000 dollars a

SO CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
month, but provided for the purchase of silver bullion to an
amount exceeding the output of the American mines, and
for the issue of treasury notes in payment of the same, and
as a legal tender, that is, redeemable in coin (gold being de-
mandable). But the bullion was to be purchased only at
its market price, and not exceeding one dollar for every
371. 25 grains, and was to stand as a security only at the
price paid for it. The Act provided a market for all the sil
ver likely to be produced in the United States, and more,
and increased the currency of the country to that extent, an
increase which has, under the operation of the Act, ex
ceeded the ratio of increase in population, being to August
I, 1891,^55,191,821.
This Act led to full and free debate, and party lines were
drawn upon it almost exactly, a few only on either side
deserting to the enemy. It was supported by both the Ne
vada Senators, Jones and Stewart, and so well satisfied were
they with its provisions that they said it not only gave them
what they wanted for their locality, but declared in their
reasoning upon it that free coinage was impracticable.
Now the Act of 1 890 ranks as a distinctive Republican
measure. It repealed a Democratic measure, and was there
fore offensive. It encouraged bi-metallism to the extent of
our own production of silver, but beyond that the mono
metallic, or gold, principle should prevail.
Throughout the country the Republicans stood by this
disposition of the perplexing question, and the Democrats
formed in opposition to it. There was no exception to this
rule, as we can recall, where the opportunity for formal ex
pression occurred. Taking the State of Ohio as fairly rep
resentative of sentiment, the Republicans, in the campaign
of 1 89 1, declared that: —
" Thoroughly believing that gold and silver should form

Hon. Horace Boies.
Born in Erie co., N. Y., December 7, 1827; started, a poor boy, at
sixteen, for Racine, Wis. ; worked on a farm for a time and returned to
New York; admitted to bar of Erie co., 1852; elected to Assembly,
as a Republican, 1853; nominated a second time and defeated; moved
to Waterloo, Iowa, 1867 ; practiced profession, and became large land
owner ; left the Republican party on account of its prohibition doctrines
in 1883; advocated Cleveland's election in 1884; favors tariff reform,
but not unqualified free coinage ; nominated for Governor, on Demo
cratic ticket, in fall of 1889, and elected ; a Congregationalist, strictly
temperate, and a patron of fine-stock raising.
(H)

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 53
the basis of all circulating mediums, we endorse the
amended Coinage Act of the last Republican Congress, by
which the entire production of the silver mines of the
United States is added to the currency of the people."
The Democrats of the same State set forth in their plat
form, that : —
"We denounce the demonetization of silver in 1873 by
the party in power as an iniquitous alteration of the money
standard in favor of creditors and against debtors, tax payers
and producers, and which, by shutting off the sources of
primary money, operates continually to increase the value
of gold, depress prices, hamper industry, and disparage en
terprise, and we demand the reinstatement of the constitu
tional standard of both gold and silver, with the equal right
of each to free and unlimited coinage."
Now coinage of silver under the Bland Act, or more ac
curately speaking under the Bland-Allison Act, was a coin
age in excess of a demand. In fact it was useless, for the
dollars wouldn't float. No way could be devised to circu
late them, as silver dollars. The device of silver certificates
based on them, made a currency equal to their value, but
what was the use of keeping the mints running, when the
uncoined bullion would answer the same purpose as a secu
rity ? One way was as good as another for Democrats and
Republicans, in so far as the object in view was to provide
a market for the silver produced by the silver States.
But was this all that was in view ? By no means. The
Republicans had reached the end of their string, and they
practically avowed that to go further would be to falsify their
record as to coinage, retrace all the steps that had led to
resumption and retract all their arguments against inflation.
The Democrats were freer of foot. They were in a position
to profit by antagonism, and to cultivate the sentiment

54 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF -1892.
which was born of discontent. This discontent permeated
a wide area, dedicated entirely to them, viz., the South.
It had shown itself in other areas, especially of the West,
in a form which might easily be cultivated, and possibly
captured. There was -an uprising, an outbreak, a volcanic
something, which was indescribable in its demands, except
as to its demand for free and unlimited coinage of silver.
In this, there may not have been a fitting in with the more
conservative and enlightened Democratic idea, but it opened
a Democratic opportunity too tempting to be resisted. All
will remember how the Greenback idea ran away with
Democratic judgment. This new idea scored a similar tri
umph. Left to itself, it might have passed as a curiosity of
American politics. Coquetted with, and encouraged, it
proved a siren, and the future must unfold the dark and in
tricate recesses into which it led its wooer.
It is needless here to describe in full the injection of this
new idea. Yet some description of it is just as to its origin
and demands, if not as a reason why Democracy finds an
excuse for coquetting with it. We will ignore its Pfeffers,
its Polks, its originators and leaders, as they find blazonry
and power in its midst, and take the reasons and the posi
tion from one who is authorized to speak in the forum of
the nation, but who occupies a round on the ladder between
the middle and top. We extract from the speech of Hon.
William H. Hatch of Missouri, in the House of Represent
atives, Feb. 25, 1891. He said:
" The farmers of the United States for the past twenty-
five years have tolerated and even encouraged a system of
national legislation so inimical and detrimental to their best
interests that the great wonder is that the ' movement ' had
not reached its present proportions years ago. The answer

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 55
is found in the traditional conservatism of this class, and
the strength of personal pride and party ties among all our
people. They have waited in vain for relief from the party
in power without resorting to the exercise of vigorous and
independent action. Long-continued and repeated legisla
tive discriminations, oppressive and increasing rates of tax
ation, with diminished prices for farm products and shrinkage
in values of the best lines of property held by them, at last
gave an impetus to the farmers' movement that is unparal
leled in its proportions and astounding in the velocity with
which it spread over the land, and the unanimity of its ac
ceptance by farmers of all sections of the Union and the
growers of all principal farm products.
" It is marvellous that the rice and cotton planters of the
extreme South, the tobacco growers of Tennessee and Ken
tucky, the wheat growers of our entire country, the stock
raisers of all sections of the Union, and the painstaking and
diversified farming interests of New England should have
been so well prepared to receive any practical suggestions
of relief that when the ' movement ' began in earnest, less
than two years ago, it should sweep over the country with
the velocity of a cyclone, and arouse the enthusiasm of a
civil revolution.
" The gradual and steady decline of farm products began
with the demonetization of silver ; I confidently believe that
its restoration to a perfect equality with gold as to coinage
bullion and certificates, based upon the ratio fixed by our
laws, will be greatly beneficial in restoring prices of farm
products to an average that will be remunerative, if not
profitable, to the producers. Free coinage of sjlver, with
an increase of our paper circulation commensurate with our
increased population and constantly augmenting commercial

56 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
demands, will bring at once activity in trade, hope and buoy
ancy in all lines of commerce, and certain relief as well as
an increased prosperity to our great productive industries.
"Mr. Chairman, who makes this demand for the free
coinage of silver ? The National Farmers' Alliance in their
convention at Ocala, December, 1890, the last convention
held by that organization, declared in favor of the free coin
age of silver in these emphatic words :
" ' We condemn the silver bill recently passed by Con
gress, and demand in lieu thereof the free and unlimited
coinage of silver.'
" The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, in
their last national meeting, held November 12, 1890, also
declared for free and unlimited coinage of silver.
" Every representative body of farmers in the United
States have within the past two or three years been equally
explicit and emphatic in their indorsement of this policy.
" Many representative bodies in the different States where
the Democrats are in a majority, have also expressed them
selves, in resolutions, strongly in favor of free coinage of
silver. " The last expression on the part of any representative
body of Democrats in the State of Missouri, upon this sub
ject, was a series of resolutions passed by the General
Assembly of the State of Missouri, in which they declared
' that in order that the volume of money may be increased
we favor the free and unlimited coinage of silver.'
" This was on the 19th day of January, 1891.
" Since the resolutions of the Missouri Legislature that I
have referred to were offered and printed in the Record, and
after the publication of Mr. Cleveland's letter on February
13, there was an effort made by resolution offered in the

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 57
House of Representatives of the General Assembly, to in
dorse that letter, which was very promptly voted down, and
Mr. Fogle, a prominent Democrat, residing in my district,
offered this resolution, which received the vote of every
Democrat in the House, as well as some Republicans, the
vote being 85 yeas to 8 nays.
" 'Resolved, That it is the sense of the House that we are
unqualifiedly in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of
silver, and that we thereby represent the sentiments of the
people of the great State of Missouri.'
" Gentlemen need not flatter themselves that this organ
ization, because it is young and almost unorganized, is
without power. It will close its ranks, leaders will develop
as it comes to the front, because they have determined that
sooner than yield one jot or tittle of the demands I have
mentioned, they will ' give their homes to the flames and
their flesh to the eagles.' "
So confident were the Democrats of their position that
their greatest leader on Silver matters introduced into the
Fifty-second Congress a bill looking to the free and unlim
ited coinage of silver. The object of this bill, introduced
and championed by Mr. Bland, was to make the coinage of
silver free like that of gold. There was to be no limitation
on the amount. The mints were to coin into standard dol
lars or form into bars all silver deposited, as the owner de
manded. The owner was to receive for his silver either
standard silver dollars or Treasury notes based on the same.
Such Treasury notes were to be a legal tender. This re-
monetized silver and established bi-metallism. It gave to
the holder of silver bullion one standard, legal-tender dollar
for every seventy cents worth of silver he held and brought
to the mint. It was a captivating measure for silver miners

58 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
and silver dealers. Nothing could have been more pleasing
to those who thought an enlarged, even if a cheaper, cur
rency a panacea for the ills, debt and hard times. The Act
was in keeping with a popular cry. It was believed to be
so purely Democratic as that no doubt could exist of its
passage in a House where two-thirds of the members were
Democrats. But after animated debate, a halt was called.
Democracy, after all, was not such a unit as had been sup
posed. Whatever the real sentiment respecting it may have
been, it was not deemed politic to commit the party to it by
passing it, at that particular juncture. Enough Democrats
swung to the Republican position respecting it to side-track
it, for the time being. But it had gone too far to lessen its
importance as a political issue. Its friends will not brook
the treatment they received. The Republicans will refuse
to be hoodwinked by the postponement of a measure for the
sake of expediency. Therefore the question of free coinage
cannot escape being an issue in the Campaign of 1892, and
perhaps more of an issue than if some decisive action
had been taken on it in the House, when such action was
fully expected.
Any other issue than the two thus reviewed will be in the
nature of a side issue. The Republicans will, of course,
urge the question of full and fair expression by ballot in all
the States. They are bound to do this, but it is not vital
to their cause, in the presence of overshadowing issues.
Judging from the sentiment evoked by the recent bill in Con
gress, which came to be known as the " Force Bill," it is
doubtful whether the time has arrived for legislative insis
tence on a method of voting in advance of that which pre
vails. A full, free and righteous ballot requires a con
science. Where customs and prejudices are rife, law is
inefficient. It is always right to educate a sentiment against

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 59
a wrong. In so far as the campaign offers opportunity for
this, it should be taken advantage of. But in the existing
state of public mind, a direct issue on the question of a free
ballot and full, honest count, would be a doubtful one for
those who assumed the affirmative. Even though moral
sentiment be agreed upon the outcrop of such an issue, the
factitious reasons for a different result are too numerous to
be withstood. Prejudice is yet profound among the lower
strata of voters. The race instinct is hard to eliminate. The
tradition of state-rights has survived the war to an alarming
extent. Upon these can be built an opposition which is
susceptible of withstanding any onslaught, as things exist.
Indeed, it is possible that Democracy will not hesitate to
drive home upon Republicanism the fact that it cham
pioned interference with State Rights as to the ballot, and
will seek to make more capital out of it than the Republi
cans can expect to make out of the converse. So equal must
such an issue be, as respects votes, and in the coming cam
paign, that it will not serve to divert either party from those
which promise more immediate and substantial results.
As to economy of public expenditure, the Democrats
have a case out of which they will make the most. In this,
they will throw the Republicans on the defensive. The
" Billion Dollar Congress " is an awe-inspiring phrase. It
will reach far and require a world of explanation. A " Nickel
Congress " or a " Five-Cent Congress " is not nearly so
catchy, and, to the " ear of the groundling," is hardly an
effective offset. But the changes will be rung on these
phuases for all they are worth. We shall hear more ofthe
curse and blessing of extravagance, more of the beauty
and hideousness of parsimony than ever before. There will
be no more interesting side issue. It is one that even the
commonest stump-orator can make something out of. It

6o CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
does not involve a high degree of logic, and the imagination
may readily become the reservoir of facts respecting it.
Opinions of Political Leaders on the Issue of the
Campaign.
Senator James McMillan, Mich. : •
" There are three questions which are now uppermost in
the public mind, and which must continue to enter into every
campaign, so long as opinions in regard to them differ widely.
These three are the tariff, the finances, and the franchise.
The United States has made a virtue of what was at first a
political necessity, and by means of a protective tariff has
been able to diversify its industries, and to keep the standard
of wages comparatively high.
" In the McKinley Law, so called, the theory of protec
tion has been carried to its logical conclusion. Articles
which can be manufactured or produced in this country in
sufficient quantities to supply our own needs are brought
under the shelter of a protective tariff, leaving competition
among our own people to regulate prices. Those articles
which from climatic or other reasons cannot be produced in
this country in sufficient quantities to regulate the price —
in value equal to a little more than half the imports — are
put upon the free list. The Republican party believes this
to be the true theory of the tariff. Still more important than
the additional symmetry which the McKinley Bill gives
to the protective tariff is the provision establishing re
ciprocity. " The question of finances will be a disturbing one. The
Republican party will stand by the present law regarding
silver. " In the public mind the day has gone by for a resort to
stringent laws which, however just in themselves, must de-

Hon. William J. Bryan.

Born in Salem, 111., March 19, 1860 ; graduated at Illinois College,
1881; attended Union Law College, Chicago, two years; admitted to
bar, and began practice in Jacksonville; moved to Lincoln, Neb.,
(October 1, 1887, and continued profession; elected to Fifty-second
Congress, as a Democrat, by a majority of 6713, in a district which two
years before gave over 3400 Republican majority ; an able constitutional
lawyer; rose to immediate prominence in the House by eloquent advocacy
of free silver coinage and the principles of tariff reduction and reform ;
favors election of U. S. Senators by the people, and revenue by means
of an income tax ; sympathizes with the masses who have been neglected
in legislation ; popular with his party and in his community.
(6i)

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 63
pend for their enforcement upon a power outside of, and
opposed to, the prevailing sentiment in the State in which
the colored vote is suppressed. Still, while the existing
condition of affairs at the South gives that section repre
sentation in Congress and in the Electoral Colleges out of
all proportion to its voting strength, the franchise will not
cease to be a national issue."
The Hon. Benton McMillin, Tenn. :
" The records of the two parties have, in a great measure,
made the issues for 1892. The principles ofthe Democratic
party are as old as the Government. They are the defence
of the citizen in his personal liberty ; the upholding of the
Constitution, and the support of the General Government
and the State governments in all their integrity. During
the present administration the Republican party has had full
control of every branch of the Government. Hence, this
party's unrestrained action may be taken as the most recent
and most accurate exposition of its principles. They have
further made that action their platform by indorsing it in
their various State conventions and making their contests
upon it. The following will be the issues separating the
two parties :
" I. Shall there be reckless prodigality, or wise economy
in public expenses ?
" II. Shall the peopleremain free, or be enslaved through
. ' Force Bills,' by turning the elections of the legislative
branch of the Government over to the judicial ?
" III. Shall the people be robbed, and commerce be de
stroyed by excessive rates of duty ?
" The battle is on, and Democracy will stand, as ever, in
fwor of the rights of the masses as against the exactions of
the classes. Our cause is just, and will triumph."

64 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
Senator Frank Hiscock, New York :
"The legislation of the Fifty-first Congress fixing the
present custom duties will afford the leading issue. The
Republican Convention will approve that legislation, and the
Democratic Convention will denounce it; but, in my judg
ment, the actual contention upon this great economic ques
tion will be made by the House of Representatives of the
Fifty-second Congress. The Democrats are largely in the
majority there. The constituencies of the Democratic mem
bers will expect, the Republican party will have a right to
demand, and the country will exact of them an expression
in the form of a Bill, of the changes which they propose in
our present tariff laws. The law-making power must, there
fore, make the issues of the next national election upon this
subject. " Doubtless a majority of the House of Representatives
of the present Congress would vote to open our mints for
the free coinage of the silver of the world. Still I doubt if
that question will be emphasized in the next Presidential
canvass. New York's electoral vote will doubtless be re
quired for the election of a Democratic President, and the
Democrats in the House will hardly wish to handicap their
party in New York by passing a free-coinage Bill.
"The Republican party will stand stoutly by the policy
and acts of the present administration to promote reciprocal
trade with foreign countries under the Aldrich Amendment
ofthe Customs Law of 1 890."
The Hon. R. P. Bland, Mo. :
" Undoubtedly the question of tariff reform will be the
most absorbing issue in the coming Presidential election.
But it will not be the only question. The Republican ' Force-
Bill ' has put in jeopardy home rule and local self-govern
ment, The money question, in the shape of the free coinage

CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892. 65
of silver, will not down at the bidding of either party. The
people will make it an issue.
" The opponents of free coinage profess to deprecate the
agitation of the question ; yet they craftily demand of both
parties a nominee practically pledged in advance to veto any
free-coinage Bill that may be passed. If the majority of the
American people want free coinage of silver, they ought to
have it."
Senator Eugene Hale, Me. :
" The Republican party began furnishing the issues for
Presidential elections in 1856, and will furnish them for
1892. " The doctrine of protection will have a front place in the
contest. In 1892 it will be enlarged and popularized by its
new ally, reciprocity.
" A sound, stable currency, maintaining gold and silver at
par, and utilizing both metals, will be another issue.
" The restriction of criminal and pauper immigration is
another issue.
"The encouragement of American steamship lines by judi
cious subsidies, and the rebuilding of the navy, will con
stitute another issue.
" If we cannot prevail with these issues, the party may as
well go out of business."
The Hon. W. C. P. Breckinridge :
"Assuming that the Democratic party has not already
thrown away the Presidency, upon what issue can it win,
and has it the wisdom to select, and skill to compel the
battle to be made upon it ?
" In the approaching canvass the main issue between the
parties will be the question of taxation, and the success of
the Democratic party may depend upon the earnestness and
aggressiveness it shows in the present House on that ques
tion. We cannot win upon the do-nothing policy, for if the

66 CAMPAIGN ISSUES OF 1892.
country gets the idea that our party in Congress is on dress
parade, that its fight on the tariff is simply a sham battle
that marks the evolution of an army in time of peace, and
that we are firing blank cartridges, the Presidency is lost
before the canvass begins. And if the Republicans are
skillful enough to take advantage of our division on the
money question to force that issue to the front, we may find
it impossible to regain the confidence so lost.
"The campaign promises to be one of great earnestness,
based mainly on the substitution for the McKinley Bill of a
Bill embodying the principles laid down in the celebrated
message of Mr. Cleveland, and in the teachings of those who
are peculiarly known as tariff reformers."
Governor William R. Merriam, Minn. :
" The Republican party must stand by the two important
questions now under consideration, and already assumed as
party principles. I refer to the question of free coinage and
of the policy of protection.. I name them in this order, as I
look upon the financial question as the more important issue
at stake.
" The Republican party has been uniformly in favor of
honest money ; and has determined to oppose free coinage
of silver, unless the nations of the earth agree upon some
basis whereon the two metals can flow side by side. It can
not afford to change its position on this important question.
Let it be understood that its policy will be persistently and
continuously opposed to. the coinage of silver whenever this
metal is not at a parity with gold.
"The Governor of New York in his recent speech at
Elmira practically means that he proposes to stand upon the
platform of free coinage. The Democratic leaders, as a
whole, favor placing a free-silver plank in their next platform,
and the campaign will no doubt be largely fought out on
that line."

Hon. Matthew 0. Butler.
Born near Greenville, S. C, March 8, 1836 ; educated at South Caro
lina College ; admitted to Edgefield bar, 1857 ; elected to South Caro
lina Legislature, 1860 ; served as Major-General in Confederate army
and lost right leg in battle ; elected to South Carolina Legislature, 1866 ;
candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, 1870 ; elected United States Senator,
1876 ; re-elected, 1882 and 1889 ; chairman of Committee on Five
Civilized Tribes of Indians and member of Committees on Foreign Re
lations, Naval Affairs, Congressional Library and University of United
States. (67)

THE DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
Free-trade exists only in theory. There is no actual
free-trade in all the world.
Those who ground their arguments on the abstract doc
trine of free-trade are free-traders.
Those who admit the necessity or propriety of a tariff for
revenue only are free-traders. All the political economists
of the free-trade school — Adam Smith, Mill, Ricardo, Say,
List, Laveleye, Wells, Wayland — say that a government has
a right to levy a tax for its support, and that the tariff is the
least onerous and easiest collected tax.
A tariff for revenue with incidental protection begins to
draw the line between the free-trader and the protectionist.
A " Tariff Reformer " is either an outright free-trader, or
a believer in a revenue tariff with incidental protection. He
'may be none the less a protectionist.
Politics confuse these terms. American politics are espe
cially loose respecting them. We change both theories and
terms with the rapidity of a new and enterprising country.
In England "free-trade " and " free-trader " carry no re
proach. The meaning of the terms is understood, as well
as the doctrine.
In political economy there is no doubt about terms. The
free-trader and protectionist are what they profess to be.
The early economic writers were mostly free-traders.
Protection, which all nations practiced, did not seem to ad
mit of theories or encourage a literature.
It is well to understand that the astounding revelations in
connection with the development of the United States have
4 (69)

70 DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
shaken all the old theories respecting free-trade and prptec
tion, and made a new political economy possible, if not
necessary. A primary law of political economy is that an increase
of the productiveness of the country implies an increase of
its capital. No law can create capital.
A second law is that productiveness depends on the num?
ber of laborers. Legislation cannot create men.
A third law is that productiveness depends on the stim
ulus to labor. Protection changes only the mode of labor.
If it attracts manufacturers, it repels agriculturalists, and,
vice versa. What it pays as a stimulus to one industry it
subtracts from another. Hence there is no gain to labor
as a whole.
Protection increases the price of an article. As price in
creases, demand diminishes. The less an article is wanted,
the less it will be produced. The demand for labor dimin
ishes. The price of labor diminishes. The stimulus to
labor is decreased.
The watchword of free-traders, or freedom of exchange,
is Laissez faire ; laissez passer : " leave it alone." This is
nature. Allow every one to buy and sell where he can do
so most advantageously, whether in or out of his own
country. Revenue from customs on foreign goods may be per
mitted by the doctrine oi laissez faire, but it is a tax, and a
bad one.
To establish duties under the pretext of protecting
national industries is an iniquitous measure fatal to the gen
eral interests.
By forcing a consumer to buy at a higher price than he
would have otherwise, or elsewhere, to pay, is to perpetrate
the injustice of taxing one class for the benefit of another,

DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE. 71
Political economy draws no distinction between classes.
So, if it be said that protection by means of tariff duties has
for its purpose the favor of labor, it favors a class, none the
less. True industrial economy aims not to increase but dimin
ish labor. If, with what I can earn in one day, I can buy a
yard of cloth from a foreigner, why force me to spend two
days' labor for the same ?
An injury is done to humanity by a system which forces
men into manufactories. The custom house snatches men,
women and children from open air tasks, and chains them
iri gloomy workshops for twelve to fourteen hours out of
twenty-four. Free-trade applies to whole peoples the principle of the
division of labor, assures them all that such principle can
bestow, and thereby enhances their welfare.
When each, is employed at what he can do best, the indi
vidual shares are greatest.
When each is compelled by legislation to do what he must,
and what he may not have aptitude for, the aggregate of
labor will not be so great, and the individual will be worse
off. So when each country or nation fails to devote its ener
gies to what nature most favors, it will not bring to market
the maximum obtained by the minimum of toil, but the re
sults of a diminished productivity.
No man can be so self-sufficient as to confine himself to
the manufacture of his food, clothing, furniture, books, etc.
The nation is no better off than the man.
Protection obliges me to- grow wheat, without reference
to soil. But in nature my soil may be sandy, and I could
better afford to raise something else in exchange for wheat,
which grows better on my neighbor's clay soil.

72 DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
Commerce is always an exchange of produce against pro
duce. So much exported, so much imported. Therefore
the foreigner cannot inundate us with goods. The differ
ent countries cannot sell more than they buy.
Industrial progress begets competition. Don't limit it at
the confines of a state or nation. The widest competition
is the most universal profit. Monopoly means sloth ; pro
tection, routine. The manufacturer who is forced to keep
hold of the home market will conquer the world.
A railroad uniting two countries facilitates exchanges ;
customs dues impede them.
Free-trade has for its object the diminution of labor.
Machinery has the same object. Protection, therefore,
should demand the abolition of machinery, in order to be
consistent. Capital turns spontaneously to the most lucrative employ
ment. Protection turns it to the less lucrative, and seeks to
make up the difference by a tax on consumers.
The argument that a country should be independent of
foreigners in time of war is of no avail in this era of easy
and ready transportation. Neutral ships may transport the
goods of belligerents. The blockade of a nation is impos
sible. The doctrine of free-trade, like that of protection, is
oftentimes best sustained by attacking and exploding the
theories of the adversary.
Modern politics, especially the politics of a free country
like that of the United States, are prolific of arguments and
phrases which greatly affect the stereotyped theories of free-
trade and protection.
Hence, having passed from the ascertained laws of free-
trade, as found in the books, and as built on the experience
of foreign countries, on monarchical conditions, and on a

Hon. Wilkinson Call.
Born in Logan CO., Ky., January 9, 1834; adopted the legal profes
sion, and elected to the United States Senate after the war ; seat con
tested, and election declared invalid; re-elected, as Democrat, in 1879,
1885. and 1891 ; election in 1891 declared invalid by Governor of State,
who appointed Hon. R. H. M. Davidson ; eontest carried into Senate,
where it is now being prosecuted ; case interesting as involving election
methods and many points beyond established precedents,
(74)

DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE. 75
geography, climatology and sociology different from our
own, there is opportunity for new laws founded on different
natural and commercial conditions. This also gives free
play to the doctrines respecting protection.
Bearing this in mind, we are prepared for opinions and
assertions which have weight in free discussion, but which
are somewhat removed from the seriousness and weight of
fortified laws.
These are none the less worthy of consideration, for even
if there is no economic law back of them, they may fore
shadow truths which experience will ripen into economic
axiom. As other nations, less expansive than ours, less
liberally endowed by nature, and altogether less advanced
in industrial and commercial knowledge and opportunity,
have formulated economic laws, which are quoted with
fayor and accepted as final, so this nation may well assume
to ascertain what is best for itself, and to givt its conclu
sions the form of economic axiom.
In this point of view the American political economist
becomes an impressive and invaluable economist, and the
passionate wisdom ofthe partisan something which is crude
quartz to the view, yet with crystals of gold inside.
As instances, the protectionist is challenged for reply by
the declaration that the system of protection is sustained
by the co-operation of its beneficiaries, and that they are
held together by the " cohesive power of public plunder."
Similarly, by the declaration that the tariff is a tax upon
the consumer, and that, especially, when imposed on raw
materials. Ten cents a pound upon wool means that the
consumer will have to pay that much more for the cloth
made of that pound.
So, when a tariff is declared to be vicious in principle

76 DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
that seeks to perpetuate high rates. Hamilton is quoted,
in 1791 :
" The continuance of bounties on manufactures long es
tablished must always be of questionable policy; because a
presumption would arise in every such case that there were
natural and inherent impediments to success."
Clay is quoted, in 1833 :
" The theory of protection supposes, too, that after a cer
tain time the protected arts will have acquired such strength
and perfection as will enable them, subsequently, unaided
to stand against foreign competition."
The theory that a tariff protects labor by furnishing it
employment is the old theory of " the maximum of toil
and the minimum of profit," whereas the true economic
theory is " the minimum of toil and the maximum of profit."
A tariff favors a class and tends to monopolies and the
formation of trusts, with power to regulate prices and bur
den consumers.
A protective tariff and protective policy is not such a
public policy as needs to be supported by the people at
large. The principle and fact are denied that protection of
¦'in article by levying a duty on it tends to cheapen the price
of the article, after its manufacture has been established.
To defend protection is to justify the taking of one man's
money and putting it in another's pocket.
The tariff that looks to the protection of labor really in
jures labor when it leads to the production of articles in
this country cheaper than abroad.
Gladstone defends free-trade on moral grounds — the com
mercial doing as you weuld wish to be done by.
Patrick Henry said :
" Commerce should be as free as the winds of heaven ; a
restricted commerce is like a man in chains, crippled in all

DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE. 77"
his movements and bowed to the earth ; but let him twist
the fetters from his legs and he stands erect."
Protection has invoked many wars and rebellions. The
head-spring of the American Revolution was the Naviga
tion Act, an English system of protection which sacrificed
to English monopoly the natural rights of her colonies.
In keeping with the Navigation Act were other English
laws suppressing important manufactures as well as internal
trade in the colonies. In the land of the beaver no man
could be a hatter unless he had served seven years as an
apprentice at the trade. No American hat could be sent
out of one province into another. Steel furnaces, plating
forges and slitting mills were prohibited as nuisances. Lord
Chatham said that in a certain contingency he would pro
hibit the manufacture in the American Colonies of even so
much as a horseshoe or a hobnail. Lord Sheffield declared
that the only use England had for the American Colonies
was " the monopoly of their consumption and the carriage
of their produce." These violations of natural law worked
their own overthrow, and the mother country lost the
brightest jewel in her crown. This event led England to
re-examine her commercial system and to adopt the policy
of free-trade.
Adam Smith completed his great work, " Nature and
Causes of the Wealth of Nations," the very year America
declared her independence, 1776.
In 1 8 17, when Parliament repealed the duty on salt, the
agents of the salt monopolies plead for a prohibitory duty
on it. " Thus fell," says Thomas H. Benton, " an odious,
impious and criminal tax."
" The leaven of free-trade principles continued to work
in England under the wise and skilful supervision of Rich-

78 doctrine of free-Trade.
ard Cobden, and reached its culminating triumph in the re
peal of the Corn Laws in 1846." — Richard Hawley.
In 1842 England exported goods to the amount of #570,-
OOO.OOO, and in 1865 to the amount of $1,815,000,000. In
the same time her imports rose from $326,000,000 to $909,-
000,000. In 1842 the number of articles subject to duty
was 1,150; in 1870 only 43 articles were subject to duty,
and the duty was not protective. Yet her revenue from
customs was about the same in 1 870 as in 1 842. She now
levies duty only on about a dozen articles, such as tea, coffee,
tobacco, spirits, wines, etc.
Hon. David A. Wells makes an argument for free-trade,
or free exchange, thus : — " Population in the United States
increased from i860 to 1870, 22.2 per cent. The products
of our manufactures increased in the same period 52 per
cent. This tendency of manufacturing products to increase
faster than population gluts our home markets and shows
the necessity for larger and freer commerce."
" There is no nation," says he, " or country, ©r commu'
nity, nor probably any one man, that is not, by reason of
differences in soil, climate, physical or mental capacities, at
advantage or disadvantage as respects some other nation,
country, community or men in producing or doing some
thing useful. It is only a brute, furthermore, as economists
have long recognized, that can find a full satisfaction for its
desires in its immediate surroundings; while poor indeed
must be the man of civilization that does not lay every
quarter of the globe under contribution every morning for
his breakfast. Hence — springing out of this diversity in the
powers of production, and of wants in respect to locations
and individuals — the origin of trade. Hence its necessity
and advantage ; and the man who has not sufficient educa
tion to read the letters of any printed book perceives by

Hon. Joseph M. Carey.
j Born in Milton, Delaware, January 19, 1845; educated at Fort
¦ Edward Collegiate Institute and Union College ; graduated Law De
partment Pennsylvania University and admitted to bar in Philadelphia;
appointed District Attorney for Wyoming, 1869 ; Associate Justice of
Wyoming Supreme Court, 1871-76 ; Mayor of Cheyenne three times,
1881-85 ; elected, as a Republican, to 49th, 50th and 51st Congresses ;
elected U. S. Senator, for Wyoming, November 15, 1890; pioneer of
cattle industry in State; active in securing admission of State; an able
lawyer, eloquent orator and trusted statesman; Chairman of Senate
Committee on Education ; member of Committees on Public Lands,
Territories, Buildings and Grounds, Patents and Pacific R. R.
(8o)

Hon. Leyman K. Casey.
Born in Livingston co., N. Y., 1837 ; moved with parents to Ypsilanti,
Mich., and prepared for college; engaged for many years in hardware
business ; travelled in Europe, and in 1882 settled in North Dakota ;
took charge of affairs of Carrington & Casey Land Company ; acted as
Commissioner to organize Foster Co.; declined the honors of public
office till after admission of North Dakota as a State; elected, as a Re
publican, to United States Senate, November 21, 1889; Chairman of
Committee on Railroads and member of Committees on Agriculture
and Forestry, Irrigation, Transportation, etc.
(8i)

DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE. 83
instinct, more clearly, as a general rule, than Ihe man of
civilization, that if he can trade freely, he can better his con
dition and increase the sum of his happiness ; for the first
thing the savage, when brought in contact with civilized
man, wants to do, is to exchange ; and the first effort of
every new settlement in any new country, after providing
temporary food and shelter, is to open a road or other means
of communication to some other settlement, in order that
they may trade or exchange the commodities which they
can produce to advantage, for the products which some
others can produce to greater advantage. And, obeying
this same natural instinct, the heart of every man, that has
not been filled with prejudice of race or country, or per
verted by talk about the necessity of tariffs and custom
houses, experiences a pleasurable emotion when it learns
that a new road has been opened, a new railroad constructed,
or that the time of crossing the seas has been greatly short
ened ; and if to-day it could be announced that the problem
of aerial navigation had been solved, and that hereafter
everybody could go everywhere, with all their goods and
chattels, for one-tenth of the cost and in one-tenth of the
time that is now required, one universal shout of jubilation
would arise spontaneously from the whole civilized world.
And why? Simply because everybody would feel that
there would be forthwith a multitude of new wants, an equal
multitude of new satisfactions, an increase of business in
putting wants and satisfactions into the relations of equa
tions in which one side would balance the other, and an in
crease of comfort and happiness everywhere."
"All trade," he says, " is at the bottom a matter of barter;
product being given for product and service for service;
that in order to sell we must buy, and in order to buy we must
sell ; and that he who won't buy can't sell, and he who won't

84 DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
sell can't buy. . . . The United States, for now a long series
of years, has, in its fiscal policy, denied or ignored the truth
of the above economic, axiomatic principles. It has not,
indeed, in so many distinct words said to the American pro
ducers and laborers, You shall not sell your products and
your labor to the people of other countries ; but it has em
phatically said to the producers and laborers of other coun
tries, We do not think it desirable that you should sell your
products or your labor in this country ; and, as far as we can
interpose legal obstructions, we don't intend that you shall !
But in shutting others out, we have at the same time, and
necessarily, shut ourselves in. And herein is trouble No. i.
The house is too small, measured by the power of producing,
for those that live in it. And remedy No. i is to be found
in withdrawing the bolts, taking off the locks, opening the
doors, and getting out and clear of all restrictions on pro
ducing and the disposal of products."
Mr. Wells illustrates his theory by the failure of the
United States to compete with England for the trade of
Chili, Argentine and other countries. For though we could
place our cotton manufactures in those countries as cheaply
as England could, we refused to take their products freely
in turn, or except by first imposing a duty on them. The
position assumed by Mr. Wells that " all trade is at the bot
tom a matter of barter," ignores, in part, the function of
money in the making of exchanges. He was answered
thus by a " Protection " writer :
" The function of money, or its representatives, is that of
enabling indirect exchanges to be made. The shoemaker
buys his cabbages from one man and sells his shoes to an
other. Trade, in place of being a right line between two
points, becomes, so to speak, triangular and polygonal.
" This applies pre-eminently to nations, which are aggre

doctrine OF Free-trade. $5
gations of individuals, each of whom acts according to his
individual interest, in place of being, as Mr. Wells assumes,
units actuated by a common purpose, and asking, before
they buy a yard of calico, whether a half-pound of copper
regulus will be taken in barter. If a Chilian merchant can
buy a salable bale of Fall River cloths cheaper than a simi
lar bale from Manchester, he will not reject it because the
Fall River mill cannot buy Chilian copper. He knows that
the copper will be sold to Swansea, and that the resulting
bill of exchange on London will settle his debt at Fall
River as readily as at Manchester. He knows, moreover,
that if he patriotically refuses to buy the Fall River goods,
his competitor across the street will do so and will under
sell him. All this is the A B C of trade, and no pathetic
groaning over the 55,000,000 yards of cotton supplied by
England, in comparison with the 5,000,000 yards supplied
by the United States in 1874, will get rid of it."
Again, Mr. Wells' attention was called to the fact that
the removal of restrictions on trade, which restrictions are
occasioned by the imposition of duties, did not in fact tend
to make countries buy of the United States, even though
the United States was their best customer. Thus, in 1876,
as an instance, the United States bought of Brazil coffee
and India rubber, on which no duties were levied, to the
amount of $44,000,000, and sent in turn only $7,500,000 of
her own products. This state of affairs Mr. Wells ascribes
to the absence of shipping facilities on the part of the
United States, which absence he accounts for by reason of
the same mistaken fiscal and commercial policy he had
been speaking against.
Free-traders deny that protection tends to keep up the
price of labor. Germany and France demand high duties
in order toprotect their ill-paid laborers from competition

86 DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
with the better paid labor of England. Therefore, low
wages do not enable a country to compete with another
country. As to this country, such are the advantages of
combined capital and labor that the workmen are capable
ef a larger output than in other countries, and this enables
the employer to afford them better wages. The general
high rate of wages with us is due to the productiveness of
labor, or, in other words, to the energy and efficiency of
our laborers, the extended use of machinery and our great
natural resources.
Prof. Taussig lays down the doctrine that it is wrong to
limit duties to articles which can be produced in this coun
try. Many of such articles, such as wool, iron and silks,
are in the nature of raw material and enter into the manu
facture of other articles. Tea, coffee and sugar are entered
free. of duty. A duty on these would have no such effect
as a duty on iron, namely, that of turning the industry of
the country into unproductive channels. If revenue must
be raised by duties on imports, those duties should fall on
articles not produced in this country, just as the internal
taxes fall on tobacco and spirits.
During the thirty years that the English corn laws were
in existence the prosperity of the farmer continually de
clined. Farm labor suffered in proportion. Artisans and
laborers in manufactories were reduced to penury. The
peace of the country, and even the existence of the govern
ment, were threatened.
Sir Robert Peel, who had changed from Protection to
Free-trade and had championed the repeal of the Corn
Laws, said on retiring from power : " I shall surrender
power severely censured by those who, from no interested
motives, adhere to Protection, considering it essential to
the welfare and interests of the country. I shall leave a

Hon. William E. Chandler.
Born at Concord, New Hampshire, December 28, 1835 ; graduated at
Harvard Law School and admitted to bar, 1855 ; repsrter of Supreme
Court, 1859 ; member of New Hampshire Legislature, 1862-63-64 ;
Speaker of House, 1863-64; Solicitor and Judge Advocate-General
of Navy Department, 1865 ; First Assistant Secretary of Treasury, June
17, 1865-November 30, 1867 ; member of the New Hampshire Con
stitutional Convention, 1876; elected to New Hampshire Legislature,
1881 ; appointed Solicitor-General by President Garfield, 1881, and re
jected by Senate; appointed Secretary of Navy by President Arthur,
April 12, 1882, and served till March 7, 1885 ; elected as Republican
to United States Senate, June 14, 1887; re-elected June 18, 1889;
Chairman of Committee on Immigration and member of Committees on
Inter-State Commerce, Naval Affairs, Privileges and Elections.
(87)

DOCTRINE OP FREE-TRADE. 89
name execrated by every monopolist who, from less honor
able motives, clamors for Protection, because it conduces to
his own individual benefit. But, it may be, that I shall
leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of
good will in the abodes of those whose lot is to labor,
and to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows, when
they shall recruit their strength with abundant and untaxed
food, the sweeter because it is no longer leavened with a
sense of injustice."
The entire doctrine of Free-trade was confirmed by reso
lution in the British House of Commons in 1852, and the
Protectionists gave up the battle.
In the United States, from 1824 to 1833, the demands of
Protectionists threatened the peace of the nation, just as
their demands did in England.
At the time of the adoption of the compromise tariff of
1833, President Jackson said in his message of that year:
" Those who take an enlarged view of the condition of our
country must be satisfied that the policy of Protection must
be ultimately limited to those articles of domestic manu
facture which are indispensable to our safety in time of war.
Within this scope, on a reasonable scale, it is recommended
by every consideration of patriotism and duty, which will
always, doubtless, secure for it a liberal support ; but be
yond this object we have already seen the operation of the
system productive of discontent. In some sections of the
Union its influence is deprecated as tending to concentrate
wealth in few hands and as creating those germs of de
pendence and vice which in other countries have character
ized the existence of monopolies and proved so destructive
of liberty and the public good. A large proportion of the
public in one section of the Union declares it not only in
expedient on these grounds, but as disturbing the. equal

oo DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
relations of capital by legislation and therefore unconstitu
tional and unjust."
Said Senator Rowan, of Kentucky, in 1 828 : " It is in
vain that Protection is called the 'American System.'
Names do not alter things. There is but one American
system, and that is delineated in the State and Federal Con
stitutions. It is the system of equal rights secured by the
Constitution — a system which instead of subjecting the
labor of some to taxation with a view to enrich others, se
cures to all the proceeds of their labor, exempt from taxa
tion except for the support of the protecting powers of the
government." As chairman of the " Committee on Manufactures " in
1832, John Quincy Adams said : — " The doctrine that duties
of import seem to cheapen the price of the article on which
they are levied, seems to conflict with the first dictates of
common sense. The duty constitutes a part of the price of
the whole mass of the article in the market. It is substan
tially paid upon the article of domestic manufacture, as well
as upon that of foreign production. Upon one it is a bounty,
upon the other a burden, and the repeal of the tax must
operate as an equivalent reduction of the price of the article
whether foreign or domestic  We say so long as the
importation continues, the duty must be paid by the pur
chaser of the article."
In 1 846 George M. Dallas said : — " This exercise of the
taxing (tariff) power was originally intended to be tem
porary. The design was to foster feeble infant manufactures,
especially such as were essential for the defence of the coun
try in time of war. In this design the people have per
severed until these saplings have taken root, become vigorous,
expanded and powerful, and are prepared to enter with con
fidence the field of fair, free and universal competition."

DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE. 91
Protection is responsible for the evils resulting from a
violation of law known as smuggling. This practice, or
crime, is as baneful and disastrous to the honest tradesmen
as the competition of free-trade is healthful and beneficial.
Taking the two decades, 1840 to 1850, and 1850 to i860,
and regarding the first as a period which was most affected
by the high tariff of 1842, and the last as most affected by
the free-trade tariff of 1846, the contrast is in favor of the,
last decade. During the non-protective period cotton manu
factures increased 130 per cent., woollen manufactures in
creased 62 per cent, and mostly between 1857 and i860,
when the cheaper grades of wool were admitted free. The
year i860 saw the manufacture of 913,000 tons of pig-iron
at good prices, or 100,000 tons more than any previous
year. In i860 the aggregate of our exports showed an in
crease of 200 per cent, in ten years. The decade between
1850 and i860 showed an increase of agricultural produc
tions of 100 per cent, over the previous decade. In i860
our total exports were $400,000,000, or $43,500,000 more
than any previous year ; and our imports were $362,000,000,
a much larger amount than any previous year. We con
sumed far more sugar, tea and coffee, per capita, during the
free-trade tariff decade than the previous one, and also more
than between the years of i860 and 1868, years of protec
tion. Farms increased in value 103 per cent, between 1850
and i860. Farm products increased from 75 to 100 per
cent. The products of all our manufactures was $553,000,000
in 1850; in i860, it was $1,009,000,000. From 1840 to
1850 the real and personal property in the United States in
creased 80 per cent; between 1850 and i860 it increased
126 per cent. At no time prior to 18 50- 1860 had the cap
ital ofthe nation increased so fast, and nothing demonstrates
50 forcibly the success of free-trade principles in the United

92 DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE.
States. In 1850 there were 872 banks; in i860, 1562;
while banking capital increased from $227,500,000 to
$422,000,000. Vast sums were expended in railroad build
ing during the decade — 21,613 miles being built, as against
904 miles between 1842 and 1846.
Protective duties on wool depress the price of domestic
wool and injure wool-growers. The reason is that when the
supply of wool-growing countries is shut out of our market,
it floods Europe at so low a figure as to enable European
manufacturers to make the finer class of goods and sell them
to us, duty paid, at a lower figure than we can afford to
make them. The price of American wool has not risen
with higher tariffs.
By the time Protection pays the penalty of over-produc
tion, it makes it too costly as an experiment. James
Buchanan said in 1846: — "Our Domestic Manufactures
have been saved by the election of James K. Polk from be
ing overwhelmed by the immense capital which would
have rushed into them for investment, and from an expan
sion of the currency which would have nullified any protec
tion short of prohibition."
So Hon. James Lloyd, of Massachusetts, said in the
Senate in 1 820 : — " I am interested in manufactures. I own
stock in one of the cotton-mills running in my State. It
regularly pays good dividends and is likely to do so con
tinually if the tariff is let alone. But if you pass the bill,
hundreds of such factories will be erected, till the market is
glutted with their fabrics, when prices must fall and our
concern very possibly be broken down."
Of the year 1860, the end of the free-trade era, General
J .^rnes A. Garfield said : — " I suppose it will be admitted' on
all hands that i860 was a year of unusual business prosperity
in the United States. It was at a time when the bounties of

--...-. | 0 mm.

Hon. William Botjbke Cochran.
Born in Ireland, February 28, 1854 ; educated there and in France ;
migrated to America at the age of seventeen ; taught in private academy ;
Principal of Public School in N2w York ; admitted to bar, 1876 ; elected,
as a Democrat, to 50th Congress ; a member of Commission to revise
Judiciary Article of New York Constitution; elected, as a Democrat, to
52d Congress, for Tenth New York District, and by a majority of over
6000 votes; member of Committee of Ways and Means; a distinguished
party leader and organizer. (94)

DOCTRINE OF FREE-TRADE. 95
Providence were scattered with a liberal hand over the face
of the Republic ; it was at a time when all classes of our
community were well and profitably employed ; it was a
time of peace, the apprehension of our great war had not
yet seized the minds of our people ; great crops, north and
south — great general .prosperity — marked the era."
Hon. Caleb B. Smith, President Lincoln's Secretary of the
Interior, says in his report : — " Without any special stimulus
to growth — depressed indeed, during the years 1857 and
1858, in common with other public interests by the general
embarrassments of those years, and with a powerful com
petition in the amazing growth of manufactures in Great
Britain and nearly every other nation in Europe — the manu
factories of the United States had nevertheless augmented,
diversified and perfected in nearly every branch and uni
formly throughout the Union. Domestic materials, whether
animal, vegetable or mineral, found ready sales at remunera
tive prices and were increased in amount with the demand,
while commerce and internal trade were invigorated by the
distribution of both raw and manufactured products. Inven
tion was stimulated and rewarded. Labor and capital found
ample and profitable employment, and new and unexpected
fields were opened to each. Agriculture furnished food and
materials at moderate cost, and the skill of ourartisans cheap
ened and multiplied all artificial instruments of comfort and
happiness for the people. Even the more purely agricul
tural States of the South were rapidly creating manufactories
for the improvement of their great staples and their abundant
natural resources. The nation seemed speedily approach
ing a period of complete independence in respect to the
products of skilled labor, and national security and happi
ness seemed about to be insured by the harmonious develop
ment of all the great interests ofthe people."

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
The doctrine of protection starts without a doubt as to
nomenclature. As a principle, it admits of no exception
in the first chapters of the history of every commercial
nation. The commercial nation never existed that did not, at
first, protect itself. So astute, refined and far-reaching has
commerce become, that no nation which refuses to protect
itself can ever hope to test its fitness for commercial suprem
acy, or independence, much less obtain it.
The same is true of industrial and manufacturing inde
pendence, both of which imply commercial independence,
the moment transit is acknowledged as a subject of pro
tection. Nature supplemented by art made American transit supreme,
or nearly so, when ships were of wood. Art combined with
nature made English ships supreme, when ships came to be
of iron. But nature is still on our side as to iron. Add the
art of England to American nature, and transit will have its
old supremacy. Art is protection and protection art.
A protective tariff provides revenue for the government
in a better way than any other kind of a tariff England
levies duties for revenue only. They fall on two classes of
articles ; first, luxuries ; second, on articles that cannot be
raised or produced profitably at home and cannot come into
competition with home productions. It so happens that
the latter class of articles embraces tea, coffee and many
things which rank as necessities among the common people,
Protection omits duties, when not required for simple

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. 95
revenue, from tea, sugar, coffee, and articles which rank aa
necessities, and which cannot be produced profitably at
home or cannot come into competition with home produc
tions, and in their stead levies discriminating duties upon
articles that come in direct competition with home pro
ducts. The rate of such duties is adjusted, in theory, so that the
foreign product cannot enter the home market at a price
below what it can be produced for at home, with a fair profit
included. Some rates are prohibitory, as when there is desire or
determination to found a new industry ; but as a rule they
are simply discriminative, and in favor of industries which
exist, but which would cease to exist unless protected.
Since labor constitutes a large per cent, of manufactured
products — in some products as much as ninety per cent, of
the cost — the most direct effect of protection is to maintain
the price of that labor as it enters into the home product,
and preserve it from competition with the cheaper labor that
enters into the same product abroad.
The effect of protection on labor is direct and indirect.
When the price of labor in protected industries is mainT
tained, that in the unprotected industries is also maintained.
The application of protection to industries in this country
reverses the doctrine of political economists that the price
of an article is increased to the consumer by just the amount
of duty imposed upon it.
Protection may increase the price of an article temporarily,
and by some per cent, of the duty levied, but the price de
clines as the home manufacture of the article enlarges and
home competition sets in.
Protection encourages capital and invites it into enter-

98 DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
prises from which it would shrink, owing to its natural
conservatism. The spirit of invention and the employment of labor-sav
ing machinery and devices are encouraged by protection.
Labor yields most when aided by artificial appliances and
cheered by liberal and certain remuneration.
The last three factors render production exceptional in
this country. Together with the law of competition, they
furnish an output of products better in quality and cheaper
in price than those of nations that rely solely on cheap labor
for cheap price. The cheapness of protection does not
imply degradation of labor, but greater deftness of hand,
quickened genius, advantage of natural opportunity.
The tariff is not a tax. While most articles, whose home
manufacture has been encouraged by a duty upon them, sell
at no higher price than when imported, many such sell for
a less price than the duty imposed.
When the foreign producer lands his goods here, and
finds them in competition with home-made goods, he pays
the duty.
Says a Bradford, England, manufacturer: "The least pos
sible reduction in the American tariff will be a grand thing
for Bradford. We are selling our goods for the same prices
we did before the higher tariff was enacted, and I know the
Bradford manufacturer is paying the duty, not the American
consumer." Another English manufacturer says : " If the duties came
out of the American consumer the English manufacturer
would not care a button about the American tariff laws."
Friedrich List, founder ofthe German Zollverein, or Cus
tom's Union, Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, all sub
scribe to the doctrine that a country which is exclusively
agricultural is necessarily backward. They instance Poland.

Hon. William McKinley, Jr.
Born at Niles, Ohio, February 26, 1844; enlisted in the 23d Ohio
Vols., May, 1861; mustered out as Brevet-Major, September, 1865;
studied law and served as Prosecuting Attorney for Stark co. ; elected to
45th, 46th, 47th and 48th Congresses ; unseated in 48th Congress by
Democratic opponent; re-elected to 49th, 50th and 51st Congresses;
defeated as candidate for 52d Congress, owing to gerrymander of his
District; rose to renown as exponent of Protection; Chairman of Ways
and Means Committee in 51st Congress, and the Tariff Act of 1890 be
came known as the McKinley Act; elected Governor of Ohio, Novem
ber, 1891, by 21,511 majority, the leading issues being Protection and
Silver Coinage. (IOO)

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. lot
" Since, then, although it is undoubtedly bad for privileges
to give rise to artificial industries, many industries well
suited to the nature of a country will never develop there
unless at first protected. The best road to arrive at free-
trade and obtain from it the maximum advantage lies through
a temporary adoption of protection."
Protection in this country at first vindicated itself by the
example of all civilized nations. Then, by universal ac
quiescence in the principle that duties on imports were more
cheerfully paid than any species of tax for revenue. Now
it vindicates itself by what it has achieved for the country
in the domain of capital and labor. It claims to have won
by honest effort and practical results the title, "American
System." " The safety and interest of the people require that they
should promote such manufactures as tend to render them
independent of others for essential, particularly for military,
supplies." — George Washington.
" That it may be expedient to guard the infancy of this
improvement (' useful manufactures ') by legislation of the
commercial tariff, cannot fail to suggest itself to your pa
triotic reflections." Again, " In adjusting the duties on
imports to. the object of revenue, the influence of the tariff
on manufactures will necessarily present itself for considera
tion. However wise the theory may be which leaves to the
sagacity and interest of individuals the application of their
industry and resources, there are in this, as in all cases, ex
ceptions to the rule." — James Madison.
As to the highest duties of the government, Thomas
Jefferson, in his second annual message, said : It is " to cul
tivate peace and maintain commerce and navigation in all
their lawful enterprises ; to foster our fisheries as nurseries

102 DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
of navigation for the nurture of man ; and to protect the
manufactures suited to our circumstances."
"The restrictive legislation of 1808-15 was» f°r the time
being, equivalent to extreme protection. The consequent
rise of a considerable class of manufactures, whose success
depended largely on the continuance of protection, formed
the basis of a strong movement for more decided limitation
of foreign competition." — -Prof. Taussig.
Adam Smith, the father of free-trade, admits that could
any number of communities, producing what each other
wants, be brought into commercial contact, there would
have been no need of his evolving the doctrine of free-
trade. In this country there are forty-four, and more, of
such communities.
What was a theory with Hamilton, that protection tended
to lower the price of protected articles, became a fact under
the operation of our tariff legislation.
The genius of a nation is at its best when not subjected
to conditions foreign to it. To let institutions have sway
here which are born abroad, and which may be best for
abroad, would be for us to subject ourselves to monarchy.
It would be just the same if we lost our commercial or in
dustrial Americanism and became subject to the codes
which demean labor by caste and enslave it by hereditary
custom. The protection which monarchical countries, without ex
ception, patronized and by which they exist was never in
the interest of labor as now in this country.
The conditions which exist in America are wholly dif
ferent from those which gave color to free-trade as a doc
trine with European economists. Had they been situated
as we are, and known what we know, they would have col
lated and deduced differently. In one hundred years

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. . 103
America has established a set of statistical facts which ut
terly destroy the deductions based on facts of an older
regime and on conditions never dreamed of. Protection in
the United States is really a new political economy, of far
more worth to us than the economic visions of one hundred
years ago, indulged by men who knew no distinction be
tween labor and serfdom and who saw no hope for enter
prise outside of capital linked with landed aristocracy and
lordly title.
Protection has long since triumphed over the argument
that it was unconstitutional. This argument is not urged
to-day except by the very ignorant or very prejudiced. But
the argument reappears in the charge that protection fosters
monopoly. This was Calhoun's standing argument. He
saw that it enured more to the benefit of free paid labor than
of slave unpaid labor, and that it encouraged the manufac
turing as against the planting classes. The industries which
involved invention, skill, competition, live capital and paid
labor were the ones which protection favored. Those which
involved none of these received no benefit from protection
and did not need it. His views of monopoly turned on this
point. Since the downfall of slavery the heart has been
taken out of the monopoly argument, for it has become plain
to all thaf what improves the condition of the entire people
does not savor of monopoly. v
Protection protects against monopoly. Before the tariff
of 1824 American cottons sold at 24 cents a yard. After
that tariff, they sold at 7^ cents a yard. New mills, im
proved machinery and increased competition, put a better
material in the market at a third ofthe price.
The monopoly may be foreign. England sold us steel
rails, for railroads, at $150 per ton. She continued to do
this till 1870, when a duty of $28 a ton was levied. Under

104 DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
this protection we began to build mills for their manufacture.
The price of steel rails began to decline. They are now sold
at a profit at from $33 to $40 a ton. English monopoly was
costing us five prices for a ton of rails!
Protection gives us competing power abroad. Our cotton
textiles are recognized as the best in the markets of the
world. The same is true of our edge-tools and agricultural
implements. European manufacturers imitate these Amer
ican goods and use American labels in order to hold the
markets of South America and the Orient. When this
competing power is amplified by reciprocity and by direct
steam communication, both of which are protective, no na
tion can rival us in South American and Chinese markets.
A tariff for revenue is a tax. A tariff on tea, coffee and
sugar, raises the price to the consumer, because it offers no
inducement, and cannot, by reason of soil and climate, for
their home production. Sugar is partly an exception, as
we can raise some sugar-cane. It may become wholly an
exception if the experiment with beets prove a success. As
to trading in manufactured articles, articles of art and handi
craft, the application of the doctrine of natural right as
claimed by free-traders, is suicidal to the younger or weaker
nation. No nation recognizes it except in theory. Nations
are not natural, one to the other, as to trade, except in the
respect that they are selfish. They all claim the natural
right to exist, to grow, to develop, to be independent. The
natural right to be what nature intends is higher than any
other. Nature never intended that one nation with numer
ous, large, long and swift streams, equal to billions of horse
power, should buy for all time the manufactures of nations
with fewer, smaller, shorter and duller streams, equal to only
millions of horse-power, even though the latter nations had,

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. loj
by reason of age, so far turned their power to account as to
be able to furnish products cheaper than the former.
Nature never intended that one nation with a riches of
coal and ores far exceeding that of another, should perpetu
ally buy the manufactures of that other, because it had
delved in its mines for ages, and could offer products cheaper
than the first.
Nature never intended that a new nation with infinite
resources of climate, soil, mine, genius and industry should
subordinate its traffic to nations of inferior resources, but with
the temporary advantage of age.
Nature never intended that nations that had grown old,
ripe and rich by means of a protection, which was absolute
in comparison with any that prevails to-day, should claim
naturalness for a trade established by agencies they deny
to others.
Nature never intended that conditions of labor under
which a laborer can be an earner, saver, head of a family,
house owner, voter and public-spirited citizen, should be
subjugated to conditions of labor which give caste to occupa
tion, demean calling, yield bare subsistence, crush manhood,
stifle ambition,befec\slavish routine,reduce to tread-mill task.
Nature never iri^sidedjjhat the genius and capital of one
nation with opportunity shouftNerever obey the commands
of another, with less opportunity, but whose opportunity had
the advantage of age. \
But nature did intend that each nation should profit by its
gifts. If young and undeveloped, it should employ the arts
of development that are commensurate with its gifts. If
weak, it should cultivate strength. If dependent, it should
learn independence. The art of doing this is its own affair.
The art should be rational, based on what it knows of itself —
its people, geography, topography, climate, soil, ores, streams,

lofi DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
woods, facilities and resources in general. If, in obedience
to books and theories, it is wrong in doing this, no other
nation is so white as to call it black. The consensus of na
tions in this respect is nature. The precise form of protec
tion and development is immaterial. English free-trade is
the highest, severest, most arbitrary form of protection of
which she is capable. It is no more condemnatory of the
American idea than was her duty of $250 on every $500
worth of iron, not otherwise enumerated, she imported from
her colonies. It is no more acceptable to the American
idea than was her stamped paper and tea-tax which brought
on the Revolution.
The highest duty of a nation is to cultivate nature, for
nature means its people, institutions and resources. In this
respect America means far more than professors dream of,
far more than books teach, far more than little, narrow men
with sectional or foreign predilections prate of, far more than
England, all Europe, or all the world can in their selfishness
impress us with. As a nation we have escaped the thraldom
of monarchies, the shackles of caste, the' hindrances of
mediaeval institutions, the limitations of soil, climate and
natural resource incident to a continent/; -^ich last emerged
from polar ice. As to people we arincomposite. Where
and when the mentality and physique of civilization blend
for the production of a type, that type will be what nature
calls for, the survival of size, shape and qualities, fitted for,
or rather shaped by, an envirortrnent such as has not hitherto
existed. As to institution, we have inverted the pyramid of
monarchy whose tip is on the throne and base in the air.
Here the base is below, on the people, and the tip is in the
air, a sublimation of popular will and not a matter of family
or blood. As to areas and climate we blend orient and
Occident, tropic and arctic. It is Italy and Russia, London

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. to?
and Constantinople. As to soil, mineral, wood and stream,
the resource is varied and infinite. The alluvium between
the Alleghenies and Rockies has no counterpart in the
world. Not Ural, Alp or Apennine are richer in ores than
our home ranges. No forests of Europe or Asia compare with
our pine fastnesses. No streams run larger, fresher, swifter,
more constant and frequent. It is the place for new men,
genius, institution, development. The law, doctrine or cus
tom, ripened by wholly different conditions, and sanctioned
by antiquity, is not for us. We are a nation — an escape from
antique environment. To be true we must be original.
This is especially so as to economics.
The facts upon which Smith and Mill built free-trade
theories are useless in America. Home facts, embracing
periods of test, are the only true bases for home deductions.
It is our right and duty to build on them and to evolve for
ourselves the political economy which they warrant, regard
less of the conclusions reached and the laws adopted by
other nations. These facts and this use of them have evolved
the common law of protection in this country, have con
firmed a principle, have established a system — the system
of American Protection.
When free-trade makes the claim that home competition
cannot cheapen certain classes of home manufactures, pro
tection answers that in such cases cheapness equal to that
of a foreign product is undesirable ; that there ought to be
sufficient patriotic pride among us to pay more for such
articles when home-made than when foreign-made, their
quality and utility being the same ; that we will be more
than repaid for the difference in price by the encouragement
extended to a home industry and by the establishment of a
home market ; that every cent spent at home is a contribu
tion to the comfort of surroundings, the happiness of

tog DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
neighbors, the erection of homes, the welfare of labor, the
founding of a home market for the wool, wheat, corn, butter,
cheese, eggs and vegetables of the farmers, for which there
otherwise could be no possible demand ; or if so, the demand
would be of so foreign a nature as to eat up profit by the
cost of transportation, by commissions, and by perishability.
All free-traders make much of the argument that protec
tion tends to over-production and consequently to periods
of depression and panic. The protectionists answer, first,
that this is a confession that protection does stimulate pro
duction. Secondly, they deny iti toto that protection tends
any more to over-production and to periods of depression
and panic, than free-trade. England is as much subject to
periodic visitations of glut and depression as any protected
country. The glut and depression in the iron trade of 1884
extended to every iron-producing country, and England
suffered most of all.
In this connection protection points confidently to its
history in this country, and relies upon the unshakable
argument it furnishes.
The absolutely free-trade era between 1783 and 1789 was
characterized by a glut of foreign products, suspension of
industries, bankruptcy of manufacturers and merchants,
ruinous depreciation of prices, beggary of artisans and
laborers, starvation of farmers. Says a writer of the period :
" We are poor with a profusion of material wealth in our
possession. That we are poor needs no other proof than
our prisons, bankruptcies, judgments, executions, auctions,
mortgages, etc., and the shameless quantity of business in
our courts of law."
This condition passed away with the enactment of the
tariff Act of 1789. It was a modest provision, but sufficient
to enunciate the principle of protection for new industries,

Hon. Shelby M. Ctjllom.
Born in Wayne Co., Ky., November 22, 1829 ; next year parents
moved to Tazewell Co., III.; educated at academy and university; ad
mitted to bar in Springfield and practiced there ; elected to State Legis
lature, 1856, 1860, 1872, 1874; was Speaker in 1861 and 1873; elected
a Representative to 39th, 40th and 41st Congresses ; elected Governor
of Illinois in 1876, and re-elected in 1880; resigned, February 5, 1883,
to accept seat in United States Senate, as a Republican, and successor
to Hon. David Davis ; term expires March 3, 1895 ; an active worker
and broad-minded statesman ; father of the Inter-State Commerce law.
(109)

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. in
and to change the industrial and commercial situation. By
1808 the country had recovered from the evil effects of the
free trade era. Then set in the restrictive measures pre
liminary to the war of 1 8 1 2, as the Embargo Act of 1 807 and
the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809. Duties were doubled by
the Act of 1812 with a view to secure revenue. These
restrictive measures, followed by actual hostilities, proved
to be an absolutely prohibitive tariff Immediately every
branch of domestic industry felt the stimulus. Establish
ments for the manufacture of cottons, woolens, iron, glass,
pottery, etc., sprang up like magic. This instant and mar
vellous result was due to extreme protection, and it really
formed the basis for that strong, persistent and intelligent
movement which had for its view legislative limitation on
foreign competition, and logical protection, as found in Henry
Clay's American System.
This view found expression in the tariff act of 18 16, which
increased duties considerably, but most unfortunately for
only a limited period. The 25 per cent, on cottons and
woolens was to fall to 20 per cent, by 18 19. What was
barely protective became non-protective in three years.
Limitation was to undo the affirmative work of the act.
Though all that grew out of the ground remained high in
price for a time, owing to shortages in Europe, manufactured
goods declined. The long pent-up stream of English mer
chandise flooded the country after the close of the Napo
leonic wars, and our manufacturers were forced to the wall.
Panic set in, and with it depression, bankruptcy and all the
evils of foreign inundation. The products of the soil found
the level of devastation, and soon every interest was en
gulfed in the sad wave of commercial blight.
The lesson of this crisis was not lost to our statesmen
and economists. That strong protective movement set in

112 DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
which was to concern so intimately the next generation.
England had grown restrictive, as evidenced by the passage
of her corn laws. Cotton and all our farm products were
ruinously cheap. The time was most favorable for the pro
tection and growth of home manufactures and for the estab
lishment of home markets. Home markets had not until
this date been a leading argument for protection, but from
this time on the argument grew in strength. The relief
tariff of 1818 merely did away with the limitations of the
Act of 1 8 16, and extended the duties of the latter act till
1826. After 1 8 19, that is, in 1820, the protectionists made a
vigorous effort to enact a really protective act. They failed
by a single vote in the Senate. They succeeded in 1824,
with a modifiedly protective act, which became more con-
firmedly protective in the act of 1828. This protective
trend was most advantageous. Recovery from the effect
of the panic of 18 19 was perfect. Manufactures again
sprang up. Labor got employment and reward. The
farmer rejoiced at his plow. Prosperity and satisfaction
reigned. The seven years after 1824 are counted as the
most prosperous they had ever known.
Free-trade now came to mean the perpetuation of slavery,
the nullification of law, secession. It threw itself on the
very legislation it had encouraged, and with such ferocity
as to compel the compromise tariff of 1833, in which the
principle of protection was abandoned. Then the history
of 1819 began to repeat itself. Depression set in. Values
fell. Manufactures ceased. Merchants went into bank
ruptcy. Farmers became impoverished. Labor begged for
bread. The horrors of 18 19 were more than repeated in the
final crash of 1837, when cows sold for $1 00 a head and
hogs for 25 cents, The panic of 1837 cost the country

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. 113
$1,000,000,000. To add to the terrible situation, the sliding
scale of reduction of tariff rates brought duties so low by
1837 that the Government ran short of revenue, and the
national credit fell so low that money could not be bor
rowed for necessary expenses except at enormous discount.
The reaction caused by this disastrous epoch swept the
free-traders from power and the protectionists enacted the
protective tariff of 1842, over the veto of President Tyler.
Financial skies began to clear. The sun of prosperity broke
forth. Spindles began to hum and labor to smile. The
farmer held his plow with confidence. Customs' revenues
leaped to seventy per cent, more than during the last year
of the compromise Act of 1833. Prices rose, and every in
dustry was inspired with new life.
But in 1844 free-trade, more wedded than ever to unpaid
labor, and shivering at the importance of paid labor and
protected industry, rallied under the banner of " Polk, Dal
las and the Tariff of '42." How much it believed in the
" Tariff of '42 " was shown by the enactment of the Tariff
of 1846, by the casting vote of Dallas in the Senate. This
was a free-trade tariff, and its results were foreshadowed by
its opponents. Happily there arose a series of circum
stances which operated very much like the restrictive meas
ures that followed the Act of 1 808. They were all protective
and sufficiently so to postpone the evil effects of the Act of
1846 for a time. They were the Mexican war, the discovery
of gold in California, the Irish famine, and wars in Europe.
But even by 1852 the decrease in the value of our exports
of bread-stuffs and provisions had fallen off $47,000,000, and
the supposed incentive of a low tariff and increased importa
tions from abroad was not being realized.
Another reduction of duties took place in 1857. Finan
cial revolution set in, appalling in its widespread severity

T14 DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
and distress. The crisis of 1 857 not only impoverished the
people, but the public revenues became so small that the
Government was compelled to borrow money at from 8 to
12 per cent, discount in order to provide running expenses.
Said President Buchanan in his annual message : " With un
surpassed plenty in all the elements of national wealth, our
manufactures have suspended ; our public works are re
tarded ; our private enterprises of different kinds are aban
doned and thousands of useful laborers are thrown out of
employment and reduced to want."
Since the passage of the Morrill Tariff Act of 1861, the
doctrine of protection has found constant application. The
Act of 1883 effected the largest change in that of 1861, by
reducing duties and enlarging the free list, but it was crude
in many of its provisions. The Act of 1890, known as the
McKinley Act, still further enlarged the free list, addressed .
the principle of protection more directly to American labor,
and introduced the policy of reciprocity. Protectionists
claim for this period, 1 86 1 to the present, the establishment
and enjoyment of an industrial system which has assumed
a larger national growth, a more rapid accumulation arid
broader distribution of wealth than ever before known in the
history of our country. During that period there has been
but one panic, that of 1873, and that differed from those of
1819, 1837, and 1857, in not being confined to this country,
but in having an origin in general disturbance of credit
abroad, the effect of which was to throw back upon us sud
denly an inordinate number of our bonds. This caused
sudden drain and great hardship for a time. The condition
was almost repeated in 1890, when the failure ofthe Baring
Brothers, and general disturbance in European credit, shook
our commercial centres and tested our ability to withstand
panic. In 1873 our mills did not stop running as in other

Hon. John Dalzell.
Born in New York city, April 19, 1845; moved to Pittsburgh, Pa.,
1847; graduated from Yale, 1865; admitted to bar, 1867 ; rose into
professional prominence as attorney for Pennsylvania R. R. and leased
branches; also as solicitor for corporations and firms in Allegheny co. ;
elected to 50th, 51st and 52d Congresses as a Republican, by large
majorities; distinguished for industry and eloquence; ardent defender of
Protection, and opposed to Free Silver Coinage ; name discussed through
out the State in connection with the U. S. Senatorship.
("5)

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. 117
panics. Banks did not break by wholesale. Internal com
merce was not interrupted. Every recuperative agency
had play. We sold more than we bought, and reduced our
national debt. Protectionists aver that the panic of 1873
was a blessing in disguise.
The eminent protectionist, Henry C. Carey, thus concludes
his historic argument : —
" We have had Protection in 1789, 1812, 1824, 1828, 1842,
and from 1861 to date.
We have had Free-Trade, or very low tariff, in 1783, 18 16,
1832, 1846, 1857.
Now note the unvarying results :
Under protection we have had '; | Under Free-Trade we have had :
I. Great demand for labor. | 1. Labor everywhere seeking em-
j ployment.
2. Wages high and money cheap. 2. Wages low and money high.
3. Public and private revenues large,

4. Immigration great and steadily in
creasing.
5. Public and private prosperity great
beyond all previous precedent.
6. Growing national independence.

3. Public and private revenues small
and steadily decreasing.
4. Immigration declining.
5. Public and private bankruptcy
nearly universal.
6. Growing national dependence.

The argument that protection injures the farmer has
always been a favorite one with free-traders. It has steadily
grown in favor, and has been given a decided turn in the
Fifty-second Congress by the attempt to remove the duty
from wool, binding twine and tin plate. The argument of
the protectionist is that manufactured articles, and especially
those which concern the farmer, are on an average 25 per
cent, cheaper to-day than in i860, when 80 per cent, of them
were made abroad. That now 80 per cent, of them are made
at home. That the farmer has been saved the cost of ocean
transportation on this 80 per cent, and has had the benefit
of the home market their manufacture has created for his
6

n8 DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
produce. That such market is certain, at his door, and
already takes 80 per cent, of his wheat and 92 per cent, of
his corn. That it keeps even pace with the growth of manu
factures and will ere long take all his surplus, at a better
rate than he can get for it abroad and in competition with
the cheap wheat of India and Australia.
In addition to the above argument, protectionists show
that our free list now embraces nearly half of our importa
tions ; that said list comprises all the articles which affect
the comfort of the farmer or poor man, such as sugar, fruit,
rice, breeding animals, tea, coffee, etc. ; and that the dutiable
list embraces high priced articles and articles of luxury,
such as wines, liquors, cigars, silks, satins, glassware, dia
monds, linens, cottons, etc., the duties on which are paid
mostly by the wealthy.
The free-trader argues that "free raw material used in
the manufactures " is especially worthy of a place on the
free list. Among these he classes wool, flax, hemp, seeds,
iron ore, pig iron, coal, marble, etc. The protectionist
claims that the free-list, as enlarged under the Act of 1890,
embraces a sufficient number of these articles ; that those,
like wool, which pay duty, come into competition with the
products of our farmers and laborers in shops, mines and
furnaces ; that labor is a prime object of protection ; that all
the articles, technically classed as " raw material," are not
such to the farmer, laborer, miner and furnace man, because
they represent the labor, skill and even capital of the latter,
as much as cloth represents the skill and capital of the manu
facturer, or the coat those of the tailor.
Protection repudiates the doctrine that it is a device for
the benefit of the privileged classes. It rests on the principle
that it operates for the general development ofthe resources
and the encouragement of the industries of the country. If

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. 119
classes or capital are emboldened by it to undertake new
ventures or to enter channels they would not otherwise do,
that is a matter which does not affect the prime object of
protection and cannot be controlled by legislation. It was
not England's tariff system, but her free-trade system, which
tended most to sustain her landed aristocracy. Out of the
ten richest men in the United States, nine have accumulated
fortunes in speculative and commercial pursuits, other than
manufacturing, and one in manufactures that had to deal
with protected articles.
So as to trusts. Protectionists say the facts do not support
the theory that protection leads to trusts. The worst trust-
ridden countries are free-trade countries. Trusts in America
are quite frequently the result of English genius and capital.
The Standard oil, Chicago gas, Street railway, Electric
lighting, Cotton seed oil, Sugar deal, Reading deal, Rich
mond terminal, and others, which rank as trusts or combina
tions, exist in spite of the doctrine of protection and in no
way concern it. It is by no means certain that these com
binations are harmful to the public at large. For every one
that finds an existence by reason of dealing in protected
articles, ten can be found that would exist, tariff or no
tariff. Protection has made the manufacturer content with a
reasonable profit. An annual profit of ten per cent, is
barely possible in this country in the best-established man
ufactories. Said Mr. Bright in the English Parliament, in
1842: "America, as an independent country, has been a
more valuable customer to England than she could possibly
have been as a colony. On all the goods exported to
America during the last quarter of a century you have
made a net profit of forty per cent." Prices of home man
ufactures can therefore be trusted to home competition, but

120 DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION.
foreign prices cannot be trusted at all, unless they are forced
to meet our home competition. This was particularly
glaring when England was charging $150 for a ton of steel
rails which afterwards, and in the face of our home compe
tition, she was glad to get $40 for. The removal of duty
from tea and eoffee in 1 872 caused a rise in their price. There
was a reason for the rise in coffee, because Brazil imme
diately levied an export tax on it. But neither tea nor cof
fee have been so cheap since 1872 as before, when tea paid
fifteen cents and coffee two cents a pound duty. They avoid
home competition entirely.
The protectionist supports his doctrine by calling in as a
witness the material growth of the country since 1861, and
comparing it with that of countries wedded to free-trade.
He confidently asks judgment on the practical workings of
his policy, and claims for the results a fulfillment of the
prophecies of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison,
Jackson, Benton, Clay, Webster and even Calhoun, who in
1 8 16 made his famous appeal in favor of the protection and
importance of manufactures to the " national strength and
perfection of our institutions," and in " binding more closely
our widespread republic."
During thirty years of protection, and notwithstanding
the wastage of four years of war, our population has grown
at the rate of one million annually — a greater rate than
that of England, France, Germany and Austria combined.
Our wealth has grown from $17,000,000,000 to nearly $50,-
000,000,000, or at the rate of $ 1 ,000,000,000 a year. Tliere
has gone into our savings $885,000,000 yearly, or almost
half as much as the savings of the entire world. The man
ufactories, mines and forests of Great Britain produced $4,-
500,000,000 in 1886, an increase of 30 per cent, since 1850.
The same products in the United States in 1880 were valued

Hon. Nelson W. Aldrich.
Born at Foster, R. I., November 6, 1841. Academically educated;
engaged in mercantile pursuits; President of Providence Common
Council, 1871-73; member of State Assembly, 1875-76; Speaker of
House of Representatives in 1876 ; elected to Congress for 46th and
47th Congresses; elected, as Republican, to United States Senate, 1880;
re-elected, 1886 ; rose to prominence as advocate of Protection ; authority
in party and Senate on matters pertaining to Tariff Legislation ; con
spicuous in preparation and adoption of Tariff act of 1890 ; Chairman
of Committee on Rules and member of Committees on Finance and
Transportation. (122)

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. isj
at $5,500,000,000, an increase of 160 per cent, since i860.
Since i860 our farms have more than doubled in number
and increased in value from $6,000,000,000 to $10,000,000,-
000, while their products, which were $1,800,000,003 in
1860, were $3,800,000,000 in 1880.
In 1880 the entire products of Great Britain — farms, fac
tories, mines, forests and all — were $6,200,000,000, or $172
per capita. Of this product she exported $1,300,000,000.
In the same year the total products of the United States
were $10,000,000,000, or $200 per capita. Of this product
$9,176,000,000 were consumed at home. Thus our home
market consumed more than Great Britain consumed and
exported, and more than double the combined exports of
Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Holland and Aus
tria. Besides this consumption of home products, we im
ported $700,000,000 as against $335,000,000 in i860, and
exported $750,000,000 as against $373,000,000 in i860.
Protectionists do not claim that the system of protection
is, or ever has been, perfect. It is not possible to make it
so. But it has proved in practice that the arguments of its
opponents are unsound. It has established itself as an es
sential part of our commercial and business habit and thought,
and is open to the same equities, and laws of progress and
adjustment, as any essential feature of industrial welfare.
Its destruction, however, cannot be tolerated. Attack on
it must be resented. It is not a system which can be trusted
to its enemies for safe-keeping, or modification. Its friends
are its natural custodians, and they alone are capable of
perpetuating it in the forms best calculated to make it repeat
its past triumphs for labor, capital and the general welfare,
and to fit it for the legitimate requirements of a still more
growthy and imposing future.

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. — AN HISTORIC
REVIEW.
THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
The English colonial system in America began, in 1616,
with the Virginia charter.
It extended until the colonies numbered thirteen, em
bracing the Atlantic front from Georgia to Maine, and ex
tending inland indefinitely.
Whatever the ambition or object of the colonists, they did
not cut the apron string of allegiance to Great Britain, but
agreed to obey the decrees of her kings, the edicts of her
parliaments and the behests of her institutions.
This may seem strange, since every colony was a protest
against home hardship and an escape from tyrannical inter
ference with individual rights.
But questions of title to land, incipient government, protec
tion against foes, and various others, proved paramount and
decided the terms of colonization.
As to the mother country, those terms implied political
allegiance and commercial contribution.
Legitimate trade dates from the reign of Elizabeth. Hol
land, England and France vied with each other in that
paternalism which went out to the industries and to com
merce in the shape of protective legislation.
From the reign of Elizabeth to 1846, there are four
hundred Acts of Parliament — tonnage laws, poundage laws,
protective tariff and commercial regulations — relating to
manufactures and trade.
Some of these prohibited imports. Some prohibited ex-
(124)

OCR TARIFF LEGISLATION'. 14J
ports, lest inferior nations should acquire the skill of the
mother country. There is no historic record of a protective
system so extreme in its conditions and so arbitrarily applied
as that of Great Britain, if we exclude the despotic system
of China.
Says McCullough in his Commercial Dictionary : — " It
was a leading principle in the colonial policy, adopted as
well by England as by other European nations, to discourage
all attempts to manufacture such articles in the colonies as
could be provided for them in the mother country."
Says Bancroft in his " History of the United States " : —
" England in its relation with other states sought a con
venient tariff. In the colonies it prohibited industry."
In 1699 the British Parliament enacted that no wool, yarn,
cloth, or woollen manufactures ofthe English Plantations in
America should be shipped from any of said Plantations, or
otherwise laden, in order to be transported thence to any
place whatsoever, under a penalty of forfeiting both ship and
cargo, and a fine of $2500 for each offence.
In 1732 Parliament prohibited the exportation of hats
from province to province (colony to colony) in America,
and limited the number of apprentices to be taken by
hatters. In 1750 the Parliament prohibited as a common nuisance
the erection of any mill in America for slitting or rolling
iron, or any plating forge to work with a tilt-hammer, or
furnace for making steel. The penalty for such crime was
$1000. A little later an Act was passed prohibiting the making
of nails in the province of Pennsylvania.
About the same time Lord Chatham announced it as his
opinion of colonial dependence that the American colonies
ought not to be permitted to make even a hob-nail or horse-

i26 otjr Tariff legislation.
shoe for themselves, and these views were incorporated into
the Act of 1765 which absolutely prohibited the migration
of artisans to the American colonies.
In 178 1 the Parliament enacted that no woollen machin
ery should be exported to the American colonies,
In 1782 Parliament enacted that no cotton machinery
should be exported to the colonies, and that no artificers in
cotton should migrate thither. In the same year the duty
on bar-iron was fixed at $12 per ton. This rate lasted till
*79S- In 1785 Parliament prohibited the exportation of iron and
steel making machinery to the colonies, and the migration
of workmen, skilled in those branches of trade, thither.
In 1797 Parliament levied a duty, then deemed prohibitive,
of $14 per ton on all foreign bar-iron imported into Great
Britain. In 1798 this was increased to $15 per ton; in
1806 to $23 per ton; in 1810 to $24 per ton; in 1818 to
$28 per ton; in 1825 to $33 per ton, if imported in British
ships, and to $38, and over, per ton, if imported in foreign
ships. During the same period, other manufactures of iron
paid $90 per ton, and iron not otherwise enumerated $250
for every $500 worth imported. All of these rates were
designed to be absolutely prohibitive, in accordance with
the existing policy of the realm, which policy was that of
France and Holland, both countries with colonial posses
sions, and both striving for commercial and manufacturing
independence. In 1799 the English Parliament prohibited the migration
of colliers, lest other countries should acquire the art of"
mining coal.
Says Adam Smith, the father of English political economy,
" Even up to 1776 England prohibited the exportation from
one province (American) to another by water, and even the

Hon. James B. Campbell.
Born July 7, 1843 ; elected to Congress from Hamilton, Ohio, district,
as a Democrat, in 1883-85-87 ; the last election was a test of his great
popularity, as the district had been apportioned so as to contain 1500
opposing majority; chosen as the standard bearer of his party for
Governor in 1888 against Foraker, and defeated him by a handsome
majority; after a successful administration became candidate for Governor
against McKinley in 1891 ; a vigorous campaign ensued, in which the
candidates united in joint discussion of party issues; he suffered defeat,
but lost none of his strength and popularity ; prominently mentioned as a
presidential candidate. (128)

Hon. Isaac P. Gray.
Born in Chester co., Pa., October 28, 1828; moved to Ohio, 1836; in
mercantile pursuits at New Madison, Ohio, 1836-55; moved to Union
City, Ind., 1855; in merchandise, 1855-58; studied law and admitted to
bar; entered Union army as Colonel of 4th Indiana Cavalry ; candidate
for Congress on Republican ticket, and defeated, 1866 ; advocated
elecuLn of Greeley, 1872 ; elected Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana, as
a Democrat, in 1876 ; served as Governor after death of Governor Wil
liams; nominated for Lieutenant-Governor, 1880, and defeated; elected
Governor of Indiana, as Democrat, 1884, running nearly 1000 votes
ahead of the National ticket ; a prominent candidate for Vice-President
before Chicago National Convention. (129)

6uR TARIFF LE'OiSLAlOtf. lit
Carriage by land, upon horseback or in cart, of hats, of wools
and woolen goods, ofthe produce of America, a regulation
which effectually prevents the establishment of any manu
facture of such commodities for distant sale, and confines
the industry of her colonists in this way to such coarse and
household manufactures as a private family commonly
makes for its own use, or for that of some of its neighbors
in the same province."
The enactments cited are fair samples of those which went
to compose the English Colonial policy. They help to an
understanding of the leading object, which was to limit
Colonial America to a farming community. America was
to play the part of India and Australia, as a cereal feeder of
a little island whose commercial and manufacturing genius
was far in excess of its ability to supply the necessaries of
life for its working population.
Of course the suspicion could not escape so inquiring a
country, that America might prove as rich in raw materials,
suited to English manufacture, as in farm products. There
fore the English policy, when fully developed, made Amer
ica a provider of food and of raw materials for England.
England, the main market, would receive nothing manufac
tured in the colonies. England, the supreme country,
would permit nothing to be manufactured in the colonies.
England, the dominant commercial country, would permit
no trade with the colonies, except in British bottoms, and
of an agricultural surplus, or a raw material, in exchange for
her own manufactured products.
This was severe on the colonial agriculturist, who, not
having a voice in the carrying trade, nor a say in what
should come to him, could not thus early raise an agricultu
ral surplus sufficient to pay for what he was compelled to
receive as an import. He could not manufacture, except as

t32 OUR TARIFF LitelSLATTOM.
to the coarse things necessary for family use, and he could
not have interchanged manufactures between the provinces
by using the natural waterways nor by means of carts.
The colonist paid nothing on his imports. They were
free. The prohibition was on his exports, and especially if
in manufactured shape. The prohibition was on his domes
tic change of manufactured articles. All inducement to
manufacture was taken away. A home market for agri
cultural products, or for raw materials, was not to be en
couraged or tolerated. The plan was ingenious and most
successful, so far as English manufacturers and capitalists
were concerned. In 1771 colonial imports exceeded the
exports by $13,000,000, and as trade was more nearly barter
than now, it may be said that the colonies incurred a debt
to England of $13,000,000 in 1771, which they had no visi
ble means of paying.
It must not be supposed that the British policy was effect
ing all its objects. Nature and opportunity in America
were entering their quiet protests. After the invention of
the puddling furnace and rolling-mill by Henry Cort, we
find the English statutes most rigid against the exportation
of tools, utensils and artisans to foreign parts, as in 1785 and
1799. Yet the first rolling-mill in America was built and
started for Col. Isaac Meason, at Plumsock, Fayette county,
Pa., by two Welshmen, Thomas and George Lewis, who
came under the prohibited head of " British skilled iron
workers," and as such were compelled to smuggle their way
across the Atlantic and into the colony of Penn.
So, nature having provided excellent ship timber and the
colonists having a genius for ship-building and sailing, they
quietly established a remunerative trade with the West
Indies and with many nations more or less remote. This
was intolerable to the mother country. The Navigation

our Tariff legislation. t53
Act was passed as a remedy. It provided that " No goods
or commodities whatever, the growth, production or manu
facture of Europe, Africa or America, shall be imported
into England or Ireland, or into any of the Plantations
(American colonies), except in ships belonging to English
subjects, of which the master and the greater number of the
crew shall also be English."
This and subsequent navigation acts destroyed our West
India trade. Prices of goods imported and exported, and
their quantities, fell entirely under English jurisdiction. All
she sent to us was free of duty. All sent to her was upon
her own conditions. Nothing could be sent, except in her
bottoms, and to the destination and upon the terms she im
posed. As Burke said in Parliament, " By it (the Naviga
tion Act) the commerce of the colonies was not only tied,
but strangled."
Our Revolutionary history, familiar to every schoolboy,
acquaints us with the English method of extracting revenue
directly from her colonies by means of such inventions as
the Stamp Act, the Tea Tax, etc. They were but parts of
an ingenious and stupendous system of home protection
which eventuated in established manufactures and commerce,
and in a final declaration of independence of the rest of the
world in these respects.
Just here, the thought is foreign to neither the theme nor
time, it may well be wondered why so astute a nation as
Great Britain, after two hundred years of an attempt to
make a simple wheat granary of America, and after the
energies which followed American independence fully
established the fact that such a granary was within reach,
did not rather choose to take advantage of it, than fly to
others in India and in the Islands of the sea, far more remote
and far less obedient to the comities of trade. Did she

i34 our Tariff legislation.
scent the possibilities of American development and the rise
of a home market, which would absorb the annual agri
cultural product, or at least create a demand from which her
capital would shrink? A FIRST EXPERIMENT.
After the treaty of 1783 which closed the Revolutionary
war and established American Independence, up until 1789,
the date of the first American Tariff Act, the ports of this
country were open to the goods of all nations. Most of this
time (to 1787) was the era ofthe Confederacy. This period
was one during which the States were held together by very
weak ties, by " a rope of sand " as one historian has it.
They had conceded little in their " Articles of Confedera
tion," and had withheld entirely from the central government
the right to regulate their commerce. Each State strove to
secure trade for itself, and each imposed restrictions on
foreign commerce as it saw fit, or left them unimposed.
The consequence was that there was no concert of action.
The condition which arose was worse than a free-trade con
dition, for one State was sure to nullify the commercial
enactments of another, through jealousy or some other
motive. When Pennsylvania imposed a slight tariff on certain
classes of imports, New Jersey opened a free port at Bur
lington and flooded the city of Penn with smuggled goods.
When New Jersey voted to impose a general tariff New
York refused, and in revenge the free port of Paulus Hook
began to supply New York with non-dutiable imports.
Thus the States were a prey to one another. The states
men of the day saw how suicidal the policy, or rather, the
lack of policy, was, and there was no one source of weak
ness that seemed so fatal, nor the lack of any vital principle

Hon. Joseph N. Dolph.
Born in Watkins Co., New York, October 19, 1835; educated at
^Genesee Weslyan Seminary ; studied law and admitted to bar at Bing-
hamton in 1861; enlisted in the " Oregon Escort," 1862; same year
settled in Portland, Oregon ; City Attorney of Portland and U. S. Dis
trict Attorney of Oregon, 1864 ; elected to State Senate, 1866-68-72-74;
conducted a large law business; engaged in various business enterprises;
elected to the U. S. Senate, as a Republican, March 3, 1883; re-elected
January, 1889 ; served with distinction on Committees of Claims, Public
Lands, Commerce, Foreign Relations, Coast Defences; an earnest, elo
quent, ripened statesman, respected by the Senate and honored in his
State. (135)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 137
that impelled so powerfully toward a more perfect constitu
tion than this commercial discord. Not even the flat refusal
of New Jersey to comply with an Act of the Congress, nor
the open offence of Massachusetts in raising troops to crush
Shay's rebellion, affected the public mind so forcibly and
paved the way so directly toward a stronger central union,
as the quarrel between Virginia and Maryland as to com
mercial rights on the Chesapeake and Potomac. This last
brought the Annapolis convention in 1786. Hamilton,
Madison and Dickinson were there, and they saw no way
of preventing the subordination of the States to foreign in
fluence and their extinction as sovereign bodies, except by
creating a stronger central government and endowing it with
powers sufficient for the settlement of all such discords.
It seemed to require some such mighty exigency to
move the States to their second independence. There was
nothing so supreme as the thought that colonial independ
ence meant escape from a discriminative and ruinous com
mercial policy on the part of Great Britain. Search the
colonial debates through, and there is not one of moment
that does not inveigh against the efforts of England to en
rich herself at the expense of other nations, and to complete
her commercial and industrial supremacy by overriding
their protective systems and sapping their powers for com
petitive and independent existence. The Declaration of
Independence submits it to " a candid world " that Great
Britain meant to establish " an absolute tyranny over these
States " by " cutting off our trade with all parts of the world,"
and that among the foremost rights of a free people is the
right to " establish commerce."
Says a learned historian : " The most fatal defect of the
Articles of Confederation was absence of power to collect
revenue, regulate trade, encourage industry. The thoughts

138 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
of all our early statesmen were turned to this defect, which
to them was the more glaring, because of intimate acquaint
ance with the British system. So paramount was the
necessity for escape from industrial and commercial de
pendence, and so momentous was deemed the power to pro
tect ourselves that Washington confidently looked to the
trade regulations of a more efficient government as a means
of giving the country its proper weight in the scale of em
pires and, with a feeling foreign to his better nature, he
declared that such government " will surely impose retaliat
ing restrictions, to a certain degree, upon the trade of
England." The proceedings of the Continental Congress abound in
debates, resolutions and committees, having for their object
the promotion of home products and the development of
home resources. There seemed to be no question among
the leaders of thought, so far as the debates show, of the
right and duty of the government to foster industry by
legislative enactment, nor of the necessity for a new govern
ment endowed with ample power to provide revenue through
a tariff and at the same time protect its vital interests.
But while this was all so in the, minds of statesmen, the
inchoate States were afloat on the sea of discord. They had
industry, commerce, tariffs, in their own hands. There was
no uniform import law, and consequently none at all. One
State nullified the laws of another. They were, as Hamilton
said, "jarring, jealous and perverse, fluctuating and unhappy
at home, and weak by their dissensions in the eyes of other
nations." A prey to one another, they were the natural victims of
more knowing, designing, older, richer and advanced nations,
and especially that one which sought to revenge defeat of
arms by political segregation and commercial conquest,

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 139
With intelligence and the instinct of self-preservation arrayed
against free traffic with foreign nations, there existed the
hard compulsion of circumstances to render the States help
less. Depleted by a long war, with few factories, mills and
workshops, with limited means of recuperation, with thirteen
hostile systems of commercial independence, they were at
the entire mercy of the foreign merchant and manufacturer.
There was absolutely no law against importations. The era
was one of free-trade, uninterrupted by effective statute,
unimpaired by anything except ineffective sentiment.
The consequences must be faced. Says Carey : — " At the
close of the Revolution the trade of America was free and
unrestrained in the fullest sense of the term, according to
the theory of Adam Smith, Say, Ricardo, the ' Edinburgh
Reviewers ' and the authors of the ' Encyclopaedia.' Her
ports were open, with scarcely any duties, to the vessels
and merchandise of other nations." What befell ? As the
States were discordant, foreign powers passed laws as they
pleased to destroy our commerce. Nearly every foreign
nation shipped goods into the country and dumped them
promiscuously on our wharves. The consequences followed
which never fail to follow such a state of things. Competi
tion on the part of our manufacturers was at an end. They
were bankrupted and beggared. The merchants whose
importations had ruined them were involved in calamity.
Farmers, who had longed to buy foreign merchandise cheap,
went down in the vortex of general destruction.
Said a statesman of the day, " The people of America
went to war to improve their condition and throw off the
burdens which the colonial system laid on their industry.
And when their independence was attained they found it
was a piece of parchment. The arm which had struck for
it in the field was palsied in the workshop. The industry

140 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
which had been burdened in the colonies was crushed in the
free States. At the close of the revolution the mechanics
and manufacturers of the country found themselves, in the
bitterness of their hearts, independent — and ruined!'
Says Bancroft, of the year 1785, "It is certain that the
English have the trade of these States almost wholly in
their hands, whereby their influence must increase ; and a
constantly increasing scarcity of money begins to be felt,
since no ship sails to England without large sums of money
aboard, especially the English packet boats, which monthly
take with them between forty and fifty thousand pounds sterl
ing. The scarcity of money makes the produce ofthe country
cheap, to the disappointment of farmers and the discourage
ment of husbandry. Thus the two classes, the farmer and
the merchant, that divide nearly all America, are discon
tented and distressed."
Said Webster of this period, in a speech delivered in 1833,
" From the close ofthe war of the Revolution there came a
period of depression and distress on the Atlantic Coast, such
as the people had hardly felt during the crisis of the war
itself. Ship-owners, ship-builders, mechanics, artisans, all
were destitute of employment and some of them destitute
of bread. British ships came freely, and British ships came
plentifully ; while to American ships and American prod
ucts there was neither protection on the one side nor the
equivalent of reciprocal free-trade on the other. The
cheaper labor of England supplied the inhabitants of the
Atlantic shores with everything. Ready-made clothes,
among the rest, from the crown qf the head to the soles of
the feet, were for sale in every city. All these things came
free from any general system of imposts. Some of the
States attempted to establish their own partial systems, but
they failed,"

Hon. Fred. T. Dubois.
Born in Crawford co., 111., May 29, 1851; graduated at Yale, 1872;
Secretary of Board of Railway and Warehouse Commissioners of Illi
nois, 1875-76 ; moved to Idaho and entered business, 1880 ; United
States Marshal of Idaho, 1882-86 ; elected Delegate to 50th and 51st
Congresses ; elected, as Republican, to United States Senate, December
18, 1890; one of the youngest members of Senate; member of Com
mittees on Manufactures, Enrolled Bills, Immigration, Irrigation, Or
ganization and Expenditures of Executive Department.
(I42)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 143
There is no history of America covering this time but
what repeats the above views, over and over again, and if
anything, in still more lugubrious terms.
The situation simply affirmed what Lord Goderich said
in Parliament : — " Other nations know that what we English
mean by free-trade is nothing more nor less than, by means
of the great advantages we enjoy, to get the monopoly of
¦all the markets of other nations for our manufactures, and
to prevent them, one and all, from ever becoming manufac
turing nations."
With equal sincerity and emphasis David Syme, another
member of Parliament, declared : — " In any quarter of the
globe where competition shows itself as likely to interfere
with English monopoly, immediately the capital of her
manufacturers is massed in that particular . quarter, and
goods are exported there in large quantities, and sold at
such prices that outside competition is immediately counted
out. English manufacturers have been known to export
goods to a distant market and sell them under cost for years
with a view of getting the market into their own hands
again, and keep that foreign market, and step in' for the
whole when prices revive."
END OF THE FREE-TRADE ERA.
It became manifest to even the dullest mind that America
was about to lose her political independence in the mire of
industrial and commercial subserviency. Says Mason : —
" Depreciation seized upon every species of property.
Legal pressure to enforce payment of debts caused alarming
sacrifices of both personal and real-estate ; spread distress far
and wide among the masses of the people ; aroused in the
hearts of the sufferers the bitterest feelings against lawyers,
the courts and the whole creditor class ; led to a popular
7

144 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
clamor for stay-laws and various other radical measures of
supposed relief, and finally filled the whole land with excite
ment, apprehension and sense of weakness and a tendency
to despair of the Republic. Inability to pay even necessary
taxes became general, and often these could be collected
only by levy and sale of the homestead."
Figures began to pile up and to tell their awful tale. In
1784-85, imports from Great Britain alone swelled to
$30,000,000, while our exports reached barely $9,000,000.
In Hildreth's history we read : " The large importation of
foreign goods, subject to little or no duty, and sold at peace
prices, was proving ruinous to all those domestic manufac
tures and mechanical employments which the non-consump
tion agreements and the war had created and fostered.
Immediately after the peace, the country had been flooded
with imported goods, and debts had been unwarily con
tracted, for which there was no means to pay."
In Maine a Convention was held for the purpose of revolt
ing from Massachusetts on account of the prevailing distress.
In New Hampshire the people surrounded the Legislative
hall and declared the body should not adjourn till it passed
a measure to absolve the people from debt. Shay's rebellion
in Massachusetts was but: a protest against suffering on the
part ofthe people. In speaking of its causes Hildreth says :
— " The want of a certain and remunerative market for the
produce of the farmer, and the depression of domestic manu
factures by competition from abroad."
In Connecticut alone five hundred farms were offered for
sale to pay taxes. The condition was the same in Pennsyl
vania and the Carolinas. , Real estate found no market.
Debtors were compelled to close out at one-fourth the value
of their lands. Men distrusted one another. The best
securities were offered at half their face value.

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 145
At length the newspapers of the period, without regard to
party, began to clamor for change. Pamphleteers arose with^
out number, and joined in the cry of necessity for a change.
Merchants, business men, farmers, artisans, laborers echoed
the universal sentiment : — " We have had enough of free-
trade. It has but one meaning for America, and that is
utter neglect of ourselves and the forced sale of our ener
gies, opportunities and resources to the older and better
equipped nations. We have won political independence at
a cost of seven years of war, we have yet to win the still
longer battle for industrial and commercial independence,
or else the victory of foreign nations over us will be greater
than our recent victory over them."
Every one saw what was patent to John Stuart Mill, and
what he incorporated into his " Principles of Political Econ
omy," that : " What prevented the rapid recuperation of the
United States, after the peace of 1783, was the system of
free foreign trade, allowed to add its devastations upon in
dustry to those of the Revolution."
Educated by a dreadful experience, it became the convic
tion of all parties that^he power of industrial and commer-
- cial protection, so conspicuously and fatally absent in the
Articles of Confederation, must repose somewhere. No
other thought impelled more powerfully toward a Union of
States under a Federal Constitution. " Four causes," says
Bancroft, " above others, exercised a steady and commanding
influence. The New Republic, as one nation, must have
power to regulate its foreign commerce ; to colonize tis large
domain ; to provide an adequate revenue ; to establish justice
in domestic trade by prohibiting the separate States from
impairing the obligation of contracts."
From this time on till the Constitution became a fact,
September 17, 1787, or rather, until the Government became

146 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
a fact, April 30, 1789, a unanimous political and business
sentiment persistently and eloquently urged a stronger
government, imbued with the paternal instinct, able and will
ing to defend and encourage home industries and interests.
State responded to State in this behalf; statesmen echoed
the complaints and arguments of statesmen. Every politi
cal school joined in the pleas for industrial and commercial
independence. One of the most assuring phases of the
situation was the entire unanimity of artificers, mechanics
and working men, who gathered in large assemblies, and by
means of public speeches, whose logic was even more forci
ble than those of learned statesmen, and by printed resolu
tions of great vigor and aptness, demanded exemption from
the degrading and ruinous competition forced upon them by
the free and inordinate influx of foreign goods, upon whose
manufacture they depended for a living.
Under these auspices the New Constitution took shape,
and Clause 1 of Section VIII. provided that " Congress
shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts
and excises, and to pay the debts and provide for the
common defence and general welfare^of the United States."
In order to achieve what was equally important in an in
dustrial and commercial sense, viz., perfect interchange of
goods and products between the States themselves, or in
other words " free-trade " between all the inhabitants of the
Union, it was ordained that Congress should never have the
power to levy " a tax or duty on articles exported from any
State." Thus endowed, the New Government started on its career.
The writers of the Federalist, Hamilton, Madison and others,
saw in the above clauses sufficient power to remedy the
evils complained of, and they eloquently assured their coun-

Hon. James 'A George.

Born in Monroe co., Ga., October 20,1826; moved to Mississippi
when young ; participated in Mexican war ; studied law and admitted
to practice in Carroll co. ; elected Reporter of Appellate Court, 1854
and 1860 ; reported ten volumes of reports and published a digest of
decisions ; member of Secession Convention, 1861 ; Brigadier-General
in Confederate army; Chairman of Democratic State Executive Com
mittee, 1875-76 ; appointed a Judge of State Supreme Court, 1879 ;
elected Chief- Justice; elected to United States Senate, 1881; re-elected
1886 and 1892 ; member ef the Mississippi Constitutional Convention,
1890; member of Committees on Agriculture, Education and Labor,
Judiciary, Transportation, etc. (148)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 149
trymen that the protection they demanded for their infant in
dustries could now be given beyond doubt.
Says Bishop : " That the productive classes regarded the
Constitution of 1787 as conferring the power and right of
protection to the infant manufactures of the country is mani
fest from the jubilant feeling excited in various quarters
upon the public ratification of that instrument."
THE FIRST TARIFF ACT.
The first petition presented to the First Congress, in
March, 1789, came from 700 mechanics and tradesmen of
Baltimore. It lamented the decline of manufactures since
the Revolution, and prayed that the efficient Government
with which they were, for the first time, blessed, would
render the country " independent in fact as well as in name "
by early attention to the encouragement and protection of
American manufactures and by imposing on " all foreign
articles which could not be made in America such duties as
would give a decided preference to their labors!'
Leagues of artisans and tradesmen, merchants and manu
facturers were formed in all the leading cities and industrial
centres, for the purpose of urging on Congress an early in
terpretation of the new powers conferred by the Constitu
tion in the interest of industry and commerce. Charleston
shipwrights followed the Baltimore artisans with a powerful
petition to the First Congress. Similar petitions came in
from Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
As already stated, the universal sentiment of ihe hour
was that the Constitution gave Congress ample power to
regulate commerce by a tariff for revenue, for protection or
for prohibition, as the case might be. The words " for the
regulation of commerce" had a well-understood meaning
among American statesmen. They were the words used in

150 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
English enactments when like objects were in view and
when like powers were conferred, and they had been in
terpreted so often both on the bench and in actual practice
that rational dissent to their meaning was out of the ques
tion. Hamilton, Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Monroe, ac
corded perfectly as to the nature of the power and the ob
ject of the clause. Gallatin said that on his entrance into
public life he found but one sentiment respecting the clause
among statesmen. There was then no such objection as
afterwards arose, and still exists, and which is to the effect
that a power to raise revenue by a tariff does not carry the
power to protect home manufactures and industries.
Said Washington in his first annual message, " The safety
and interest of a free people require that they promote such
manufactures as tend to render them independent of others
for essentials, particularly military supplies."
The question of a tariff was thus injected into the First
Congress, and became the first theme for discussion. It was
a Congress which embraced many farmers, merchants and
manufacturers, an industrial rather than professional Con
gress, though, of course, containing many illustrious lawyers
and statesmen. That first great question thrust upon it has
survived all others, and is as momentous to-day as ever.
The other class of questions which drew fiercer, but not
more learned, discussion, such as nullification, the national
bank, slavery, secession, reconstruction, has happily found a
grave. After the passage of a bill regulating the oath of office,
the Congress took up the tariff bill, and it became the first
general Act of the First Congress. Its preamble fore
shadowed its purport : " Whereas, it is necessary for the
support of the Government, for the discharge of the debt
of the United States, and for the encouragement and pro-

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 151
tection of manufactures, that duties be laid on imported
goods, therefore be it enacted," etc.
This preamble drew no dissent. Statesmen North and
South gave it sanction. The bill itself drew the widest
range of debate, and the learning brought into the discus
sion of its merits has never been surpassed in considering
the same subject, though of course facts, statistics and ex
perience have changed the lines of argument, and remodelled
theories. This learning not only bore on all the economic
phases of the question, as then understood, but it was ex
haustive of the principle that the Constitution designed to
secure to the infant manufactures and struggling industries
of the country the protection they needed against the riper
experience and cheaper labor of Europe.
The debates upon this bill were not as to the necessity
for protection, nor as to the fact that the legislation pro
posed was or was not in principle the best for the purpose.
They were rather upon the question of general method of
procedure, and as to whether or not the States might be
robbed of some of their reserved rights if too liberal a con
struction were thus early put upon the Constitution. The
question of what rate of duty would raise the required
revenue and what would insure the needed protection was
also a novel one and the subject of animated discussion, as
it broke entirely new ground, and was beyond the range of
all precedents and experience. Among the leading debaters
were James Madison, Richard Henry Lee, Charles Carroll,
Rufus King, Oliver Ellsworth, Fisher Ames, Roger Sher
man, James Trumbull, and others, and these all impressed
their genius and wisdom on the First American Tariff Act.
The Act became a law by the signature of Washington,
affixed July 4, 1789. The rates of duty provided by the
Act were, in modern acceptation, ridiculously low, yet as

152 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
the legislation was entirely experimental, and as there were
no precedents to steer by, there was general acquiescence in
the provisions, not only as insuring revenue but as estab
lishing protection. The class of articles subjected to duty
is the best guide to the spirit of the Act. It imposed the
highest duties on those manufactures and industries which
were deemed most in need and most worthy of encourage
ment. They embraced the iron and steel of Pennsylvania ;
the glass of Maryland ; the cotton, indigo and tobacco of
the Southern States ; the wool, leather, paper and fisheries
of the Eastern States. There was hardly an article intro
duced into it whose freedom from foreign competition had
not been petitioned for, and the desirability of whose home
growth or manufacture had not been made clear to the
majority in Congress.
A powerful spur to the passage of this Act had been the
oft-repeated boast of Great Britain that while America had
achieved political independence, it had been reconquered
commercially, and was a more abject and useful appendage
than before. It was therefore quite natural that the friends
of the Act, and those who hoped most from its provisions,
should regard it as in the nature of a second Declaration
of Independence, and as far more valuable to the Govern
ment and the people for the spirit it evinced and the possi
bilities it contained, than for the rates of duty it established.
This Act was followed the next year, 1790, by Hamilton's
lengthy and able report upon " Commerce and Manufac
tures." This report was designed to emphasize the prin
ciple of protective legislation. It embraced all the learning
and experience of the older nations bearing upon the sub
ject, and it served the purpose of reconciling an almost
universal party sentiment to the operations of the Act of
1789, while it more than ever committed the budding nation

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 15;
to the doctrine he advocated. It was in this report that he
enunciated the principle which protectionists of to-day claim
to be fully proved by experience, to wit, that internal compe
tition is an effectual corrective of monopoly, and in the end
tends to a lower scale of prices for protected manufactures
than prevailed for foreign. His interpretation of the powers
conferred on the Government by the clause of the Consti
tution relating to taxes, revenue and the common defence
has been accepted by all political" parties, and it now pre
vails without regard to party lines.
This Act of 1789 and this report of 1790 form the begin
ning of an historic and practical protective era in the United
States. It was an era which lasted, under varying condi
tions, which we shall note, up until 18 16.
The previous session of the First Congress had been an
extra one. It was now, January 4, 1790, in First Regular
Session at Philadelphia and had received Hamilton's cele
brated report. Federals and Anti-Federals divided over the
payment of the debts, especially those of the States, and the
doctrine of open or close construction of the Constitution
was fast shaping up political lines. However, there was
very little division of sentiment on the propriety of increas
ing the rates of duty provided by the Act of July 4, 1789,
and they were increased by the Act of August 10, 1790,
which went into effect January 1, 1791.
During the Second Session of the First Congress, which
opened October 24, 1791, at Philadelphia, there was much
excitement owing to opposition to the Excise Laws of the
previous session and the rebellion against them in Pennsyl
vania, known as the " Whiskey Rebellion." The animosities
thus aroused served to widen the gap between the Federals
and Anti-Federals, but not enough to defeat further tariff
legislation. The Act of May 2, 1792, was passed without

154 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
much difficulty. It took effect July 1, 1792, and it increased
the ad valorem rates of duty from 2j4 to $ per cent. This
was the third Tariff Act in three years, and the drift of legisla
tion was in favor of higher and more protective duties.
During the First Session of the Third Congress which
met December 2, 1793, party lines became still more distinct
over matters of tariff legislation. The Anti-Federals had
now taken the name of Republicans, and, though without a
definite policy of their own, found means of coherence and
growth in opposing Federal doctrines. Yet it was a com
paratively easy matter to pass the Tariff Act of June 7, 1794,
which took effect July 1, 1794. All parties were agreed as
to the necessity of providing additional revenue, which the
increased ad valorem rates in the Act were designed to
secure. All parties were also agreed that a tariff was the
quietest and easiest way of attaining such revenue, and the
Anti-Federals, or Republicans, who had violently opposed
the excise laws, were even more fully. committed to a tariff
as a revenue measure than the Federals. They, however,
began to draw the line when the doctrine of protection was
broached. Not all, of course, but a few whose strict con
struction notions dominated their economic views.
The next tariff legislation was the Act of May 13, 1800,
which took effect July 1, 1800. This legislation was not
difficult and was still in the line of protective duties. It
raised the duties on sugar half a cent a pound and on silks
2*/% per cent.
On March 26, 1 804, an amended Tariff Act was passed
which took effect July 1, 1804. It must be remembered
that now the country had undergone a political revolution,
that the Republicans were in power in Congress and that
Jefferson was President. Yet the Tariff Act of 1804 was in
the line of increased duties.

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 155
All the Acts thus far were amendatory of the original Act
of 1789, and were helpful of the provisions and operations
of that Act. As sufficient time had elapsed to form opinions
of the workings of that Act, or in other words, to witness
the effects of incorporating protective tariff legislation into
our institutions, it will be profitable to turn to the sentiment
of the times respecting it.
In his seventh annual message, Washington said : — " Our
agriculture, commerce and manufactures prosper beyond
example. Every part of the Union displays indications of
rapid and various improvement, and with burdens so light
as scarcely to be perceived."
John Adams in his last annual message said : — " I observe
with much satisfaction that the product of the revenue dur
ing the present year is more considerable than at any former
period." Thomas Jefferson in his second annual message said : —
" To protect the manufactures adapted to our circumstances
is one of the land-marks by which we should guide our
selves." The provisions of the Act of 1789 and its amendments
had, in their practical workings, so far exceeded expecta
tions, that in 1806 Jefferson found the revenues more than
ample for the requirements of the Government. In speak
ing of the surplus he said in his sixth annual message : —
'' Shall we suppress the imposts and give that advantage to
foreign over our domestic manufactures ? On a few articles
of more general and necessary use, the suppression, in due
season, will doubtless be right, but the great mass of the
articles on which imposts are laid are foreign luxuries,
purchased only by the rich, who can afford themselves the
use of them."
In 1809 he wrote to Humphrey thus : — " My own idea is

156 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
that we should encourage home manufactures to the extent
of our own home consumption of everything of which we
raise the raw materials."
Said Madison in his special message of May 23, 1809: —
" It will be worthy of the just and provident care of Congress
to make such further alterations in the laws as will more
especially protect and foster the several branches of manu
factures which have been recently instituted or extended by
the laudable exertions of our citizens."
Says Harriman in writing of the Tariff of 1789: — "Agri
culture became more extensive and prosperous ; Commerce
increased with wonderful rapidity ; old industries were re
vived and many new ones established ; our merchant navy
revived and multiplied; all branches of domestic trade pros
pered; our revenues exceeded the wants of government;
the people became contented and industrious ; the whole
country was on the high road to wealth and prosperity."
THE EMBARGO AND TARIFF OF l8l2.
Now while many provisions in the Tariff Acts up to 1808
embraced the protective doctrine, such as duties on hemp,
cordage, glass, nails, salt and various manufactures of iron,
as has been noted the duties were low, according to present
standards. Protection of the textiles and of unmanufactured
iron had not been much thought of. But they were soon
to draw attention and become the great subjects of the pro
tective controversy.
The year 1808 marks a turning-point in the industrial
history of our country. The Berlin and Milan decrees of
Napoleon and the English Orders in Council led to the
Embargo Act of December, 1807. The Non-Intercourse
Act followed it in 1809. War was declared against Great

Hon. Kandall L. Gibson.
Born in Woodford co., Ky., September 10, 1832; graduated at Yale
and from Law Department of Tulane University; entered Confederate
service and rose to rank of Division Commander; acquired a large law
practice,, and engaged in planting ; elected to 43d Congress, but denied
admission ; elected to 44th, 45th, 46th and 47th Congresses ; elected, as
Democrat, to United States Senate, 1882, and re-elected 1 888 ; one of
trustees of Peabody Fund, and a Regent of Smithsonian Institution ;
member of Committees on Agriculture, Commerce, Naval Affairs, Trans
portation, etc. (157)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 159
Britain in 18 12. On July 1, 18 12, the Tariff Act was passed,
which became a law immediately.
The passage of this Act was strongly urged by Madison
in his message to the Twelfth Congress : — " As a means to
preserve and promote the manufactures which have sprung
into existence and attained an unparalleled maturity through
out the United 'States during the period of the European
wars." The younger leaders of the Republican party took
up Madison's request and were prepared to go to any length
to grant it. Calhoun and Lowndes joined their logic to
Clay's eloquence in favor of the doctrine that protection to
home industries should no longer occupy a place secondary
to the revenue idea. South Carolina became the highest
protection State in the Union, England having levied a duty
on raw cotton. The entire Republican party swung away
from its strict construction notions and became such liberal
interpreters as that they quoted with the utmost favor the
report of Hamilton upon which the earlier Tariff Acts were
based. The Federals were dazed with the situation, and,
failing to see anything good in their opponents, quite forgot
their own traditions, and swung, under the lead of Webster,
quite to the anti-protection side of the controversy.
Out ofthe confused situation came the "American Idea"
and the Whig party, which was Clay's outlet from the strict
construction columns. The Tariff Act of the session — a Re
publican, or, as some have it, a Democratic Act — marks
the highest rates of duty reached from the foundation
of the government up till 1842. It practically doubled the
rates existing before. Sugar went from 2^ cents per pound
to 5 cents; coffee from 5 cents to 10 cents; tea from 18
cents to 36; pig iron from 17^ per cent, to 30 per cent.;
bar iron from 17^ per cent, to 30; glass from 22^ per
cent, to 40; manufactures of cotton from 17^ per cent, to

160 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
30; woolens from 17 per cent, to 30; silk from 15 per cent
to 25.
The Embargo Act of 1808, the Non-Intercourse Act of
1 809, and the highly protective Tariff Act of 1 8 1 2, constituted
a series of restrictive measures which had the efficacy of
prohibitive duties. They gave an enormous stimulus to all
branches of industry whose products had "before been im
ported. Establishments for the manufacture of cottons,
woolens, iron, glass, pottery and other articles, sprang up
as if by magic. The success of this extreme protection
formed the basis of that powerful movement which subse
quently became the heritage of the Whig party, and which
had for its object the decided limitation of foreign competi
tion both as to manufactures and commerce.
TARIFF ACT OF l8l6.
The logic ofthe Tariff Act of 1816 is not understood by
economists, nor can it be accounted for by any one except
upon the theory that having passed through a war, the
country would probably settle back into some such condi
tion as existed prior to 1808. The controlling element in
Congress was still the young element, the element respon
sible for the war and therefore responsible for its results.
They had proven themselves avowed protectionists by the
passage of the Tariff Act of 1 8 1 2, and by the favor with which
they regarded the new manufactures which had arisen.
They were still willing to assist them, for they clung to fair
duties in the Act of April 27, 18 16, on those goods in
which the most interest was felt, as in textile fabrics.
But here the fatality which overhung the Act came in.
Cotton and woolen goods were to pay a duty of 25 per cent.
— a protective duty — till 1 8 19. After that they were to pay
20 per cent. On some other classes of goods the duties

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 161
were decreased directly, on others increased. As to the
textiles, Calhoun urged strongly the argument in favor of
protecting young industries, and at the same time limiting
the protection, after a period when they ought to be on their
feet. As a whole the Act of 1816 was protective, but it looked
to a period only three years off, when it would no longer be
so. This was its misfortune. It prepared foreign nations
for our market. Though our breadstuff's, provisions, cotton
and every product of the soil were high in price; though
wages and rents were high ; the currency was very weak
and unsettled. Home competition had reduced the price
of our manufactured products. The manufacturers of Great
Britain found their warehouses bursting with wares. They
looked with awe on the American situation, which revealed
to them the fact that our home industries had robbed them
of a market. This must not be. Those industries are only
tentative. By 18 19, when the duties of 18 16 reach their
minimum, they can no longer survive. We will begin the
crushing process now. Said Lord Brougham in the House
of Commons, " It is well worth while to incur a loss upon
our first exportation, in order, by the glut, to stifle in the
cradle, those infant manufactures in the United States, which
the war has forced into existence."
Great Britain began to unload her surplus manufactures
upon our shores at far below cost. They were goods that
were not new, nor fashionable, nor in demand at home. The
protective features of the Act of 1816 were insufficient to
stay the flood. More than twice the quantity were imported
that could be consumed. Great depression in business set
in. Bankruptcy became general. The near approach of
1819, when the minimum rates of duty should go into effect,
but encouraged the inflow of foreign products. Says

16? OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
Thomas H. Benton, " No price for property; no sales ex
cept those of the sheriff and marshal; no purchasers at
execution sales save the creditor or some money hoarder;
no employment for industry ; no sale for the products of the
farm ; no sound of the hammer save that of the auctioneer
knocking down property. Distress was the universal cry
ofthe people; relief, the universal demand, was thundered
at the doors of Legislatures, State and Federal." ¦
This condition of affairs appalled Congress and brought
about the Tariff Act of 1818, which simply extended the
already ineffective provisions ofthe Act of 18 16 for a period
of seven years and placed some few free articles on the duti
able list. It did not prove remedial to the extent expected
and the panic of 1817-19 extended over a period of several
years. TARIFF ACT OF I 824.
The sad condition of affairs, before described, rendered
relief necessary. The liberal side of the Republican party
held the ascendant in the Eighteenth Congress, December
1, 1823, and elected Clay Speaker of the House. In his
message, President Monroe not only announced the cele
brated " Monroe Doctrine," but inclined to the popular
faction of his party on matters of protection and internal
revenue. He urgently recommended " additional protection
to those articles which we are prepared to manufacture."
A bill was framed and debated for two months. Calhoun
who had deserted Clay, Daniel Webster and John Randolph,
led the free-trade forces. Andrew Jackson and James
Buchanan were among the strongest advocates of the bill.
It did not fix rates as high as the Act of 1812, but it recog
nized the doctrine of protection more distinctly than any
former Act. The strict constructionists urged their old
argument against the constitutionality of protection and, for

Hon. Nathan Goff.
Born in Clarksburg, W. Va., October 9, 1834; educated at N. W.
Virginia Academy, Georgetown College, and University of New York ;
entered Union army (1861) in 3d Regiment W. Va. Volunteers; Mnjor
of 4th Va. Cavalry, 1863 ; admitted to bar, 1865 ; elected to W. Va.
Legislature, 1868; appointed District Attorney and resigned, in 1881,
to accept the Secretaryship of Navy under Garfield ; re-appointed U. S.
District Attorney for W. Va. in 1881; resigned same in 1882; elected
to Congress, as Republican, in 1884 and 1886; candidate for Governor
of State and elected, but unseated in disputed contest ; a graceful orator,
strong debater, and prominent Republican leader.
(163)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 165
the first time in our history, supplemented it with the argu
ment that a protective tariff was unfair to the South. As
the lines shaped up they presented almost a solid array of
Southern against a solid array of Northern States.
The bill passed by a close vote, May 22, 1824, and it
fully engrafted the " American System " on our national
politics. It fixed a duty on sugar of 3 cents per pound ;
coffee, 5 cents; tea, 25 cents; salt, 20 cents; pig-iron, 20
per cent. ; bar-iron, $30 per ton ; glass, 30 per cent: and 3
cents a pound ; manufactures of cotton, 25 per cent. ; wool
ens, 30 per cent. ; silk, 25 per cent.
The financial and industrial situation responded promptly
to this Act. There was such a pronounced betterment of
affairs that the friends of the Act were encouraged to try
their hand at further legislation in the line of protection.
TARIFF OF 1828.
In the Twentieth Congress the Democrats (formerly Re
publicans) were in a majority. They were divided, how
ever, over a Protective Tariff. Those of the Northern States
united with the National Republicans (Whigs) and brought
about the Tariff Act of May 19, 1828. ' It was largely a
Jackson measure, who had carried New York, Pennsylvania
and Illinois, on his protective tariff record.
This Act of 1828 had little peculiar about it, except that
it increased the duty on woolens and few raw materials, in
cluding wool. Yet it proved to be one of the most moment
ous Tariff Acts in our history. (1) It emphasized the
"American Idea" by introducing protection in every change
of the Act of 1824. (2) It was the turning-point of the
hitherto hostile New England sentiment, Webster having
changed ground and entered on its advocacy. (3) The
South entirely sectionalized its opposition to it, and justified

166 .¦ OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
nullification of it as a blow at the planting interests, as a dis
crimination against unpaid labor, and as unconstitutional.
Of the operations ofthe two protective Acts of 1824 and
1828, Jackson said in his message of 1832 : — Our country
presents on every side marks of prosperity and happiness,
unequalled perhaps in any portion of the world." Webster
said : — " The relief was profound and general, reaching all
classes — farmers, manufacturers, ship-owners, mechanics,
day laborers." Clay said : — " If the term of seven years
were selected to measure the greatest prosperity of this
people since the establishment of the Constitution, it would
be exactly that period of seven years which immediately
followed the passage of the Tariff Act of 1824."
TARIFF ACT OF I 832.
The Tariff Act of 1828 led to bitter party and sectional
turmoil. The South was bitterly opposed to it. It had be
come a kind of fashion to prepare for a National Campaign
by amending the Tariff Act. An Act passed May, 1 830,
which scaled considerably the rates of duty of the Act of
1828, proved unsatisfactory, because it did not eliminate the
protective features of that Act. The nullifying sentiment of
the South demanded the repudiation of the protective policy
and the affirmation of the free-trade policy by the govern
ment. It was a powerful sentiment and must be appeased,
else Jackson could not hope to succeed himself.
Hence the Tariff Act of 1832, which reduced the rates of
duty considerably and placed coffee and tea on the free list
It failed of its purpose, because it contained no repudiation
of the protective idea. Nullification set in all the same and
South Carolina, November 19, 1832, declared the Tariff Acts
of 1828 and 1832 "null and void."

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 167
TARIFF ACT OF I 833.
The Twenty-second Congress — December 3, 1832 — at its
second session, had to meet the question of Nullification. It
passed the "Force Bill," which enabled Jackson to collect
the duties under the Act of 1832, and then it changed the
tenor of the Act by the Compromise Act introduced by
Henry Clay, passed March 2, 1833, and designed to show
to the nullifiers that the protectionists were not necessarily
their enemies. It had the weakness of all compromises, and
was immediately heralded by the nullifiers as their vindica
tion, as a surrender of the " American System " and as a
justification of South Carolina. It did not enact anything
affirmatively, but took the tariff of 1832 as a basis, and
scaled its rates by biennial reductions, till at the end of ten
years a uniform rate of not exceeding 20 per cent, should pre
vail. This was ingenious and gradual repeal of a protective
Act and a practical abandonment of the protective principle.
It was notice to the people and was accepted as such by all
foreign countries, that the United States had repudiated its
earlier policy of protection. Henceforth the tariff was fully
afloat on the sea of politics.
A very few biennial reductions brought the rates of the
tariff of 1832 to where they were no longer protective, and
there came an inundation of foreign goods as in 1817-19.
Financial depression followed. Prices fell; production
diminished ; workmen became idle ; farm products found no
market ; public revenue fell off 25 per cent. ; the government
had to borrow at a ruinous discount in order to pay current
expenses. The nation was in the midst of the Calamitous
panic of 1837 — worse even than that of 1818-19. Aside
from the moral strain of the disaster, the money loss was
estimated at $1,000,000,000.

168 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
TARIFF OF I842.
The drift of popular sentiment was entirely away from
Van Buren, 1837-1841. The Whigs took the lead and
nominated William Henry Harrison, in December, 1839,
without a platform. The Democrats renominated Van
Buren in May, 1840, and placed him on an elaborate plat
form which contained the plank : — " Justice and sound
policy forbids the government to foster one branch of indus
try to the detriment of another, or one section to the injury
of another." It also contained a plank which read : — " The
Constitution does not confer the right on the government
to carry on a system of internal improvements."
Harrison was elected President and the Congress had a
Whig majority of six in the Senate and twenty-five in the
House. Harrison died in just one month after his inaugura
tion, April 4, 1841, and Tyler became President. It was
well known that he was not a protectionist. The Whigs
enacted the Tariff Act of August 30, 1842, in obedience to
a popular demand. The debates on it were acrimonious
and, as to the opponents, involved the old arguments of
1828 and 1832, against the constitutionality of protection
and the right to nullify an Act of Congress. It passed,
however, and President Tyle. vetoed it, giving as a reason
that it violated the compromise of 1833, which, as to pro
tection and revenue, was to run till 1842, and, as to non-dis
crimination against the planting interests, was practically
without time. This Act contained pronounced protective
features. Another Act was passed, without protective feat
ures, but with a clause providing for the distribution of any
surplus that might arise to the States. This too was vetoed.
A third Act was passed without the surplus clause. This
became the Tariff Act of August 10, 1842.

Hon. John B. Gordon.
Born in Upson co., Ga., February 6, 1832; educated at University of
Georgia; read law and admitted to bar; entered Confederate army and
rose to rank of Major-General; wounded eight times; Democratic
Candidate for Governor of Georgia, 1868 ; Presidential Elector for
State-at-Large, 1868 and 1872 ; elected to U. S. Senate, as a Democrat,
1872; re-elected to Senate, 1879; elected Governor of State, 1886; re
elected, 1888; re-elected U. S. Senator, 1890; member of Committees
on Civil Service, Coast Defences, Railroads, Territories and Transpor
tation. (170)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 171
It found, under the operation of the Scaling Act of 1833,
a uniform duty of 20 per cent. This it changed, by raising
cotton goods to 30 per cent.; woolens to 40 per cent.;
silks to $2.50 per pound ; bar-iron to $25 per ton ; pig-iron
to $9 per ton ; sugar to 2% cents per pound. Tea and
coffee remained free. Clay and Calhoun, who were
together in the Compromise of 1833, were antagonists over
this Act of 1842. This was the Twenty-seventh Congress.
The Act of 1842 was so shorn of its original features that
it could scarcely be called protective, but such as it was it
sufficed to lift the cloud of depression and introduce an era
of prosperity which had not been witnessed since 1832.
Business revived. Factories began to operate. Customs
receipts rose and put the Government in possession of much
needed revenue. Labor sprang into demand. Farm pro
duce rose in price. A large demand arose for iron, wool,
cotton, coal, and through competition in manufactures, and
the introduction of labor-saving machinery, the prices of
manufactured articles were cheaper than ever before. Roads,
canals, ships, returned a profit. Corporations, States, and
even the general Government, rose from bankruptcy to high
credit. Said President Polk in his message of 1846, "Labor
in all its branches is receiving ample reward. The progress
of our country in resources and wealth and in the happy
condition of our people, is without example in the history
of nations." THE TARIFF ACT OF 1 846.
The National Whig Convention of 1844 introduced this
plank into its platform : — " A tariff for revenue, discriminat
ing with reference to protection of domestic labor." The
Democrats reaffirmed their opposition to protection, as in
the platform of 1840, though they went to the country on

172 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
the cry of " Polk, Dallas and the/Tariff of 1842." The elec
tion of Polk and a Democratic House favored the passage,
in the Twenty-ninth Congress, of a Tariff Act which should
repeal or modify that of 1842, for it was known that the
South was bent on such repeal. But northern Democrats
refused to bow to the situation. Debate took a sectional
turn. Northern Democrats pleaded the promises of the
campaign, not to interfere with the Tariff of 1842. They
were overruled. The Act of July 30, 1846, passed the
House, which had a Democratic majority of 61 votes. In
the Senate, which had a Democratic majority of five, it met
with a tie, and the tie was broken by the casting vote of
George M. Dallas, Vice-President, who voted in favor of the
measure. The Act of 1846 reduced the rates of 1842, from
5 to 25 per cent., introduced the theory of general advalorem
duties, and affirmed the doctrine of revenue without incident
protection. It was a disappointing Act to Northern Demo
crats and Whigs, and while it was far removed from the
promises of the campaign, it nevertheless fitted in with the
National platform.
While the reduced tariff of 1846, and the means by which
such reduction was secured, led to that revulsion of public
sentiment which culminated in the Whig successes of 1848,
the country happily escaped for a time the disasters which
had followed, quickly and inevitably, former tariff reduc
tions. The Mexican war (1846-48) created an extra demand for
munitions and supplies estimated at over $100,000,000.
The discovery of gold in California (1849) increased the
demand for labor, agricultural products, mining materials
and shipping; and sent for ten years $55,000,000 a year in
gold into the country.
The European countries were in revolution (1848-51).

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 173
Their agricultural and manufacturing industries were para
lyzed. They could not export ; on the contrary required
food supplies.
The Crimean war followed, involving all Europe, and
creating an extraordinary demand for American breadstuff's.
The Irish famine occurred and added to the demand for
additional breadstuffs.
From 1846 to 1856 these adventitious aids to the indus
tries and trade ofthe United States proved to be better than
any protective agency that might have been sought through
forms of tariff laws. But unfortunately they were foreign
to sober enactment and any economic principle. They came
and went without regard to our domestic situation, our com
fort or discomfort, our weal or woe.
By 1854 the true economic condition began to assert
itself. Foreign imports reappeared in our marts in amazing
quantities and at demoralizing prices. The crises abroad
being over, our exports declined. Manufactories suspended
operations, being unable to compete with the supply from
abroad. In 1848 the" national Democratic platform contained a
plank denouncing a Tariff, except for revenue, and hailing
" the noble impulse given to the cause of free-trade by the
repeal of the tariff of 1842, and the creation of the more
equal, honest and productive tariff of 1846." The Whigs
did not adopt a platform.
The National Democratic platform of 1852 reaffirmed that
of 1848, in great part; and that of the Whigs affirmed " a
tariff for revenue with suitable encouragement to American
industry." The Democratic platform of 1856 contained the plank : —
"That the time has come for the people of the United

174 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
States to declare themselves in favor of free seas and pro
gressive free trade throughout the world."
The new Republican party did not introduce a tariff plank
into its platform of 1856.
THE TARIFF ACT OF 1857.
In the Thirty-fourth Congress, December 5, 1855, the
Democrats had a majority of 9 in the Senate, but their
magnificent majority in the previous House was turned into
a medley of straight Democrats, pro-slavery Whigs, Know-
Nothings and Anti-Nebraska men. Owing to the Kansas-
Nebraska troubles, the Congress was not a dispassionate
body. While it showed a spirit of generosity in encourag
ing railroad enterprise and grants of public lands, it swung
without apparent cause, and in the face of solemn admoni
tions, clear over to a free-trade policy, and under existing
circumstances struck the country a cruel blow on the very
last day of its Second Session, March 3, 1857. This is the
date of the Tariff Act of that year. The only excuse offered
for its passage was the redundancy of revenue. This was
almost instantaneously met by a flood of importations, for
the Act reduced duties along the entire line of imports of
leading articles, almost to such rates as had prevailed before
the war of 1812, and had prevailed at no time since, except
at the end of the sliding scale in 1 841, as provided in the
Compromise Act of 1833.
As had ever been, the already tottering industries were
struck with paralysis, and there occurred an exhaustive out
pour of specie to foreign parts. Within six months of the
passage of the Act the country was in the midst of distress
ing panic. No branch of industry escaped the disaster.
Ruin was deep and universal. Ere it ceased there were
5,123 commercial failures. The government was compefted

Hon. Isham G. Harris.
Born in Franklin Co., Tenn. ; educated at Winchester Academy; ad
mitted to bar at Paris, Tenn., 1841 ; elected as Democrat to State Legis
lature, 1847; elected to Congress as Democrat to represent Ninth Con
gressional District, 1849 ; re-elected in 1851; moved to Memphis and
continued law practice ; elected Governor of State in 1857, 1859 and
1861 ; served during war as Aid to Commanding General of Confederate
Army of Tennessee ; resumed law practice at Memphis, 1867 ; elected
to United States Senate in 1876; re-elected, 1883 and 1889; an able
debater, earnest statesman of the strict-construction school, and popular
with his constituents. 076)

Hon. Michael D. Harter.
Born at Canton, O., April 6, 1846; educated as a banker and manu
facturer ; an ardent advocate of economic reforms, and an able writer
and speaker upon financial and industrial subjects; opposed to class
legislation and to a debased currency ; elected to 51st Congress, as a
Democrat, for 15th Ohio District, by a majority of 3800 votes; re-elected
to 52d Congress; distinguished in the debates of the Congress, and in
shaping legislation ; a studious, conservative, but courageous man, pre
ferring the intelligent and sensible in politics to the sensational and
temporary, and therefore a rational rather than radical factor in his
party. (177)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 179
to borrow money for necessary expenses at a discount of
eight to ten per cent. Up to 1861 the public debt increased
$46,000,000, and during the same time the expenditures
exceeded the receipts by $77,234, 1 1 6. President Buchanan,
in his annual message, said : " With unsurpassed plenty in
all the productions and all the elements of natural wealth,
our manufacturers have suspended; our public works are
retarded; our private enterprises of different kinds are
abandoned ; thousands of useful laborers are thrown out of
employment and reduced to want. We have possessed all
the elements of material wealth in rich abundance, and yet,
notwithstanding all these advantages, our country, in its
monetary interests, is in a deplorable condition."
TARIFF ACT OF l86l.
The Democratic platform of i860 affirmed that of 1856.
The Republican platform favored a revenue for duties, with
such adjustment of them as would " develop the industries
ofthe whole country."
By the withdrawal of members from the Thirty-sixth
Congress, to follow the seceding States, the Republicans
came into a strong majority during the second session, met
December 3, i860. They improved their opportunity by
the passage of the Tariff Act of March 2, 1861. The Act
was natural to the party and the situation. It increased
duties all along the line of imports, and reintroduced the
protective principle which had prevailed with slight modifi
cation from 1789 to 1832, and from 1842 to 1846. It is
needless here to inquire into the rates of duty established
by this tariff. They differed radically from those imposed
in the Act of 1857, and were so laid as to best effect the
object of revenue, which was then, or soon would be, greatly

1S0 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
needed, and at the same time apply and confirm the doctrine
of protection, as to labor, manufactures and a home market.
The war of the Rebellion helped to sanction this Act to
the popular will and universal need. It was amended by
the Act of December 24, 1861, so as to increase the revenues.
It was still further amended by the Act of June 30, 1864,
which increased rates of duty, and made them more protec
tive. There was another amendment, March 2, 1867, which
chiefly related to manufacture of woolens, an industry
which had been greatly stimulated by the war, and which
was threatened by foreign competition in time of peace.
The principle of both revenue and protection had now
been strained to the uttermost by the exigency of war, and
the perioti had arrived for a modification of duties. This
modification came about under the amendatory Tariff Act of
June 6, 1872, which reduced duties to a considerable extent,
but without much discrimination, and added largely to the
free list. TARIFF ACT OF I 874.
Though this Act did not attempt general revision, and was
still amendatory, it was nevertheless important in the respect
that it was an attempt to correct the inconsiderate reduc
tions of the Act of 1872. The panic of 1873 had followed
the reductions of 1872, and though it was a world's panic,
and hardly attributable to the legislation of any one nation,
it served as a reminder that such catastrophes had invariably
succeeded a too rapid reduction of duties and too wide a
departure from the policy of protection. Therefore the Act
of June 22, 1874, stiffened rates on dutiable articles of a
kind which was liable to suffer from competition, broadened
the protective idea as to new industries and home labor, and
at the same time allowed a liberal free list, mostly of raw
materials and unmanufactured articles. It was passed

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 181
during the first session of the Forty-third Congress, whicl,
had a large Republican majority.
TARIFF ACT OF 1 883.
The Republican platform of 1880 contained a distinctive
protective plank ; the Democratic platform declared for " a
tariff for revenue only." The Forty-seventh Congress had
a Republican working majority in the House, but a tie in
the Senate. Owing to the death of Garfield and the little
work done by the previous Congress, it stood at the apex
of an immense amount of legislation. At the first session,
a bill was passed, May 15, 1882, creating a Tariff Commis
sion. This Commission sat at various places during 1882,
and its report became the basis of the Tariff Act of the
succeeding session. It was a non-partisan Commission, and
its existence was due to a sentiment pervading all parties
that some highly deliberate step was necessary to correct
the incongruities of existing Tariff Acts, and re-adapt rates
of duty to our newer and more widely diversified industries.
The Commission worked laboriously, and with deference
to the spirit of reform which had called it into existence,
and, it may be said, with due regard to the sentiment of the
hour against prohibitive, or- even protective, rates as to es
tablished industries. Its conclusions pointed to measures
which reduced duties along the entire line of imports, in
general at least 25 per cent., in some cases more, in others
less. Though the Congress did not adopt all of the conclu
sions of the Commission, its report, as already stated,
formed the groundwork of the Act of 1883.
The Act was passed March 3, 1883, after protracted dis
cussion. While it strove to equalize rates and abolish in
congruities, it did not prove to be a success. Interests were
so conflicting that it was impossible to avoid crudities and

t82 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
hardships. The demands of manufacturers for lighter
duties on, or for free, raw materials worked to the injury of
the producing classes, and vice versa. The Act was in the
nature of a compromise all round, but it showed that the
entire country had come to regard this class of legislation
as of the highest moment, and vital to its interests.
In the Forty-eighth Congress (1884), which, after the
political "tidal wave" of 1882, contained a large Demo
cratic majority in the House, a determined effort was made
to pass the Morrison Tariff Bill, which provided for a hori
zontal reduction of duties to the extent of twenty per cent.
The Democrats divided on the merits of the bill and it was
disposed of by striking out its enacting clause.
TARIFF ACT OF 189O.
The Republican National platform of 1884 distinctly
enunciated the doctrine of protection. The Democratic
platform contained a pledge of "tariff revision." There
was no further excitement over the tariff till President
Cleveland delivered his message to Congress in December,
1887. It was devoted almost wholly to tariff systems and
laws, excepted to existing duties on wool and necessaries,
and directly opposed the protective idea. It was an earnest
paper and had all the weight of a deliberate and special an
nouncement to the American people. The free-trade wing
of the party hailed it as a recognition of their views. The
" revenue reform " element, headed by Mr. Randall, re
garded it as unwise, as containing the seeds of political dis
aster, and as crushing out the minority element in the party.
The Republicans treated it as a challenge to contest to the
bitter end the issue of Free-Trade vs. Protection, though
they regarded it as unnecessarily bitter in expression, es
pecially in such sentences as, " But our present tariff laws,

\>^

Hon. Anthony Higgins.
Born in New Castle co., Del., October 1, 1840; graduated at Yale, in
1861 ; studied law at Harvard Law School and admitted to bar, 1864 ;
appointed Deputy Attorney-General, 1864; United States Attorney for
Delaware, 1869-76; Chairman of Republican State Committee, 1868;
candidate for United States Senate, 1881, and received vote of Repub
lican members of Legislature ; Republican candidate for Congress,
1884; elected to United States Senate, as Republican, in 1889; term
expires March 3, 1895; first Republican Senator from State in great
number of years; Chairman of Committee on Manufactures, and mem
ber of Committees on Coast Defences, District of Columbia, Interstate
Commerce, and Privileges and Elections.

183)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 185
the vicious, inequitable and illogical source of unnecessary
taxation, ought to be at once revised and amended." The
English press was profuse in its praise, and as the Spectator
said, " His terse and telling message has struck a blow at
American protection such as could never have been struck
by any free-trade league."
What became known as the " Mills' Tariff Bill," suppos-
ably framed to meet the President's views, was reported to
the House of Representatives March 1, 1888. It made sig
nificant reductions in existing tariff rates, and at once
became the absorbing measure of the first session of the
Fiftieth Congress. It was evident that upon it, and the
repeal of internal taxation, party lines would be closely
drawn, except as to the Democratic contingent led by Mr.
Randall. The bill proved to have been hastily and crudely
drawn, and the debates upon it took a wide range and were
exhaustive of the merits of free-trade and protection. It
passed the House July 21, 1888, but was met by a counter
bill in the Senate, which embodied the Republican doctrine
of protection. The two parties were now hopelessly wide
apart, the time of the session was exhausted, and both
appealed to the country on the record made in the Con
gress. The Republican national platform of 1888 pledged un
compromising favor for the American system of protection.
The Democratic platform reaffirmed that of 1884, endorsed
the views of President Cleveland in his last annual message,
and also the efforts of the Democratic Congress to secure a
reduction of excessive taxation.
The issue ofthe campaign of 1888 is well known. With
Harrison was elected a Republican Congress. The issue
had been so wholly that of Free-trade vs. Protection that
the way of the Republican majority was plain. The Com-

186 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
mittee of Ways and Means, whose chairman was William
McKinley, invited all the interests concerned in tariff revis
ion to a hearing. A bill was finally framed, which became
known as the " McKinley Bill." The effort was to embody
in the bill the experience of all former tariff legislation, and
what was best of all former Acts ; to impose rates of a dis
tinctively protective character, and in the interest of Ameri
can labor, on manufactures which could exist here, but
whose existence was threatened by foreign competition ; to
impose similar rates on goods, such as tin plates, which we
did not, but could manufacture, and ought to ; to largely
reduce the duty on necessaries, or exempt them altogether,
as by making sugar free ; to increase the free list by placing
all raw materials on it whose importation did not compete
with the home growth of the same ; to introduce the policy
of reciprocity by which we could gain something by en
larged trade in return for the loss of duties on sugars and
such articles.
A great deal of thought was given to the bill, and it was
fully debated in Congress. Perhaps no Tariff Act was ever
passed, in whose preparation so many interests had been so
fully consulted, and with whose provisions the varied inter
ests were so fully satisfied. Certainly none ever passed that
had to undergo more minute criticism, whose merits were
more elaborately discussed, and respecting which so many
prophecies, good and bad, were indulged. Its passage oc
cupied the entire time of the first session of the Fifty-first
Congress, and it was not until October i, 1890, that it be
came a law. No other enactment of the Congress approached
it in importance.
So prominent was this legislation, and such the character
of prophecies respecting it, that hardly anything else was
heard in the Congressional campaign of 1890. As the im-

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 187
aginations of its opponents had free play, and as nothing
could be affirmed of its practical workings by its friends
before it began to work, there was another political "tidal
wave" like that of 1882, and the Democrats entered the
Fifty-second Congress with an overwhelming majority.
They were under the same obligations to repeal the
obnoxious McKinley Act, and enact a measure which
embraced their views, as the Republicans were in the Fifty-
first Congress. They were in far better condition to do this,
as to the House, for their majority was overwhelming.
They, however, did not attempt repeal or general revision,
but introduced a series of Acts relating to special articles,
such as the lowering of duties on manufactures of wool and
on tin-plates, and the placing of wool, binding twine, etc., on
the free list. The discussion of these provisions was ani
mated, and in general they passed the House. They served
to keep the sentiment of the respective parties prominent,
and to shape the issues for a retrial in the campaign of 1892,
by which time the practical workings of the Act of 1890 will
have tested many theories, and will compel orators to hew
closely to lines of facts and figures in order to carry convic
tion. The McKinley Act increased duties on about 115 articles,
embracing farm products, manufactures not sufficiently pro
tected, manufactures to be established, luxuries, such as
wines. It decreased duties on about 190 articles, embracing
manufactures established, or which could not suffer from
foreign competition. It left the duties unchanged on 249
articles. It enlarged the free list till it embraces 55.75 per
cent, of all imports, or 22.48 more than previous tariffs.
The placing of sugar on the free list was a loss of revenue
equal to $54,000,000 a year.

I8S OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
DRIFT OF TARIFF LEGISLATION ABROAD.
The nations which occupy the Continent of Europe have,
without exception, introduced into their commercial and
industrial systems, within a very few years, the principle of
protection. This has been marked by economists of every
school. Great Britain alone has remained firm to her doc
trine of free-trade. On May 23, 1892, Lord Salisbury, the
English Premier, delivered a speech at Hastings, in which
he discussed the attitude of Great Britain as to her external
trade. The speech, coming from so high an authority, cre
ated great excitement among English Conservatives, drew a
wide range of comment from the newspapers of the world,
and seemed to presage a new departure in the applied eco
nomics of the realm.
Its points, bearing on external trade, were : —
" After all, this little island lives as a trading island. We
could not produce in foodstuffs enough to sustain the popu
lation that lives in this island, and it is only by the great
industries which exist here, and which find markets in for
eign countries, that we are able to maintain the vast popula
tion by which this island is inhabited.
" But a danger is growing up. Forty or fifty years ago
everybody believed that free-trade had conquered the world,
and they prophesied that every nation would "follow the ex
ample of England and give itself up to absolute free-trade.
" The results are not exactly what they prophesied, but
the more adverse the results were, the more the devoted
prophets of free-trade declared that all would come aright at
last. " The worse the tariffs of foreign countries became the
more confident were the prophecies of an early victory, but
we see now, after many years experience that explain it,

Hon. James K. Jones.
Born in Marshall co., Miss., Sept. 29, 1839; educated in classics and
law; served in Confederate army; a planter till 1873; began law prac
tice at Washington, Arkansas, and elected to State Senate in 1873 ; re
elected in 1877, and became President of the body ; elected, as Democr it,
to 47th, 48th and 49th Congresses; elected to U. S. Senate in 1884; re
elected in 1890 ; term expires March 3, 1897 ; member of Committees
on Agriculture and Forestry, Indian Affairs, Interstate Commerce,
Irrigation and Territories.
(MO)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 191
how many foreign nations are raising, one after another, a
wall — a brazen wall of protection — around their shores
which excludes us from their markets, and, so far as they
are concerned, do their best to kill our trade, and this state
of things does not get better. On the contrary, it con
stantly seems to get worse.
" Now, of course, if I utter a word with reference to free-
trade, I shall be accused of being a protectionist, of a desire
to overthrow free-trade, and all the other crimes which an
ingenious imagination can attach to a commercial hetero
doxy. " But, nevertheless, I ask you to set yourselves free from
all that merely vituperative doctrine and to consider whether
the true doctrine of free-trade carries you as far as some of
these gentlemen would wish you to go.
" Every true religion has its counterpart in inventions and
legends and traditions, which grow upon that religion. The
Old Testament had its Canonical books and had also its
Talmud and its Mishna, the inventions of rabbinical com
mentators. " There are a Mishna and a Talmud constantly growing
up. One of the difficulties we have to contend with is the
strange and unreasonable doctrine which these rabbis have
imposed upon us.
" If we look abroad into the world we will see it. In the
office which I have the honor to hold I am obliged to see a
great deal of it.
" We live in an age of a war of tariffs. Every nation is
trying how it can, by agreement with its neighbor, get the
greatest possible protection for its own industries, and at the
same time the greatest possible access to the markets of its
neighbors. " This kind of negotiation is continually going on. It
9

iga OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
has been going on for the last year and a half with great
activity. " I want to point out to you that what I observe is that
while A is very anxious to get a favor of B, and B is anx
ious to get a favor of C, nobody cares two straws about get
ting the commercial favor of Great Britain.
" What is the reason of that ? It is that in this great
battle Great Britain has deliberately stripped herself of the
armor and the weapons by which the battle has to be
fought. " You cannot do business in this world of evil and suffer
ing on those terms. If you go to market, yo» must bring
money with you. If you fight, you must fight with the
weapons with which those you have to contend against are
fighting. " The weapon with which they all fight is admission to
their own markets, that is to say, A says to B : 'If you will
make your duties such that I can sell in your market I will
make my duties such that you can sell jn my market.'
" But we begin by saying that we will levy no duties on
anybody, and we declare that it would be contrary and dis
loyal to the glorious and sacred doctrine of free-trade to
levy any duty on anybody, for the sake of what we can get
by it.
" It may be noble, but it is not business.
" On those terms you will get nothing, and I am sorry to
have to tell you that you are practically getting nothing.
" The opinion of this country, as stated by its authorized
exponents, has been opposed by what is called a retaliatory
policy. " We, as the government of the country, have laid it
down for ourselves as a strict rule from which there is no
departure, and we are bound not to alter the traditional

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 193
policy of the country unless we are convinced that a large
majority of the country is with us, because in these foreign
affairs consistency of policy is beyond all things unnecessary.
" But, though that is the case, still if I may aspire to fill
1 the office of a councillor to the public mind, I should ask
you to form your own opinions without a reference to tradi
tions or denunciations, not to care two straws whether you
are orthodox or not, but to form your opinions according to
the dictates of common sense — I would impress upon you
that if you intend in this conflict of commercial treaties to
hold your own you must be prepared, if need be, to inflict
upon the nations which injure you the penalty which is in
your hands, that of refusing them access to your markets.
" The power we have most reason to complain of is the
United States, and what we want the United States to fur
nish us with mostly are articles of food essential to the feed
ing ofthe people and raw materials necessary to our manu
facturers, and we cannot exclude one or the other without
serious injury to ourselves.
" Now, I am not in the least prepared, for the sake of
wounding other nations, to inflict any dangerous or serious
wound- upon ourselves.
"We must confine ourselves, at least for the present, to
those subjects on which we should not suffer very much,
whether the importation continued or diminished.
" But what I complain about of the rabbis of whom I have
just spoken is, that they confuse this vital point. They say
that everything must be given to the consumer. Well, if the
consumer is the man who maintains the industries of the
country or is the people at large, I agree with the rabbis.
" You cannot raise the price of food or of raw material, but
there is an enormous mass of other articles of importation
from other countries besides the United States which are

194 OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION.
mere matters of luxurious consumption, and if it is a ques
tion of wine or silk or spirits or gloves or lace, I should not
in the least shrink from diminishing the consumption and
interfering with the comfort of the excellent people who con
sume these articles of luxury, for the purpose of maintaining
our rights in this commercial war, and of insisting on our
right of access to the markets of our neighbors.
" This is very heterodox doctrine, I know, and I should
be excommunicated for maintaining it.
" But, as one's whole duty is to say what he thinks to the
people of this country, I am bound to say that our rabbis
have carried the matter too far.
"We must distinguish between consumer and consumer,
and while jealously preserving the rights of a consumer who
is co-extensive with a whole industry, or with the whole
people of the country, we may fairly use our power over an
importation which merely ministers to luxury in order to
maintain our own in this great commercial battle."
AMERICAN IRON AND TIN-PLATE FIGURES.
MANUFACTURES OF IRON.
Imports and exports for first eight months of the three
latest fiscal years :
Year. Imports. Exports.
1889-90  #26,966,085 |i6,735.594
1890-91  29,820,502 18,823,384
1891-92  16,329,207 20,463,764
For the first time in the history of the country the exports
of iron manufactures exceeded the imports in 1891-92, and
America practically cut loose from foreign invention in iron
and steel.

Hon. John E. Kenna.
Born at Valcoulou, Va., April 10, 1848 ; served in Confederate army;
educated at St. Vincent's College ; admitted to Charleston bar, June 20,
1870; acquired lucrative practice; elected District Attorney, 1872;
elected, 1875, by bar to hold Circuit Courts of Lincoln and Wayne
counties ; elected, as Democrat, to 45th, 46th and 47th Congresses ;
elected, as Democrat, to United States Senate for term beginning 1883,
and re-elected for term beginning 1889 ; member of Committees on
Commerce, Foreign Relations, Organization of Executive Department
and Quadro-Centennial. (I96)

OUR TARIFF LEGISLATION. 197
TIN-PLATE FIGURES.
From quarterly returns made to Treasury Department :
Duty on tin-plate prior to July 1, 1891  1 cent per lb.
Duty after July I, 1891, McKinley Act  2.2 cents per lb.
Manufactories in United States July 1, 1891  None.
Manufactories reported to Treasury Department as having
started during quarter ending September 3, 1891  5
Yearly capacity equal to  27,000,000 lbs.
Manufactories reported to Treasury Department for quarter
ending December 31, 1891  II
Yearly capacity equal to  60,000,000 lbi.
Manufactories reported to Treasury Department for quarter
ending March 31, 1892  19
Yearly capacity equal to  300,000,000 lbs.
Actual production for above quarter  3,000,000 lbs.
Amount of capital invested March 31, 1892  $3,000,000
Tin-plate imported, 1890  680,060,925 lbs.
Value of same  $20,928,150
Cost of a box of tin-plate (108 lbs.) in Liverpool, January 1,
1891  $4-23
Additional duty on same after July I, 1891  1. 29
Cost of box of tin-plate in Liverpool (108 lbs.) April 1, 1892. 3.02
Importation of tin-plate for 8 months ending Feb. 28, 1891. .525,904,757 lbs.
Importation of tin-plate for 8 months ending Feb. 29, 1892. .177,114,874 lbs.

HISTORIC REVIEW OF THE SILVER QUES
TION.
The use of metal as a medium of exchange and a measure
of value has an old and interesting history. The province
of money has ever been a conspicuous theme in political
economy. Lately in our country all discussion of money
has been given a new turn, and been rendered momentous
and exciting by the fact that political parties have chosen to
divide upon questions of coinage, quantities, kinds and values
of our metallic circulating medium, and seek to make them
issues in their campaigns.
This has given to what is popularly known as " The Sil
ver Question," or " The Free Coinage Question," a promi
nence it never had before. It is within the bounds of truth
to say that the " Silver Question " quite overshadows the
" Tariff Question " in the Fifty-second Congress, and bids
fair to divide honors with that question for a considerable
time. Next to, and perhaps equal with, the doctrines of
Free-Trade and Protection, it concerns the business inter
ests, the life and work, the labor and property, of every man
in the country, from the humblest toiler to the largest capi
talist. No man who works for daily bread, no man who
has a dollar saved, no man who has a house or farm, no
man who has his capital in factories, stocks, mortgages, or
other securities, ought to be ignorant of a question whieh
so intimately concerns his welfare. It is, perhaps, a matter
of regret that a question so purely economic should fall into
political channels, but such is the fate of all these great
questions under our free system of government, and our

THE SILVER QUESTION. 199
people are seemingly better satisfied with results obtained in
their own popular way, than through the media of learned
theories and abstruse teachings. In as much they prefer to
use their own judgments and to abide by their own verdicts,
the obligation is imposed on them of informing themselves
as far as possible respecting the merits of this question, and
all questions that similarly affect them.
WHAT IS MONEY?
Says Laveleye : " Money is the substance or substances
which custom or the law causes to be employed as the
means of payment, the instrument of exchange and the com
mon measure of values."
The difficulty of bartering wares against wares brought
into use an intermediate means of effecting the exchange.
This means was money, which became an agent of circula
tion and a vehicle of exchange — the cart for transferring
property in an object from one person to another, just as the
actual cart transferred the object itself.
Again, money came to be the universal equivalent.
When one sells a bushel of wheat for a dollar, the dollar is
the equivalent of the wheat. One can, in turn, make the
dollar the equivalent of other goods, which he needs more
than the wheat or the dollar. Says Adam Smith : "A piece
of gold may be considered as an agreement for a certain
quantity of goods payable by the tradesmen of the neigh
borhood." Still further, money is a common measure or standard of
values. S°me one has called it "The yardstick of com
merce." Length, weight, value, need to be compared with
something, in order to subdivide them and turn their parts
to use. Hence, a foot is made a standard of long measure,
and when we say a stick is twelve feet long, we know ex-

200 THE SILVER QUESTION.
actly how long it is, and all men will know. This is much
more definite and satisfactory than to say, the stick is as long
as twenty hand-breadths, for some hands are larger than
others, and the stick would be longer or shorter, according
to each measurer. So, if we say a barrel of flour weighs as
much as two pigs, we get but a vague and varying idea of
its weight, for pigs differ in size and weight. But when we
set up the pound as a standard of weight, and say that a
barrel of flour weighs 196 pounds, all men will have a com
mon idea of its weight. It is the same with value. The
value of a horse may be equal to five cows, but as cows have
one price to-day and another to-morrow, you have selected
a very uncertain means of finding the value of a horse. By
the use of money as a common valuer, as in the foot or the
pound, you get a definite idea of the value of a horse.
When you say it is worth one hundred dollars, or a hundred
times one dollar — the dollar being the standard or measurer
of value— all men fall to the idea, know what a horse is
worth. The foot standard is exactly ascertained and rigidly fixed.
The pound standard is also accurately ascertained and rig
idly fixed. In attempting to fix a standard for measuring
values, great difficulty is encountered, for, unfortunately, the
substances used for measuring the values of articles of com
merce are themselves merchandise, and subject to variation
in value like all goods. The best that can be done, there
fore, as to values, is to select as true and invariable a standard
of measurement as possible, to watch it closely, and to cor
rect from time to time the expansions and contractions ocr
casioned by commercial heat and cold.
KINDS OF MONEY.
The Siberians used furs as money. The Spartans used

THE SILVER QUESTION. 20i
iron. The African uses cloth, salt and cowrie-shells. Cat
tle held the largest place as money among the ancients and
many of our financial and commercial words are derived
from old words indicating the early prominence of the flock
and herd. The arms of Diomede were valued at nine oxen ;
those of Glaucus at one hundred oxen. The Franks levied
a tribute of oxen on the conquered Saxons. Our word
" pecuniary " is the Latin pecus, " cattle." Our " fee " is the
Saxon feoh, cattle.
Metal money was first employed as representing value in
cattle. The ox or sheep became its emblem and was
stamped on the metal.
As civilization progressed and exchanges became more
frequent, gold and silver took the place of all cruder metals
and devices, as money.
This was because time and experience had proved their
superiority as measurers of value and media of exchange.
They do not deteriorate by keeping.
Their production is limited by scarcity of their ores. This
gives great value in proportion to weight, and facilitates
handling, transport and hoarding.
The annual losses of the precious metals by wear and tear
and by absorption in the arts have so nearly equalled the
annual production, as that the excess of production has sel
dom exceeded the ratio of increase in population and the
growing demand for money. Thus the demand and supply
being nearly equal, the value of gold and silver remains very
stable, as compared with other metals, or other measures of
value. The accumulated stock of the precious metals, estimated
in money and ornaments at #10,000,000,000 in the world,
tends to lessen variations in value that might be occasioned
by diminution or failure of the annual supply.

202 THE SILVER QUESTION.
All civilized nations seek and accept gold and silver as a
means of facilitating exchange.
Gold and silver are easily divisible into parts and propor
tions of given weights and values.
They receive with ease and permanently the impression
which distinguishes their weight, size, design and value.
They are readily distinguishable from other metals ; gold
by its weight, silver by its sound.
THE VALUE OF MONEY.
The purchasing power of money ascertains its value. The
pure silver which would have bought eight bushels of wheat
during the Middle Ages, would bring only two bushels,
after the discovery of America. Therefore, it was said of
silver, that it had declined to one-fourth of its previous
value. Supply of an article usually affects its value, but a supply
of money involves the quantity in existence and the rapidity
of its circulation. A dollar that makes three exchanges a
day is worth three dollars that make one exchange a day.
If the demand for money is less than the supply, its value
decreases ; only we don't say so, but that prices rise. If the
demand for money is greater than the supply, its value in
creases ; but we say, that prices fall.
Alterations in the value of money lead to confusion in
:ommercial, legal and economic relations. A decrease in
the amount or value of money seriously affects the debtor
classes. An increase in the amount or value of money in
jures the creditor classes. MONEY SYSTEMS.
The gold and silver that enter into money are not pure,
but mixed with alloy, usually copper, to save the coins from

THE SILVER QUESTION. 203
wearing. The quantity of alloy generally introduced is
about one-tenth, that is, one part alloy to nine parts of pure
metal. In England, the unit of money, gold or silver, of which
the other coins are multiples, is the sovereign or pound ; in
France, the franc ; in Germany, the mark ; in Holland, the
florin ; in the United States, the dollar. The larger coins
are generally made a legal tender for debts, without limit.
Smaller fractional or subsidiary coins are generally made a
legal tender for debts, with a limit as to amount. Still smaller
coins, cents, nickels, and such as rank as " token money,"
are made legal tender for debts of a still smaller amount.
Formerly, monarchs, cities, bishops and nobles claimed
the right to coin money, and they frequently abused their
right by diminishing the value ofthe currency, either by re
ducing the quantity of pure metal in the coins, or by declar
ing them to have a legal value far beyond their intrinsic
value. Solon decreed that the mina should be worth a hun
dred drachmas instead of seventy-three. Plutarch says of
this decree : " In this way, by paying apparently the full
value, though really less, those who owed large sums gained
considerably, without causing any loss to their creditors."
Says Laveleye, " Plutarch here expresses the error which has
inspired all issues of depreciated and paper currency. No
one seems to lose, because payments are made just as well
with coins reduced in value as with the unreduced. What
is forgotten is that prices rise in proportion as the unit of
money loses its value."
At the present time the right of coinage is, as a rule, re
served by the sovereign State, and is jealously guarded. In
most countries the coining of the standard coin is free.
In France, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, which coun
tries agreed, in 1863, to form the Latin Monetary Union,

204 THE SILVER QUESTION.
all gold coins and five-franc pieces are accepted as standard.
The minor silver coins are a legal tender for only small
debts, and the mints cannot issue them to a greater extent
than the value of six francs for each inhabitant. The sys
tem of the Latin Union is the double standard or bi-metallic
system ; that is, it permits the free and unlimited coinage
of both gold and silver pieces, to each of which it gives legal
currency, or the right to be accepted in all payments. It
has, however, been compelled to modify this system to suit
circumstances. Countries whose system is " single standard or mono-me
tallic," as in England, where it is gold, and in Austria,
where it is silver, accord free and unlimited coinage and
legal-tender quality only to the metal they fix as the stand
ard. The mono-metallic system is the simpler, as to relation
of value between Coins of different denominations ; but as
to relation of value between money and goods, the bi-metal
lic system is more sensitive and, consequently, exact.
In 1558 Thomas Gresham, one of the councillors of
Queen Elizabeth, demonstrated that the money which has
the less value will drive from circulation the money which
has the greater value. This is known in monetary science
as " Gresham's Law."
In 17 1 7 Sir Isaac Newton showed that a means of obvi
ating the ill effects of " Gresham's Law " existed, by fixing
the relation of value between gold and silver the same in
all countries. In later times attempts have been made to
do this by means of International Monetary Congresses.
Attempts to establish a fixed relation of value between gold
and silver by single countries have not proved satisfactory.
Economists are by no means agreed as to which' metal, gold
or silver, is preferable as a standard. That the largest
number of countries, certainly the largest commercial coun-

Hon. Eobert T. Lincoln.
Born in Springfield, 111., August 1, 1843; prepared for college at
Exeter; entered Harvard, 1864; entered Harvard Law School, but'
became aide, with rank of Captain, on General Grant's staff; served till
end of war; admitted to bar and practiced in Chicago till 1881; entered
Garfield's Cabinet as Secretary of War, 1881 ; retained same under
Arthur; prominently mentioned for the Presidency before National
Republican Convention in 1884; but refused the use of his name so long
as President Arthur was in the field ; resumed practice of profession,
1885; again mentioned for Presidency in 1888; selected as Minister to
England by President Harrison. (205)

THE SILVER QUESTION. 207
tries, adopt gold as the standard metal, implies some pow
erful reason for it ; but it by no means disproves the theory
that gold itself shifts in value like silver and probably quite
as much. Indeed, not a few aver that much of what ap
pears to be a shift in the value of silver is really a shift in
the value of gold, with which the silver is compared. They
also say that in the very nature of things silver is a metal
of more stable value than gold, because its production comes
from deep mines, with costly machinery, and an annual out
put which cannot be increased except at great expense, nor
lessened without great loss ; whereas the product of gold,
most of which comes from auriferous sands, may increase
or diminish very greatly in a short space of time.
BEGINNING OF AMERICAN COINAGE.
Immediately after the peace of 1783, and while the
Articles of Confederation constituted our only bonds of
government, some of the prominent patriots, notably Morris,
Jefferson and Hamilton, began agitation looking to the
establishment of an American Mint. Naturally the char
acter of the proposed mintage came under discussion. This
was the " Coinage Question " of that day. It was neither
political nor bitter as at present, but it was none the less
earnest, and involved many of the points now under dis
cussion. Great respect was paid to the views of Morris, who, as
Superintendent of Finance, was well qualified to speak upon
the character of the mintage. He reached the conclusion
that in as much as the relative values of gold and silver
were continually changing, there could be no ratio estab
lished between them which would prove stable and satis
factory for purposes of law. Therefore, the only way out
of the difficulty, as he reasoned, was for the government to

208 THE SILVER QUESTION.
adopt silver alone as its metallic money, and proceed to coin
it. He was a silver mono-metallist.
On account of Hamilton's mastery of finance, his views
were equally courted. During the discussions of the sub
ject, which preceded the adoption of the Constitution in
1787, Hamilton made it plain that he was a mono-metallist
like Morris, but recognizing the greater value of gold, its
higher place among commercial nations and its lesser lia
bility to sudden and extreme fluctuation in price, he pre
ferred it to silver as the metallic standard. Pending these
discussions the Confederation came to an end, and the new
Constitution appeared (1787) with its provisions as to money
and coinage : — The Congress shall have power " to coin
money, regulate the value thereof and fix the standard of
weights and measures." Art. I. ; Sec. 8. Again, " No
State shall coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything
but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts."
Art. I.; Sec. 10.
Here then was recognition of two metals as money, and
provision for a bi-metallic currency, should such a result be
deemed wise. The matter of establishing a mint came up
as one of the earliest and most important under the new
Constitution. Hamilton made it the subject of a full and
able report to Congress in 1791. In this report he adhered
to his views that, in the abstract, a mono-metallic standard
would be best, but that such standard should be gold in
preference to silver. However, reasoning on the line of
expediency, he feared that the adoption of a single standard
would tend to limit the amount of the circulating medium,
a result by no means desirable, in the infant and experi
mental stage of the Government. Therefore, he concluded
that a double standard would be best in practice, and as a
policy sufficiently permanent to warrant the forms of law.

THE SILVER QUESTION. 209
His reasons and conclusions proved to be acceptable to
the Congress, but there was great diversity of opinion
respecting the question of the relative value of the two
metals. What should be the fixed ratio between gold and
silver ? In fixing such ratio, should the price, or purchas
ing power, of gold at home or abroad be taken ? It was
finally agreed that American values were alone to be con
sidered, and that the commercial ratio between gold and
silver should be as one is to fifteen. One ounce of gold
was to be taken as worth fifteen times as much as one ounce
of silver. OUR FIRST COINAGE ACT.
The first Act of Congress relating to coinage was passed
April 2, 1792, and was entitled "An Act establishing a mint
and regulating the coins of the United States." This Act
provided for the coinage of eagles, half-eagles and quarter-
eagles of gold, and for " dollars or units," half-dollars and
quarter-dollars, dimes and half-dimes of silver. The coin
age of cents and half-cents of copper was also provided
for. The value of each eagle was fixed as " ten dollars or
units, and to contain 247 grains and four-eighths of a grain
of pure or 270 grains of standard gold." The half and
quarter-eagles bore respectively an exact proportion to the
eagle in value, weight and fineness.
The dollar, or unit, was thus provided for : — " Dollars or
units — each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar, as
the same is now current, and to contain 371 grains and
four-sixteenths of a grain of pure, or 416 grains of standard
silver." The fractional silver coins contained exactly one-
half, one-fourth and one-tenth, respectively, of the quantity
of fine silver and alloy prescribed for the dollar. The ideal
unit for years prior and subsequent to the establishment of
the Mint was the pound sterling, yet the Spanish dollar,

210 THE SILVER QUESTION.
during that early period, was the money of commerce and
the practical monetary unit, and it was the general custom
to express in contracts that payment should be made in
Spanish milled dollars. The advocates of silver attach
great importance to the expression, " dollars or units," arid
to the fact that the established unit was the silver dollar.
Upon this is based their claim that the silver dollar is the
unit of our monetary system, and that the gold coinage: is
based upon that unit. Each eagle is "to be of the value of
|io or units," and it is declared that. the dollar or unit shall
be of silver.
This Act provided for the free and unlimited coinage of
both gold and silver, and that both, coins should -be a legal
tender. Thus Section' 14 reads :
" It shall be lawful for any "person or persons to bring to
the said Mint gold and silver bullion in order to theirbeing
coined, and that the bullion so brought shall be. assayed and
coined free of expense to the person or persons by. whom
the same shall have been brought."
Free coinage in this sense does not mean that the mint
did its work for nothing. It charged one-half per cent, to
indemnify it for the time expended in assaying and coining
the bullion.
Section 16 of the Act contained the legal tender clause,
making the coins of both metals, even including the frac
tional silver coins, a legal tender.
A gold dollar, or rather a dollar in gold, at -the ratio
fixed in the above Act, would contain 24.75 grains of gold.
Multiply this by 15 (for there must be fifteen times as much
silver in a dollar) and you have 371.25 grains, as the quan
tity of fine silver for the silver dollar. This ratio was not
quite that which prevailed at the time in Europe, the. ratio
there being about 15^ to 1. Our Coinage Act, therefore,

Hon. John Lind.
Born at Ulm, Sweden, March 25, 1854; resided in Minnesota since
1868; educated at public schools ; studied law and was admitted to bar,
1877 ; rose to prominence in his profession ; elected, as a Republican,
to 50th, 51st and 52d Congresses, to represent Second Minnesota District.
being the only straight Republican elected to Congress in the State dur
ing the elections of 1890; an industrious, conscientious and popular
member, serving on Inter-State and Foreign Commerce Committee,
Committee on Pacific Railroads and Enrolled Bills.
(211)

THE SILVER QUESTION. 213
put too low a commercial value on gold. It was worth
more as bullion in the markets of the world than in the
shape of one of our coins. There was, therefore, little or
no inducement for any one to take gold bullion or gold
plate to the mint to get it coined into gold money, for the
utmost they could get for it would be coin of gold equal to
fifteen times its weight in silver. In Europe the same
weight of gold would command fifteen and a half times its
weight of silver. Not only was there no inducement to sell
gold to the mint for purpose of coinage, but even what was
coined followed to a great extent the law of a commercial
commodity, and was retired as something more worthy to
hold than the cheaper metal, silver, which measured its
value in a popular sense, or else it sought, even as gold
coin," the market abroad, where one part of gold com
manded fifteen and a half parts of silver.
In those early times we were not in a position as a nation
to impress a commercial value on metals used as coin. The
law fixed a ratio. The mint impressed the law on the
coins. After that they followed largely the higher and
more arbitrary laws of commerce and of nations. They
were in the markets of the world and subject to their fluctua
tions. And this was true, even though we had great need
for metallic money, as all new countries have where popu
lation is sparse, where intercommunication is slow and ir
regular, and where credit has not yet learned to lend its
conveniences to trade. ,
In spite of the ratio of 15 to 1, established for our bi
metallic currency by the Act of 1792, the foreign, or com
mercial, ratio forced itself upon us, and for forty-two years,
that is from 1792 to 1834, the value of silver, as compared
with gold, fluctuated, often rising nearly to 16 to 1, but
never falling to 15 to I. It is clear, then, that silver was

2'4 THE SILVER QUESTION.
cheaper than gold, and silver currency than gold currency,
which fact, as those who oppose the free coinage of silver
aver, proved the truth of Gresham's law, mentioned above,
that where two metals are made a legal tender and given
free coinage at a fixed ratio of value, the cheaper metal
will circulate to the exclusion of the dearer.
To illustrate : A yard is 36 inches, but if a merchant
finds that if, within law, he can satisfy his customers with a
yard of 35^ inches, he will prefer the shorter standard of
measure, Sixteen ounces make a pound avoirdupois, but
if he can, within law, satisfy his customers with fifteen
ounces, he will do so. An ounce of gold is worth in the
markets 15^ ounces of silver; he will not use the gold, but
the legal equivalent of the gold, or the 15^ ounces of sil
ver, namely, the 15 ounces which he finds in the shape of
silver coin, and a legal tender.
This presumes that the ounce of gold set up as the
standard of value is fixed, like the yard, as a standard of
measure and the pound as a standard of weight. Commer
cial custom and monetary science incline more and more to
this presumption, and as a fact gold is made to so largely
measure the value of silver as well as all other commodi
ties, among enlightened nations, as that it performs the
functions of a yard stick as to lengths or a pound weight as
to weights.
But here the advocates of bi-metallism and free coinage
say that gold is not in itself an unchangeable measure of
value, as the yard stick is of length and the pound weight
is of weight. It has its own fluctuations just as silver has,
though perhaps not to the same extent. It is, therefore, not
a true measure of value for silver. The Hon. Marcus A.
Smith, of Arizona, in his recent speech upon " The free
Coinage of Silver," thus treats of this question of gold

THE SILVER QUESTION. 215
measurements and of the principle underlying " Gresham's
Law:" " The inflexible and unchangeable value, which is often
attributed to gold coin, is simply the arbitrary value of a
standard only measured by itself. This is the value to
which the quoted words plainly apply. Governments can
no more give fixed commodities, or comparative value, to
gold and silver than they can arrest the motion of the stars.
David Hume, John Locke, Adam Smith, and all the older
economic writers agree that gold and silver both fluctuate
in value.
" Profs. Jevons and Walker, more recent authorities, show
by comparative tables of statistics that between 1789 and
1809 gold fell 46 per cent. ; that between 1809 and 1849 '*
arose 145 per cent, and that within twenty years after the
latter date it fell 20 per cent. It is estimated that during
the past eighteen years gold has again risen 30 per cent.
Jevons says that —
" ' In respect to steadiness of values the metals are prob
ably less satisfactory, regarded as a standard of value, than
many other commodities, such as corn.'
"The discovery of new mines, the exhaustion of the old
mines, the arbitrary adoption of the metals by governments
for money purposes or their demonetization and disuse for
such purposes, and the greater or less demand for them for
artistic and mechanical uses, are accidents and circum
stances which contribute to fluctuation in their value. Use
fulness or utility gives desirability. This desirability leads to
use, and whether the use be by governments or individuals,
or both, for money or in the arts, or for both, it creates the
demand which, in connection with supply, gives exchange
value. "The law, custom, or usage, that rendered the fabled

*i6 THE SILVER QUESTION.
nugget of copper a proper tender by the mummy as a fee
to Charon, gave it its monetary value for that purpose. It
was the tribal law, custom, or usage which ordained the use
of silver as money, that gave to the 400 shekels of silver
which Abraham tendered to Ephron the Hittite, and ' cur-.
rent money with the merchants,' its monetary value; it
was the law, custom, or usage which decreed the use of
silver as money, that gave to the twenty pieces of silver for
which Joseph was sold into slavery, and the thirty pieces
of silver for which the gentle Nazarene was betrayed to his
death, their monetary value.
" In each instance, even on the principles of barter, the
use of silver, for other purposes than money, was a factor,
contributing to its monetary value, and not by itself creating
it. Where barter is applied the sum total of usage gives to
the metals what is termed the monetary value, but what,
more properly speaking, is only commercial value. Crusoe,
on his desert isle, sitting among his sacks of gold, is the
synonym of poverty until he finds the grain of wheat which
gives promise of food and life. That gold had no commer
cial value. The grain of wheat was worth immeasurably
more than all of it. But let civilized governments, or even
barbarous tribes find it, and at once its use for the purposes
of money makes it command a thousand times its weight in
wheat. " So far from the value of given articles ' for other pur
poses ' being the sole cause of their monetary value, the
former is not always even co-existent with and equal to the
latter. Was it the ' value for other purposes ' of the iron
in the coins of Sparta, under Lycurgus, that gave to those
coins their monetary value? Was it the value of the
leather ' for other purposes ' that gave to the money of Car
thage its monetary value? Was it its ' value for other pur-

Born at Denmark, Ohio, September 17,1845; educated at Mnin.i
University; served in Union army, as Captain of Company E, 108th
Regiment Ohio Volunteers; studied law at University of Michigan ; ad-
miited to practice, 1866; Presidential elector, on Democratic ticket,
1870 and 1884 ; Delegate-at-Large for Ohio to St. Louis National Demo
cratic Convention, 1888; member of Democratic National Campaign
Committee, and Chairman of same for campaign of 1888 and since ;
elected to United States Senate as Democrat, January, 1890 ; member
of Committees on Irrigation, Pensions, Post Offices and Post Roads,
Public Buildings and Grounds, and Revolutionary Claims.
(218)

THE SILVER QUESTION. 219
poses ' that gave to the money made in China in the thir
teenth century from the bark of the mulberry tree its mon
etary value ? Was it its ' value for other purposes ' that
gave value to the wampum of the American Indians ? Was
it their ' value for other purposes ' that gave to the glass
coin of Arabia, the brass coins of Rome, the pasteboard
bills of Holland, the tenpenny nails of Scotland, the musket-
balls of Massachusetts, and the cocoa-beans of Mexico,
their monetary value ?
" Is it its value for other purposes that gives to the #800,-
000,000 of silver coin in France to-day its monetary value ?
Is it its value for other purposes that gives to our $400,-
000,000 of standard silver coin and the millions more of
subsidiary and minor coin their monetary value? The
commercial value of the silver in the coin of France is
#i70,000j000 less than its monetary value, and in the United
States nearly $100,000,000 less. How obvious, therefore,
it is that governments not only by the use of the metals as
money add to their commercial value, but at times confer a
monetary value beyond and independent of the commercial
value ?
" Much is said about one kind of money driving another
kind out of circulation. The Gresham Law is simply a law
of displacement. It applies to all articles of commerce as
well as to maney. The self-binder displaces the sickle, and
the railway train displaces the stage-coach. But the theory
that the scarcest money is the best money is on par with
the idea that the smallest crop is the best crop. Gold and
silver, like other commodities, go where the highest prices
are offered, whether the offer comes from individuals or
governments. Monetary value is national; commercial
value is cosmopolitan. The single-standard metal, whether
it be gold or silver, is alternately money and commodity

220 THE SILVER QUESTION.
instrument and article of commerce. Economic law is in
exorable. "England adopted the single-standard in 1819, and Ger
many, the Latin Union, and minor European states, at a
later day. Since 18 19 the Bank of England has suspended
specie payment nearly a dozen times, the land-owners of
England have been reduced from 165,000 to less than
30,000. Her $3,500,000,000 national debt is as large as
at the close of the Napoleonic wars, yet bread riots have
periodically startled her cities and agitated her statesmen.
But two years ago, when heavy drafts were made on her
gold by Russia, her Barings touched the borders of insol
vency, and, in spite of all the assistance of the Bank of
England, plunged several leading New York banks into.
ruin and carried our country to the edge of panic and finan
cial disaster, Goschen, the chancellor of the British Ex
chequer, announced to Parliament that the perils attending
the increasing competition for gold made a consideration of
the return to bi-metallism advisable.
" The rule or law of Sir Thomas Gresham did not apply
to gold and silver. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, I think
it was, the coin in circulation was found to be degraded by
clipping and general short weight. It was found that as
long as any clipped or abraded piece of silver would buy
as much as a full-weight piece of silver, the. heavy piece
was kept out of commerce and used in the arts, and the
spurious piece did the trade of the realm. The light dis
placed the heavy in commerce, or had such tendency, and
this is all that the Gresham law meant."
However these things may be in theory, in fact our early
gold coins, being worth more, when compared with silver,
than the value which was stamped upon them, began to
depart either from circulation or from the country entirely.

THE SILVER QUESTIONS 221
This movement began almost simultaneously with the pas
sage of our first Coinage Act. It was very perceptible by
1810, and continued until 1834. In all that time there were
less than $12,000,000 in gold coined, a large per cent, of
which was lost entirely to the country by export. By 1814
the mintage of gold coins had fallen to $77,000. In 18 15 it
fell to $3,000. In 1816 the coinage of gold amounted to
nothing. After 18 19 gold disappeared as a circulating me
dium in the United States.
During this time (1792-1834) there were only 1,439,417
silver dollars coined, and none of these were coined after
1805. The coinage of the silver dollar was in all probabil
ity discouraged by the fact that gold was seen to be disap
pearing, and with the hope that a scarcity of silver dollars
might enhance their value. Or, their coinage may have
ceased by reason of the fact that the foreign silver coins of
that denomination were ample for trade purposes, the bulk
of our metallic currency being at that time of foreign make.
The mint was not, however, idle. It was busy on fractional
or subsidiary coins. By 1834 it had coined $50,000,000 of
silver half dollars, and a proportion of lesser coins, which,
with the large per cent, of foreign subsidiary coins, furnished
an ample minor currency.
This currency condition was far from satisfactory. Bi
metallism was not proving the theories of its authors. The
question of a change began to be mooted. Some few alter
ations were made in the Coinage Act from time to time, but
the original Act remained in all its essential features up till
1834- By 1 83 1 Hon. Campbell P. White, an authority on such
matters, had reached the conclusion that a system which
sought to regulate the standard of value in both gold and
silver had inherent and incurable Refects. He thought it

222 THE SILVER QUESTION.
had been clearly ascertained by experience that it was im
possible to maintain both metals in concurrent, simultaneous
and promiscuous circulation.
In 1832 a Committee on Coinage reported that it could
not find "that both metals have ever circulated simulta
neously, concurrently and indiscriminately in any country
where there were banks or money dealers ; and they enter
tain the conviction that the nearest approach to an invariable
standard is its establishment in one metal, which metal shall
compose exclusively the currency of large payments."
The time had now come for a substantial change in the
Coinage Act of 1792. What was chiefly apparent to all in
1834 was the fact that the ratio between gold and silver, es
tablished by that Act, was no longer, if it had ever been,
correct. It undervalued gold. But there was no general
departure, so far as the debates show, from the bi-metallic
idea. Statesmen still preferred to struggle with the intricate
problem of finding a ratio between gold and silver which
would prove to be the ratio of commerce.
The Director of the Mint, in his report to the Congress
for the year 1833, said that the " new coined gold frequently
remains in the mint uncalled for, though ready for delivery,
until the day arrives for a packet to sail for Europe." And
he concluded that the entire coinage of gold in the future,
amounting to perhaps $2,000,000 annually, would be ex
ported, unless there was a reform of the gold standard.
In his advocacy of a change in the ratio between gold and
silver, Hon. Thomas H. Benton, in a speech delivered in the
Senate in 1834, said: "The false valuation put upon gold
has rendered the mint of the United States, so far as the gold
coinage is concerned, a most ridiculous and absurd institu
tion. It has coined, and that at large expense to the United
States, 2,262,177 pieces of gold, valued at $11,852,820, and

Hon. David B. Culberson.
Born in Troup Co., Ga., September 29,1830; educated at Brown-
wood; studied law and moved to Texas, 1856; elected to State Legis
lature, 1859; served in Confederate army throughout war; elected to
State Legislature, 1864; elected, as a Democrat, to 44th, 45th, 46th,
47th, 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st and 52d Congresses, to represent Fourth
Texas District, composed of eleven counties; an earnest and popular
member, admired by a large constituency; active on the floor as debater
.and parliamentarian ; Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
(224)

Hon. James McMillan.
Born at Hamilton, Ont., May 12, 1838 ; prepared for College, but
entered business in Detroit, 1855 ; established Michigan Car Company,
1863; member and chairman of Republican State Central Committee,
1876, 1886, 1890 ; President of Detroit Park Commission and Board
of Estimates; Republican Presidential Elector, 1884; elected to United
States Senate, as Republican, for term beginning March 4, 1889 ; an in
dustrious, practical member, whose opinions command respect; Chair
man of Committee on District of Columbia and member of Committees
on Agriculture and Forestry, Education and Labor, and Post Offices and-
Post Roads. (225)

THE SILVER QUESTION. 227
where are the pieces now ? Not one of them to be seen !
All sold and exported ! To enable the friends of gold to
go to work at the right place to effect the recovery of that
precious metal which their fathers once possessed — which
the subjects of European kings now possess — which the
citizens of the young Republics of the south all possess —
which even the free negroes of San Domingo possess — but
which the yeomanry of this America have been deprived of
for more than twenty years, and will be deprived of forever
unless they discover the cause of the evil, and apply the
remedy to the root."
Under these auspices the Lloinage Act of June 28, 1834,
was passed. By this Act the pure gold in the eagle was
reduced from 247^ grains to 232 grains, and a correspond
ing reduction was made in the half eagles and quarter
eagles. The alloy was changed from 22^ to 26, making
the eagle contain 258 grains of standard gold instead of 270
grains. The Act of 1834 made no change in the silver coins.
This change in the gold coinage made the ratio nearly 16 to
1, the exact ratio being 16.002 to 1. Why this ratio was
established, or, for that matter, why any change at all was
made, is difficult to understand, in view of the fact that at
that date the commercial ratio between the two metals was
1 to 15.6, which, for convenience, Europe was calling 1 to
15^. The new currency ratio of 1 to 16 was as far removed
from the commercial ratio of 1 to 15^ as was the old cur
rency ratio of 1 to 15. Only now the boot was on the other
foot. By the Act of 1792 gold was undervalued and silver
overvalued. By the Act of 1834 the matter was reversed,
and gold was overvalued and silver undervalued. Or con
sidering the bi-metallic views of the framers of these acts,
the result of the Act of 1792 was to overvalue silver as to
gold ; and the effect of the Act of 1834 was to overvalue gold

228 THE SILVER QUESTlOtf.
as to silver. In their practical workings these Acts quite
threw their framers from their bi-metallic base, and inasmuch
as in the Act of 1792 they attempted to exalt silver at the
expense of gold, they became, according to the laws laid
down in economics, silver monometallists. So, inasmuch as
in the Act of 1834 they sought to exalt gold at the expense
of silver, they became gold monometallists. There were not
wanting those who sounded the note of warning that the Act
of 1834 would but repeat that of 1792, in the respect that
cheap gold would drive out the silver circulation just as
cheap silver had driven out the gold circulation.
The Act of 1834 proved vefy unsatisfactory in its opera
tion. Silver fluctuated, in a commercial sense, for years,
but it did not fall in price to the ratio of 16 to 1 of gold.
Consequently silver became worth more, in relation to
gold, as bullion or plate than as coin, and it began to dis
appear, there being no inducement to coin it. After 1840,
sight of a silver dollar was rare, and as a coin, it played no
conspicuous part in our circulation, for very many years.
Monometallists regard the effects of the Act of 1834 as
another striking vindication of the truth of " Gresham's
Law," that the cheaper money invariably drives the dearer
from circulation. act of 1837.
Dissatisfaction with the Act of 1834 led to that of January
18, 1837, which was, in its form, a supplement to that of
1834, yet a complete revision of the laws of mintage, and
was in fact known as "The Mint Act of 1837." This Act
changed the standard of both gold and silver coins and the
ratio between the metals. The standard for gold and silver
coins was fixed at .900 fine, that is, 900 parts of pure metal
to 100 parts of alloy. This increased the pure gold in the
dollar from 23.20 to 23.22 grains, and fixed the ratio between

THE SILVER QUESTION. 229
the two metals at 15.98 to 1. The silver dollar was changed
from 416 grains of standard silver to 412^ grains, and the
fractional coins were made to correspond in exact propor
tion. To make the alloy equal to one-tenth of the weight
of the coin, it was necessary to add the small fraction of
two-tenths of one grain of gold to the eagle. No change,
however, was made in the quantity of pure silver contained
in the dollar. That remained at 371 J^ grains, and it con
tinues at that figure. This Act also provided that " gold and
silver bullion brought to the mint for coinage shall be re
ceived and coined by the proper officers for the benefit of
the depositor." This provision for coinage was taken from
the previous Acts, and continued the coinage of the two
metals upon the same footing. The fact that there was no
change in the quantity of silver in the dollar has given origin
and currency to the phrase " Dollar of the Fathers," or the
more alliterative and catchy term " Dollar of the Daddies."
What is regarded as a serious error in all the Coinage
Acts up to and including that of 1837 was the fact that the
minor coins had been made to contain the exact proportion
of silver contained in the dollar. They, therefore, paid the
penalty visited on the silver dollar. They shrank from cir
culation, or left the country, and this became particularly
manifest after the inequality between the production of gold
and silver in this country set in with the discovery of gold
in California.
Prior to this discovery the world's production of gold and
silver was nearly equal, the annual average of gold produc
tion between 1841 and 1851 being about $38,000,000, and
that of silver about $34,000,000. But from 1849 to 18.5 1
the world seems to have poured forth its treasures of gold
with unparalleled liberality. California, Russia and Aus
tralia contributed a new and unprecedented output of gold.

230 THE SILVER QUESTION.
In the. five years, from 1 851. to 1855, the world's produc
tion of gold leaped from $38,000,000 to $140,000,000 an
nually, while in those years the production of silver only
increased from $34,000,000 to $40,000,000 annually. The
equality between the two products prior to 1849 did not
serve to materially affect their commercial ratio, but the
inequality after that year greatly affected it, by giving a still
higher value to silver. This fact, co-operating with the
effect of the Coinage Act, enhanced the difficulty already
spoken of with the circulation of silver coins of every de
nomination. " There is," said Mr. Dunham in Congress in
1853, "a constant stimulant to gather up every silver coin
and send it to market as bullion, to be exchanged for gold,
and the result is, the country is almost devoid of small
change for the ordinary small transactions, and what' we
have is of a depreciated character."
The commercial ratio in Europe being about 15^ to 1,
silver coins were worth three per cent, more for export than
our gold coins; that is, they were worth three per cent, more
as bullion than as money. When it became apparent that
the country was thus being depleted of its change, agitation
set in for a remedy. coinage act of 1849.
The Coinage Act of March 3, 1849, was a provision for a
fuller and larger mintage of gold, whose production bade
fair to be greatly increased in this country owing to devel
opments in California. It authorized the coinage of double
eagles, and also of gold dollars. " Double eagles should
each be of the value of twenty dollars, or units, and gold
dollars 'should each be of the value of one dollar, or unit,
these coins to be uniform in all respects to the standard for
gold coins now established by law."

Hon. John R. McPherson.
Bom at Dorchester, N II., October 9, 1S34, academically educated ;
learned locomotive building at Manchester, N. H. ; moved to New Jer
sey to engage in Railway business; largely interested in same; Presi
dent of First National Bank, Long Branch ; member of New Jersey
Legislature (H. R.), 1878-80; delegate to Democratic National Con
vention, 1880; eletced as Democrat to United States Senate for term
March 4, 1887 ; prominent in party and national affairs, and a leader
in his State; Chairman of Select Committee on Potomac River Front,
and member of Committee on Finance, Immigration and Naval Affairs.
(231)

THE SILVER QUESTION. 233
It was not until the Act of 1853 that the coinage of three
dollar gold pieces was authorized, " of the value of three
dollars, or units, conformable in all respects to the standard
gold coins now authorized by law." The word " dollar or
unit '' was used in all the Coinage Acts to describe the value
ofthe gold coins prior to 1873.
COINAGE ACT OF 1853.
This Act is significant in our monetary history as being
the first which recognized the difficulty of maintaining a
perfect bi-metallic standard, and the first which contained a
step toward the demonetization of silver. It was passed in
February, 1853, and it reduced the weight ofthe half dollar
from 206^ grains of standard silver to 192 grains of the
same. All the smaller coins were reduced in proportion.
At the same time the full legal tender quality was removed
from these subsidiary coins, and they became no longer a
legal tender for sums exceeding five dollars. This provision
has not since been removed. Again, it was provided that
the bullion for the coinage of fractional silver should be
purchased directly by the government, or by the Director
ofthe Mint on account ofthe government, and that the gain
arising from the coinage thereof should be credited to the
Mint. This was a blow at the " free and unlimited coinage "
of the subsidiary coins. By this reduction of the amount
of silver in the fractional coins to the extent of about seven
per cent, all inducement to melt them up or sell them as
bullion was removed; for, although the silver dollar still
remained at from three to three and a half per cent, above
the gold dollar in value, the seven per cent, reduction in the
commercial value ofthe fractional coins brought them three
to three and a half per cent, below the value of gold ; quite
enough of depreciation to save them to the circulation.

234 THE SILVER QUESTION.
It must be remarked of the period which led to, embraced
and immediately followed the Coinage Act of 1853,. that '&
was a period in which there was hardly any coi-nagfe ©fr
silver dollars, and practically no circulation of them, v 'In
1850 only $47,500 silver dollars were coined; in- .1851,
$1,300; in 1852, $1,100. All attention was paid; to tlie
coinage of gold, the total coinage of which, in 1*852, was
$56,000,000, fully $2,000,000 of which was in gold dollars.
The framers of the Act of L853 paid no attention to the
fact that our silver production from 185 1 to 1855 was about
$400,000 per year. They saw only the large gold produc
tion of over $60,000,000 per year, and the spirit ofthe Act was
to take advantage of the opportunity to establish, as far as-
possible, a single currency standard of gold. True, they did
not interfere with the silver dollar. There was no need to.
None were being coined. None were in circulation.
FROM 1853 TO 1873.
This period is marvellous in the history of metallic money
and' monetary systems at home and abroad. The world's
production of gold from 1850 to 1870 was $2,725,000,006,
or five times as much as in the preceding twenty years, and
quite as much as during the entire period from the discov
ery of America to the discovery of gold in California.
The commercial world became alarmed at these figures,
fearing a general derangement of values. That the com
mercial value of gold was decreasing was manifest from the
increase in the price of standard commodities all the world
over. Theories arose in all directions as to remedies. Some
French economists thought it an excellent time to demon
etize gold, and establish a single silver standard. Others
thought the time opportune to establish the principle of bi
metallism, provided the several commercial nations could be

THE SILVER QUESTION 235
brought to give common Consent. France, Italy, Switzer
land' arid. Belgium formed what was called "The Latin
Monetary • Union " in 1863, based on bi-metallism. But in
1 867 was held the "International Monetary Conference,"
at Paris; in which it was laid down that the adoption of a
single :gOld standard was a principle necessary to universal
coinage. Following this, in 1871, came the defeat of France in the
Franco-Russian war, and her- payment of an immense sub
sidy in gold to Germany. Immediately, Germany, by a
series of Coinage Acts from 1871 to 1S73, demonetized her
silver and adopted a single gold standard. She stopped coin
ing silver and threw it on the market, selling $140,000,000
worth between 1873 and 1879. This alarmed the countries
pledged to a bi-metallic system. The Latin Union closed
the mints of France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland, to the
coinage of silver, thus confessing their inability to maintain
the two metals on an equality and as money. For thirteen
years France did not issue a single legal tender silver coin,
and on January 1, 1891, the Latin Union went out of ex
istence. Meanwhile, our own country was passing through the
throes of war and the demoralization attending an expanded
and strained credit. -In 18.61 the government became a bor
rower in gold to the extent of $ioo,ooq,ooo. In February,
1862,- it passed the " Legal Tender* Act," under which
$150,000,000 in " Greenbacks " were issued as legal tenders.
At once gold jumped to a premium. The government's
promises to pay were so much cheaper and inferior as a cir
culating medium, that gold hied away and disappeared as
currency. In July of the same year another issue of $150,000,000
of legal tenders was authorized. . Gold rose to a still, higher

236 THE SILVER QUESTION.
premium. Even our fractional silver currency, depreciated
as it was by the Act of 1853, went to a premium and dis
appeared with the gold. This made the fractional paper
currency necessary. Subsequent uses of government credit
in various forms and for war purposes, continued to advance
the premium on gold till in July, 1884, it reached 185 per
cent. Peace, the ability of the government to pay, as steps
toward resumption showed, and final resumption in 1879,
mark the decline of gold to par again, or rather the exalta
tion of the government promise to pay to the gold standard.
THE ACT OF 1 873.
This Act has become more famous through subsequent
discussions of it, than on account of its intrinsic merits or
the debates which attended its passage. It is now " The
Odious Demonetization Act of 1873 " or "The Conspiracy
Against Silver " of that year. The facts connected with its
passage hardly support the charge that it was a " trick "
played on the advocates of free silver coinage by their
opponents. As to the intimation that " its contents were
not fully known " or sufficiently known, that is matter per
sonal to the majority which passed it and remote from its
merits. The approaches to no other Coinage Act seem to have
been more deliberate and gradual. The original draft ofthe
Act was presented to the Senate as early as April, 1870, by
the then Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. Geo. S. Boutwell.
It had been prepared with great deliberation, and under the
supervision of Dr. Linderman, Director of the Mint. It pro
ceeded on the theory that if the American silver dollar were
made the equivalent ofthe five-franc piece of France — France
being on a bi-metallic basis, and with a great volume of sil
ver currency — said dollar might become interchangeable

Hon. Charles F. Manderson.
Born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 9, 1837 ; educated at public
schools ; studied law in Canton, Ohio, and admitted to bar, 1859 ; City
Solicitor of Canton, 1860 ; entered Union army, 1861 ; mustered out as
Brigadier-General, 1865; District Attorney of Canton, 1865-1869;
moved to Omaho, Nebraska, 1869; acquired high standing in profession;
City Attorney for Omaha, 1871 and 1874; choice of both parties as
member of Nebraska Constitutional Convention, 1871 and 1874; elected
to U. S. Senate, as a Republican, 1882 ; re-elected in 1888 ; chosen
President pro tempore of Senate, April, 1891 ; Chairman of Committee
on Printing, and member of Committees on Indian Affairs, Military
Affairs aud Rules. (238)

THE SILVER QUESTION. 239
with European coins of like value. The bill, therefore, fixed
the weight of the silver dollar at 384 grains standard silver,
that being the weight of the five-franc piece.
But as this was really to reduce the ratio between silver
and gold to about 14.8 to 1, and as the bill gave to the sil
ver dollar a limited legal tender power, it was not regarded
as one which would effect its object and make our silver
dollar float all over the world. It, therefore, flitted back
and forward between the two houses of Congress for" three
years, the subject of repeated debates and amendments, the
theme of much newspaper discussion, till at length it was
passed by the House, with the clause providing for a silver
dollar of 384 grains in it. This provision was struck out
by the Senate, and what was called the "Trade Dollar"
clause was inserted in its stead. This clause provided for a
trade dollar of 420 grains standard silver and 378 grains
pure silver, arid a limit on its legal tender quality to sums
of five dollars. The object was to provide a market for our
production of silver and to make a dollar which would sub
stitute the old Spanish dollar in the Pacific trade with China
and Japan. It was a dollar of commerce and not circu
lation. The bill then went to a Committee of Conference between
the two Houses, where its final form was agreed upon. It
then passed both Houses and became a law February 12,
1873. It provided that the gold coins "shall be a one dol
lar piece, which, at the standard weight of 25.8 grains, shall
be the unit of value," etc.
The gold coins of larger denominations were based upon
the one dollar piece. The silver coins were declared to be
a trade dollar, etc., and " the weight of the trade dollar shall
be 420 grains troy . . . and said coins shall be a legal ten
der at their nominal value for any amount not exceeding
u

240 THE SILVER QUESTION.
five dollars in any one payment." Thus the standard silver
dollar was not only struck from the list of coins, but its sub
stitute was limited in legal tender power and classified with
the fractional coins. No change was made in the weight or
quality of the gold coins. The important changes made,
and which have given rise to so much contention since,
were: i. The gold dollar was made the unit value.
2. The trade was substituted for the standard silver dollar.
3. Silver was deprived of full legal tender power, and
limited to payments in sums of five dollars.
No change was made in the minting privilege accorded
the two metals, except with reference to fractional coins.
Owners of silver were permitted to deposit their bullion at
the Mint upon the same terms as owners of gold bullion, so
far as trade dollars were concerned. The provision of the
Act of 1853, to buy silver bullion on Government account
for coining fractional silver, was continued in the Act of
1873, but any owner of silver bullion could " deposit the
same at any mint, to be formed into bars or into trade dol
lars," at a charge not to exceed the actual average cost to
the mint. In answering the complaint that the Act of 1873
struck down silver, Mr. Ehrich, of Colorado, says : —
"Silver has been struck down, but not bythe bill of 1873,
nor by any bill concocted by man. The hand which struck
down silver is the hand which will strike us all down in
time, the hand which nothing can withstand, the irresistible
hand of Nature. Silver has been struck down by the
natural forces, by the great law of supply and demand. The
yearly average of gold production in the twenty-five years
from 185 1 to 1875 was $127,000,000. The yearly average
product of silver for the same period was $5 1 ,000,000. The
average annual product of gold for the fifteen years from

THE SILVER QUESTION. 241
1876 to 1890 declined to $108,000,000, a falling off of 15
per cent. The average annual product of silver for the
same period increased to $116,000,000, an increase of 127
per cent. There is the whole silver question, and in the
face of these facts, it is now impossible for the United States,
single handed, with free and unlimited coinage, to bring sil
ver to a parity with gold on any such basis as 16 to 1 ; it is
more impossible than for a thousand men to pick up our
great ' Pike's Peak ' and transport it bodily to Denver."
ACTS RELATING TO THE TRADE DOLLAR.
By the Act of July 22, 1876, it was provided that "the
trade dollar shall not hereafter be a legal tender," and the
Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to limit the coin
age thereof " to such an amount as he may deem sufficient
to meet the export demand for the same." By this Act the
silver dollar was entirely eliminated from the list of United
States coins. Subsequently an Act was passed authorizing
the redemption of the outstanding trade dollars at par, and
directing their recoinage into standard dollars. Before the
passage of this Act, however, considerable loss was sustained
by the people through the destruction oT the trade dollar as
lawful money. Trade dollars to the number of 35,965,924
were issued from the mints, a large proportion of which was
sent to China and never returned for redemption.
EXTENT OF COINAGE UND*ER ACTS TO 1 878.
From the establishment of the mint in 1792, to 1806, the
aggregate number of silver dollars coined was only 1,439,417,
and from 1806 to 1835 there was no coinage whatever of
this piece. In 1836 the number of dollar pieces coined was
only 1,000. The two years following coinage of dollars was
suspendad, but was resumed in 1839, when 300 were issued,

242 THE SILVER QUESTION;
and the coinage was continued until 1873, when the standard
silver dollar was supplanted by the trade dollar. The largest
annual coinage of standard silver dollars was made in the
years 1 871 and 1872, when it was $i,ii7,i36and $1,118,600
respectively, which is equal to nearly two-fifths of the aggre
gate of standard silver dollars coined from 1792 to 1873,
which aggregate was 7,830,538. The number coined in
January and February, 1873, was 296,000, which are in
cluded in the above aggregate. The " Demonetization Act"
was passed February 12, 1873. It will be seen, therefore,
that standard silver dollars were coined down to the passage
of the Act which substituted the trade dollar.
COINAGE ACT OF I 878.
Remembering now that for seventeen years prior to 1 879
— the date of resumption — neither gold nor silver coins
were in circulation in the United States, and that by 1876
silver had fallen to $1.15 per ounce, we are prepared for the
era of agitation which began with the introduction of free
silver coinage bills into Congress. More than one of these
was introduced into the House, but that particular one which
was prepared and championed by Mr. Bland, of Missouri,
passed the House in the fall of 1877. It became known as
the " Bland Bill," and the coinage of silver that followed in
its wake became known as the " Bland Dollars."
What was really the " Bland Bill," that is, the bill passed
by the House and sent to the Senate, never became a law.
The bill provided for the coinage of " silver dollars of the
weight of 412^ grains Troy, of standard silver, as provided
in the Act of January 18, 1837." . . . "Which coins,
together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the
United States of equal weight and fineness, shall be a legal
tender, at their nominal value, for all debts and dues, public

-¦- ,--¦¦. ...... ,_^_^_._- .. , ,,!."'7« _. 7^-'. ,—

Hon. William H. H. Miller.
Born in Augusta, N. V., September 6, 1840; taught school and
graduated from Hamilton College, 1861 ; taught at Maumee, Ohio, one
year ; entered Union army as Lieutenant in 84th Regiment, Ohio Vol
unteers ; read law and began practice at Fort Wayne, Ind., 1866; moved
to Indianapolis (1874) and formed law partnership with General Benj.
Harrison ; appointed Attorney General by President Harrison, March
5,1889; a profound constitutional lawyer, an able and conscientious
official ; was sustained by Supreme Court in his heroic action in celebrated
Field-Terry case ; distinguished for ability and discretion in handling
Behring Sea disputes; conducted the Anti-Lottery case successfully and
secured favorable opinion of Supreme Court ; secured verdict of highest
court in case involving constitutionality of McKinley Act; administra
tion noted for success in dealing with numerous intricate and far-reach
ing questions; name mentioned in connection with U. S. Supreme bench.
(244)

IHE SILVER QUESTION. 24S
and private, except where otherwise provided by contract.
And, any owner of silver bullion may deposit the same at
any United States coinage mint or assay office, to be coined
into such dollars for his benefit, upon the same terms and
conditions as gold bullion is deposited for coinage under ex
isting laws."
The above is the " Bland Bill " as to its vital points and
as it passed the House and appeared in the Senate. It gave
free coinage (that is, the same coinage as was given to gold)
to any oWner of silver bullion who presented it at the mint.
It gave unlimited coinage of silver dollars for all silver bul
lion presented to be coined. It made coinage compulsory.
At the ratio existing between silver and gold, it was prac
tical mono-metallism, with silver as the standard and gold at
a premium, for the cheaper metal, when coined, invariably
takes the volume of circulation and expels the dearer.
The entire character of this bill was changed in the Senate
by the Allison amendment and became known as the Bland-
Allison Bill. It was then passed by both Houses and be
came the Bland-Allison Act. As passed, it involved the
principle of bi-metallism, for it limited the coinage of the
cheaper metal, silver, and undertook to maintain it at par
with gold by providing for its redemption.
This Act of Februarys 28th, 1878, restored the silver
dollar of 412^ grains to the coinage with full legal tender
power, but did not restore silver bullion to the minting
privilege which attached to it prior to 1873, and which was
in every respect equal to that bestowad upon gold. This
Act re-established the " dollar of the fathers," made it legal
tender for all debts, " except when otherwise expressly
stipulated in the contract," and directed the Secretary of the
Treasury to purchase silver bullion monthly " at the market
price thereof, not less than two million dollars' worth per

-246 THE SILVER QUESTION.
month nor more than four million dollars' worth per month,
and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so pur
chased, into such dollars." The third section provided that
holders of silver dollars " may deposit the same with the
Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer of the United States,
in sums not less than ten dollars, and receive therefor cer
tificates of not less than ten dollars each."
It also provided as follows : —
" That immediately after the passage of this Act the Presi
dent shall invite the governments of the countries compos
ing the Latin Union, so called, and of such other European
nations as he may deem advisable, to join the United States
in a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and
silver, for the purpose of establishing internationally the use
of bimetallic money and securing fixity of relative value
between those metals."
This bill represented the same order of thought that per
vades the silver agitation of the year 1892. Those who
favored the " Greenback " inflation scheme were its ardent
supporters. Representatives from the Silver-producing
States were strongly in its favor, in the belief that it would
enhance the value of their product. While it made the
coinage of silver dollars compulsory to the extent of
$2,000,000 a month, it placed a limit at $4,000,000. It was
thought that this much circulation in silver dollars could be
kept at par with gold, but it was soon found that the silver
dollars would not circulate. Out of the 12,136 tons of
silver purchased by the Government under the Act at a
cost of $308,199,262, and out of the 378,166,793 silver
dollars coined therefrom under the Act, at an expense of
$5,000,000, not more than one out of eight found its way
into circulation. For all the benefit to the circulation
derived from the Act, the Government might as well have

THE SILVER QUESTION. J47
saved itself the $5,000,000 expense of coinage, and bought
and stored the silver in bullion shape. The bullion was
always worth more than the coined dollars, and could have
been more safely and cheaply cared for in the Treasury
vaults than its equivalent in coins. There was no expansion
of the currency, as the ardent advocates of the bill fondly
hoped. Nor was there an increase in the price of silver
bullion, for it declined from $1.12 an ounce in 1879, to 93^
cents an ounce in 1889, or in other words it declined to a
point where it stood to gold as 22 to 1 per ounce value, and
the value of silver in a silver dollar was only 72 cents.
The silver certificate feature of the Act proved of little
practical value, and in the main the Act negatived its own
provisions and bred causes for its repeal.
COINAGE ACT OF I89O.
But the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 was not without its
uses. It satisfied neither its advocates nor its opponents,
and increased rather than decreased the silver agitation. It
led directly to and perhaps hastened the passage of the
Coinage Act of July 14, 1890.
The bill which became the basis of this Act was prepared
on a plan which embraced the views of Secretary of the
Treasury Windom. It was submitted to the House, and
passed. Its provisions were that any owner of silver bul
lion, not foreign, could bring it to any mint and obtain for
it legal tender treasury notes equal in value to the then
market value of the silver, which notes were redeemable
either in gold or silver bullion, at its then market value, at
the option of the government, or in silver dollars at the
holder's option.
This bill was amended in the Senate by inserting a clause
providing for free and unlimited coinage. It then went to

248 THE SILVER QUESTION.
a conference committee, where it took the form in which it
was passed finally and became a law, July 14, 1890.
As passed, it directed the Secretary of the Treasury to
purchase 4,500,000 ounces of silver bullion each month at
the market price thereof, not exceeding $1 for every 37 1%
grains of pure silver, and to issue in payment for such pur
chase Treasury Notes of the United States.
Those Treasury Notes are made redeemable in coin, gold
or silver at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury,
and have full legal tender value. Following this clause is
one which reads " It being the established policy of the
United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with
each other upon the present legal ratio, or such ratio as
may be provided by law."
The Act also provided for the actual coinage of 2,000,000
silver dollars a month up until July 1, 1891.
By comparing the two Acts of 1878 and 1890, a better
view of the silver controversy may be had. The Act
of 1878 made it compulsory on the Government to buy
silver. bullion to the value of $2,000,000 and riot exceeding
$4,000,000 monthly, and to coin the same into silver dollars.
This was a drain on the Treasury of at least $24,000,000 a
year. Holders of silver dollars could exchange them at the
Treasury, in sums of ten dollars, for Silver Certificates, the
coin remaining in the Treasury for the payment of the Cer
tificate on demand. These Certificates were not given full
legal tender value, except for payment of customs and all
public dues. This approval of them by the Government
confirmed them in popular estimation, and they were as
freely accepted by the people as if they had been a full legal
tender. The Act of 1 890 made compulsory on the Treasury the pur
chase of 4,500,000 ounces of silver per month, or 54,000,000

the Silver question. h§
ounces a year. But instead of paying cash for it, payment
was to be made in Certificates, called Treasury notes,
especially issued, redeemable in gold or silver coin, and
clothed with full legal tender power.
It will be seen that payment for the bullion, under the
Act of 1878, was in cash; while payment for the bullion
under the Act of 1890 was by Certificate, or Treasury note.
There was no compulsory coinage of the bullion under
the Act of 1890, except at the rate of $2,000,000 a month
up till July 1, 1891. Since that date no silver dollars have
been coined, but the bullion purchased is held in the form
of fine silver bars. Under the Act, $28,298,455 were coined,
and up to April 1, 1891, $89,602,198 in Treasury notes, to
pay for bullion deposited, had been issued, $77,605,000 of
which were in circulation. At the same date the value of
silver bars held by the Treasury was $65,720,000.
On November 1, 1891, the total of silver dollars coined
and in existence in the United States, under all the Acts,
was $409,475,368, of which $347>339>9°7 were in the
Treasury, and only $62,135,461 outside of the Treasury, or
in circulation.
Against this $323,668,401 silver certificates had been
issued, $321,142,642 of which were outside ofthe Treasury
and $2,525,759 inside. At the same date the stock of silver
bullion in the Treasury was $33,094,234.
The 54,000,000 ounces of silver which the Government is
required to buy yearly, and to issue Treasury notes therefor,
was the exact output of the silver mines in the United States
in 1890. A prime object of the law was, therefore, to
furnish a sure market for the product of our mines, at the
prevailing price of silver bullion when presented at the
Treasury. The Act was a compromise Act, and both mine-
owners and advocates of " free and unlimited coinage " ac-

ago THE SILVER QUESTION.
cepted the compromise, as the best that could be done to
secure a certain home market for their product, and at the
same time increase the circulating medium of the country
by just the number of Treasury notes required to purchase
54,000,000 ounces of silver.
Experience has shown that the Act really authorizes the
purchase of more than the silver product of American mines,
available for coinage purposes, since some three to five
million ounces of said product are annually used up in the
arts. It was a general belief, at the time of the passage of the
Act of 1890, that its effect would be to increase the market
price of silver. Indeed this was confidently prophesied by
mine-owners and free-silver-coinage advocates. In anticipa
tion of such rise, silver speculators entered the market and
drove silver bullion up to $1.05 an ounce in April, 1890;
to $1.08 in May; to $1.15 in August; to $1.21 in Septem
ber. But now the natural law of supply and demand began
to operate against them. They had to contend with the
world's market and the world's prices, and no longer with a
home market and home prices. The inevitable consequence
was that the price of silver broke. The country that could
sustain a certain amount of silver coin, as a circulating
medium, at par with gold, could not sustain the market
value of silver bullion at a point above where the laws of
supply and demand, as established by the world at large,
chose to fix it.
In October, 1890, silver fell to $1.09 per ounce; in De
cember to $1.06. The decline has been gradual ever
since. In December, 1891, silver was worth 94^ cents an
ounce, and the fine silver in a dollar was worth only 73
cents. On May 23, 1892, silver sold for 88^ cents per
ounce. Therefore, even with so excellent a customer as the

The Silver question. 251
Government, and one ready to take the entire output of the
silver mines of the country, the market price of the product
declined. The law of the world proved mightier than the
law ofthe United States.
THE BLAND FREE COINAGE BILL  PROPOSED ACT OF 1 892.
Failure of silver producers to realize their expectations
under the Act of 1890, a growing desire to relieve depressed
industrial and trade conditions, especially in the West and
South, and the fact that political conventions in a great
many States had given the silver question a party turn,
rendered the opening of the Fifty-second Congress an op
portune time to seek new coinage legislation. In the
Democratic Conventions the planks favored the " free and
unlimited coinage of silver : " in the Republican Conven
tions they favored the " maintainance of silver on a parity
with gold."
The Congress opened with an overwhelming Democratic
majority, and Mr. Bland, of Missouri, became the recognized
leader of his party on the silver question. He introduced
into the House what became known as the " Bland Free
Silver Coinage Bill," and advocated it with his well-known
ahility. It drew around it the advocates of " free and un
limited coinage " and became the subject of animated and
prolonged debate. When ripe for passage Mr. Bland de
manded the previous question, which failed by the very re
markable vote of 148 yeas to 148 nays ; there being enough
of Eastern Democrats voting with the Republicans to cause
this disappointing result to the friends of the measure.
As this vote by no means disposed of the measure finally
in the House, or if so, as the question must be a leading one
in the National campaign of 1892, it is well to understand
the provisions ofthe bill.

252 the silver question.
It provides that the unit of value shall be the standard
silver dollar as now coined, of 412 j4 grains standard silver, or
the gold dollar of 25.8 grains standard gold.
That the standard gold and silver coins shall be full legal
tender. That any holder of standard gold or silver bullion shall
be entitled to have the same minted into coins free of
charge, or may deposit said bullion at the mints and receive
coin notes therefor, equal in value to the coinage value of
the bullion deposited, the bullion thereupon to become the
property of the government.
That the coin notes shall not be less than one nor over
one thousand dollars in value and shall be a legal tender.
That issue of the Treasury notes in pay for bullion, pro
vided for in the Act of 1890, shall be discontinued, and all
such as are outstanding shall be called in and destroyed and
coin notes shall be substituted for them.
That the issue of coin notes shall never be greater than
the coinage value of the bullion in the Treasury.
That said coin notes shall be redeemed in coin at the
Treasury, and the bullion deposited shall be coined as fast
as said coins are needed for such purposes of redemption.
That any holder of gold or silver coins may deposit the
same, in sums of ten dollars, and demand coin notes
therefor. That the Act of 1890 is repealed; and that the silver
dollar of 412 yi grains may change to one of 400 grains as
soon as France reopens her mints to free and unrestricted
coinage of silver at the ratio of 1 5 ^ of silver to 1 of gold.
Under the Act of 1890 the government must purchase
54,000,000 ounces of silver per annum, for which it pays the
market price.
Under the proposed Act of 1892 the owner of gold or

Hon. Eichard P. Bland.
Born near Hartford, Ky., August 19, 1835; academically educated ,.¦
moved to Missouri, 1855; thence to California and Virginia city, Nev. ,1
practiced law and engaged in mining ; County Treasurer of Carson co. ;
back to Missouri, 1865; practiced law at Rolla and Lebanon; elected,
as a Democrat, to represent Eleventh Missouri District in 43d, 44th, 45th,
46th, 47th, 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st and 52d Congresses; rose to distinction
as author of Bland Silver Bill, which became a law, with the Allison
amendment, in 1878 ; Father of the Free Silver Coinage Bill in 52d
Congress ; Chairman of Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures ;
an able advocate of Tariff Reform and Free Coinage of Silver.
(253)

THE SILVER QUESTION! 25$
silver bullion may deposit his bullion at the mint, demand
its mintage free, or demand coin notes for it at the mint value
of the bullion.
In the former case the owner of bullion got pay for bul
lion at its price on the day he deposited it. In the latter
case he can get pay at the mint value of the bullion,
that is, for every ounce of silver bullion deposited that has
cost him 95 cents, he can get $1.29 in coin. The oppo
nents of free coinage put it this way: — The mine owners
turned in their product of 54,000,000 ounces last year at a
value of $5 3,796,833, for which they received Treasury notes
to that amount. Under the proposed Bland Act they could
demand the mint value for their 54,000,000 ounces. The
mint value would be $71,000,060. Therefore, they receive
nearly 30 per cent, in excess of the market value of their
silver. But the advocates of free coinage say that the dis
crimination of existing laws against silver makes the dispar
ity between it and gold, and that the removal of such dis
crimination would make the bullion value of silver and the
price of it with the government stamp on it the same. They
say that whenever the mints are open to the free coinage of
silver, and whenever the owner of such silver can have it
exchanged at the rate of 100 cents for 371^ grains, silver
will be worth as much without as with the government
stamp. Their opponents say they quite lose sight of the
fact that the moment these 2>7l% grams of silver which are
worth in the markets of the world, say 80 cents, becomes
worth 100 cents by sheer virtue ofthe stamp upon it, all the
world will pour its surplus silver into our mints and com
pletely swamp our metal currency. Gold would flee and
there would be no means of sustaining silver money at
par. They also say that as the country is at present situated
with barely enough of gold to sustain our present silver cir-

256 THE SILVER QUESTION.
culation, the moment free coinage of silver were adopted it
would be accepted by the Treasury and by the banks, as
notice to suspend gold payments. Unless such suspension
were resorted to it would be no time before the gold reserve
would be exhausted and catastrophe ensue.
The arguments in favor of free and unrestricted coinage
of silver gain great plausibility when they are turned to the
account of the debtor classes — to farmers with mortgages on
their farms and to others similarly encumbered. As seen
just above, they could take advantage of the 30 per cent.
between the market and mint value of the dollar and thus
pay their debts at less than they contracted to pay. The
opponents of free silver coinage say it would be better for
the government to extend this difference to these debtors as
a charity, rather than run the risk of a dishonored currency
and of the panics, disturbances and immense losses which
would surely follow.
Again the free silver coinage men say they are certain
that their doctrine in practice will make the silver dollar
fully equal to the gold dollar. If this be so, say their oppo
nents, then a silver dollar will be as hard to get as the gold
dollar and the debtor will be no better off than at present.
But granting every advantage claimed by the free coinage
men for the debtor classes, how about the creditor classes ?
They are by far the most numerous class. Every laborer
is a creditor when his day's work is done, every pensioner
of the government, every saving institution, etc. If the
cheaper dollar scales the mortgage for the debtor and en
ables him to pay it easier — a matter the mortgagee might
stand — would not the cheaper dollar scale the debt due at
night to the miner, the servant, the artisan, the day laborer ?
No, says the free coinage man, for the dollar would still
be a dollar. But says his opponent, it being a dollar whose

THE SILVER QUESTION. 257
intrinsic value is only 80 or 90 cents, and being plenty,
prices must rise, and the miner's $3.50 per day can only be
exchanged for commodities which formerly cost him a dollar
less. But as most of the infallible laws which underlie the ques
tions of currency have already been stated in this article, we
leave the theories which now constitute so large a part of
the discussion ofthe silver question to the reader, to indulge
as he chooses. It should not be forgotten that other coun
tries have done with their silver just what is proposed to
be done here, and that they — notably the Latin Union —
had to give up in despair their efforts to sustain silver coin
age at par with gold, in quantities beyond the ordinary needs
of trade. Our reserve of gold will always float a fair quan
tity of silver, but to give to silver free and unlimited coinage
is to place gold at its mercy, if the experience of other na
tions is worth anything.
This might not be so if other countries were on a silver
basis, or even if silver constituted a larger per cent, of their
currency. It is with a view to an agreement upon the place
which silver shall, or ought to, hold, in an international
sense, that the United States has requested a conference of
the nations of Europe, which conference will be one of the
events of 1892 and its results will go far toward simplifying
the silver question in this country.
SILVER STATEMENT.
From United States Mint Report for 1891.

Silver received at Mints, 1891
Silver dollars coined, 1891
Silver dollars distributed from Mints, 1891
Silver dollars in Mints, July 1, 1891
Total coinage of silver dollars since 1886

$7 1,985,985
36,232,802 13,208,794
101,290,755
4°9,475.368

258 THE SILVER QUESTION.
Silver dollars held in Treasury for redemption of silver
certificates . .-,..-. . 321,142^642
Outstanding silver certificates  294,945,377
Excess of held coin over certificates .... 26,197,265
Silver dollars in circulation  62,135,461
HOW TO FIGURE SILVER DOLLAR VALUES.
Silver bullion could be bought May 23, 1892, for 88 cents
per ounce of 480 grains.
Divide 480 into 88 and you have .01833 cents, or a little
over 1.8 cents, as the price of a grain of silver.
371 of these grains make a silver dollar— really $71%.
Therefore, 371 multiplied by .01833 = 68 cents, the cost
of the silver in a silver dollar.
Now if a man gets a dollar, or 100 cents, for what cost
him 68 cents, how much would he get for that ounce of
silver bullion which he deposited and which cost him 88
cents ?
It would stand as 68 cents is to loo cents, so is 88 cents
to the answer.
Answer : — $1,294 per ounce for his silver bullion.

Hon. Zebulon B. Vance.
Born in Buncombe Co., N. C, May 13, 1830; educated at Washington
College, Tenn., and at University of North Carolina; admitted to bar,
1852, and elected District Attorney of native co. ; member of State House
of Commons, 1854; member of Congress for 35th and 36th Congresses;
served as Colonel in Confederate army; elected Governor of North
Carolina, 1862, and again in 1864; elected to U. S. Senate, November,
1870, and refused admission; Democratic candidate for U. S. Senator in
1872, but defeated by a Democrat and Republican combination ; elected
Governor of State, 1876; elected to U. S. Senate for term beginning
March, 1879 ; re-elected in 1884 and 1890 ; member of Committees on
District of Columbia, Finance, Privileges and Elections, etc.
(259) ..

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. — AN HISTORIC
REVIEW.
GENERAL VIEW.
The idea, or rather the doctrine, of reciprocal trade is by
no means new. As a principle it has been long recognized
in this country. In England it is what is called " Fair
Trade," and is upheld by a school of economists and states
men who oppose " Free Trade," or seek to escape from the
effects of " Free Trade," by a system which shall not be
one-sided only.
The doctrine, pure and simple, is this, if a nation does
not impose duties on our goods entering its ports, we will
not impose duties on its goods entering our ports ; and if
a nation levies duties on our goods, we will levy duty on
its goods.
This, say fair-traders, is but the doctrine of lex talionis,
tit-for-tat, as applied to trade. This, say free-traders, is the
folly of imposing a double loss on ourselves. Thus, foreign
ers tax our products when they enter their ports. This
imposes a loss on us. Then, in turn, we tax their produqts
when entering our ports. This imposes a second loss on us.
They say, that for an injury done us by others, we fine our
selves. When others impoverish us, we respond by a system
of impoverishment.
Protectionists eschew theories and refinements, and say
that each country is a law unto itself respecting trade. All
prosperous countries have been built on this principle. All
recognize it in one way or another, whatever their outward
professions, or present economic leanings, It is but the

262 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
duty of caring for one's self. It is but the right to live,
and to enjoy advantages, if such exist.
COMMERCIAL TREATIES. *
Reciprocity has for ages been established and determined
between nations by means of commercial treaties. The
usual process has been for two nations, about to treat, to
consult their respective tariff lists, and to grant reductions
of duties on the class of goods which they desire most to
receive from each other. Equally, each country seeks to
secure the lowest rate of duty on the class of goods whose
manufacture constitutes its own industry, and whose sale
abroad it wishes to cultivate. Thus, England makes the
best bargain she can for the foreign sale of her hardware and
cottons, France for her silks and wines, Belgium for her
iron products, the United States for her flour and meat.
The free-trade countries of the world are the most prolific
of reciprocity treaties, yet there never was a reciprocity
treaty that did not recognize the doctrine of protection, else
it would have been of no use. The essence of all com
mercial treaties is home-trade advantage, home-industry
advantage, home-development advantage, whether directly
by encouragement to labor and capital on the spot, or in
directly by reason of enlarged markets abroad.
Says Leveleye, one of the ablest of French Political
Economists, and a pronounced free-trader : — " Commercial
treaties are useful in assuring to industry what is so essential
to it, the fixity of foreign customs dues throughout the period
embraced by the treaty. Nowadays commercial treaties are of
more importance than political treaties, for it is on com
mercial treaties that the progress of industry in each country
in a great measure depends, and also what is no less im-

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 263
portant, the development of commercial relations and com
munity of interest between different lands."
" MOST FAVORED NATION " CLAUSE.
Very often the parties to commercial treaties stipulate that
each of them shall enjoy all the advantages that may come
to, or be secured by, the other through a reduction of duties
between it and still other countries. This has come to be
known in diplomacy as " the most favored nation clause" a
term which grows more familiar each year. It stands thus :
— England agrees to abolish, or reduce to a minimum, her
duties on French silks, as a concession to France for so re
ducing, or abolishing, her duties on English cottons. But
at the same time England says to France, and it is agreed,
that if you succeed in getting similar terms with any other
country by reason of a desire for your silks, we expect our
cottons to follow in the wake of your silks. The favors
your silks secure for you must extend to our cottons. So
France says to England, and it is agreed, that if you succeed
in getting similar terms with any other country by reason
of a desire for "your cottons, we expect our silks to follow
in' the wake of your cottons. The favors your cottons
secure for you must extend to our silks. Thus " the most
favored nation clause " may suffice to carry the favorite pro
duct of a highly industrial and ingenious nation, with com
mercial facilities, into every mart of the world.
This extension of, and refinement on, the principle of
reciprocity as established by commercial treaties, is only an
enlargement of the spirit of advantage between nations.
Clearly, nothing is given without something, and the like,
is expected. As nations do not trade for pure love of the
thing, something more is expected than is given, if not
directly, at least indirectly. But this is protection, says

264 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
the protectionist, for each nation seeks to advantage itself,
and it matters not whether it proceeds on the principle of
denial or concession. Not so, says the free-trader; it is
free-trade, for the moment you concede the principle of
concession you repudiate that of denial, or, in other words,
discrimination by duties. And so economists bandy theories,
and prove toy the world that their science is weightier in
words than worth. \
But while commercial treaties have been the usual, almost
the sole, means of establishing reciprocity, or reciprocal
trade, between commercial nations, they have been slow and
cumbrous of formation and operation, and always costly of
negotiation. They have proved of doubtful construction
and uncertain worth, except where the inducement to make
them was very great, and the power to enforce them reposed
in the contracting parties. New anil weak countries were
placed at a disadvantage by them, evqn if the inducement to
make them existed, and, indeed, no such inducement could
exist till a country was sufficiently advanced to have some
thing substantial to offer for what it dVesired to receive.
POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES.
As long as the United States was feoing through its early*
experiments with free-trade and protection, there was hardly
a thought of reciprocity or reciprocal trade as we have come
to understand it. In all the early arguments respecting the
advantages of protection by theans df duties on foreign im
ports, the central thought was that protection was necessary
in order to foster inf/.nt industries. There was hardly any
diversity of opinioivabout this. Statesman of a11 parties and
economic schools joined in the thought and sought by
speech and vote to establish the principle. Politics did not
gerjoysly tinge a, tariff debate, as Jong as th? $ea waj

Hon. Robert E. Pattison.
Born in Quantico, Somerset co., Md., December 8, 1850; moved to
Philadelphia when young and graduated at Central High School ;
admitted to bar, 1872; elected Comptroller of Philadelphia, 1877 and
1880; elected Governor of Pennsylvania, on Democratic ticket, 1882;
appointed member of Pacific R. R. Commission by President Cleveland,
1887; helped to organize and became President of Chestnut Street
National Bank; prominent member of Morning Record Co., Limited;
re-elected Governor of Pennsylvania, on Democratic ticket, 1890.
(266)

RECIPROCITY frf AMERICA.- 567
dominant that the infancy of industry required the protective
hand of the Government. In this the most pronounced
free-traders had the sanction and support of the English
economic writers, who, almost without exception, admitted
the doctrine that in order to establish and foster infant in
dustries, protection was right in law and morals. England
had universally and persistently applied the principle, till
she had grown rich, powerful and independent by means
of it.
It was hot until 1824, when the old arguments respecting
the uses of protection began to be tinged by partyism, that
attention began to be turned seriously to the advantages of
reciprocal trade. The country was then sufficiently ad
vanced to make it a question in the minds of statesmen.
Free-traders, the very ones who had all along favored pro
tection as a means of fostering infant industries, now turned
their arguments against protection in general. The peculiar
condition of the country, divided into a strictly planting
class, with unpaid labor at its command, and a manufactur
ing, commercial and more diversified industrial class, with
only, paid labor at its command, contributed to the change
of sentiment and the tone of argument. The planting class,
with its unpaid labor, saw a menace in the growth of manu
factures and commerce, with their paid labor. The system
of free, paid labor was a harsh contrast with, and a standing
threat upon, the system of slave, unpaid labor. Established
manufactories and profitable commerce were proving a
source of wealth, population, importance and comfort, which
might in the end overshadow the planting class and its
geographic section, even if it did not endanger the slave
institution. Therefore the free-traders injected into their opposition to
protection the argument that protection had already done

268 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
its legitimate work in grounding and fostering the young
industries of the country, and was no longer necessary.
They said it was a stretch of power any how on the part of
the government, and was no longer justified. They said
that inasmuch as it could be of no earthly use to the plant
ing sections, it was unfair for the nation to legislate in the
interest of the manufacturing and commercial sections.
They attacked the constitutionality of tariff legislation. As
time went on, and the issue of slavery became more a mat
ter of question, the tariff debates brought out in stronger
lines the above arguments. The doctrine of free-trade took
passionate and almost sectional turn. It came nearer than
ever to cleaving and dividing politics. Calhoun did not
hesitate to declare that the further fostering of industries by
means of protection would destroy the planting class and
the institution of slavery ; that the object of free-trade, as hq
advocated it, was to strike a blow at paid labor and the
prosperity of the manufacturing classes ; that the tariff sys
tem was so unfair, so unconstitutional, such an infliction on
the States of his section, as to warrant nullification of tariff
laws, and if this did not provide an escape from their opera
tion, then secession would be justified.
THE NEW PROTECTIVE IDEA.
These arguments were so ably maintained, and the situa
tion became so serious, as to force the protectionists on to
new ground. It is no disparagement to their numbers or
ability to say that they could no longer maintain themselves
on the plea of protection to infant industries — the common
ground of all statesmen in the beginning. They were com
pelled, or perhaps the time had arrived for it, to broaden
their ground, and to make it more secure by a new declara
tion of protective principles by, one may say, a new depar-

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 269
ture in political economy. This became the dawn of those
doctrines which, elaborated by time and modified by cir
cumstances, comprise American protection as enunciated by
modern statesmen, and as they seek to embody them in
protective legislation.
The gist of these doctrines is, that as labor constitutes a
very large per cent, of the cost of an article, the true meas
ure xof protection is a duty which will cover that element of
cost, and thus save our labor from competition with the low-
priced labor of foreign countries. Along with this goes the
doctrine that the free-list may safely embrace only those
articles which are impossible of production with us by rea
son of our soil, climate and natural advantages.
POLICY OF SUBSIDY.
Abreast of this doctrine is another, daily growing more
momentous, and one which has been enforced by the fact
that our genius and facilities tend to overcrowding in our
own markets ; it is, that the very best protection that can be
afforded in such case is the establishment of steamship lines
to carry our surplus products to those who need them most,
or to those of whom we buy most and to whom we have to
pay most. This has been a favorite and universal means of
protection with all commercial countries, and it has been
employed at great outlay on the part of those countries in
the way of pay, or subsidy, to said lines, first in order to
start them, and second in order to maintain them. But this
means of protection has not yet been reached in this coun
try. Subsidy is a word our people cannot yet abide. No
theory of protection that embodies the word directly has
ever yet been framed in this country that could withstand
the assaults of its opponents. The reason is that it appeals
too directly to the capitalistic or monopolistic spirit and

270 RECIPROCITY IN AMERtCA.
class. On the part of the government it is too direct a kind
of paternalism. As to the recipients, it is too special a gift.
It is no answer to all this, as yet, to say that as no other
commercial country ever succeeded in protecting itself
through the establishment of steamship lines, except by
starting and fostering them by subsidies, so this country has
not done, and can never be expected to do, the same with
out the employment of similar agencies. Nor is it, as yet,
a sufficient answer to say that the word subsidy in this con
nection can only be rendered offensive when narrowed to
its apparent recipients, who really ought not to be consid
ered at all, or, if considered, ought to find their true infini
tesimal place in comparison with the tens of thousands of
manufactories, the hundreds of thousands of laborers and
farmers, and the millions of capital, which an exit for our
over products would keep employed.
POLICY OF RECIPROCITY.
Still further, abreast of this doctrine is the policy of
reciprocity; or, as we had better say, the principle of
practical, or applied, reciprocity, rendered conspicuous, as
formulated in the Tariff Act of 1890, and adopted as a
measure of the Harrison Administration. This policy pre
sumes that we ought to have better outlet for our manufac
tures. It presumes that direct trade with those from whom
we buy most and to whom we sell least, would be a most
desirable and advantageous trade to establish, as serving to
balance accounts without draining us of gold cash. It
presumes that, as to certain countries at least, notably
those nearest to us, and especially those whose products
we take largely and which we cannot duplicate at home,
we are in a position to offer what they require, of as good
quality and on as fair terms, as they can secure elsewhere.

•4

Hon. William Alfred Peffer.
Born in Cumberland co., Pa., September 10, 1831 ; educated in com
mon schools ; engaged in teaching and farming ; moved to Indiana,
1853, and engaged in farming; moved to Missouri, 1859, and to Illi
nois, 1861 ; enlisted in Union army and served in Department of Nash
ville; studied law and began practice in Clarksville, Tenn., 1865 ;
moved to Kansas, 1870, to practice law and edit; elected to State
Senate, 1874; Republican elector in 1880; editor of Kansas Farmer,
1881 ; elected to United States Senate, as a. People's Party candidate,
for term beginning March 4, 1891 ; an exponent of the ideas advocated
by the Farmer's Alliance and other new parties.
(272)

Hon. Kichard P. Pettigrew.
Born at Ludlow, Vermont, July, 1848; moved to Wisconsin, 1854;
studied at Beloit College, 1865-66; member of law class of Wisconsin
University, 1870; moved to Dakota, 1869 ; engaged in surveying and
real estate at Sioux Falls ; practiced law since 1872 ; elected to Dakota
Legislature, 1877 and 1879 ; elected Territorial delegate to 47th Con
gress; re-elected to Legislature, 1884-85; member of South Dakota
Constitutional Convention, 1883 ; elected U. S. Senator, as a Republican,
from South Dakota, October 16, 1889; chairman of Quadro-Centennial
Committee, and member of Committees on Improvement of Mississippi
River, Indian Affairs, Public Lands and Railroads.
(273)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 275
It presumes that inasmuch as we are sufficiently advanced
and sufficiently well off to remit entirely duties on their pro
ducts, — most of which are necessaries of life, and hitherto
subjected to duty for sheer purposes of revenue, — and ac
tually do remit such duties, that they ought to reciprocate
by either abolishing or lowering their duties on articles we
send to them. Not to do so would be unreciprocal. It
would be for us to enlarge our inducements for their trade,
by removing duties upon it, and for them to reject these
inducements by refusing to modify or abolish duties on our
trade. .
COUNTRIES MOST INTERESTED.
It is clear to every one that the countries most directly
affected by what may now be called the American policy
of reciprocity, are those countries to the south of us, which
comprise Mexico, Central America and South America.
To these may be added other countries whose, or any part
of whose, products are as theirs are. This being so, even
the casual student of history will be struck by a comparison
of two American continental epochs or eras, the one political,
the other commercial.
Let us take the political one and consider it. It began
in 1787, the date on which our Republican experiment was
launched, the date of our Federal Constitution. Add thirty
years to it, so as to make it embrace a period up to the date
of what may be called general and successful revolt against
Spanish supremacy in South America, and the establishment
of the South American Republics. Fix this date at say
about the year 1824. These thirty years, or thereabouts,
saw the United States engaged in finding a permanent place
for her political institutions. She was manfully meeting the
trials to which young countries are subjected, and especially

276 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. »
those countries that have been compelled to conquer their
independence by means of war, and have been bold enough
to dare a political experiment at odds with the systems, tra
ditions and instincts of the mother countries. She was
heroically and successfully passing through the stages —
many of them severe, even to the point of a second war —
which led up to full independence, to universal recognition
of her right to exist as a government and nation, and to that
conspicuous place in the firmament of Western Republics,
which made her a cynosure in the eyes of all.
At the beginning of this»period what did she find ? The
entire continent to the south of her was Spanish. Spanish
political domination was complete as it could be, all things
considered. Then came the gradual breaking away from
foreign and monarchical moorings, under the lead of brave
generals, like Bolivar, under the influence of enlarged ideas
of freedom, under the inspiration furnished by the success
of the northern experiment.
So busy had the United States been with her own exper
iment, that she had not had time to more than note what
was going on to the south of her. Her own expanse was
so ample, her resources so sufficient, her thought so dis
tinctive, as that political confederacy on the continent had
not occurred to her, or at least had taken no definite shape.
Neither had political co-operation, or, in other words, polit
ical reciprocity, taken even vague shape. Sympathy existed
for every effort looking to the breaking of the Spanish yoke.
Indirect encouragement was offered to the erection of every
republican temple founded on the ashes of European mon
archy. But that was all, until the time should come when,
her own political destiny being assured, and a new order of
statesmen having arisen, the Republic of the North could
afford to recognize in a more direct manner those ofthe South,

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. - if}
POLITICAL INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES IN SOUTH AMER
ICAN REPUBLICS.
It was in 1808 that the interference of Napoleon with the
affairs of Spain enabled the South American republics to
rejoice in the assurance of their own autonomy. But a long
struggle was necessary in order to establish the independ
ence they hoped for. For twenty years they looked vainly
for succor or approval from European monarchies. They
had been all along looking to the Republic of the North,
and copying her splendid example. They now began to
look for substantial recognition, and they found in , Henry
Clay their earliest and ablest champion. In 18 18 Mr. Clay
made a passionate appeal in the House of Representatives
for their recognition, and in the same year the condition of
the South American provinces became a subject of consid
eration at a cabinet meeting, James Monroe being President.
Four years afterwards, the recognition they sought from the
United States came, and it was soon followed by recognition
on the part of Great Britain. In the next year, 1823, Pres
ident Monroe, in his message to Congress, and in discussing
the relation of foreign powers toward those on the Ameri
can Continent, said :
" In wars of European powers, in matters relating to
themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it com
port with our policy to do so. It is only when our rights
are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or
make preparation for our defence. With the movements in
this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately con
nected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlight
ened and impartial observers. The political system of the
allied powers (of Europe) is essentially different in this
respect from that of America. This difference proceeds
from that which exists in their respective governments.

278 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
And to the defence of our own which has been achieved by
the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the
wisdom of our most enlightened citizens, and under which
we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is
devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the ami
cable relations subsisting between the United States and
those powers, to declare that we should consider any attempt
on their part to extetid their system to any portion of this hem-
ispJiere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the ex
isting colonies or dependencies 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 on just. principles, acknowledged, we could
not view any interposition, for the purpose of oppressing them,
or controlling in any other manner their destiny i by any Eu
ropean power, in any other light than as the manifestation of
an unfriendly disposition toward the United States!'
This was the " Monroe Doctrine ; " this the note of warn
ing, to monarchical Europe to keep hands off the political
destiny of a Continent. It was of this doctrine that Daniel
Webster, in a speech in the House, April, 1826, upon the
subject of an appropriation to send a mission from the
United States to the South American Congress at Panama,
said :
" I look on the message of December, 1823, as forming a
bright page in our history. I will neither help to erase it
or tear it out, nor shall it by any act of mine be blurred or
blotted. It did honor to the sagacity of the government,
and I will not diminish that honor. It elevated the hopes
and gratified the patriotism of the people. Overthose hopes
I will not bring a mildew, nor will I put that gratified patri
otism to shame."

Hon. William Walter Phelps.
Born in New York City, August 24, 1839 ; graduated at Yale, 1860;
and at Columbia Law School, 1863; entered practice and became
attorney for several R. R. Co's ; elected to Congress, from New Jersey,
in 1872 as a Republican ; rose to distinction as a debater and leader;
defeated for second term ; delegate-at-large from New Jersey in National
Conventions of 1880-84; appointed minister to Austria by President
Garfield ; re-elected to 48th, 49th and 50th Congresses ; conspicuous for
interest in tariff, merchant marine and foreign affairs ; fine orator and
party counsellor; Regent of Smithsonian Institution; President of Colum
bia Law School Association ; founder of N. Y. Union League and Uni
versity clubs ; appointed Minister to Germany by President Harrison.
(279)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 20,i
CONGRESS OF REPUBLICS.
In 1 82 1 the Republic of Colombia suggested the idea of
a closer connection between the Spanish colonies in Central
and South America. In July, 1822, and before their inde
pendence had been recognized by the United States, Colom
bia and Chili negotiated a treaty looking to a Congress of
the new Republics, resembling the one already constructed
in Europe (The Holy Alliance, which was an attempt to
fetter all Europe with absolute monarchy), and having for
its object " The construction of a continental system for
America." The idea ripened slowly, though it was sedulously cher
ished by Bolivar and other leaders, Bolivar being then at
the head of the Republic of Peru. It was not until De
cember 7, 1824, that he issued his invitation to the Repub
lics south of us, to meet in conference at Panama. Most
of them accepted, and the " General Assembly of the Amer
ican Republics " met at Panama, June 22, 1826.
What was singular about this Congress or General As
sembly was that it was no part of Bolivar's design to invite
the United States to participate. The Republics of South
America had abolished African slavery in 18 13. Doubtless
Bolivar felt that the interest which the United States had at
that time in preserving and extending slavery would tend to
embarrass her acceptance of an invitation, or make her an
unwelcome, if not dangerous, participant. The invitation to
the United States came from Colombia and Mexico, after an
inquiry through Mr. Clay as to whether it would be accep
table to President Adams. Mr. Adams was so far satisfied
as that he appointed two representatives to the Congress or
Conference, subject to the "advice and consent of the
Senate." In his message to the Senate-, Mr, Adams gave among

282 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
other reasons for his action the following, which is valuable
in this connection as showing the dawn of the idea that
mutual commercial intercourse with the South American
States might well become a subject of consideration in such
a conference as that proposed. He said :
"But the. South American nations, in the infancy of their
independence, often find themselves in positions with refer
ence to other countries, with principles applicable to which,
derivable from the state of independence itself, they have
not been familiarized by experience. The result of this has
been that sometimes in their intercourse with the United
States they have manifested dispositions to reserve a right
of granting special favors and privileges to the Spanish na
tion as the price of their recognition ; at others, they have
actually established duties and impositions operating unfavor
ably to the United States, to the advantage of European pow
ers ; and sometimes they have appeared to consider that
they might interchange among themselves mutual conces
sions of exclusive favor, to which neither European powers
nor the United States should be admitted. In most of these
cases their regulations unfavorable to us have yielded to
friendly expostulation and remonstrance ; but it is believed
to be of infinite moment that the principles of a liberal com
mercial intercourse should be exhibited to them and urged
with interested and friendly persuasion upon them, when
all are assembled for the avowed purpose of consulting
together upon the establishment of such principles
as may have an important bearing upon their future wel
fare." The debate in the Senate upon the proposed mission was
exceedingly acrimonious. Serious charges were brought
against President Adams, and the policy and purposes of
his administration were denounced as dangerous. It was

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 283
declared that the mission would lead to international com
plications. The slave-holding members affirmed that in
reference to the rest of America, as well as to Europe,
slavery must be and remain the prime motive ofthe foreign
policy of the United States, and they said that they saw in
the conference peril to their "peculiar institutions," for the
history of these Southern Republics as to slavery furnished
an example "scarcely less fatal than the independence of
Hayti to the repose of the slave States of the Union."
They had not only copied from the revolutionary records of
the United States the words " freedom," " equality " and
" universal emancipation," but had actually broken the
chains of all slaves.
THE COMMERCIAL THOUGHT UPPERMOST.
The defenders of the proposed mission and of the Presi
dent's action made many elaborate arguments for their side,
all of which embraced in some form the idea of more ex
tended and intimate commercial intercourse, upon the basis
of mutual or reciprocal trade. When Mr. Adams was asked
by the House for further information respecting his view
and his action he responded in a lengthy message, in which
he said : —
" The first and paramount principle upon which it was
deemed wise and just to lay the corner-stone of all our
future relations with them was disinterestedness; the next
was cordial good will to them ; the third was a claim of fair
and equal reciprocity!'
Then in further allusion to the commercial idea he said : —
" It will be within the recollection of the House that im
mediately after our War of Independence a measure closely
analogous to this Congress of Panama was adopted by the
Congress of our Confederation and for purposes of precisely

284 RECIPROCITY IN AMUK1CA.
the same character. Three commissioners with plenipoten
tiary powers were appointed to negotiate treaties of amity,
navigation and commerce with all the principal powers of
Europe. They met and resided at Paris for one year, for
that purpose, and the only result of their negotiations was
our first treaty between the United States and Prussia,
memorable in the diplomatic annals of the world and pre
cious as a monument of principles in relation to commerce
and maritime warfare, with which our country entered upon
her career as a member of the great family of independent
nations." In the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs reported
against the expediency of sending ministers to the Panama
Congress, but afterwards, and very grudgingly, approved the
President's selection. The House, after long delay, agreed
to appropriate the necessary funds. The ministers were
sent, but delay had done its designed work. They were too
late for the Conference, which had adjourned previous to
their arrival. Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State, was much
mortified at the failure, and the President, in 1829, in allud
ing to the failure said to the Senate : — " While there is no
probability of the renewal of the negotiations, the purposes
for which they were intended are still of the deepest inter
est to our country and lo the world, and may, hereafter, call
again for the active energies of the Government of the United
States." It might be interesting in this connection to know that
the South and Central American Republics continued to
hold conferences for consideration and adjustment of their
affairs and the unification of their interests. One was held
at Lima in 1847, another in 1864, another was proposed at
Panama in 1881, which was prevented by the South Amer
ican wars, and another >vas held, at Montevideo jn 1 §88-89,

Hon. Thomas C. Power.
Born near Dubuque, Iowa, May 22, 1839; educated at Sinsinewa
College, Wis., in engineering; with surveying party in Dakota, 1860;
engaged in mercantile pursuits on Missouri river ; located at Fort Ben
ton, 1867; President of " Benton P" line of steamers; largely inter
ested in mines, cattle and mercantile companies ; moved to Helena in
1878; member of Montana Constitutional Convention, 1883; delegate
to Republican National Convention, 1888; nominated for Governor of
State, 1889, on Republican ticket, and defeated; elected to United
States Senate, as Republican, January 2, 1890; Chairman of Civil Ser
vice Committee; member of Committees on Improvements of Missis
sippi River, Indian Affairs, Public Lands, Railroads.
(286)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 287
The United States was not represented in any of them.
The era of our political influence upon these Republics,
whether by example, or by the encouragement extended in
the " Monroe Doctrine," or by the comity intended by Mr.
'Adams, had ended with their freedom from monarchical
yoke and the assurance that they were forever committed
to the Republican spirit.
COMMERCIAL BONDAGE OF THE REPUBLICS.
But singular, as it may seem that political freedom was
followed by commercial bondage. Commercial Europe set
her head for conquest, and with her immense facilities over
ran the marts from which the Spanish warships had been
driven. This invasion has become well nigh complete.
We now come to the second era above mentioned — the
commercial. We have seen how the end of the political
era witnessed the dawn of the idea of commercial reciproc
ity with the Southern Republics. The idea lay dormant,
so far as the United States was concerned, through the
period devoted to working out its own industrial and com
mercial independence. The industrial and commercial pe
riod from 1824 to i860 may be likened to the political
period prior to the Revolution. The industrial and com
mercial period from 1861 to the present may be likened
to the political period from 1787 to 1824, each of these pe
riods being considered with reference to our relations to the
Southern Republics. Strange to say, the above period from
1 86 1 to the present corresponds in length with the period
from. 1787 to 1824, at whose end we took political cogniz
ance of these Republics and witnessed their freedom from
European monarchy.
The settlement of our sectional differences by civil war,
the establishment of a system of finance which gives us
13

288 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
rank among the nations, the practice of protection which
made us industrially and commercially independent, brings
us to a point of time when our example and influence must
affect the countries of our continent to the south of us in a
commercial sense, just as they were affected in a political
sense. If their commercial subjugation by Europe is as
complete as was their political subjugation by Spain, and
their independence as desirable, they may well look once
more to us for something which in commerce shall be the
equivalent of the " Monroe Doctrine " in politics. We are
in a position to extend it, at least that is the significance of
practical reciprocity. A PEACE CONGRESS.
What President Adams called " the deepest interests
of our country," and what he prophesied might " hereafter
call again for the active energies of the Government of the
United States," began its culmination with the invitation of
President Garfield for all the independent governments of
North and South America to meet in a Peace Congress at
Washington. It has been given, out that he aimed at some
thing more than a mere code of arbitration in case of dis
putes which might lead to war among American states,
and that he contemplated making commercial reciprocity a
leading feature of his administration. His death frustrated
his design. A MORE COMMERCIAL THOUGHT.
President Garfield's invitation was recalled by President
Arthur in order that the Congress might be given opportu
nity to consider the advisability of the step. Just as soon
as the Congress began to deliberate upon the matter, the
subject took wider and wider range, and the idea of recip
rocal commerce becafhe a conspicuous feature, On Jan^

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 289
uary 21, 1880, Senator Davis of Illinois first threw his
suggestion of an " International American Conference " into
a Senate Bill in which occurred the following words : —
" Whereas from the southern boundary of the United
States to the Argentine Republic, and also the Republic of
Chile, a distance of about 4,500 miles, including Mexico,
Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador,
Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, containing a popu
lation of, in all, about 40,000,000 industrious and progressive
people, with whom *he United States hold, and d?cire to
maintain, the most friendly relations, and with whom a
closer and reciprocal interest in trade and commerce ought
to be encouraged," etc.
The Davis proposition looked to this " closer and recip
rocal interest in trade and commerce " by means of a great
southern railroad connecting the three Americas.
On April 24, 1 882, Senator Cockrell, of Missouri, intro
duced into the Senate a bill similar to the above, whose
object was the " appointment of a special commissioner for
promoting intercourse with such countries of Central and
South America as may be found to possess natural facilities
for railway communication with each other and with the
United States."
On the same date, April 24, 1882, Senator Morgan, of
Alabama, introduced a kindred bill, " for the encouragement
of closer commercial relations between the United States
and the Republic of Mexico, Central America, the Empire
of Brazil and the several Republics of South America."
Similar bills were introduced into the House, all looking
to " the promotion of commercial intercourse " with the
countries to the south of us, all of which were reported
adversely by the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
In 1883 Senator Sherman reintroduced into the Senate

290 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
the Morgan Bill of 1882. In the first session of the Forty-
eighth Congress, Mr. Townsend, of Illinois, introduced a
joint resolution, " inviting the co-operation of the Govern
ments of American nations in securing the establishment of
free commercial intercourse among those nations and an
American Customs' Union."
On March 3, 1884, Senator Cockrell introduced a Senate
bill authorizing a commission to Central and South Amer
ica " for the purpose of collecting information looking to
the extension of American trade and commerce," etc. This
bill was reported favorably by the Committee on Foreign
Affairs. Before taking action on this bill, the Committee on For
eign Affairs of the Senate requested the views of Mr. Fre
linghuysen, Secretary of State, as to the proposed legisla
tion. He reviewed the entire question very fully in his
reply of March 26, 1884, and fully set forth the advantages
of reciprocity with these countries. His arguments pointed
directly to reciprocity as a necessity, in case duties were
greatly lowered, or entirely removed, on the products of
these countries.
" I am," said he, " thoroughly convinced of the advisa
bility of knitting closely our relations with the States of
this Continent, and no effort on my part shall be wanting to
accomplish a result so consonant with the constant policy
of this country and in the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine,
which, in excluding foreign political interference, recognizes
the common interest of the States of North and South
America. It is the history of all diplomacy that close po
litical relations and friendship spring from unity of com
mercial interests 
The true plan, it seems to me, is to make a series of reci
procity treaties with the States of Central and South

Hon. Redfield Proctor.
Born at Proctorsville, Vermont, June 1, 1831 ; graduated from Dart
mouth, 1851, and from Albany Law School in 1859; practiced law
in Boston; served in Army 1861-63 ; rose to be Colonel of Fifteenth
Vermont Volunteers ; returned to practice of law ; elected to Assembly,
1867-68; again, 1888; served in State Senate, 1874-76; elected Lieu
tenant-Governor, 1876 ; advanced to Governor, 1878 ; delegate-at-large
to Republican National Conventions, 1884, 1888; appointed Secretary
of War by President Harrison, 1889; resigned November 1, 1891, to
take place of Senator Edmunds in United States Senate; a man of pro
nounced Republican views, high standing as lawyer and statesman, ripe
business experience, and great popularity with his people.
(202)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 293
America, taking care that those manufactures, and as far as
is practicable those products, which would come into com
petition with our own manufactures and products should
not be admitted to the free list. By these treaties we might
secure for vaUiable consideration so as not to violate the
most-favored-nation clause of other treaties, further substan
tial advantages. Such, for example, as the free navigation
of their coasts, rivers and lakes.
" Indiscriminate reduction of duties on materials pecu
liarly the production of Central and South America would
take from us the ability to offer reciprocity, and we would
thus lose the opportunity to secure valuable trade. Re
moval of duties from coffee, without greatly cheapening its
price, deprived us ofthe power to negotiate with the coffee-
growing countries of Spanish-America highly advantageous
reciprocity treaties, and indiscriminate reduction of duties
on sugar would complete our inability to establish favorable
commercial relations with those countries which form our
natural market, and from which we are now almost entitely
excluded. If we confine the reduction of duties on such
articles as sugar and coffee to those Spanish-American coun
tries which are willing to negotiate with us treaties of reci
procity, we cheapen these products for our own people and
at the same time gain the control of those markets for the
products of our fields and factories."
STARTLING REVELATIONS.
The report of the House Committee, to which two of the
above bills had been referred, was most elaborate and con
tained some startling revelations as to trade with these
countries. It showed their total commerce in 1 883 to be
^752,918,000, in which the United States participated only
to the extent of #142,282,000. It showed that their imports

294 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
to the United States amounted for that year to $93,319,000,
whereas we sent in turn to them only #48,963,000. It
quoted from the work of a recent commercial traveller
through those States, to this effect :
" It always grieved me exceedingly, and was particularly
offensive to my sense of the fitness of things, to find almost
everything in the way of foreign merchandise, throughout the
length and breadth of my routes, of European manufacture.
At different points along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in
many cities of the plains, in various towns on the mountain
slopes, on the apex of Potosi and on the tops of other An
dean peaks higher than Mount Hood, I have gone into
stores and warehouses and looked in vain — utterly in vain —
for one single article of American manufacture. From the
little pin with which the lady fastens her beau-catching
ribbons to the grand piano with which she enlivens and
enchants the hearts of all her household ; from the tiniest
thread and tack and tool needed in the mechanic arts to the
largest plows and harrows and other agricultural implements
and machines required for use on the farm — all these and
other things, the wares and fabrics and light groceries and
delicacies in common demand ; the drugs and chemicals sold
by the apothecary ; the fermented, malt and spirituous liq
uors in the wine saloon ; the stationery and fancy goods in
the book-store ; the furniture in the parlor and the utensils
in the kitchen, are, with rare exceptions, of English, German,
Spanish, or Italian manufacture. And what makes the
matter still more unsatisfactory and vexatious to the North
American and more expensive and otherwise disadvantageous
to the South American, is that these articles are, as a gen
eral rule, inferior both in material and make to the corre
sponding article of American manufacture."
The report favored the appointment of a commission to

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 295
these countries. A bill authorizing such commission was
passed, and George H. Sharpe, New York, Solon O. Thacher,
Kansas, and Thomas C. Reynolds, Missouri, were appointed
Commissioners, with Mr. W. E. Curtis as Secretary. They
sat in our principal cities, visited the countries of Central
and South America, and made valuable reports from time to
time. On December 21, 1885, Mr. Townsend, of Illinois, rein
troduced his resolution into the House, looking to an Amer
ican Customs' Union. It was reported adversely, as was a
bill providing for international arbitration. The same fatal
ity befell similar bills in the Senate.
GROWTH OF THE COMMERCIAL THOUGHT.
On February 22, 1886, Senator Frye, of Maine, intro
duced an elaborate bill into the Senate " to promote the
political progress and commercial prosperity of the United
States." It provided for an American International Con
gress at Washington on October 1, 1887, and suggested a
list of subjects to be considered, which list embraced :
1. Measures of peace and prosperity.
2. An American Customs' Union.
3. Regular and frequent steamship lines.
4. Uniform system of customs regulations.
5. Uniform weights and measures.
6. A common silver coin.
7. A definite plan of arbitration.
On March 29, 1886, Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky, intro
duced in the House a bill " authorizing the President to
arrange a conference for the purpose of encouraging peace
ful and reciprocal commercial relations between the United
States and Mexico, the Central American and South Amer-

296 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
ican States." On the same day Mr. McKinley, of Ohio,
introduced a bill favoring an Arbitration Conference.
On April 15, 1886, Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky, reported
his bill from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, with a com
plete text and favorable report. It provided for an Inter
national Conference at Washington, and for " considering
questions relating to the improvement of business inter
course between said countries, and to encourage such recip
rocal commercial relations as will be beneficial to all and
secure more extensive markets for the products of each of
said countries." NECESSITY FOR RECIPROCAL TRADE.
The report of the majority of the committee accompa
nying this bill was a very able one, and particularly valuable
as a matter of economic and commercial history, and as
coming from a committee not regarded as favorable to the
reciprocity idea.
The report set forth among other things :
" The subject of establishing closer international relations
between all the Republics of the American continent and
also the Empire of Brazil, containing in the aggregate one
hundred millions of people, for the purpose of improving
the business intercourse between those countries and secur
ing more extensive markets for the products of each, is both
interesting and important. Sixty years ago this subject
was discussed and a conference was suggested between rep
resentatives of our Government and the other Governments,
and President John Quincy Adams appointed representa
tives to the Congress held at Panama to consider measures
for promoting peace and reciprocal commercial relations
between said countries. This Conference was beneficial,
but at that time our people were looking more to Europe

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 297
for business and commerce than to the countries south of
us, and no action was taken by our Congress. Now the
United States is at peace with all the world and our popu
lation and wealth make this the foremost Republic of the
world, and our Government should inaugurate the move
ment in favor of an American Conference.
" The present depression of business and low price of
farm products are caused, to a considerable extent, by a
limited market for our surplus products. Some of the best
markets we can look to are not far beyond our southern
border. They are nearer to us than to any other commer
cial nation. The people of Mexico and of Central and
South America produce much that we need, and our abun
dant agricultural, manufactured, and mineral productions
are greatly needed by them. These countries cover an area
of 8,118,844 square miles, and have a population pf 42,-
770,374. Their people recognize the superiority of our
products, and desire more intimate business intercourse
with our people, but the great bulk of their commerce and
trade is with Europe. The Argentine Republic has from
forty-five to sixty steamships running regularly between
Buenos Ayres and European ports, and no regular line be
tween that country and the United States, and our commer
cial facilities with the other republics of Central and South
America are about the same.
" In 1884 our exports were valued at #733,768,764.
" Of this amount we exported but #64,719,000 to Mexico
and South and Central America.
" Our annual mechanical and agricultural products are
valued at #15,000,000,000, while we seldom have sold more
than #75,000,000 worth of these products to our nearest
neighbors, who buy in Europe at least five times as much
as they get here.

298 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
"The total commerce of the countries named in 1883
was as follows: Imports, #331,100,599; exports, #391,294,-
781. "Ofthe #331,100,599 of merchandise sold to those coun
tries, the share of the United States was only #42,598,469 ;
yet we are their closest neighbor.
" The disparity of our trade with Peru, Chili, Argentine
Republic and Brazil is both amazing and humiliating.
To From Great From United
Britain. States.
Peru  $6,235,685 $743.i°S
Chili  11,060,880 2,211,007
Argentine Republic  29,692,295 4.3I7.293
Brazil  33,946,215 7.3I7.293
" The consumption of cotton goods in Central and South
America and in Mexico amounts to nearly #100,000,000 an
nually, and although they are so near our cotton-fields,
England furnishes about 95 per cent, of these goods.
" Cotton fabrics constitute the wearing apparel of nearly
three-fourths of those people, and they have to import all
they use.
" England monopolizes this trade because of her cheap
transportation facilities, and because her mills furnish goods
especially adapted to the wants and tastes of the consumers,
which our mills have never attempted to produce.
" It is very important that transportation facilities between
the United States and her southern neighbors should be im
proved ; for as long as the freight from Liverpool, Hamburg
and Bordeaux is #15 a ton, they cannot be induced to pay
#40 a ton to bring merchandise from the United States.
" There is not a commercial city in these countries where
the manufacturers of the United States cannot compete with

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 299
their European rivals in every article we produce for ex
port. " The report of the South American Commission shows,
by the testimony of the importing merchants of those coun
tries, that aside from the difference in cost and convenience
in transporting, it is to their advantage to buy in the United
States, because the quality of our products is superior, and
our prices are usually as low as those of Europe."
AN OPPOSING VIEW.
Mr. Belmont presented a minority, and opposing, report
to the above bill. In discussing it from a commercial stand
point, he made quite prominent a fact, if not a principle,
though unintended on his part, that was fully recognized
^when reciprocity was introduced into the Tariff Act of 1890.
He said :
" Nothing is now so desirable for our own people as a free
and reciprocal interchange of products between ourselves and
the people of other nations on this continent. But what now
hinders such free interchange so much as our tariff laws ?
If this Government shall invite Brazil, Mexico and the Re
publics of Central America and South America to join us in
a conference to promote such free and reciprocal interchange
of products, what concessions in our tariff schedules is the
President to be authorized to instruct our commissioners to
propose on our part ? The question of our own tariff will
naturally and immediately come up for discussion and con
sideration. Shall, for example, our commissioners be au
thorized to offer to the Argentine Republic to admit its wool
into our ports free of duty ?
" No one can be more sensible than I am of the great ad
vantages which in our country flow from that free commer
cial intercourse, unvexed by tariffs or custom-houses, which

30o RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
the Federal Constitution secures. I wish by some possible
and wise contrivance those advantages now enjoyed by and
between Maine and California, Florida and Alaska, could be
realized by and between every nation and every producer on
this hemisphere from Baffin's Bay to Cape Horn. But is
this Government now in condition to successfully ask in a
diplomatic way the accomplishment of such a result ? To
use Mr. Gladstone's language, should we not first of all
begin to govern ourselves in tariff matters with 'justice and
moderation ? ' And then, too, does opinion in this House
tend to tolerate a reform or protective system by treaties ?
" One of the difficulties with which we in the United
States have now to contend is that, by reason of our present
tariff laws, we cannot in our own workshops compete with
European manufacturers, notwithstanding the great advan
tage we have from the efficiency of better paid and better
educated labor. So long as such tariff laws shall be main
tained it is not believed that any diplomatic negotiations will
enable the United States to do in the Dominion of Canada,
or in Mexico, or in Central America, or in South America
what we cannot do at home — which is to compete with
European manufacturers. Freedom to buy in these com
munities we now have, and we can enlarge its use to any
degree, but freedom to sell to those communities we can
only enlarge by producing equally good articles which we
will sell at least as cheaply as our European competitors.
All schemes whatever for retaining a protective system and
gaining foreign markets are impossible of success, no matter
how many railways we may build or steamships we may
subsidize. It will be seen from the statistics already given
that a large part of the products of our neighbors to the
south of us are now admitted at our custom-houses free of
duty, but the difficulty of increasing the exports of our

Hon. James L. Pugh.
Born in Burke co., Ga., December 12, 1820 ; moved early to Ala
bama, and 'received academic education; admitted to bar in 1841, and
acquired a lucrative practice ; elected to 36th Congress, but withdrew
when State seceded ; served in Confederate army; elected to Confederate
Congress, 1861-63; resumed law practice at Eufaula ; member of Con
vention that framed State Constitution in 1875 ; elected to U. S. Senate
in 1880 ; re-elected 1884 and 1890 ; member of Committees on Educa
tion and Labor, Judiciary, Privileges and Elections, Revolutionary
Claims and Canadian Relations. (301)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 3°3
manufactured products to those countries remains, because
our protective tariff inflicts what, owing to the increased
cost of manufacture, is in effect an export tax upon our prod
ucts, which frustrates the efforts of our enterprising and
inventive people to have more complete possession of the
neighboring markets upon this continent."
ARGUMENTS FOR RECIPROCITY.
It was not until May 6, 1886, that Senator Frye's bill, be
fore alluded to, was reported to the Senate by the Commit
tee on Foreign Relations. Its provisions were very like
those of the McCreary bill. It was accompanied by a still
more elaborate report than that in the House, which report
included the reports made from time to time by the com
missioners who had visited the Central and South American
countries. This report, or, rather, these reports, left little
to be added upon the propriety of an international confer
ence, and the necessity for reciprocity in trade and com
merce. We first use the language of Commissioner
Thacher : —
" The peculiarities of the Latin race in America lead it
away from manufacturing pursuits. Valencia centuries ago
imported wool from England and returned it in cloths, but
the process is now reversed.
" Great Britain manufactures for the world, and Spain,
with all the colonies she planted, contributes to her com
mercial supremacy.
" In Spain there is cheap fuel and plenty of water-power.
In Spanish America, from Mexico to Magellan, there are
few coal-fields, but almost everywhere flowing streams,
furnishing the cheapest and most abundant power.
" Guatemala, Costa Rica, the western slopes of the Andes,
Uruguay, and portions of the Argentine Republic have un-

304 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
failing and enormous stores qf this easily-used motor. Yet
in Costa Rica I saw only two water-driven mills ; in Guate
mala there were a few more ; yet not one-thousandth part
of the water-power was utilized. The Rimac for nearly 70
miles is a dashing cascade, with only a tannery, a brewery,
and possibly a few other industries at Lima holding in check
for a few minutes its rushing flood.
" Chili in the Mopochb and the Maipo has powerful
streams, and hundreds of smaller water-courses find their
way to the ocean.
" The report from Uruguay calls attention to its internal
water-power, and the statements submitted with the report
from the Argentine Republic show how immense is the
water-power in the Gran Chaco region.
" We must conclude, then, that the want of manufactured
products in these countries grows out of either or both of two
causes ; the one a disinclination to take up the patient,
steady routine of daily toil necessary to successful manu
facturing, and the other a greater profitableness in other
more congenial pursuits.
" Without dwelling on the point, I may say that it is safe
to aver that these countries will for years be great consumers
of foreign manufactured goods.
" In Chili the war with Peru demoralized the soldiers,
many of whom were taken from the ordinary pursuits, and,
returning from their conquest, failed to take up the peaceful
avocations they left ; and yet Chili is beyond doubt in manu
factories the New England of South America. The special
report on this country fully covers this question.
" In any trade relations we may establish with those coun
tries we may reasonably count on the permanence of the
demand for our goods.
" The larger portion of the commerce we are seeking has

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 305
been in the hands of Great Britain, but of recent years
another, and what promises to be a more formidable rival,
has come to the front.
" The German manufacturers, intrenched behind encour
aging and protecting legislative walls, have pushed their
products far beyond the home demand. Always sure of
their own market without competition, they have turned
their unflagging energies to secure centers of trade in the
Western Hemisphere. They are clever imitators of every
new invention, of every improved machine, and of many of
the most useful and popular goods produced in the United
States. They send out counterfeits of the famous ' Collins '
wares, even to the very brand ; they make mowers and
agricultural implements as nearly like ours as possible. Our
sewing-machines are copied by these people, and the imita
tions are palmed off on the South American trade as com
ing from the United States. The character and ways of
these new rivals for the trade of our neighbors is thus graph
ically portrayed by our former consul-general in Mexico,
Mr. Strother, and I may add that what the German is in
Mexico he is in all the other Central and South American
nations. " General Strother says :
" ' For the rest it will still remain with American manu
facturers and merchants to solve the question of successful
competition with their European rivals, the most formidable
of whom at present are the Germans, whose commercial
establishments are more substantially planted and more
widely extended than those of any other foreign nation.
And it may be well here to note their methods and the
causes of their success. The German who comes to Mexico
to establish himself in business is carefully educated for the
purpose, not only in the special branch which he proposes

3o6 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
to follow, but he is also an accomplished linguist, being
generally able to converse and correspond in the four great
commercial languages — German, English, French, and Span
ish. His enterprise is usually backed by large capital in the
mother country. He does not come to speculate, or inflated
with the hope of acquiring sudden fortune, but expecting to
succeed in time by close attention, patient labor and economy,
looking forward twenty, thirty, or even forty years for the
realization of his hope's. He builds up his business as one
builds a house, brick by brick, and with*-a solid foundation.
He can brook delays, give long credits, sustain reverses, and
tide over dull times. He never meddles with the politics of
the country ; keeps on good terms with its governors, who
ever they may be. He rarely makes complaints through
his minister or consul, but if caught evading the revenue
laws, or in other illegal practices, he. pays his fine and goes
on with his business. With these methods and character
istics, the German merchant generally succeeds in securing
wealth and the respect of any community in which he may
' have established himself.'
" In a conversation with the British minister, Sir Spencer
St. John, in Mexico, he observed to me that the success of
the Germans in dealing with the revenue officials and in
pushing their trade had driven out of Mexico every whole
sale English house, whereas the foreign commerce was once
largely in the hands of his countrymen.
" In passing from this point we must not forget that not
withstanding all this copying of our productions by the
German manufacturer, yet the deception deceives few, and
that were the markets open to our dealers the superior
material, workmanship, and fidelity of our goods would defy
all competition.
" The French, equally protected by home legislation and

Hon. John M. Palmer.
Born in Scott co., Ky., September 13, 1817 ; moved to Illinois, 1831 ;
studied at Alton College; admitted to bar, 1839; elected Probate Judge
of Macoupin co., 1843; member of Constitutional Convention, 1847;
elected County Judge, 1848; elected to State Senate, 1852; elected to
State Senate, 1855, as Anti-Nebraska Democrat ; Delegate to Republican
National Convention, 1856 ; candidate for Congress, 1859, on Republican
ticket and defeated ; member of Peace Conference, 1861 ; entered Union
army (1861) as Colonel of 14th Illinois Regiment ; promoted to Brigadier
General, 1861; promoted to Major General, 1863; commanded 14th
Army Corps, 1863; operated on Mississippi, with army of Cumberland
and with Sherman to Atlanta ; elected Governor of Illinois, 1868 ;
nominated for Governor on Democratic ticket, 1888, and defeated;
elected U. S. Senator, as Democrat, 1891.
(3°7)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 309
alive to the wants of the South American markets, are in
creasing their trade there.
" Indeed we must meet in the ports of our neighbors the
wares of many of the European countries, all of which are
borne to their destination in vessels flying their own
national ensign." FURTHER ARGUMENTS.
Mr. Reynolds, another ofthe Commissioners, discussed the
reciprocal trade idea still more ably and exhaustively, and
in fact left the matter in such shape as that the system of
practical reciprocity incorporated into the Act of 1890 was
the inevitable outcome of his logic. He says :
" Among the means to secure more intimate commer
cial relations between the United States and the several
countries of Central and South America, suggested in the
first report of the Commission to those States (transmitted
by the President to Congress on February 13, 1885, and
printed as Ex. Doc. No. 226), were the following (p. 4) :
' Commercial treaties with actual and equivalent reciprocal
concessions in tariff duties.' As the words ' actual and equiv
alent, were adopted at my suggestion, an explanation of
their full force may not be superfluous. A stipulation in a
treaty that certain products of one country shall be admitted
free, or at a reduced duty, into another country, may, on
paper, appear to offer a reciprocal concession for a like ad
mission of certain other products of the latter country into
the former. But the seeming effect of it may be neutralized
in various ways, so that it will be, to the one country or the
other, not an actual concession. Chief among those ways
are, the existence of treaties with other nations, placing
them on the footing of the ' most favored nation,' export
duties, home bounties, drawbacks, monopolies, and muni-
14

3io RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
cipal or other local taxation. The skill of the diplomatist,
aided by information from consuls, merchants, shippers, and
other experts in the question, should be exerted to frame
the treaty so as to prevent the defeat of its real object by
such collateral disadvantages and burdens. To explain them,
or point out modes of removing them, severally, would
unduly extend the length of this letter.
" But one of them, the ' most favored nation clause,' de
serves special consideration. It is understood that Great
Britain, Germany, and probably other countries, claim that
a reciprocity treaty with the United States by a Spanish
American country applies to them, under that clause in their
treaties with the last-mentioned country, with the same
effect as if their names had been in the treaty instead of or
along with that ofthe United States. For example, should
the United States, resuming import duties on coffee, grant
to Brazil freedom from them, on the ' reciprocal concession '
that flour and certain American manufactures should be
admitted free into that Empire, Great Britain, which con
sumes very little coffee of any kind, and probably none from
Brazil, would claim the same freedom for her like manufact
ures. Thus, in return for our being customers of Brazil,
in coffee to the amount of about #50,000,000 annually, Great
Britain, offering no ' equivalent ' concession in fact, would
still be able to drive (or rather, keep) us out of the Brazil
ian market for those manufactures which she can supply
more cheaply or with greater facility through her lines of
steamers. " After much thought on the subject, I have found no
surer mode of making reciprocity ' equivalent ' than by ex
pressing in the treaty itself, and as a condition of it, the real
object of every reciprocity treaty, the actual and equivalent
increase of the commerce between the parties to it. For

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 311
illustration, should the United States make a reciprocity treaty
with Spain for certain concessions designed to increase our
exports to Cuba, in consideration of a reduction of our du
ties on Cuban sugars, the treaty should provide, that that
reduction should exist only as long as Cuba imported from
the United States at least a certain fixed amount in value
annually, and Spain might justly require a like condition as
to the annual amount of our imports of Cuban sugars. The
custom-house returns of the two countries would readily fix
the respective amounts, and the reciprocity of the treaty,
whenever it ceased to be actual and equivalent, could be
suspended by a proclamation of the President, on due notice
to be provided for in the treaty.
" As it is undeniable, and even generally admitted, that
the ' most favored nation clause ' entitles a country having
the privilege of it to be merely ' on all fours ' with any other
nation, and share the advantages of it only on the identical
conditions accompanying them, such a proviso as that above
mentioned would effectually block the diplomatic game
which Germany is understood to have played upon us in
Mexico, by claiming for herself the benefits of our recent
reciprocity treaty with that Republic. . Taking, in fact, no
sugar and little tobacco or anything else from Mexico, she
sagaciously offers to remit her duties on them, and claims
for her exports to that Republic, mainly in manufactures^
the same concessions it made to the United States in order
to increase the exports of its own products to our country.
With such a proviso as that above suggested, Germany would
be beaten on her own diplomatic ground. Mexico would
be obligated by the ' most favored nation clause ' only to
offer to Germany the same treaty, mutatis mutandis, her
name taking the place of that of the United States. As her
imports from Mexico would not compare with ours, such a

312 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
treaty would give her no actual advantage over us. So,
also, with Cuba in her commerce with Germany, and prob
ably, also, with Great Britain and France. No one of
those countries (France and Germany making their own beet
root sugar, and Great Britain being supplied principally by
her own colonies) would be able to take from Cuba the
amount of sugars which would be the treaty ' equivalent '
for the concessions made to the United States.
"Another important consideration in deciding what kind
of a reciprocity treaty to make; or whether to make it at all,
is the effect it would have on some equally advantageous
indirect trade. By driving out of some South American
market some other country which trades with us, we may
diminish the purchasing power of that country in our own
markets, and increased indirect trade with the former may
not compensate us for a loss of trade with the latter. In
this connection, the effect of several misused terms is to be
deprecated. Generally when our imports from and exports
to any particular country do not balance at all, the very bad
English is common of speaking of a ' balance of trade ' for
or against us. It is refreshing to notice that in the reports
of our Bureau of Statistics that improper phrase is discarded,
and the difference between exports and imports is described
as an excess of one over the other. An excess of imports
over exports in a particular venture may represent a gain,
and not a loss. A familiar illustration is that of a Boston
ship which, in former times, would take a cargo belonging
to the ship's owner, worth, say, #100,000, to China, and re
turn with one, also belonging to the same owner, worth
twice the amount. The difference, being the returns for the
expenses of the voyage, the profit in China on the original
venture, and that in Boston on the return cargo, would be
all gain. The same may be the case with the entire com-

Hon. William E. Russell.
Born in Cambridge, Mass., 'January 6, 1857 ; graduated at Harvard,
1877, and later from Boston University Law School; admitted to Suf
folk bar in 1880; elected to Common Council, 1882, and to Board of
Aldermen in 1884; elected Mayor, 1886,1887, 1888; nominated for
Governor, as Democrat, in 1888 ; defeated ; nominated in 1889 ; de
feated; nominated in 1890; elected by 8,953 plurality; re-elected
Governor in 1892 by a plurality of 6,457; distinguished at the bar and
as an exponent of advanced and liberal Democracy ; an able orator,
impartial executive, and popular with all parties.
(3H)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA 315
merce of one country with another, as could be amply shown
from the statistics of British trade with Asia, given in Mr.
Frelinghuysen's letter on the ' Commerce of the world.'
Of course, in some other special case it might be otherwise.
"Another very general error is to treat an excess of im
ports over exports in our trade with a particular country as
a difference which we pay in cash. This is rarely, if ever,
the case. It is usually paid in exchange on some other
country, obtained by selling to it our own products. Brazil
affords a very fair illustration. We take from that Empire
directly products many millions in value in excess of what we
send- directly to it. That excess is paid for by exchange on
London,t>ased on our exports of provisions, cotton, etc., and
with that exchange the Brazilian pays for English manufac
tures to be sent to Rio. The indirect trade may be differ
ent. The Englishman may sell his manufactures in Brazil,
convert the proceeds directly, or indirectly by purchase of
exchange, into coffee, with the proceeds of which in New
York he purchases provisions to be sent to England. In
either case the result is the same. England gains some
profit in exchange, as London is the world's money centre,
and in freights which her ships carry. But to the extent to
which England is crippled in her sales to Brazil, her pur
chasing power in our provision markets may be diminished.
" Therefore, before making a reciprocity treaty, we should
carefully consider, in each particular case, whether, even
with the profits in exchange and shipping in a direct trade,
we may not be losing a more profitable commerce in a dif
ferent direction, by diminishing the power of others of our
regular customers to purchase products from us."
A STILL FURTHER VIEW.
Mr. Curtis, Secretary of the Commission and afterwards a

316 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
Commissioner, added a very interesting report, which still
further elaborated the necessity for reciprocal trade. He
said : —
" During the last twenty years the value of the exports
from the United States to the Spanish Americans was
#442,048,975, and during that time we purchased of them
raw products to the amount of #1,185,828,579, showing an
excess of imports during the twenty years amounting to
#765,992,219, which was paid in cash. It will thus be seen
that our commerce with Central and South America has left
a very large balance on the wrong side of the ledger, while
those countries have all the time been buying in Europe the
very merchandise we have for sale. Being the very reverse
of the United States in climate and resources, they constitute
our natural commercial allies, and the exchange should at
least be even ; but they sell their raw products here and buy
their manufactured articles in Europe. The principal reason
for this is that the carrying trade is in the hands of English
men. The statistics show, that, of the total imports into
the United States from Spanish America, which, in 1884,
amounted to #159,000,000, three-fourths were carried in
foreign vessels. Of our exports to those countries, amount
ing last year to #64,000,000, #46,000,000 were carried in
American vessels, while only #18,000,000 were carried by
foreign vessels. It will thus be seen that nearly everything
we buy is brought to us from Spanish America by English
men, while nearly everything we sell we have to carry there
ourselves. The logic of these facts is irresistible.
" The most absurd spectacle in the commercial world is
the trade we carry on with Brazil. We buy nearly all her
raw products, while she spends the money we pay for them
in England and France.
" In 1884, of the exports of Brazil #50,266,000 went to

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 31?
the United States, #29,000,000 to England, and #24,000,000
to France. Of the imports of Brazil in 1884, #35,000,000
came from England, # 1 5,000,000 from France, and #8,000,000
from the United States.
" Another peculiar feature of this commerce was that of
the exports of Brazil to the United States #32,000,000 were
carried in English vessels and #9,000,000 in American
vessels, while of her imports from the United States
#6,000,000 were carried in American vessels and only
#2,000,000 in English vessels. The trade is carried on by
triangular voyages. Two lines of steamships sailing under
the British flag load every week at Rio for New York.
Arriving at the latter port they place their cargoes of coffee
and hides in the hands of commission merchants, and sail
for Europe, where they draw against these consignments,
and buy Manchester cotton, Birmingham hardware, and
other goods which they carry to Brazil. During the last
twenty years this absurd spectacle has cost the United
States #600,000,000, every cent of which has gone into the
pockets of English and French manufacturers. We have
not only paid for the goods that England has sold Brazil,
but as we have had no banking connections with that coun
try and no ships on the sea, nearly every ton of this com
merce has paid a tax to English bankers and vessel-owners.
" Several years ago, when we removed the import tax on
coffee, Brazil put an export duty on, so that the attempt of
Congress to secure a cheap breakfast for the workingman
simply resulted in diverting several million dollars from the
treasury of the United States into the treasury of Brazil,
without changing the price of the article. Mexico and the
countries washed by the Caribbean Sea produce a better
quality of coffee than is grown in Brazil, and if the United
States Government would consent to discriminate against

3I8 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
Brazilian coffee, raised by slave labor, the nations of Central
America and the Spanish Main would reciprocate by.ad-
mitting free to their ports our flour, lumber, provisions,
lard, dairy products, kerosene, and other articles which are
now kept from the common people by an almost prohibitory
tariff. " Brazil is in such a critical condition, financially and com
mercially, that if we did not buy her coffee it would rot on
the trees, and the Englishmen who control her foreign com
merce would have to close their warehouses and throw all
the Brazilian planters into the bankrupt court. These Eng
lishmen have secured mortgages upon the plantations of
Brazil by supplying the planters with merchandise on credit
and taking the crop at the end of the season in payment;
but as the crop seldom pays the advances, the mortgages
have been lapping over upon the plantations, until now the
Englishmen have the Brazilians by the throat, making their
own terms, charging one profit on the merchandise sold,
another as interest on the advances, a third on the coffee
purchased, and a fourth as interest on payments deferred,
while they make three profits out of us : first, on coffee they
sell us ; second, on transportation charges ; third, in dis
counting our bills on London.
" The greater part of our exports to Spanish America go
to Mexico and the West Indies. Deducting these from the
total, it will be found that we buy over 30 per cent, of what
the South American countries have for sale, and furnish
them only 6 per cent, of their imports. The balance of
trade goes on piling up at the rate of nearly #100,000,000 a
year. This was not always so. Twenty years ago more
than half the commerce of this hemisphere was controlled
by the merchants of New York, Boston, and Baltimore, and
more than half the ships in its harbors sailed from those

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 319
ports. Now only a small percentage of the carrying trade
is done in American bottoms, while English ship-owners
who control the transportation facilities permit the Spanish-
American merchants to buy in this country only such goods
as they cannot obtain elsewhere.
" The cause of this astonishing phenomenon is our neglect
to furnish the ways and means of commerce. We can no
more prevent trade following facilities for communication
than we can repeal the law of gravity. While we have been
pointing with pride at our internal development, England
and France have been stealing our markets away from us.
The problem of recovering them is easy of solution. The
States of Central and South America will buy what we have
to sell if intelligent measures are used to cultivate the mar
kets and means are provided for the delivery of the goods.
" The Spanish-American nations seek political intimacy
with the United States, and look to this, the mother of re
publics, for example and encouragement. They recognize
and assert the superiority of our products. They offer and
pay subsidies to our ships. Brazil now pays #100,000 a
year as a subsidy to an American steamship line, while the
United States Government paid only #4,000 last year to
the same line for canying our mails. The Argentine Re
public had a law upon its statute-books representing a stand
ing offer of a subsidy of 96,000 silver dollars a year to any
company that will establish a steamship line between
Buenos Ayres and New York, under the American flag,
and at the same time has twenty-one lines of steamships,
sailing from forty-five to sixty vessels a month, between
Buenos Ayres and the ports of Europe, to which it pays
nothing. We have no steamship communication with the
Argentine Republic whatever. During the last year, out
of the millions of tons of shipping represented in the harbor

320 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
of that metropolis, there were no steamers from the United
States, and our flag was seen upon but 2 per cent, of the
sailing vessels. Here is a nation purchasing in Europe
#70,000,000 worth of merchandise every year, and only
spending about #4,000,000 in the United States, and these
#4,000,000 represent articles, such as petroleum, lumber,
lard and other pork products, which could not elsewhere be
obtained." THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.
The Senate passed the Frye bill on June 17, 1886, but it
did not become a law until May 24, 1888, when the
International American Conference became a possi
bility. It was for this Conference to give wider, fuller, more
learned and disinterested consideration to the question of
trade relations and reciprocal commerce between the
American nations than ever before. It was called by the
President to meet in Washington, October 2, 1889. Invita
tions were duly issued, and the Conference met with dele
gates present from Argentine, Bolivia, Brazil, Chili,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hayti, Hon
duras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, United
States, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Hon. James G. Blaine was elected President of the Con
ference. It remained in session until April, 1 890, and dis
cussed and reported upon all the subjects prescribed in the
Act authorizing the call, to wit : —
Plan of Arbitration ; Reciprocity Treaties ; Inter-Conti
nental Railway ; Steamship Communication ; Sanitary
Regulations ; Customs Regulations ; Common Silver Coin ;
Patents and Trade Marks; Weights and Measures; Port
Dues; International Laws; Extradition Treaties; Inter
national Bank.

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 321
In the discussions upon " Reciprocity Treaties," all of
which were very able and interesting, two lines of thought
appeared. That which represented all of the countries ex
cept Argentine and Chili, was in the direction of reci
procity, whose advantages were conceded, and whose
practical operation needed but the encouragement of some
acceptable concession on the part of the United States.
The thought of Argentine and Chili seemed to be that reci
procity was impracticable, unless enlarged to suit the
world, and that the United States was not yet so commer
cially strong, or was too hampered with her tariff system to
offer the necessary concessions to all the nations. The
attitude and the logic of these two States were fully met by
the delegates of the United States in the Conference, show
ing in detail that the first stage of national growth is agri
cultural, the second is manufacturing, and the third is com
mercial. The first two stages with us have been reached,
and we now enter upon the third. The same restless
energy, the same enterprise, and the same inventive genius
which gave success to agriculture and manufactures will
mark the development of commerce.
" The spirit of enterprise begins to spread like contagion
into Central America. Imagination already paints on her
canals the commerce of the world. The locomotive is
there a messenger of peace, the steel rail a bond of friend
ship. " Colombia and Venezuela and Brazil and Ecuador and
Peru already feel the irresistible impulse which impels to a
closer union. The Argentine and Chili may hesitate for a
time, but firially they too will join hands with their sister
Republics, and joyfully assist to fulfil the bright destiny
that awaits us all."

322 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA-.
CONFERENCE REPORT AND BLAINE'S REVIEW.
The Conference adopted a Report which recognized the
policy of reciprocity and the " need of closer and more re
ciprocal commercial relations among American States."
Secretary Blaine submitted this Report to the President,
June 19, i890,with an exhaustive review of its contents.
This review was so exhaustive, and is, moreover, such an
important part of the literature of reciprocity, that inability to
publish ithere in full, for lack of space, is greatly regretted.
But its gist was that out of a total of #233,000,000 imports
furnished to Chili and Argentine alone in 1888, England
contributed #90,000,000, Germany #43,000,000, France
#34,000,000, the United States only #13,000,000, and this,
notwithstanding the facts that our ports were nearest, and
the bulk of those imports were of articles we were actually
manufacturing better and as cheaply as foreign nations.
That in 1868 our total exports were #375,737,000, of
which #53,197,000, or 14 per cent, went to Spanish America,
while in 1888 our total exports were #742,368,000, of which,
#69,273,000, or only 9 per cent., went to Spanish America.
That it was the unanimous judgment of the delegates
that our exports to these countries and the other Republics
could be increased to a great extent by the negotiations of
proper reciprocity treaties.
That lack of means for reaching their markets was the
chief obstacle in the way of increased exports. The carry
ing trade has been controlled by European merchants who
have forbidden an exchange of commodities. Under liberal
encouragement from the government and the establishment
of regular steamship lines, France increased her exports to
South America from #8,292,000 in 1880 to #22,996,000 in
1888. By the same means Germany increased her exports

Hon. Jerry Simpson.
Born in province of New Brunswick, Canada, March 31, 1842;
moved with parents to Oneida county, N. Y., 1848 ; at fourteen became
a sailor, and followed sea for twenty-three years, being captain of large
vessels on Great Lakes; served for a time in Company A 12th Illinois
Volunteers ; settled in Kansas, near Medicine Lodge, 1878 ; became
large farmer and stock raiser; united with Greenback and Union Labor
party ; twice defeated for Kansas Legislature ; nominated for Fifty-sec
ond Congress by People's Party and supported by Democrats in Seventh
Kansas District; elected by over 7000 majority.
(323)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 325
to South America from #2,365,000 in 1880 to #13,310,000
in 1888.
That the Conference believes that while great profit would
come to all countries under reciprocity treaties, the United
States would be far the greatest gainer, and that especially
since 87 per cent, of our imports from those countries came
in duty free, while nearly all our exports to them were
heavily dutiable at their ports, in some cases to the extent
of prohibition.
That increased exports would draw alike from our farms,
factories and forests, such being the character of the articles
required by those countries. A steamer load from New
York to Rio Janeiro, which was traced to its origin, as to
the articles which comprised it, showed that thirty-six of
our States and Territories had contributed to the cargo.
That, excepting raw cotton, our four largest exports are
breadstuffs, provisions, petroleum and lumber. In 1889
our export of these articles was : — Breadstuffs, #123,876,-
423, of which only #5,123,528 went to Latin America; Pro
visions, #104,122,328, of which only #2,507,375 went
thither; Petroleum, #44,830,424, of which #2,948,149 went
thither; Lumber, #26,907,000, of which #5,039,886 went
thither. Since the United States is almost the only source
of supply for these articles, which rank as necessaries of
life, and there are 50,000,000 of population in Latin
America, the advantages of a direct and larger trade are
apparent. That fifteen of the seventeen Republics in the Conference
indicated their desire to enter upon reciprocal commercial
relations with the United States; the remaining two ex
pressed equal willingness, could they be assured that their
advances would be favorably considered.
That to " escape the delay and uncertainty of treaties it

326 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
has been suggested that a practicable and prompt mode of
testing the question was to submit an amendment to the
pending tariff bill, authorizing the President to declare the
ports of the United States free to all the products of any
nation of the American hemisphere upon which no export
duties are imposed, whenever and so long as such nation
shall admit to its ports free of all national, provincial (state),
municipal, and other taxes, our flour, corn-meal, and other
breadstuffs, preserved meats, fish, vegetables and fruits, cot
ton-seed oil, rice and other provisions, including all articles
of food, lumber, furniture and other articles of wood, agri
cultural implements and machinery, mining and mechanical
machinery, structural steel and iron, steel rails, locomotives,
railway cars and supplies, street cars, and refined petroleum.
These particular articles are mentioned because they have
been most frequently referred to as those with which a val
uable exchange could be readily effected. The list could
no doubt be profitably enlarged by a careful investigation
of the needs and advantages of both the home and foreign
markets. " The opinion was general among the foreign delegates
that the legislation herein referred to would lead to the
opening of new and profitable markets for the products of
which we have so large a surplus, and thus invigorate every
branch of agricultural and mechanical industry. Of course
the exchanges involved in these propositions would be ren
dered impossible if Congress in its wisdom should repeal
the duty on sugar by direct legislation, instead of allowing
the same object to be attained by the reciprocal arrangement
suggested." RECIPROCITY AND THE ACT OF 189O.
We have now reached a period in the history of reci
procity when it was to be given practical application, out-

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 327
side of the usual form of prolix and uncertain treaty, and
in the form of a specific enactment or declaration. The
proposition, just above noted, to incorporate it as a policy
in our Tariff laws, was at first received with misgivings by
the most ardent friends of protection. They doubted the
propriety of introducing it into strictly tariff legislation,
lest it might endanger the success of such legislation, or at
least subtract from the strength and efficacy of some of
the protective doctrines.
But the matter was persistently urged upon the attention
of those who had the Tariff Act of 1890 in charge. The
more it was studied the more it grew in favor. The litera
ture bearing upon it, the facts it embraced, the theories and
promises involved, proved startling and convincing. The
administration saw that it could well afford to accept it as a
measure and abide by its consequences. Political lines be
gan to harden respecting it, and the one party shrank not
from its advocacy nor the other from attack upon it. Thus
it ripened, and the Tariff Act of 1890 became its opportu
nity, not only as to time, but as to the fact that the contem
plated enlargement of the free list, by the removal of millions
of duties from sugars and other articles, would provide the
concessions to other nations necessary for a fair and perhaps
successful trial of it, in the proposed way.
At last it found its place in the pending Tariff Act — the
Tariff Act of 1890 — as Section 3 of the Free List. It
reads : —
" That with a view to secure reciprocal trade with coun
tries producing the following articles, and for this purpose,
on and after the first day of January, 1892, whenever and so
often as the President shall be satisfied that the government
of any country producing and exporting sugars, molasses,
coffee, tea, and hides raw and uncured, or any of such

328 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
articles, imposes duties or other exactions upon the agri
cultural or other products of the United States, which in
view of the free introduction of such sugar, molasses, coffee,
tea and hides >nto the United States he 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
introduction of such sugar, molasses, coffee, tea and hides,
the production of such country, for such time as he shall
deem just, and in such case and during such suspension
duties shall be levied, collected and paid upon sugar,
molasses, coffee, tea and hides, the product of or exported
from such designated country, as follows : — "
Here follow the rates in detail, the rate on sugar being
from 7-ioth of a cent per pound to 2 cents per pound ac
cording to test ; on molasses 4 cents a gallon ; on coffee 3
cents per pound ; on tea 10 cents per pound ; and on hides
1 ^ cents per pound. APPLIED RECIPROCITY.
By the middle of March, 1892 (March 15), all the coun
tries of the American Continent south of the United States
had either assented to the doctrine of reciprocal trade as in
corporated in the McKinley Act of 1890, or had entered
into negotiations which looked to a speedy acceptance of
the doctrine, with the exceptions of Venezuela, Hayti and
Colombia. The refusal of these three to join in reciprocity
as offered by the Act of 1 890 led to an event which marked
the second stage of the reciprocity policy. Their refusal
being complete, for the time being at least, President Harri
son, under the powers conferred upon him by the Act, issued
his proclamation to them, imposing on their sugars, mo
lasses, coffees, teas and raw hides, exported to the United

Hon. John Sherman.
Born at Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823 ; academically educated ;
studied law and admitted to bar, May 11, 1844; delegate to Whig Na
tional Conventions, 1848 and 1852 ; President of first Republican in Ohio,
1855 ; elected to 34th, 35th, 36th and 37th Congresses ; elected, as Re
publican, to United States Senate, March, 1861 ; re-elected to same,
1866 and 1872; appointed Secretary of Treasury, by President Hayes,
March, 1877, and served till March 3, 1881 ; distinguished for advocacy
of resumption and success in refunding United States debt ; re-elected
to Senate for term beginning March 4, 1881, and again in 1886 and
1892 ; Chairman of Committee on Foreign Relations and member of
Committees on Finance, Rules, etc. (3*))

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 331
States and entered at its ports, the duties provided for in the
Act, which duties were, as to sugars and molasses, less than
under the Act of 1883, or the Mills Bill, and amounted to
three cents a pound on coffee, ten cents a pound on tea, and
one and one half cents per pound on hides.
These duties, therefore, as to coffee, tea and hides, be
came really discriminative, for these articles were, and had
been for a long time, upon the free list ofthe United States.
They were ratably discriminative as to sugar and molasses,
which articles had just gone upon our free list; but then,
these three countries did not export sugar to the United
States. In order to meet this stage of the reciprocity policy, those
who opposed it with the objection that the Act of 1890 was
unconstitutional, as conferring upon the Executive powers
which belonged wholly to the Legislative branch of the
government, carried a test case into the United States
Supreme Court. That tribunal decided that the power con
ferred upon the President by the Act was not unconstitu
tional, that the Congress had legislated as clearly respecting
the duties to be imposed upon the products of dissenting
countries as it had in the regular schedules of the Act, and
that the only exceptional feature of the legislation, which
was that the President should be left to ascertain the date
when a country refused to accept reciprocity, was not fatal
to the Act, since it was a fact only which had to be ascer
tained, and a fact which would have to be ascertained out
of the State Department in any event.
At this stage, too, reciprocity met renewed and active
opposition in the form of arguments as to its cost to the
people of this country. The exports to the United States
of the three dissenting countries were, in 1890, as follows :—
15

332 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
Coffee. Hides.
Venezuela  $9,662,207 $812,347
Colombia  1,849,441 630,099
Hayti  1,270,247 3°,39>
$12,781,895 $1,472,837

Taking the above item of coffee, which represented an ex
port of about 76,000,000 pounds, these opponents argued
that this quantity of coffee, which was about fifteen per
eeat. of our entire annual supply — 500,000,000 pounds —
would, at three cents a pound, subject our people to a tax
of #2,280,000 per annum.
To this the friends of reciprocity answered : — that if this
duty of three cents a pound were levied upon these coffees
it would prove not only discriminating but prohibitory, for
these countries could not afford to compete with other coffee-
growing countries in a market which was free to them.
Therefore, in as much as no coffee could come to us from
these dissenting countries, our people would have no duties
to pay. But, said the opposition, in that event our annual
supply of coffee will be reduced, and we will have to pay
more for what does come. To this the answer was, that
there is no market for those coffees except in the United
States, and that as they would have to come here ulti
mately, the only condition upon which they could be
marketed was by the payment of the duty by the pro
ducers ; that is to say, they would have to throw off the
duty in order to enter the market on the same footing as
other countries. And the further answer was given, that
even if these coffees never reached our market, the vacuum
occasioned thereby would be only temporary, and would be
speedily filled by Mexico, Central America and Brazil. As
an assu i a nee of this, it was pointed out that all the coffee-

„ RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 333
growing countries, notably Brazil, that had accepted reci
procity, were already experiencing improvement in their
industrial interests, and feeling the impetus of enlarged
trade with the United States.
ACCEPTANCE OF RECIPROCITY.
This stage of the reciprocity policy had been anticipated
by all the important sugar-producing countries, or a suffi
cient number of them to place ninety-five per cent, of our
raw sugar supply under the regulation of reciprocity con
ventions. The Spanish West Indies, whence forty-two per
cent, of our supply is derived, Germany, the British West
Indies, Hawaii, the Philippines, San Domingo, Brazil,
Austria-Hungary, France and colonies, Central America,
Mexico, had either accepted reciprocity or called conven
tions for that purpose. Many of these countries had main
tained high rates of duty against exports from the United
States, some had imposed prohibitive rates, a few had for
bidden altogether the entry of our products, American pork
for instance, into their ports.
The concessions granted by these countries in their reci
procity conventions have resulted in opening their ports to
a large class of the products of the United States, either by
removing duties on them entirely, or by reducing said duties
to a minimum. Germany, by her reciprocity agreement,
admitted free, or at reduced rates of duty, American meats,
fruits, cereals, furniture and farming utensils. France did
the same thing, and so of the various countries whose com
mercial interests were touched by the enlargement of the
free list of imports into the United States under the Act of
1890, and the introduction of the reciprocity policy as a
provision of said Act.
It will require some time to demonstrate by actual figures

334 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
the permanent effects of reciprocity on the commerce of the
nations interested. But figures are already attainable which
point to an increase of both imports to and exports from
such countries. Brazil accepted the policy of reciprocity
on April i, 1891. In nine months time, that is up to the
end of December, 1891, her imports to this country showed
#79,183,238, as against #52,861,398 for the corresponding
nine months of 1890; while the exports from this country
to Brazil showed #11,555,447, as against #10,071,871 for the
same months of 1891 and 1890 respectively.
The treaty with Spain, which mostly touched upon our
commerce with Cuba, took effect September 1, 189 1. In the
four months, ending December 31, 1891, the imports from
Cuba to this country were #14,956,868, as against #11,782,
023 for the corresponding four months of 1890; while the
exports to Cuba were #7,063,222 in the same four months
of 1 89 1, as against #4,816,029 in the corresponding months
of 1890. This decided increase of exports to Cuba took
place in the face of the fact that the very high duties im
posed on American wheat and flour altering Cuban ports,
amounting almost to the cost of production of these articles,
or even their full market price, was not fully reduced to the
minimum rate agreed upon in the reciprocity treaty, till
January 1, 1892. A FAIR TRIAL NEEDED.
Whether reciprocity be a step toward free-trade, as free
traders argue, or whether a step toward more rational pro
tection, as protectionists argue, it ought to be given such a
test as will forever settle it as a safe doctrine in the new
political economy which the United States of America is
engaged in writing for itself and the entire Western Conti
nent. It ought to be so tried by the fires of actual experi
ence as to consume it entirely as a commercial policy and

Hon. Leland Stanford.
Born in Albany Co., N. Y., March 9, 1824 ; educated for bar and ad
mitted at Albany, 1846 ; moved to Wisconsin and practiced for four
years ; moved to California in 1852 and entered commercial pursuits at
Sacramento; delegate to Republican National Convention at Chicago,
1860 ; elected Governor of California, 1861 ; President of Central Pa
cific Railroad Company ; largely interested in railroads, manufactures
and agriculture of Pacific slope; elected to United States Senate, as
Republican, in 1884; re-elected in 1890; term expires March 3, 1897;
of pleasing address, broad views, and earnestness of purpose ; Chair
man of Committee on Public Buildings and member of Committees on
Civil Service, Education and Labor, Fisheries, and Naval Affairs.
(336)

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 337
practice, if false, or establish it permanently, if true. A
misfortune attending its introduction is the fact that it has
been subjected to the phases of opinion and to the partisan
criticisms and arguments which characterize American
politics. It is really far removed from mere parties and
politics, and is a matter of truly national and international
import, all of whose essential features are commercial and
economic. But whatever the verdict respecting reciprocity, when
fully tested, may be, the fact of its incorporation into our
statutes and of its introduction into our commercial polity,
is a declaration on the part of the United States that it has
reached a place among enlightened, industrious, rich and
progressive nations where it is no longer sufficient unto it
self. The immense pressure of commercial, manufacturing
and agricultural interests drives us every day more and
more forward and outward into rivalry with the old and
great nations that have established their markets in all parts
of the world, and especially with those that have been es
tablished upon- our own continent and at our very doors.
Rivalry of this kind has, in times past, assumed overshad
owing, and often hostile, proportions among nations anxious
to gain and hold trade supremacy. It is not too much to
say that a large per cent, of the five million lives and fifteen
thousand millions of treasure expended by civilized nations
during the past century is chargeable to their efforts to en
large and maintain their commercial interests. This is evi
dence of the magnitude and value of the prize sought, as
well as the manner of seeking it.
firmness Required.
Happily for our civilization, reciprocity as incorporated in
our statutes proposes only_a peaceful solution of commer-

338 RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
cial and economic problems and an amicable assertion of
our industrial supremacy and independence, if such shall
come to pass under, or by reason of, it. Yet there should
be no closing of eyes to the fact that the rivalry occasioned
by a step which bids fair to be as momentous as that of
reciprocity is not without dangers. One has but to consider
the feeling evinced by the nations of Europe when the
policy of reciprocity was announced in the United States,
to be convinced that they would not willingly forego the
advantages of trade they enjoyed with the countries to the
south of us, on this continent, but that they would struggle
for them with all the arts known to diplomacy, all the inge
nuity born of superiority, and all the finesse bred by ages
of shrewdness and self-assertion. England, especially,
seemed to have been impressed with the magnitude of the
new departure on the part of the United States, and with
her usual astuteness earliest foresaw its effects on her mar
kets in Central and South American countries. Her press
became bitter in its denunciations of the new policy, and
wheh the difficulty with Chile arose, the same press made it
all too plain that there was concerted effort on the part of
English diplomats to crush out intercourse, commercial and
social, with our continental neighbor. The United States
could not have gone to war with Chile, except by fighting
England, either openly, or under cover of deeply disguised
diplomacy. The English idea of reciprocity being that it
involves the principle of lex talionis, or the law of revenge
— " an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth " — it would
have bsen easy for her to find arguments or excuses' for
frustrating all our efforts toward more intimate trade rela
tions with all South American countries. Our imbroglio
with Chile made the fact almost patent that foreign nations
stood ready to challenge our right to intrench on their com-

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 339
mercial domains by means of reciprocity, and their anxiety
and attitude showed that they were more fully aware of the
effects of reciprocity on their trade in these countries than
even our wisest statesmen and shrewdest merchants had
been. WHAT EUROPE STRIVES FOR.
Heretofore, England, Germany, France and Italy had
been struggling, neck and neck, for the markets of Central
and South America, not to say Mexico. They had used
every art and artifice known to diplomacy and commerce to
head off rivalry and establish supremacy. They manufac
tured and priced and labelled with specific intent to occupy
markets. They established lines of steamers, whose gauge
and velocity were best adapted for intercourse. They sub
sidized ocean transit to secure dispatch. They founded
banks and commercial houses. They loaned credit on most
desperate securities. They sent drummers, agents and in
terested parties to prospect, persuade and represent. They
formed huge syndicates which took possession of great in
terests, like the nitre beds, and worked them at immense
profit. The result was that they came to own and control
the markets of South America. The productions of these
countries, destined for the United States, came here in the
ships of Europe and by way of European ports, where they
paid the rich bounty of ocean freight and the inevitable
commissions for handling that the European merchant has
ever been privileged to suck from the world's goods in transit.
Two or three steamers a month sufficed to carry to these
countries all they cared to take from us in the shape of our
products. The bulk of what they had sold us — many times
over and over again what we had sold them — was paid for
in gold, through European houses, with another commission
for handling.

34o RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA.
Europe saw that every bill of goods we could place to
our credit, in a South American port, would be deducted
from her account. Hence her nervousness, her hostility.
She could not, she would not, sit idly by and witness this
inroad upon her trade, this disturbance of the commercial
nests she had built in the Central and South American
States. In affairs of this kind, and amid such conditions,
affairs and conditions which concern only national pocket-
books and national prestige, there is absolutely no senti
ment, nothing to be hoped for from real or imaginary
national condescension or sympathy. We must expect just
what is sure to come, unless all history belies itself, to wit,
the criticism, the antagonism, the counter efforts of the
nations whose interests are touched and whose trade is
threatened. We must even expect more, for conditions
may arise, as they have not infrequently done, which shall
require that we be prepared to hold at any cost what we
have striven to obtain through ordinary diplomatic and
commercial avenues, what is as much our right as a nation
as it is the right of any other nation, what geographically
speaking is more naturally our own than that of any nation
across the sea, and what by similarity of political institu
tions and continental instinct is ours rather than a stranger's.
It can be but a short while before the reflex action of reci
procity upon the American Republics becomes its most elo
quent argument and surest guarantee of a permanent foot
hold. For it is destined to repeat in commerce the history
which led to the Monroe Doctrine in diplomacy and politics.
There may never be an American Bund, a distinctive Con
tinental Commercial Union, but as the advantages of reci
procity with such a people as that of the United States,
with a market the highest priced and richest in the world,
with ports that are nearest and most accessible, come to be

RECIPROCITY IN AMERICA. 34'
fully appreciated by the American Republics, there will be
such a consensus of commercial view, such a blending of
trade interests, such a harmony of industrial instincts, as
will surprise the older nations with its strength and effi
ciency. COMMERCIAL EMANCIPATION.
When the " Monroe Doctrine," which was a broad hint
to Europe that monarchical interference with fhe spirit of
Republicanism in America might give occasion for a com
mon cause on the part ofthe rising Republics against such
interference, fell into seeming desuetude, it but required the
French threat upon Mexico in 1864-65 to set aflame all the
Republics of South America, and in Convention at Lima
they made it quite plain that meddling of that kind with
American affairs would result in united opposition, even to
the verge of force. What, therefore, has become true in a
political sense, will become equally true in a commercial
sense. The year 1890 and the policy of reciprocity in
American commerce are as much of a departure and as
much the beginning of a continental era, looking to freedom
and independence, as were the year 1824 and the Panama
Congress, of which Congress Simon Bolivar said in his
call : — " The day our plenipotentiaries make the exchanges
of their powers will stamp in the diplomatic history of the
world an immortal epoch. When, after a hundred cen
turies, posterity shall search for the origin of our public
law, and shall remember the compacts that solidified its
destiny, they will finger with respect the protocols of the
Isthmus. In them they will find the plan of the first
alliances that shall sketch the mark of our relations with
the universe. What, then, shall be the Isthmus of Corinth
as compared with the Isthmus of Panama?"

PRESIDENTIAL VOTES.

ELECTORAL VOTE OF 1888.

Republican.

Benj.
Harrison, Ind.

22 5

4
13 7

S
34
36
23 3
3° 4

Levi P.
Morton,
N. Y.

22 15"3 9

Democrat.
Grover Allen G.
Cleveland, Thurman,
N. Y. Ohio.
10 10
7 7 !

"3 7

S
3 4

36
23 3
3° 4

63
4
12

»3 8

63
4
12

13 8

Basis of
States. 154,325. Votss.
Alabama  8 10
Arkansas  5 7
California  6 8
Colorado  I 3
Connecticut.... 4 6
Delaware  1 3
Florida  2 4
Georgia  10 12
Illinois  20 22
Indiana  13 15
Iowa  II 13
Kansas  7 9
Kentucky  II 13
Louisiana  6 8
Maine  4 6
Maryland  6 8
Massachusetts . . 12 14
Michigan  11 13
Minnesota  5 7
Mississippi  7 9
Missouri  14 16
Nebraska  3 5
Nevada  1 3
New Hampshire 2 4
New Jersey .... 7 9
New York  34 36
North Carolina. 9 11
Ohio  21 23
Oregon  I 3
Pennsylvania . ..28 30
Rhode Island . . 2 4
South Carolina. 7 9
Tennessee  10 12
Texas  ;..II 13
Vermont  2 4
Virginia  10 12
West Virginia. . 4 6
Wisconsin  9 11 11 11
Totals  325 401 233 233 168 168
The Popular Vote. — Harrison, 5,438,157 — 20 States; Cleveland, 5,535,-
626 — 18 States; Prohibition, 250,157; Labor, 150,624.
342

9
16

9
[6

9

9

11

11

9

9

12

12

13

13

12

12

6

6

PRESIDENTIAL VOTES.

343

ELECTORAL VOTE OF 1884.

Basis of
States. 154,325
Alabama  8
Arkansas  5
California  6
Colorado  1
Connecticut. ... 4
Delaware  I
Florida  2
Georgia  10
Illinois  20
Indiana  13
Iowa  II
Kansas  7
Kentucky  11
Louisiana  6
Maine  4
Maryland  6
Massachusetts . .12
Michigan  11
Minnesota  5
Mississippi  7
Missouri  14
Nebraska  3
Nevada  I
New Hampshire 2
New Jersey  7
New York  34
North Carolina. 9
Ohio  21
Oregon  1
Pennsylvania. . .28
Rhode Island . . 2
South Carolina. 7
Tennessee  10
Texas  11
Vermont  2
Virginia  10
West Virginia. . 4
Wisconsin  9
Totals  325

Democrat. Republican.
Grover Thos. A. James G. John A.
Cleveland, Hendricks, Blaine, Logan.
Votes. N. Y. Ind. Maine. 111.

7
83
6 3
4
12
22 15 13 9
13 8 6
8
14 »3 79
16 5
34
9
36 11
23 3
30 4
9
12
»3 4
12 6
II
401

10 7
'6 3
4
12iS

13 8

9
16

9
36

9
12
13 12 6

219

10 7
'o 3
4
12

9
36

219

13 9

«3 9

14

14

13

13

7

7

5

5

3

3

4

4

23

23

3

3

3°

3°

4

4

182

182

Popular Vote. — Cleveland, 4,911,017 — States, 20; Blaine, 4,848,334 —
States, 18; Butler, Greenback-Labor, 133,825 ; St. John, Prohibition, 151,809;
Scattering, 11,362.

344 PRESIDENTIAL VOTES.
PREVIOUS ELECTORAL VOTES.
Republican. 1880. Democrat.
James A. Garfield, O., 214 Winfield S. Hancock, N. Y., 155
Chester A. Arthur, N. Y., 214 Wm. H. English, Ind., 155
Total electoral vote, 369 ; 38 States.
Popular Vote. — Garfield, 4,449,053 — 19 States; Hancock, 4,442,035 — 19
States ; Weaver, Greenback, 308,578 ; Prohibition, 10,305 ; American, 707 ;
Scattering, 989.
Republican. 1 876. Democrat.
R. B. Hayes, Ohio, 185 .. S. J. Tilden, N. Y., 184
W. A. Wheeler, N. Y., 185 T. A. Hendricks, Ind., 184
Total electoral vote, 369; 38 States.
Popular Vote. — Hayes, 4,033,950 — 21 States; Tilden, 4,284,885 — 17
States; Cooper, Greenback, 81,740; Smith, Prohibition, 9,522; American,
539; Scattering, 14,71s.
Republican. 1872. Democrat.
Ulysses S. Grant, 111., 286 Horace Greeley
Henry Wilson, Mass., 286 . , B. Gratz Brown
Total electoral vote, 366; 37 States.
Popular Vote. — The death of Mr. Greeley before the electoral count
caused the scattering of his 66 votes among various candidates. The votes
of Louisiana and Arkansas were not.counted on account of fraudulent returns.
Grant, 3,597,071 — 31 States; Greeley, 2,834,079 — 6 States; O'Connor, Labor,
29,408; Black, Prohibition, 5,608.
Republican. 1 868. Democrat.
Ulysses S. Grant, 111., 214 Horatio Seymour, N. Y., 80
Schuyler Colfax, Ind., 214 Francis P. Blair, Mo., 80
Total electoral vote, 317; 34 States; Mississippi, Texas and Virginia still in
rebellion, and not voting.
Popular Vote. — Grant, 3,015,071 — 26 States; Seymour, 2,709,613—8
States. Republican. 1864. Democrat.
Abraham Lincoln, 111., 212 Geo. B. McClellan, N. J., 21
Andrew Johnson, Tenn., 212 Geo. H. Pendleton, Ohio, 21
Total electoral vote, 314; not voting, 11 States in rebellion.
Popular Vote.— Lincoln, 2,216,067—22 States; McClellan, 1,808,725—
3 States.

Hon. William M. Stewart.
Born in Wayne Co., N. Y., August 9, 1827 ; attended Yale College,
1849-50 ; started for California and arrived May, 1850; engaged in min
ing; studied law in 1852; appointed District Attorney in 1853, and
elected next year; appointed Attorney-General of California, 1854;
located at Virginia city, Nev., 1860; engrossed in mining litigation and
development of mining industry; member of Territorial Convention,
1861 ; member of Constitutional Convention, 1863; elected U. S. Senator,
1864 and 1869 ; resumed general law practice for Pacific States ; re
elected to U. S. Senate, as a Republican, for term beginning March 4,
1887; prominent advocate of Free Silver Coinage ; Chairman of Com
mittee on Mines and Mining, and member of Committees on Apropria-
tions, Claims, Irrigation, Territories. (345)

PRESIDENTIAL VOTES. 347
Republican. i860. Democrat.
Abraham Lincoln, 111., 180 Stephen A. Douglas, 111., 12
Hannibal Hamlin Me., 180 H. V. Johnson, Ga., 12
Jno. C. Breckinridge, Ky., 72
J. Lane, Oregon, 72
Constitutional Union. John Bell, Tenn., 39
Edward Everett, Mass., 39
Total electoral vote, 303 ; 33 States.
Popular Vote. — Lincoln, 1,866,352 — 17 States, N.J. divided; Douglas,
1,375,157— 1 State, N. J., divided; Breckinridge, 845,763— 11 States; Bell,
589,581 — 3 States.
Democrat. 1856. Republican.
James Buchanan, Pa., 174 Jno. C. Fremont, Cal., 114
Jno. C. Breckinridge, Ky., 174 William L. Dayton, N. V., 114
American.
Millard Fillmore, N. Y., 8
A. J. Donelson, Tenn., 8
Total electoral vote, 296; 31 States.
Popular Vote. — Buchanan, 1,838,169 — 19 States; Fremont, 1,341,264 —
II States; Fillmore, 874,534 — I State.
Democrat. 1852. Whig.
Franklin Pearce, N. H., 254 Winfield Scott, Va., 42
William R. King, Ala., 254 Wm. A. Graham, N. C, 42
Total electoral vote, 296; 31 States.
Popular Vote. — Pearce, 1,601,474 — 27 States ; Scott, 1,386,578— 4 States;
Hale, 156,149. Whig. 1848. Democrat.
Zachary Taylor, La., 163 . Lewis Cass, Mich., 127
Millard Fillmore, N. Y., 163 Wm. O. Butler, Ky., 127
Total electoral vote, 290; 30 States.
Popular Vote. — Taylor, 1,360,101 — 15 States; Cass, 1,220,544 — 15
States; Van Buren, N. Y., Free-soil Dem., 291,263.
Democrat. 1844. Whig.
James K. Polk, Tenn., 170 Henry Clay, Ky., 105
George M. Dallas, Pa., 170 Theo. Frelinghuysen, N. J., 105
Total electoral vote, 275 ; 26 States.

348 PRESIDENTIAL VOTES.
Popular Vote.— Polk, 1,337,243 — 15 States; Clay, 1,299,068—11 States;
Birney, 62,300.
Whig. 1840. Democrat.
William Henry Harrison, Ohio, 234 Martin Van Buren, N. Y., 60
John Tyler, Va., 234 - R. M. Johnson, Ky., 48
Total electoral vote, 294 ; 26 States.
Popular Vote.— Harrison, 1,275,017—19 States; Van Buren, 1,128,702
— 7 States; Birney, 7,059.
Democrat. 1836. Whig.
Martin Van Buren, N. Y., 170 Wm. H. Harrison, 0., 73
R. M. Johnson, Ky., 147 F. Granger, N. Y., 77
Total electoral vote, 294 ; 26 States.
Popular Vote.— Van Buren, 761,549—15 States; Harrison, 7 States;
White, 2 States ; Webster, 1 State ; Mangum, 1 State — 236,656 votes.
Democrat. 1832. Nat. Republican.
Andrew Jackson, Tenn., 219 Henry Clay, Ky., 49
Martin Van Buren, N. Y., 189 J. Sergeant, Pa., 49
Anti-Mason.
William Wirt, Va., 7
Amos Ellmaker, Pa., 7
Total electoral vote, 288.
Popular Vote. — Andrew Jackson, 687,502; Henry Clay, 530,189; Wil
liam Wirt, 33,108.
Democrat. 1828. Nat. Republican.
Andrew Jackson, Tenn., 178 Jno. Q. Adams, Mass., 83
Jno. C. Calhoun, S. C, 171 Richard Rush, Pa., 83
Total electoral vote, 261.
From the time of the disputed election, which resulted in the choice of
John Adams, the popular vote began to be regarded as of importance.
Popular Vote.— Jackson, 647,231 — States, 15 ; Adams, 509,097— States. 9

Republican.
1824. Andrew Jackson, Tenn., 99 ~»
John Q. Adams, Mass., 84 I _ Pr,„w,„,
W. H. Crawford, Ga., 41 [Ftr Frest<i<!nt-
Henry Clay, Ky., 37 J
Jno. C. Calhoun, S. C, 182 1 & rr n -j .
N. Sanford, N. Y., ^For V.-Prtstdent.
Total electoral vote, 261.

PRESIDENTIAL VOTES. 349
There being no choice for President under the Twelfth
Amendment to the Constitution, which requires that a can
didate shall have a majority of all the electoral votes, the
election was thrown into the House. In the contest in the
House, Clay, who was out of the fight, threw his strength,
or as much of it as he could control, to Adams, which gave
him 13 States, as against 7 for Jackson and 4 for Crawford.
Though the election of Adams was perfectly regular and
constitutional, it forced the liberal and strict schools of in
terpreters wide apart, and the latter, carrying their fight to
the country in the shape of a rebuke to those Representa
tives who had slaughtered Jackson, soon had the vantage
ground. Republican.
1820 James Monroe, Va., 231
Daniel D. Tompkins, N. Y., 218
Totat electoral vote, 235. The Missouri vote was disputed ; and New
Hampshire gave one v«te to J. Q. Adams.
Republican. 1816. Federal.
James Monroe, Va., 183 Rufus King, N. Y., 34
Daniel D. Tompkins, N. Y., 183 No nom. for V.-P.
Total electoral vote, 221.
Republican. 1812. Fed. or Clinton Dem.
James Madison, Va., 128 De Witt Clinton, N. Y., 89
Elbridge Gerry, Mass., 131 Jared Ingersoll, Pa., 86
Total electoral vote, 218.
Republican. 1808. Federal.
James Madison, Va., 122 C. C. Pinckney, S. C, 47
George Clinton, N. Y., 113 Rufus King, N. Y., 47
Total electoral vote, 176.
Republican. 1804. Federal.
Thomas Jefferson, Va., 162 C. C. Pinckney, S. C, 14
George Clinton, N. Y., 162 Rufus King, N. Y., 14
Total electoral vote, 176.

35o PRESIDENTIAL VOTES.
This was the first National election which distinguished
between nominees for President and Vice-President, under
Twelfth Amendment to Federal Constitution.
Republican. 1 800. Federal.
Thomas Jefferson, Va., 73 John Adams, Mass., 65
Aaron Burr, N. Y., 73 C. C. Pinckney, S. C, 64
As there was, up till this time, no distinction between
nominees for President and Vice-President — the one having
the highest number of votes being the President — and Jeffer
son and Burr having each 73 votes, the election went to the
House, where a prolonged and bitter struggle ensued, re
sulting in the choice of Jefferson. This dispute led to the
adoption of the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution.
Federal. '796. Republican.
John Adams, Mass., 71 Thomas Jefferson, Va., 68
Thos. Pinckney, Md., 59 Aaron Burr, N. Y., 30
Total electoral vote, 138.
Federal. 1792. Republican.
George Washington, Va., 132 Geo. Clinton, N. Y., 50
John Adams, Mass., 77
Total electoral vote, 135. 1788.
George Washington was nominated by a caucus of the
Continental Congress. The State Legislatures chose elec
tors for President and Vice-President on the first Wednes
day of January, 1789. These electors voted on the first Wed
nesday in February, casting 69 votes for Washington as
President, and 34 for John Adams as Vice-President.
Washington was sworn into office by Chancellor Living
stone on April 29, 1789.

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•
BENJ AMIN" .TARR TSON.
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES
OF
Benjamin Harrison;
Twenty-third President of the United States.

I.
PARENTAGE, BIRTH AND EDUCATION.
In that grand uprising in England, in 1648, against the
tyrannical usurpations of Charles I., one of the conspicuous
figures in the army of Cromwell was his trusted lieutenant,
General Harrison. His commission in Cromwell's army
tells the whole story of his political and religious convic
tions. The cause was that of constitutional liberty against
despotism, of republicanism against monarchy. In a re
ligious sense it was not exactly straight-out Presbyterianism
against an established church, for many Presbyterians stood
hand in hand with the Royalists, but it was the Indepen
dents against the combined forces which represented a
hated dynasty.
This General Harrison was made a member of the High
Court of Justice, which sat in Westminster Hall, and before
which Charles I. was tried for high treason, in levying war
against his Parliament. He signed, with the r^st, the King's
death warrant, and thus contributed to that wonderful march
16 (353)

354 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
of events which placed England beyond the grasp of des
potic rulers and taught the people that true sovereignty re
sided in them.
When the great reaction came, and Charles II. was firmly
seated on the throne, there was a day of revengeful reckon
ing. The head of every patriot who had participated in the
Constitutional struggle was in demand, or rather his neck
was in danger, for the rope and not the block must crown
the verdict against those who had dared to strike a blow for
political and religious freedom. The trials were hasty and
ex parte, and the executions were swift. Among the first
to feel the vengeance of the new King was General Har
rison, whose life was taken by royal order on October 13,
1660. Samuel Pepys in his diary under the above date says :
" I went out to Charing Cross to see Major-General Har
rison hanged, drawn and quartered ; which was done there,
he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condi
tion. He was presently cut down, and his head and heart
shown to the people, at which there was great shouts of
joy. It is said, that he said that he was sure to come
shortly at the right hand of Christ to judge them that now
had judged him; and that his wife do expect his coming
again. Thus it was my chance to see the King beheaded at
Whitehall, and to see the first blood shed in revenge for the
King at Charing Cross."
There could be no comfort nor prosperity in England for
a family which had contributed so largely to constitutional
liberty, and one of whose most conspicuous members had
suffered the disgrace of the scaffold. They therefore turned
their eyes toward America, and along with the great stream
which fled the persecutions of the Stuarts found an asylum
on our Virginia shores.
That they were welcome contributors to colonial enter-

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 355
prise and important factors in the establishment of political
institutions in their new home is quite clear from the fact
that Benjamin Harrison, great-grandfather of our subject,
and after whom he was named, appears conspicuously in
Virginia annals. He was a member of the House of Bur
gesses, or Colonial Legislature, and a staunch patriot, stand
ing ia with the heroes who echoed the grand sentiment of
Patrick Henry, " Give me liberty or give me death ! "
At ten o'clock, September 5, 1774, Delegates from all the
Colonies, except Georgia, met at Carpenters' Hall, Philadel
phia, and began the first session of the First Continental
Congress. The British " Tea Act " of 1773 had been passed,
and the call was for a " Congress of American States to
frame a bill of rights, or form an Independent State, an
American Commonwealth." The representatives to this
Congress from Virginia were Peyton Randolph, Richard
Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard
Bland, Benjamin Harrison and Edward Pendleton.
Out of this Congress sprang the measures looking to a
Declaration of Independence, an American army and the
Articles of Confederation. At its second session, composed
of nearly the same members, but now assembled in Inde
pendence Hall, the Declaration of Independence was re
ported, agreed upon and signed by the delegates from twelve
States, July 4, 1776. Among the signatures to this im
mortal instrument is that of Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia,
which colony had by this time formed an independent local
government. In the young State honors fell thick upon
him. He was a member of the convention that ratified the
Federal Constitution, served four years in Congress, and
was elected Governor of the State three times. Throughout
his entire life he was a steadfast adherent of independence,
and a firm opponent of English aggressions. .He was one

356 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
of the largest men in the Continental Congress, and it is
narrated that when John Hancock was elected President of
that body, Harrison was so elated over the situation that he
rushed to Hancock, lifted him bodily from his seat and bore
him in his arms to the chair.
His son, William Henry Harrison, afterwards General and
President, was born and educated in Virginia. On reaching
manhood he migrated to Ohio, then the far West, and for
forty years was prominently identified with the interests,
perils and hopes of that and the Northwest country. He
took with him an intellect enriched with classical reminis
cences which he fondly quoted in writing and conversation,
a full assortment of the political doctrines inculcated by his
illustrious father, and all of the Harrison fortitude in the
maintenance of his convictions. He went West, not so
much as a permanent settler, at first, as a soldier, and as an
aide-de-camp to General Anthony Wayne, then engaged in
protecting the frontiers from Indian depredations. This
was the beginning of that military career which continually
brightened in lustre till General Harrison came to rank as
one of the most distinguished military officers of his day.
After the State of Ohio was carved out of the Territory
of the Northwest in 1802, the remainder of the immense
area stretching to the Mississippi and the Canadian border
became the Territory of Indiana. It was an important sec
tion, being the home of many hostile Indian tribes, mostly
subsidized by English gold, and a favorite avenue of ap
proach to our Western settlements by English and Indian
armies. This became very clear prior to and during the war
of 18 1 2. With a view to having a man of military expe
rience and stamina in so dangerous and unprotected a
region, President Madison made General Harrison Governor
of the Territory of Indiana. He was none too soon with

Hon. James G. Blaine.
Born in Washington Co., Pa., January 30, 1830 ; educated at Wash
ington College ; taught school in Kentucky and Philadelphia ; editor of
Kennebec (Me.) Journal, 1854; of Portland Advertiser, 1857 ; elected
to Maine Legislature, 1859 ; elected to Congress, 1863-65-67 ; Speaker
of House, 1869-71-73; U. S. Senator, 1876; prominent candidate for
Presidency before Conventions of 1876-80 ; Secretary of State under
Garfield; Republican candidate for Presidency, 1884; defeated by
Cleveland ; conspicuous before conventions of 1888-92 ; Secretary of
State under Harrison ; resigned June 4, 1892 ; celebrated as orator and
author ; most prominent of modern statesmen.
(358)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 359
this appointment, for in the spring of 181 1 the famous
chieftain, Tecumseh, instigated by British emissaries, began
his celebrated war, designed to expel the settlers from all
the country north of the Ohio. In the fall, General Har
rison led 2,000 troops up the Wabash to the mouth of Tip
pecanoe Creek, where, November 7, 1811, was fought the
celebrated battle of Tippecanoe, in which the Indians, in
overwhelming force, were badly defeated. After the break
ing out of hostilities between the United States and Great
Britain in 18 12, General Harrison organized and took com
mand of " The Army of the West," whose rendezvous was
near the western end of Lake Erie. He fought many en
gagements with the Indian forces under Proctor and
Tecumseh, built and maintained Fort Meigs and received
the celebrated dispatch from Commodore Perry, after he
had destroyed the British fleet on Lake Erie — " We have
met the enemy and they are ours."
General Harrison embarked his army on Perry's victor
ious fleet, sailed across the lake, invaded Canada, caught up
with the Indian and mixed forces under Proctor and
Tecumseh at the Thames, where in a masterly battle he an
nihilated them, Tecumseh being among the killed. This
battle recovered the entire Michigan region to the United
States, and terminated the War of 1 812 in the Northwest.
General Harrison's fame was now as wide as that of his
country. He was honored for his military prowess as much
as he was respected in the walks of peace. In after years
he held several important civic offices, and was elected to
Congress, chosen as American Minister to the Republic of
Colombia, and elected to the United States Senate, from
Ohio, in 1827. He appeared in that body as a tall, gray-
haired gentleman, of dignified demeanor, deliberate speech
and firm Whig proclivities, and readily made his mark

360 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
among such worthies as John Henry Eaton, Tazewell and
Randolph, Henry Clay, Thomas H. Benton, Nathaniel
Macon, Martin Van Buren, J. McPherson Berrien, Dudley
Chase, Horatio Seymour and Albion Keith Parris, though
he never dreamed of the higher honors in store for him.
The political situation during the administration of Martin
Van Buren (1837-1841) was peculiar. The Southern nulli
fiers, who had been " squelched " by Jackson, began to re
vive and put on airs during Van Buren's term. The country
was feeling to the fullest extent the disastrous policy of tar
iff reduction, and absolute ruin was staring our manufac
turers and workingmen in the face.^The State banks were
failing by the score. The Government stopped its appro
priations towards internal improvements. In a word, the
panic of 1837 was on, and business was at a standstill.
Pork sold in Ohio at three dollars a hundred pounds, wheat
for fifty cents a bushel, and wages on the farm fell to thirty-
seven and a half cents a day.
The Whigs took the initiative in the coming Presidential
struggle, and nominated General William Henry Harrison,
at Harrisburg, Pa., on December 4, 1839. Clay, the ablest
Whig, and most popular and magnetic man in his party,
was not regarded as an available candidate at that juncture,
owing to certain antagonisms. Besides, Jackson's military
record had counted for much, and there was no reason
why one equally as brilliant might not avail General Harri
son. The Democrats renominated Van Buren. Then be
gan the historic political campaign of 1840, which surpassed
in excitement and intensity of feeling all others, before or
since. An imprudent Democratic writer sneeringly re
marked that General Harrison lived in a log cabin and had
better remain there. Instantly the Whigs adopted the log
cabin as one of their emblems, and log cabins were raised

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 361
everywhere for Whig headquarters, some of them of large
size, and nearly every voting precinct had its Tippecanoe
club and choristers. For the first time in our land the
power of song was invoked to aid a national canvass. The
poetry of the occasion mostly took the shape of parody,
but was made to contain a vast amount of wit and many
hard hits. A sample is apropos :
" Oh I dear to my soul are the days of our glory,
The time-honored days of our national pride ;
When heroes and statesmen ennobled our story,
And boldly the foes of our country defied ;
When -victory hung o'er our flag proudly waving,
And the battle was fought by the valiant and true,
For our homes and our loved ones, the enemy braving,
Oh ! then stood the soldier of Tippecanoe —
The iron-armed soldier, the true-hearted soldier,
The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe."
Never were mass conventions so numerous and immense
as those held by the Whigs during this campaign. Tens of
thousands flocked to them from the plow, the forge, the fac
tory, the counter and desk, to give hearty utterance to their
detestation of the party that had made the "American sys
tem " of protection inoperative, threw all our trade into the
hands of Great Britain, left our country bankrupt, and
brought the wages of our laborers to starvation figures.
Delegations often rode thirty miles to these meetings, camp
ing on the way. They carried huge banners, and often log
cabins mounted on wheels, by the side of which was a
barrel of hard cider, the beverage of the campaign. They
were amply paid for their trouble by the big processions in
which they participated, and the eloquence they heard from
such men as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Wm. C. Preston,
Henry A. Wise, Tom Corwin, Thomas Ewing, R. W.

3&2 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Thompson and others. General Harrison himself took the
stump in the Western States, and spoke to immense audi
ences. " The Log Cabin',' an illustrated campaign paper
published by Horace Greeley, at New York and Albany, ap
peared in May, 1840, and reached a circulation of 80,000.
It, with The New Yorker, became the foundation of the
New York Tribune.
The speeches of the Whigs in this campaign were never
excelled for wit and vigor. Corwin's reply to Craig's attack
on General Harrison's military record literaly crushed
Craig in political and professional life. Clay was equally
happy in his defence of the candidate and the principles of
the party. While saying that " General Harrison had fought
more battles than any other general during the last war and
never sustained defeat, and that he had held more civil
offices of trust and importance than almost any man in the
Union," he was interrupted by a voice in -the crowd crying
out, " Tell us of Van Buren's battles ! "
" Ah ! " said Clay, " I will have to tell you of Van Buren's
three great battles ! He fought General Commerce and con
quered him; he fought General Currency and conquered
him ; and with his Cuban allies he fought the Seminoles and
got conquered ! "
The Whigs fought the campaign to a close with the ut
most harmony, confidence and enthusiasm, and the result
was twenty States and 234 electoral votes for Harrison and
six States and 60 electoral votes for Van Buren. It was an
unparalleled victory and a stinging rebuke to a party which
had wrecked the country with its British principles and its
determination to prostrate the paid labor of the North at the
feet of the unpaid labor of the South, in order that slavery
might live and thrive.
Everywhere the triumphant Whigs sang:

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 363
" Then hurrah for the field where the bold eagle flew,
In pride o'er the hero of Tippecanoe ! "
And then would come the refrain —
" Van, Van, Van,, is a used-up man."
General Harrison arrived in Washington to take the oath
of office and assume the duties of President on a stormy af
ternoon in February, 1841. He walked from the station
to City Hall, amid continual greetings from the multitude.
He was a very dignified man, with quite a military bearing,
but severely plain in his habits. He rose early and went "to
market himself, rarely wearing an overcoat. His death
from pneumonia, contracted by exposure to a chilling rain,
on one of those morning marketing trips, cut his adminis
tration short at the enoV of one month. It threw the nation
into a mourning as profound as its jubilation had been in
tense on the morning of his inauguration.
General Harrison's son, John Scott Harrison, fell heir to
his father's farm at North Bend, on the Ohio river, a few
miles below Cincinnati. He had already acquired political
prominence, having served as Governor of the Northwestern
Territory and subsequently as a member of Congress in the
lower House, from 1853 to 1857. He died in 1879, at Cin
cinnati. It was at North Bend that Benjamin Harrison was
born on August 20, 1833. He was a slender, wiry stripling
of seven years when the notable campaign in which his
grandfather was elected President was going on. Its spec
tacular appeals and scenic wonders made a vivid impression
on the boy's mind. Apples for boys seem to have been as
much of an inspiration as hard cider for the men, and the
impression was popular that no matter where they were
found they were common property and appropriate emblems
of patriotic fervor. The boy carried such a delusion with

364 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
him on a trip to Cincinnati, in company with his grand
father, shortly after the election of the latter. Tired out
with treading the streets, and, perhaps, very hungry, he
could not resist the temptation presented by a stand highly
piled with red-cheeked apples, and so began to fill his pock
ets just as he had been wont to do under the favorite trees
in his father's orchard. Of course there was no resistance
to this till the apple-woman saw him walk innocently and
unconcernedly away, when her shrieks called the attention
of the grandfather to the comical situation. The account
was readily adjusted, and the boy went on his way munch
ing his fruit as satisfactorily as if its possession had not at
first involved a question of law and morals.
The life of young Benjamin was quite like that of mother
farm boys during the period in which they are picking up the
rudiments at home or in the district school. If anything,
there was a little more serious attention to study than is
usual, leastways, there was more than the ordinary progress,
for at the age of fourteen years old he was sent to Cary's
Academy, on Walnut Hills, a suburb of Cincinnati, where
he remained for two years, and where one of his classmates
was Murat Halstead. The year after he left school he lost
his mother — a loss that affected the impressible nature of
the young man for a long time. In the fall of 1850 he be
came a student at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He
entered as a member of the Junior elass, and in June, 1852,
he was graduated fourth in a class of sixteen. At the Uni
versity with Harrison were Professor David Swing, of
Chicago ; the Hon. Milton Saylor, of Cincinnati ; the Rev.
Dr. James Brooks, of St. Louis ; the late Senator Oliver P.
Morton, of Indiana ; and the Hon. W. P. Fishback ; but not
all of them were classmates. Here he made such headway
with his studies as to be able to graduate at the age of eigh-

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 365
teen. His teachers and classmates all bore testimony to
his popularity among his fellows, to the ease with which he
held his own in all the college contests, and to the promise
he gave of future success. The learned and eminent Pro
fessor David Swing writes " that Harrison, while at Oxford,
though very young, was a studious scholar and early gave
evidence of being the foremost in whatever he might under
take. He there acquired the habit of study and mental
discipline which have characterized him through life, ena
bling him to grapple with any subject on short notice, to
concentrate his intellectual forces and give his mantal ener
gies that sort of direct and effective operation that indicates
the trained and disciplined mind."

II.
LEGAL CAREER.
The robust intellect he had inherited was now well disci
plined and equipped for the profession of his choice. He
inclined naturally to law, as best suiting hereditary taste
and mental organization. Certainly no man ever possessed
a more distinctively legal mind.
He entered the law office of Judge B. S. Storer, in Cin
cinnati, shortly after he graduated, and was admitted to the
bar before he was twenty-one years old. At or about the
completion of his law studies, he married the handsome
daughter of Professor John W. Scott, long time professor at
Washington College, Pennsylvania, and previously at Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio, and at College Hill, Cincinnati,
at which last-named place his daughter first met General
Harrison when he was a student there. Mrs. Harrison's
mother was the beautiful Mary Neal," daughter of John
Neal of English birth, cashier of the Kensington Bank and
afterward of the Bank of Moyamensing. The young lawyer
thus embarked on his profession with a partner whose pres
ence would prove an inspiration, even if the question of
bread and butter should thereby become a little harder to
solve. But he had no mind to stop in Cincinnati. He
would carry farther west the name that had honored Vir
ginia and Ohio, and contribute his energies to a new society.
With $200 in his possession, a gift from his father, and a
small inheritance of #800 from an aunt, he started for In
dianapolis, and there, in the year 1855, began his industrious
and highly honorable career as a lawyer.
(366)

Hon. William B. Allison.
Born at Perry, Ohio, March 2, 1829 ; educated at Western Reserve
College ; admitted to bar in Ohio ; moved to Iowa, 1857 ; served on
Governor's staff during war ; elected as Republican to 38th, 39th, 40th
and 41st Congresses ; elected to United States Senate, 1872 ; re-elected,
1878, 1884 and 1890 ; one of the oldest, ablest and most respected
Senators ; Chairman of Committee on Appropriations ; Member of Com-
mittees on Engrossed Bills, Finance and Canadian Relations.
(367)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 369
At that time he was a solid-looking, square-shouldered
young man, with an uncommonly large, well-poised head, a
serious, thoughtful face, and a quiet, dignified manner that
indicated great reserve force. He was poor, among stran
gers, without influence, but heroic at heart and anxious for
the opportunity which he felt must come, if honor, talent
and zeal were to deserve their rewards. It was not long in
coming. One of his first cases of moment was with Hon.
John A. Wright, then Democratic Governor of the State.
It concerned a legislative investigation and was as much po
litical as legal. He displayed marked ability in handling
this case, and proved that youth was no drawback to suc
cess where the heart was right, the head clear and the will
determined. Business tumbled right in on him from that
date, and he ever afterwards continued to be a growing
lawyer, with a large and commanding clientage.
Among the many incidents showing his application and
energy is the following: — Many years before he had at
tained prominence in his profession, he was appointed to
prosecute a negro charged with attempting wholesale mur
der by putting poison into the coffee at a hotel. He had
only one night in which to prepare for the trial. He had
no experience in poison cases and no knowledge of poisons.
He called to his aid Dr. T. Parvin (who has since become
as distinguished in his profession as General Harrison has
in his), and the two young "men spent the whole night in
diligent work on the poison case. The next day, to the as
tonishment and bewilderment of the defence, young Harri
son appeared ready for the trial. He conducted the prose
cution vigorously and succeeded in having the prisoner con
victed. Speaking of Mr. Harrison's early law career, William
Wallace, his first law partner, says : — " I formed his acquaint-

37o BENJAMIN HARRISON.
ance soon after he came to the city. He was about twenty-
one years of age, a white-haired, boyish-looking young
man, but pleasant in manner, and it did not take long to find
out his superior intellectual qualities and his sterling worth.
It happened that in the year 1855 I had received the nomi
nation for Clerk of Marion County on the People's ticket.
The canvass required a good deal of time, and I concluded
to offer my young friend a partnership. I met him on the
street one day and told him I had some good clients and
a fair practice, and that if he would go into the office and
take care of the business while I was canvassing for the
office, we would share the profits. I think this is the only
partnership agreement we ever had. I was defeated for the
office, so we continued the practice of the law together until
the year i860 or 1861. It is pleasant to say that through
his assistance and ability as a lawyer we retained our clients
and got new ones. Our business was of a quiet kind, some
collections, a good deal of probate business, and once in a
while a case that tested the mettle of the young partner.
" He soon disclosed his admirable qualities as a lawyer,
quick of apprehension, clear, methodical and logical in his
analysis and statement of a case. He possessed a natural
faculty for getting the exact truth out of a witness, either
by a direct or cross examination. In this respect he has
few equals anywhere in the profession. Always exacting
from courts and juries their closest attention and interest in
the cause, and when the cause demanded it illustrating the
rarest powers of the genuine orator, he was a hard worker,
giving to every case the best of his skill and labor, so that
he never went unprepared, trusting to good luck or the want
of skill or the negligence of the other side. He was poor.
It was a struggle for bread and meat with both of us. He
had a noble young wife, who cheerfully shared with him

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 371
the plainest and simplest style of living. He did the work
about his home for a long time himself, and thus made his
professional income, not large, keep him independent and
free from debt."
Hon. W. P. Fishback, also a former partner, says : " Gen-
1 eral Harrison possesses all the qualities of a great lawyer
in rare combination. He prepares a case with consummate
skill; his written pleadings are models of clearness and
brevity ; he is peerless in Indiana as an examiner of wit
nesses, he discusses a legal question in a written brief or in
oral argument with convincing logic, and as an advocate it
may be said of him that when he has finished an address to
the jury nothing remains to be said on that side of the case.
I have often heard able lawyers in Indiana and elsewhere
say that he was the hardest man to follow they ever met.
No lawyer who ever met General Harrison in a legel
encounter has afterwards placed a small estimate upon his
ability." The present (1888) law firm is Harrison, Miller & Elam.
The firm is regarded as one of the strongest and best in the
State in so far as safe counsel and genuine legal ability are
concerned. Speaking of his partner, General Harrison, Mr.
Miller says : — " Perhaps the greatest law argument made by
the General was in the Lieutenant-Governor's case in the
winter of 1885, before the Supreme Court of Indiana. The
case was one involving the greatest questions of constitu
tional law and the relative functions of the legislative, ex
ecutive and judicial departments of the Government. The
case had already in various phases been argued two or three
times by other counsel, and the most elaborate briefs had
been prepared and published on both sides. The evening
before the final argument was to be begun the briefs were
put in General Harrison's hands. With such preparation

372 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
as he could make that night and during the argument by
other counsel, including Senator Turpie and others of the
ablest in the State, he made an exposition of the relations
of the different departments of the Government to each other
so luminous and profound that, though the case was one
enlisting on each side the most intense partisan feeling and
though four of the five judges were opposed to him politi
cally, yet a majority of the court adopted his views and
decided in his favor. In the brilliancy of his argument
all others, learned and forcible as they were, paled into
insignificance." For a full score of years before his nomination General
Harrison held the first place at the Indiana bar. He had
equals, and even superiors, as specialists, but in " all-round "
management and generalship of a case, and ability to " get
there," it was universally conceded that he was unsurpassed
in the State. In a recent conversation respecting his merits,
one of the best lawyers of Indianapolis remarked, " that he
had never known but one instance in which General Harri
son was surpassed as a cross-examiner, and that was in ex-
Judge Fullerton's work during the Beecher-Tilton trial. In
a case at law he brings a moral force to bear upon any
crooked work or concealment that is as powerful as any
skill in handling it. His scorn and sarcasm has an ' ugly
honesty.' in its expression that will skin or scalp the victim
according to his degree of culpability. In speaking, his
voice is high, shrill and somewhat unpleasant at first, but
this is soon lost sight of in the midst of his clear enunciation
and perfect mastery of his theme. His manner is very
earnest, and his arguments, always well marshalled, have a
rapid and ponderous sweep, like a charge of cavalry. His
grit and pluck are of the subdued order, but capable of being
greatly aroused, and then he is apt to deliver his blows with-

11 ¦¦¦-¦¦¦¦ — *'¦"! ""

Hon. "William P. Frye.
Born at Lewiston, Me., September 2, 1831 ; graduated at Bowdoin
College, 1850; educated for the bar; elected to State Legislature, 1861,
1862, 1867 ; Mayor of Lewiston, 1866-67 ; Attorney-General, 1867-68-
69 ; member of Republican National Executive Committee, 1872-76-
80; Presidential Elector, 1864; Delegate to Republican National Con
ventions, 1872-76-80 ; elected member of 42d, 43d, 44th, 45th, 46th
and 47th Congresses ; elected to succeed James G. Blaine in United
States Senate in 1880; re-elected Senator in 1883 and 1888; chairman
of Committee on Commerce and on Pacific Railroads, and member of
Committee on Foreign Relations ; of wide repute as orator and
statesman. (374)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 375
out respect to persons. The old stagers like Thomas A.
Hendricks and D. W. Voorhees never met a man who was
so resolute and overwhelming in his excoriations of them as
General Harrison."
This manner and method describes his political as well as
his legal work, except that in his political speeches there is
more compactness, smoothness and logical development
which, joined to greater fervor, make them scholarly and
eloquent. They are plain and lucid in general style, but
charmingly interspersed with phrases of rare beauty, and
lighted up at effective points by expressions of fine humor.
On one occasion he was delivering a Republican speech in
Boston, in which he said " that Ben Butler had been out
West quoting Latin and awing the people with his scholar
ship. He (Butler) had said that the creation of money
followed the natural order of creation, which began with fiat
lux. Very good ! very good indeed ! But when God Al
mighty said 'fiat lux' there was the power of God Almighty
behind it, and I cannot help thinking what Ben Butler would
look like sitting on the rim of morning and shouting at
chaos : ' Fiat lux.' "
The young Indiana lawyer could not, of course, forego
the pleasurable excitement of politics. It was the formative
period ofthe Republican party, and he found in its principles
something which appealed equally to his heart and head.
His instinct and education inclined him to a cause which
sought to break away from subserviency to slavocracy, and
re-dedicate our institutions on a broad, humanitarian basis.
He possessed fine oratorical powers, and soon came into
demand as a fearless and impressive public speaker — one of
the best in the West. The vigorous and growthy Republic
anism of his section owed much to his campaign efforts. In
the memorable canvass of i860, when Mr. Lincoln was run-
17

376 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
ning for President, he happened to have an appointment to
speak in a town on the same day that Mr. Hendricks was to
address his Democratic admirers. An arrangement was
effected by which they were to divide the time between them.
Mr. Hendricks, with all the confidence of a veteran cam-
paignist, and with no little of the feeling with which " old
stagers " sometimes regard stripling adversaries, fully ex
pected to amuse himself and his audience by tearing the
unwitting young man into metaphorical pieces and swallow
ing them whole. The result of the meeting was quite dif
ferent from what Mr. Hendricks had so confidently expected.
Instead of killing and dissecting his man he had to struggle
for his own precious life. Democrats freely admitted that
Mr. Hendricks had met his match, and Republicans were
unanimous in the verdict that he had been badly worsted in
argument and eloquence. The chairman of the meeting
said, " I have heard a good many political debates in my
day, but I never heard a man skin an opponent as quickly
as Ben Harrison did Hendricks that day." A more ex
tended contest was afterward arranged by the friends of Mr.
Hendricks, in which he seemed willing to give his young
adversary some points of vantage, but he repented of this
before the controversy was through, and it is said had to
call the " Tall Sycamore of the Wabash," Mr. Voorhees, to
his assistance. He gave it out that the controversy had
taught him one lesson, and that was, never to make a con
cession of any kind to an opponent.
From the beginning to the end of this celebrated campaign
Harrison was in the thickest ofthe fight and was one ofthe
most effective and popular champions of the Republican
cause. He was running for office himself, having accepted
the nomination of his party for the modest position of Re
porter for the Supreme Court. This plage was in the line

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 377
of his profession and tastes, and would prove useful to him
in elevating him in his profession as well as increasing his
income. He was duly elected to the position for the term
of four years, and at once turned his attention to its duties.
His fellow-members of the bar felt that he fully deserved the
place he had won by such hard work, and that he was fully
equipped for its responsibilities.
It was in the year i860 that he entered into a legal part
nership with Mr. Fishback. In the capacity of Court Re
porter he published two volumes and had a third under way
when the events of the civil war began to crowd thick and fast
into history and to turn the best settled projects of men into
unthought of channels.

III.
MILITARY CAREER.
Mr. Seward's idea that the war of the rebellion could be
crushed by hastily gathered militia in a campaign of ninety
days had been dispelled by the misfortunes of 1861. Thor
oughly disillusioned as to the situation, President Lincoln
issued his calls for more men, and in 1862 his call for 300,000,
the term of enlistment to be for three years. The period
was one of great depression, for there had been repeated
defeats of Union troops, and the enemy had hold of vital
strategic points, and swarmed all along the borders of the
slave States. Benjamin Harrison had been one of those
who cheerfully responded to the first call for ninety-day
troops. This had not been regarded as much of a sacrifice,
since the absence from the duties of his newly acquired office,
and from his wife and family, would only be temporary.
But the period of his return was one of greater gloom
than ever. There was earnest war ahead, prolonged absence,
hardship and death. Lincoln's calls, each growing more
urgent and portentous, were ringing in the ears of all patriots.
Sacrifices must be made. Life's prospects, the comforts and
endearments of home, wife, children, loved ones, must not
stand in the way of patriotic devotion and high call to duty.
Looking back, young Harrison saw his fair start in life, his
office which was to net a living and lift the mortgage from
his little cottage, his young wife and two children. Looking
forward, all these desirable and beloved things took other
shapes, or vanished, and there arose a conflict in his bosom.
How it was decided we let him tell in his own words : — " I
(37«)

Hon. Btjssell A. Alger.
Born in Medina co., Ohio, February 27, 1836 ; educated at Richfield
Academy; studied law and admitted to bar, 1859; enlisted, August,
1861, as Captain in 2d Michigan Cavalry; wounded and a prisoner,
1862; Colonel of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, 1863; brevetted Brigadier,
1864 ; after war, moved to Detroit ; engaged in lumber business ; be
came head of two extensive lumber companies;- owner of large pine
lands ; delegate to Chicago Convention in 1884 ; elected Governor of
Michigan, as a Republican, 1884; conspicuous candidate for President
in National Republican Convention of 1888 ; received 142 votes on 5th
ballot ; name prominently coupled with the nomination in 1892 ; a ready,
perspicuous orator, and popular party leader in the Northwest.
l3So)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 3S1
went one day to see Governor Morton with Mr. Wallace, to
seek an appointment as lieutenant for a young man in the
north part of the State. After getting through with this
business Governor Morton invited me into an inner room.
He there spoke of the call and of no response being made
thereto. The Governor seemed quite discouraged at the
' apathy of the people, and, pointing over towards the Gallup
Block, where men were dressing stone, remarked that men
were interested in their own business more than in the safety
of the nation. I said right there : ' Governor, if I can be of
service to my country I am ready to go.' He said : ' You
can, you can raise a regiment in this district.' He went on
to say : ' You have a good office, and it would be too much
to ask you to give it up ; but you get up the regiment and
we can find some one else to take it into the field.' I said :
' No, if I make a recruiting speech and ask any man to
enlist, I propose to go with him and stay as long as he does
if I live so long.' ' Well,' said the Governor, ' you can com
mand the regiment.' I said : ' I don't know that I shall
want to. I have no military experience ; we can see about
that.' " After this conversation Mr. Harrison proceeded up
the street with Mr. Wallace and bought a military cap ;
they got out hand-bills for a war meeting at Masonic Hall,
hired a drum and fife and hung a flag out of his office window.
Mr. Harrison took out a second lieutenant's recruiting com
mission in July, 1862, and raised and took the first company
(A) of the Seventieth Regiment into camp, and in less than
thirty days from the date of the first recruiting commission
he was in Kentucky with 1,010 men, haying first been pro
moted to a captaincy' and then to a colonelcy. This was
the first regiment in the field under that call.
The 70th Indiana was assigned to duty at Bowling Green,
Ky., and became a defender of the Southern borders of its

i&i BENJAMIN HARR1S\6M.
own State against the numerous raiding parties under com
mand of Kirby Smith, and other guerilla officers. But in
addition it performed garrison duty in many places during
the surges back and forth through Kentucky and Tennessee
of the Cumberland armies under Buell and Rosecrans, and
was efficient as a guard to the long lines of communication
which every forward movement rendered necessary. It got
to be a regiment of fine esprit and discipline, under the care
of its excellent Colonel, who developed the qualities of a
soldier as rapidly as many of those whom West Point had
favored with her special training.
Says D. W. Ransdell, who served in the regiment and lost
an arm at Resaca : — " As soon as our regiment, the 70th
Indiana, was recruited, Colonel Harrison marched us to
Bowling Green. We were three months there, all the time
impatient, as green recruits always are, for active service,
and all the time kept at drill. The Colonel was a strict dis
ciplinarian. He had us up at daylight and drilled us until
breakfast ; after breakfast he drilled us to dinner ; after dinner
we had more of it, to say nothing of guard duty, dress parade,
inspections and all the rest of it. The boys growled a good
deal, but there was not one of them who failed to appreciate
afterward what a good thing for the regiment all the drilling
had been. The discipline more than once saved many a life,
if it did not save the whole regiment from capture, destruc
tion or rout."
The period of eighteen months, during which the 70th
Indiana had been a defender of the long army lines which
stretched from the Ohio southward, came to an end after the
battle of Chattanooga, and when Sherman began prepara
tions for that celebrated forward movement which carried
him to Atlanta and thence to the sea. Chattanooga was to
be the base of the new operations against Atlanta. There

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 3S3
was a mighty ingathering of forces there, and they were
formed into three co-operative armies. McPherson's army
composed Sherman's right. It congregated and lay at Gor
don's Mill. Thomas' army composed his centre. It had
gathered its forces at Ringold. Schofield's army composed
his left, and lay at Red Clay, due north of Dalton. They
had all debouched from the valleys running back to the
Tennessee, and in May, 1864, stood within easy supporting
distance of each other, at the apex of a triangle twenty
miles from Chattanooga, and before which lay the Confed
erate army at Dalton, under General Johnston. In the
formation of the above armies, the 20th Corps, under com
mand of " fighting " Joe Hooker, fell into the army of the
centre, under General Thomas, and Colonel Harrison's 70th
Indiana regiment fell into the 1st Brigade and 3d Division
of this celebrated corps. It was in Lookout Valley that
Colonel Harrison, then in command of a brigade, first
attracted the attention of his corps commander, for the
rigid discipline of his own regiment and brigade and the
confidence he inspired in his men.
Every soldier knew that desperate battles would mark
their 140 miles of progress to Atlanta, for the country was
densely wooded, very mountainous, broken by ravines,
crossed by numerous and rapid streams and full of difficul
ties for an advancing army. There was but one railway for.
supplies, and the country roads were well nigh impassable
in rainy weather. The Confederate position at Dalton was
covered by an almost inaccessible ridge known as Rocky
Face. Through this ridge there was only one pass, that of
Buzzard's Roost, and it was flooded and commanded by
batteries crowning the cliffs.
To strike in front was impracticable Sherman determined
to move by Johnston's flank. McPherson was sent round

384 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
to Resaca to attack the place and cut the railroads. Scho-
fiekl was to press down from the left and attack Johnston's
flank, should he retreat. Thomas was to attack the strong
position of Johnston in front, and hold him while the other
movements were culminating. Thomas' demonstration was
a vigorous one, and it greatly tried the mettle of his men.
For two whole days there was continual skirmishing, end
ing in a brilliant assault by Hooker's corps on the Confed
erate entrenchments at Dug Gap.
Johnston was now feeling the pressure on his left and
rear, and fearing for the safety of Resaca, he abandoned
Dalton and fell back to the former place. Resaca was
strongly fortified by nature and artificial means. Sherman
resolved to repeat the tactics which had secured Dalton.
Several flanking divisions were sent to the left, and others
to cross the Oostanaula and destroy communications. But
the direct move on Resaca was more formidable than on
Dalton. On May 15, 1864, the fighting before Resaca was
terrific. Charge after charge was made on the enemy's en
trenchments by the various corps, and none was more bril
liant and destructive than that of the 20th Corps. One of
the members of the 70th Indiana gives his recollection of
the part it took in this memorable attack : — " It must have
been an awful ordeal, for the 70th Indiana lost 257 in killed
and wounded, or almost half its number. I recollect that
our regiment had been at the right of the centre of a line of
battle more or less actively engaged from Friday night to
Sunday morning. That Sunday morning we were quietly
marched to a ravine, where we laid off our coats and knap
sacks — of course we knew what that meant. Then we were
formed in one single line at the top of a hill. We were the
first line, and there were three other lines behind us. I
shall never forget the scene. The hill sloped gently down-

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 3§5
ward from us to a ravine. Beyond the ravine the ground
ascended again, and on the crest of this ascent facing us, was
the rebel position. They had a battery over there, and it
kept belching smoke that the wind would whisk away from
the mouths ofthe cannon, and the next minute a shell would
come shrieking towards us. The order to advance was
given. We moved down that slope like clockwork. Har
rison was riding his horse behind our line, and I remember
looking over my shoulder at him and wondering whether I
should ever see him again. Just as we got to the ravine the
order came to charge. We dashed through the ravine and
went pell-mell up the slope beyond. Well, the noise and
confusion and horror of it all was fearful, but just as I was
running forward with all my might, I heard Harrison yell
ing, ' Come on, boys ! Come on.' There he was on his
horse away in front of the line. He had on his full
regimentals and he was a shining mark. How he lived for
a minute in that hailstorm of bullets I don't know. His
voice was still in my ears, and I was almost at the rebel
works when I felt a sharp pain in my wrist as if it had been
hit smartly with a stick. ' Look out, Dan ! ' a friend of
mine cried, 'you'll bleed to death.' I stopped the bleeding
by pressure and went back to the hospital, but as I turned
to walk back I saw Harrison right among the guns of that
battery." Says another member of the regiment: — " In the charge
at Resaca the 70th Indiana held the post of honor, where
the bullets were the thickest. Our Colonel was right with
us, too. He came right up behind us when we captured the
four guns there — the only guns, I believe, that were taken
in the Atlanta campaign. We had to withstand a murder
ous cross-fire, and as the gunners discharged their pieces
we fell to the ground and allowed the shot to pass over us.

3§6 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Then we rushed up, scaled the works and took possession
of the guns. The boys tell a story of the General which I
guess is true. They say that when we went into the works
Harrison was with us, and that he grabbed a rebel gunner
by the beard and yanked him out, exclaiming : ' Come out
of here, you blank blank rebel.' "
Much must be excused to the excitement attending such
an occasion, and it may be the Colonel did really forget for
the moment the injunction against swearing, but if so his
entire life in time of peace has made ample amends, for his
professional brethren say, that amid all the vexations of
court procedure they never heard him utter a harsher ex
pletive than " confound it."
In this historic attack on Resaca, Thomas' army held the
centre, and Hooker's corps crossed Camp Valley Creek,
precipitating the engagement all along Johnston's line, and
keeping it up the entire day. The fortunes of the bloody
day were varied, but at night Johnston confessed his ina
bility to hold the place longer by beating a hasty retreat
over the Oostanaula and on to Cassville. One of the most
magnificent charges and fiercest fights of the day was after
Johnston had passed out word to his division to prepare for
retreat. Hooker had captured from Stewart one ofthe best
fortified of the Confederate positions. The latter officer
had not received the word to retreat and, bent on recapturing
Hooker's position, made a desperate attack on it. He was
badly repulsed, and Hooker made a gallant pursuit of his
advantage by charging upon the Confederates, carrying
away as trophies four guns and several hundred prisoners.
In this battle in and around Resaca the Union loss footed up
nearly 5,000 killed and wounded. That of the Confeder
ates was less, owing to their protected position. Thus
ended the second stage of the memorable campaign.

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 3§7
Sherman pushed on to Cassville, which Johnston speedily
evacuated, to take up "a position at the famous and impreg
nable Allatoona Pass. The Union army could not afford
to waste time here, and so swung in an entire body away
from its communications and by Johnston's flank, its objec
tive being Dallas. Johnston saw the manoeuvre and beating
a hasty retreat, fell back to New Hope Church, where he
could not only intercept Sherman, but guard his own line
of railroad. Here he formed in line of battle, and on May
25, Hooker, in Thomas' advance, skirmished all the after
noon, and an hour before sunset, having his corps well in
hand, he began a furious assault on Hood's corps, stationed
at the Church. He held to this attack for two hours,
nothing making him desist but night and the storm. For
three days there was continuous fighting at New Hope,
which resulted in the daring charges and counter charges
of the 27th and 28th. Then came a week of skirmishing
and manoeuvring again, during which both armies gradu
ally worked their way eastward until Sherman found him
self at Ackworth and Johnston at Marietta, the latter
guarded by the famous Kenesaw range on the right, Lost
Mountain in the centre and Pine Mountain on the left, all
strongly fortified and naturally impregnable.
History can never relate in truthful detail the daring and
bloody efforts of the Union army to scale these mountain
heights and dislodge their occupants. McPherson held the
left, Thomas the centre, and Schofield the right of Sherman's
army. It had been reinforced and the troops were full of
confidence. It moved down from Ackworth on the 9th of
June ; on the 10th fighting began. For twenty-four days bat
tle raged incessantly — by skirmish, by charge, by artillery, by
infantry. Advance was as if by inches, through dense thick
ets and across almost impassable ravines. Every day added

3§8 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
to the long list of Union killed and wounded, and many
gallant officers perished. Bythe 15th Pine Mountain was
forced from Johnston's grasp and a few days later Lost
Mountain. Kenesaw alone remained. Sherman resolved to
carry it by assault. Thomas and McPherson's armies were
assigned to the perilous task. These generals threw their
corps and regiments into the wooded base of the heights
and began the perilous ascent. Regiments vied with each
other in climbing unto victory or death amid rock, ravine,
bramble and bullet. They could not slay, yet they Would
not- quail. For an entire day the assault was kept up, and
only after a loss of three thousand men did Sherman decide
that the Kenesaw heights were impregnable. Thomas'
army held the front with brilliant skirmishes for three days
longer while McPherson swung to the right and marched
towards the Chattahoochie. This forced Johnston out of the
Kenesaw fastnesses, and, giving up Marietta, he retreated
to the line . of the Chattahoochie, hard pressed by Thomas,
who continually broke his rear guard and rendered every
stopping point north of the river untenable.
Sherman's armies were across the Chattahoochie almost
as quickly as Johnston's, and Atlanta was but a few miles
away. Johnston had girdled Atlanta with fortifications, but
resolved to defend it from the heights of Peach Tree Creek,
which runs northward from Atlanta and empties into the
•Chattahoochie. Sherman marched to the attack with
Thomas on the right, Schofield in the centre and McPherson
on the left. Hood had superseded Johnston and adopted
the general plans of the latter. Seeing an interval between
the forces of Thomas and Schofield, he massed his troops
on the Buckhead road and fell mercilessly (July 20) on the
weak spot. Hooker's three divisions, together with the
divisions of Newton and Johnson, caught the full force of

Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge.
Born in Boston, Mass., May 12, 1850; graduated at Harvard, 1871 ;
graduated from Harvard Law School, 1875 ; admitted to Suffolk bar,
1876, but preferred literary pursuits ; served two terms in State Legisla
ture ; elected, as a Republican, to 50th, 51st and 52d Congresses, to
represent Sixth Massachusetts District; distinguished as a writer on
economic, financial and commercial subjects, though none the less as an
industrious and able representative; member of the Committees on
Naval Affairs and Election of President and Vice President.
(389)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 39I
the terrible blow. The assault was so impetuous and deter
mined that the Union troops were rolled back for a time.
But defeat only served to arouse their mettle. They rallied
and amid one of the fiercest conflicts of the war, which was
sustained for nearly five hours, they won a victory which
cost the Confederates fully 5,000 men, and defeated entirely
Hood's design of saving Atlanta by means of the formid
able entrenchments along Peach Tree Creek. It was in this
momentous battle of Peach Tree Creek that General Har
rison, as commander of his brigade, crowned so honorably
the record he had made at Resaca. His brigade, the first
of Ward's Division, 20th Corps, was handled with the ut
most skill and bravery throughout this entire onset of
Hood, and it was in recognition of this fact that Hooker, as
he rode the lines on the day after the fight, sought out the
young commander, and in his own brusque way exclaimed,
as he shook hands and congratulated him : — By G — d, Har
rison, I'll make you a brigadier-general for your gallantry in
this fight!"
That this was no idle promise was proved by the following
hearty letter of communication, written to the Secretary of
War a few months later. The letter is worthy of study as
showing the solid military qualities which had attracted the
critical eye of General Hooker, and which had contributed
so much to the success of his corps in point of discipline and
in prowess : —
Headquarters Northern Department, "I
Cincinnati, O., Oct. 31, 1864. J
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War:
I desire to call the attention of the Department to the
claims of Colonel Benjamin Harrison, of the 70th Indiana
Volunteers, for promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General
Volunteers.

392 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Colonel Harrison first joined me in command of a brigade
of Ward's division in Lookout valley preparatory to enter
ing upon what is called the campaign of Atlanta. My attention
was first attracted to this young officer by the superior
excellence of his brigade in discipline and instruction, the
result of his labor, skill and devotion. With more foresight
. than I have witnessed in any officer of his experience, he
seemed to act upon the principle that success depended upon
the thorough preparation in discipline and esprit of his com
mand for conflict more than on any influence that could be
exerted' in the field itself, and when collision came his com
mand vindicated his wisdom as much as his valor. In all
the achievements of the Twentieth Corps in that campaign
Colonel Harrison bore a conspicuous part. At Resaca and
Peach Tree Creek the conduct of himself and command was
especially distinguished. Colonel Harrison is an officer of
superior abilities and of great professional and personal
worth. It gives me great pleasure to commend him favorably
to the honorable Secretary with the assurance that lis pre
ferment will be a just recognition of his services and martial
accomplishments. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Joseph Hooker,
Major-General Commanding.
Of the battle of Peach Tree Creek, Captain Thomas S.
Sloan, who had command of Knapp's Battery, says: —
" After all the Union batteries had been silenced excepting
my own, the crisis was reached, and our only support was
the remnant of a regiment of which Adjutant-General T. H.
Elliot had command. Just then a fine soldierly man wear
ing a colonel's uniform stepped up and said, ' I see, Captain,
you are sorely pressed. I do not belong to your corps and
have no orders, but if you will let me I will file in an Indiana
regiment to your support.' He did so, and the Indianians
held their position and checked the advance of the enemy.
We poured canister into the Confederates till our supply was

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 393
exhausted. I subsequently learned that the officer who had
addressed me was Colonel Ben Harrison, and the regiment
was the 70th Indiana. There is not a survivor of Knapp's
Battery that does not hold him in grateful remembrance for
his heroic action in coming to our assistance at a moment
when it seemed impossible to avert disaster. There is not
the possibility of a doubt that the day was saved by Har
rison's prompt action, and it was this that attracted Hooker's
attention, resulting in deserved promotion."
General Harrison had, as an officer, the unbounded confi
dence and esteem of his men. He exacted of them a rigid
discipline, but they learned to know that this was necessary
in order to save the organization from capture and rout, and
to win victories. His men tell many anecdotes of him on
his Atlanta march, all of which tend to show his interest in
them. His big horse was always a conspicuous object and
not without its uses, other than strictly military. Says a
member of the 70th Regiment, " I recall one incident that
was thoroughly characteristic of Harrison. It was during
one of the marches toward Atlanta. I was very footsore
and weary, and was limping along by the side of a very
muddy road. The chaplain of the 70th was walking near
me, and one of the boys who was done up was riding the
chaplain's horse. Just then General Harrison came splash
ing along through the mud. He saw me limping and asked
me by name what the matter was. When he saw my
blistered feet he jumped off his horse, and in spite of my
protests, lifted me into the saddle."
"That was nothing," replied a one-armed veteran who
heard the above, " General Harrison didn't ride his horse a
quarter ofthe time on these long marches. He almost always
had one ofthe boys astride of him."
When Sherman awoke the next day after the memorable

394 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
battle of Peach Tree Creek, he found Hood had evacuated
all the entrenchments in his front. Thinking he had gone
to Atlanta, the Union armies were turned to face the city.
But Hood had really swung off to Decatur and when Sher
man approached Atlanta, his left flank caught the full fury
of an attack from Hood. It was in this that the gallant
McPherson lost his life and it was here that Logart played
so conspicuous a part in saving the day. The armies of
Thomas and Schofield were under fire all day from the for
tifications of Atlanta, and it was only when the army ofthe
latter was swung round to Logan's assistance that Hood's
onset was broken. The Union loss was 3,722 and the Con
federate loss 8,000.
Sherman's investing army was now subject* to almost daily
attacks from Hood's forces, in the midst of which he grad
ually worked the entire Union army from left to right till he
had drawn Hood all the way to Jonesboro', where battle was
given. The long Confederate lines were punctured every
where. This meant the fall of Atlanta. At night as the
Union army slept in their trenches and along the line ofthe
railroads they had captured they were aroused by the sound
of heavy explosions, twenty miles away to the north. It
was the exploding store-houses, trains and magazines of
Atlanta, fired by the rear-guard of Hood, whose van was
already well southward. Atlanta was indeed won, and the
bugle notes of victory came from the very heart of Georgia
to cheer the people of the north, freshen other struggling
armies, and inspire the Government. It was September ist,
1 1864. General Harrison had not been absent from his command
since he entered the army. He now took advantage of the
cessation of active hostilities which followed the capture of
Atlanta, and secured a temporary leave of absence with

Hon. William D. Washburn.
Born in Livermore, Maine, January 14, 1831 ; graduated at Bowdoin,
J854; studied law and located in Minneapolis, 1857; Surveyor-general
»f Minnesota, 1861; largely interested in manufactures and railways;
elected to State Legislature, 1858-71 ; elected to 46th, 47th and 48th
Congresses; elected, as a Republican, to U. S. Senate for term begin
ning March 4, 1889 ; Chairman of Committee on Mississippi River Im
provements ; member of Committees on Civil Service, Commerce, Educa
tion and Labor, Post-offices and Post Roads, etc. ; earnest, able and con
scientious statesman, deeply interested in the fortunes of the Northwest.
(395)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 397
orders to report to Governor Morton. On visiting Indianap
olis he found that the very patriotic and kindly disposed Dem
ocratic Supreme Court of his State had declared the office of
State Reporter vacant, and that another person had been
elected to serve out the regular term. It wasn't much won
der that the righteous indignation of all loyal people was
aroused at this outrage, nor that they firmly resolved to re
instate the old incumbent. He was given a nomination for
the place on the Republican ticket and during his thirty
days of absence from the army he made a dashing canvass
of the State. The result was a triumph for him, and a rein
statement in the office which had been ruthlessly torn from
him while fighting the battles of his country.
By the time this victory of peace was won, and the enemy
behind rebuked in a signal manner, Hood had evolved his
plan of invading Tennessee, and Sherman his plan of march
ing to the sea. Thomas was given supreme command of
all the forces deemed necessary to checkmate Hood, and
had begun the work of retreat to and concentration at Nash
ville. Thither Hood would come, and there would be that
grand ingathering of troops whose purpose would be to
crush him. This was the situation which General Harrison
met on his way back to the army. He would still be with
his old commander and in the capacity of Brigadier-general.
More than that he would still be with those whom he had
learned to look upon as the bravest of the brave, for Wood,
who had earned promotion by the splendid management of
his division throughout, but especially in that last desperate
demonstration at Lovejoy, was in command of a corps at
Nashville. During October and November Thomas had been carry
ing on the work of concentration at Nashville and of forti
fying the place. On December 2, 1864, Hood appeared and
I?

398 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
began the work of investment. Thomas laid his plans of
battle, which placed Smith's 16th Corps on his right,. Wood's
4th Corps in the centre, opposite Montgomery Hill, and
Schofield's 23d Corps on the left of Wood and in reserve,
and Steedman on the extreme left. General Harrison's
Brigade was therefore in the centre and in front of the
enemy's strongest point. The battle opened on December
15, with an advance of Steedman on the left. While he
conducted a bloody charge there, Smith charged on the
right and at the same time Wilson's cavalry swung clear
round to the Confederate rear. Then came Wood's valiant
4th Corps, which moved with traditional spirit up the rough
and entrenched acclivities of Montgomery Hill, driving the
enemy to their interior lines. Schofield also pushed steadily
up, and when all the lines were abreast and connected, the
whole pressed vigorously forward during the entire after
noon, gradually rising over almost interminable obstacles
and meeting everywhere with deadly fire, till the last lines
of the enemy's entrenchments were captured. Wood's 4th
alone found a line beyond the second. This was instantly
carried by assault, with the capture of eight pieces of artil
lery and 500 prisoners. The enemy now broke and fled,
his natural line of retreat being down the Franklin pike,
opposite which Wood was. He forced pursuit with as much
spirit as he had conducted the fighting. Forming his
brigades and divisions he plunged after Hood's broken
forces,- and ceased only when darkness became dense. The
next morning the 4th Corps found Hood at bay on the
Harpeth Hills, and took a position across the Franklin pike.
When the other corps came up and took places to the right
and left, battle was again joined. Wood's corps led the
assault, up over severer obstacles than those of the day
before, and with greater losses, The other corps rushed on

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 399
the enemy's right and left, while their attention was concen
trated on the terrific struggle along the centre, and literally
folded in their flanks, capturing dozens of guns and thou
sands of prisoners. In a short while all was tumult within
the enemy's lines, and then their forces began to break into
disastrous retreat down the steep slopes, leaving a wreckage
of wagons, caissons, muskets, knapsacks and blankets behind.
They reached the Franklin pike and poured down it a
confused mass. Close at their heels hurried the relentless
4th Corps, in a chase of several miles, gathering prisoners
and spoils all the way till night descended in mercy on the
beaten army. The day saw 4,500 prisoners, 53 cannon and
thousands of small arms fall into the hands of the victors.
The next morning dawned cold and rainy, but by daylight
the 4th Corps was on the march with Wilson's cavalry, the
remaining corps following. Every here and there the des
perate rear guard of the enemy made a stand to check the
hot pursuit and gain a little time, but such attempts resulted
only in the loss of other guns and further discomfiture. It
was thus that Wood's Corps and the cavalry followed im
petuously to Harpeth River, where they found the pontoons
destroyed. Others were improvised and Wood was again
on the enemy's track, but he could not catch up till Hood
was safe beyond Duck River, having again burned the pon
toons. Wood and Wilson hastily improvised others and
crossed to continue the pursuit. On the 24th of December
they twice met and drove the enemy's rear guard and pushed
it so vigorously as to save the bridges across Richland creek.
On Christmas morning they attacked and drove their foe out
of Pulaski, and on the same evening General Harrison's
Brigade rushed upon them at a point which they had en
trenched for the night's bivouac and drove them pell-mell
into the distance and darkness.
Thus was Hood's flight and the relentless pursuit kept

400 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
up till, with a mere fraction of the force and the parapher
nalia he brought to the invasion of Tennessee, he recrossed
the Tennessee a thoroughly discomfited, broken down
General. Whether in the battles around Nashville, or in the dash
ing, persistent pursuit of Hood by the 4th Corps, General
Harrison's Brigade was one of the most valiant and reliable
contributors to the victories which left the valley of the
Mississippi free from Confederate intruders and in full pos
session of the Union armies. There was really nothing
more to do in that direction, and now all eyes were turned
to the east to witness the culmination of rebellion.
It was during this period of respite, and while the sturdy
corps of the west, with their immense equipments, were
being transferred to the Atlantic, to meet the coming of
Sherman and to bring the inevitable end nearer in time, that
General Harrison was called to the bed-side of his children
who were lying at death's door with scarlet fever. General
Harrison was himself stricken with the dread disease in
malignant form, and for a time his life was despaired of. A
vigorous constitution at length pulled him through, and he
was no sooner on his feet than he started east and joined
his command in the Carolinas. It was now attached to
Sherman's army, which had accomplished its march to the
sea and was already well on its way to its goal at Raleigh.
He remained with Sherman till the surrender of Johnston,
and then, the war ended, he passed north with his victorious
companions in arms, participated in the final grand review
at Washington, and thence returned to his family and his
profession bearing the well-deserved honors of a Brigadier-
general. In his " Twenty Years of Congress," Mr. Blaine
says : — " Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, commanded a
brigade before he was 30, and made a military record which
did honor to the illustrious name which he inherits,"

Hon. Henry L. Dawes.
Born at Cummington, Mass., October 30,1816; graduated at Yale
and studied law ; engaged in law practice and editing ; elected to State
Legislature, 1848-49-52 ; elected to State Senate, 1850 ; member of
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1853; District Attorney for
Western District of Massachusetts, 1853-67 ; elected, as Republican, to
35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42d and 43d Congresses;
elected to United States Senate to succeed Chas. Sumner and took
seat, March 4, 1875 ; re-elected in 1881 and 1887 ; one of the oldest
and most respected Senators; Chairman of Committee on Indian Af
fairs and member of Committees on Appropriations, Civil Service
Fisheries, etc. (402)

IV.
IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE.
On his return to the paths of peace, General Harrison
found the office to which he had been elected in the fall of
1864 a valuable aid to him, and he performed its duties till
the end of the term in 1868. He was then pressed to be
come a candidate for re-election, but declined to accept be
cause it was necessary for him to turn his full attention to
his professional business, which, by this time, had recovered
from the effects of long absence in the field, and bade fair
to be far more prosperous than ever before. To this he
directed all his energies for several years, constantly adding
to his fame as a lawyer, and as an orator, for he was ever
active in political campaigns. Indeed, it was during these
years that he came into prominence in his State as one of
those reserved and solid political factors whom it would be
wise to draw upon when there was hard work ahead. So
long as Governor Morton lived he was first in the minds
and hearts of Indiana Republicans, but after his death Gen
eral Harrison was, as if by a process of natural selection,
largely looked to as a coming power in Republican coun
sels. Not that he was a politician in the ordinary sense ; he
could not buttonhole or drum for favor ; but he understood
political situations thoroughly, had an accurate judgment of
results, was prudent in counsel and a powerful organizer and
worker. Above all he was frank and fearless, and friends
as well as enemies knew exactly where to find him.
It was in the full exercise of these qualities that he de-
(4°3)

404 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
clined the nomination of his party as candidate for Governor
of his State in 1876. The choice therefore fell to Godlove
S. Orth, upon whom the enemy opened such a merciless fire
as to break down his political record and force his with
drawal from the ticket. General Harrison was absent from
the State when this disparaging event took place, yet the
State Central Committee immediately put him on the ticket
to fill the vacant place and recover, as best he might, the
valuable ground which had been lost. In tendering the
nomination to General Harrison the Committee said : " The
nomination was made for no other purpose than to subserve
the best interests of the Republican party in Indiana, and in
tendering it to you we do so with the assurance that you
will receive the united and earnest vote ofthe entire party."
The nomination was entirely unsought and undesired, but it
was accepted in terms that indicated a sense of public duty.
He was less inclined than before to accept it, but fully ap
preciating the emergency and knowing that time was already
too short in which to repair damages, he consented to lead
a forlorn hope in order that his party organization might be
conserved and its principles find an exponent amid the des
perate conflict already on.
His opponent, popularly known as " Blue Jeans Williams,"
had a strong following in the State, and he shared in ad
dition the strength of the Tilden-Hendricks ticket, together
with the inspiration offered by Chairman Barnum's copious
boodle. Though General Harrison went into the campaign
at a late hour and under auspices from which a man of less
heroic mould would have shrunk, he went in earnestly and
with such vigor as to set the adverse current quite towards
himself and his party. He worked during the short time
at his disposal with herculean energy, spoke eloquently and
often, and by election day had his party in trim for a brave,

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 405
if losing, fight at the polls. The result was defeat, yet a vic
tory of great moment for him personally, for he ran nearly
2,000 votes ahead of his ticket, and nearly 4,000 ahead of
the Republican strength as shown by the Congressional
vote. This memorable contest, his many brilliant speeches
to large and enthusiastic audiences, the sacrifices he made
for his party, the speedy gathering up of broken forces, the
energy which he infused into a despairing situation, gave
him a national reputation which placed him in high demand
where like vigor and eloquence were a necessity, and after
the October election his voice was heard in nearly all the
States of the East in sturdy plea for the candidates on the
Presidential ticket. From that time till 1880 he was busily
engaged in the pursuit of his profession, and in 1879 or 1880
he aided the Federal Government in prosecuting certain
Democratic conspirators for importing ballot-box stuffers
into Southern Indiana. Their leader was convicted and
sentenced to the penitentiary.
In the campaign of 1880 he worked with his wonted
energy and brilliancy, and this time with greater success,
for not only the Republican Presidential ticket carried Indi
ana by -6,641 plurality, but a Republican Legislature was
elected. This event brought the name of General Harrison
prominently forward as a candidate for United States Sena
tor to fill the place about to be vacated by Joseph E. Mc
Donald. There were other aspirants for the honor, among
whom were Walter Q. Gresham, Godlove S. Orth, John C.
New and W. C. Cumback, but the voice of the party was
practically unanimous for the man who had been fighting
its desperate battles for so many years, and who had been
one of its most conspicuous figures in every campaign since
1856. All the contestants withdrew before the nominating
caucus met and left the field clear for General Harrison. He

406 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
was nominated by acclamation. His election gave the
greatest satisfaction to his party in the State, and it was felt
that the honor rested on one who was in every respect
splendidly equipped for its maintenance.
He assumed his Senatorial duties on March 4, 1881. The
session was an extra one for executive business only, and
he simply attended and voted when occasion arose. When
the Senate reassembled in the following December, at the
beginning of the Forty-seventh Congress, and opportunity
offered, he assumed his share of the duties of the body.
During his six years term he grew rapidly in public estima
tion and proved himself fully equal to the requirements of
his high office and the expectation of his friends. His
reputation became national as one of the best lawyers and
ablest debaters in that grave and eminent body. The lead
ing legislation of his term comprised, first, the Tariff Act
of 1883. On this important measure, prepared by the Tariff
Commission with great deliberation, he took high protective
ground, and his arguments showed that he was thoroughly
versed with the system under which American manufactures
had prospered since 1861, and American labor had been
able to maintain itself on a plane far above the pauper rates
of the old world. It was while this bill was pending that
he had occasion to cross swords with his colleague, Senator
Voorhees, who had made a rather reckless address in which
he affected to ridicule the Republicans for seeking to lower
duties on perfumery. Senator Harrison stepped into the
area in front of the desks, and, approaching the Democratic
side, began a reply, lasting nearly an hour, in which he un
mercifully belabored his doughty colleague, and left him
entirely subdued. It was one of the most brilliant and
masterly efforts ever made on the floor of the Senate, and

BENJAMIN HAfcRlSON. 4&7
Mr. Voorhees never after sought occasion for a similar en
counter. The Tariff views of General Harrison have found frequent
expression since the expiration of his Senatorial term, and
on March 20, 1888, before the Marquette club of Chicago,
he took occasion to say : —
" There is another question to which the Republican
party has committed itself, and on the line of which it has
accomplished, as I believe, much for the prosperity of the
country. I believe the Republican party is pledged and
ought to be pledged to the doctrine of protection to Amer
ican industries and American labor. I believe that in so far
as our native inventive genius — which seems to have no limit
— and our productive forces can supply the American
market, we ought to keep it for ourselves. And yet this
new captain on the bridge seems to congratulate himself on
the fact that the voyage is still prosperous notwithstanding
the change of commanders. He seems to forget that the
reason that the voyage is still prosperous is because the
course of the ship was marked out before he went on the
bridge and the rudder tied down. He has attempted to
take a new direction since he has been in command with a
view of changing the sailing course of the old craft, but it
has seemed to me that he has made the blunder of mistaking
the flash light of some British light-house for the light of
day. I do not intend here to-night, in this presence, to dis
cuss this tariff question in any detail. I only want to say
that in the passage of what is now so flippantly called the
war tariff, to raise revenue to carry on the war out of the
protective duties which were then levied, there has come to
this country a prosperity and development which would
have been impossible without it, and that a reversal of this
policy now, at the suggestion of Mr. Cleveland according to

4o§ BENJAMIN HARRISON.
the line of the blind statesman from Texas (Mills), would be
to stay and interrupt this march of prosperity on which we
have entered. I am one of those uninstructed political
economists that have an impression that some things may
be too cheap ; and I cannot find myself in full sympathy with
this demand for cheaper coats, which seems to me neces
sarily to involve a cheaper man and woman under the
coat. I believe it is true to-day that we have many things
in this country that are too cheap, because whenever it is
proved that the man or woman who produces any article
cannot get a decent living out of it, then it is too cheap."
The second great measure before the Senate during his
term was the " Civil Service Bill " introduced by Geo. H.
Pendleton, Democrat, Ohio. Though introduced by a
Democrat, strange to say, Democrats were its chief oppo
nents. Senator Harrison favored the bill, and voted for it,
but at the same time he contended for the perfect freedom
of all men, no matter whether Government employes or
not, to contribute their money to the cause they espoused.
On February 12, 1884, he expressed himself very pointedly
on this, subject : —
"I should regard myself," he said, "as little less than a
slave if as an American citizen I believed, let me say for il
lustration, in the doctrine of protection, in which my col
league also takes an interest, and was the head of a bureau
here, receiving a salary of $8,000 a year, I was not allowed
to contribute to the purchase of documents or the distribu
tion of speeches that were calculated to impress upon the
public mind the views I held."
He voted for the Civil Service bill, and later on, after
President Cleveland became the appointing power, he vigor
ously criticised instances of alleged departure of the Ad
ministration from the letter and the spirit of the law.

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 409
His consistency on this subject is shown bythe following
extract from a speecli with which he opened the Indiana
campaign of 1882 : —
" I want to assure you to-night that I am an advocate of
Civil Service Reform. My brief experience at Washington
has led me often to utter the wish with an emphasis I do
not often use that I might be forever relieved of any con
nection with the distribution of public patronage. I covet
for myself the free and unpurchased support of my fellow-
citizens, and long to be able to give my time and energy
solely to those public affairs that legitimately relate to the
honorable trust which you have committed to me."
The third great question which pressed for solution dur
ing his term was contained in the " Anti-Chinese Bill." As
Senator Harrison's record on this bill has been subjected to
criticism it is well to know all about the measure. The
proposition to close our doors upon the Chinese race was
very slow in finding any favor at all in those sections where
the Chinese, as they presented themselves on the Pacific
coast, were personally unknown. For many years the Pacific
coast delegation appealed to Congress in vain for protection
from the incoming Chinese hordes. Gradually their plea
began to have effect. The evidence they presented of the
unfavorable influence on the coast of the Chinese immigra
tion and the danger of that part of the United States being
overrun by Mongolians began to be considered, and grad
ually won converts in the East to the Pacific coast view of
the Chinese.
Their sentiments were incorporated into a bill known as
House bill 5804. On April 27, 1882, it came up in the
Senate for discussion. Its title was " A bill to execute cer
tain treaty stipulations with the Chinese." Mr. Harrison
made two brief speeches on that bill, occupying only a few

4to BENJAMIN HABB1S0N.
1 lines of The Record, and printed at pages 3359 and 3360 of
The Congressional Record, Forty-seventh Congress, first
session. He. contended that as the treaty used the word
" laborers," it was not in the power of Congress to enlarge
the meaning of that word by legislation ; that whatever the
word " laborers " implied in the treaty, the same word would
be held to have the same meaning in any law that Congress
might pass. He asked Senator Grover, of Oregon, the
pertinent question, whether, if he found the proposed law
and the existing treaty in conflict, he would still persist in
passing the law and thus " trampling upon our treaty obliga
tions?" To this inquiry Mr. Grover made no reply. Mr.
Harrison's logic was invincible, and it was sustained by the
Senate. It may be added that this position has since been
maintained by every President and Secretary of State down
even to Grover Cleveland and Secretary Bayard.
The controversy over the bill led to its amendment so as
to make it fit in with existing treaties, and in this form Sena
tor Harrison became its ardent champion and voted for it
on final passage. His entire attitude was that of a man who
saw clearly how useless and dishonorable it was to legislate
in the face of a solemn treaty, yet that the spirit of the pro
posed legislation was proper, provided it could be so arranged
as to prevent conflict with treaty obligations. Of the
amended bill, as reported by the Committee on Foreign Re
lations, of which Senator Harrison was a member, Senator
Mitchell, of Oregon, a chief promoter of anti-Chinese legisla
tion, said : — " I have no kind of doubt that it is as strong a
bill as could be drawn, and, at the same time, have kept
within the provisions of our treaty  It is one of the
best bills ever reported by any committee on the subject."
In 1886 a supplementary anti-Chinese bill was introduced
in the Senate, when General Harrison was still a member

Hon. Henry M. Teller.
Born in Allegany co., N. Y., May 23, 1830 ; admitted to bar in
N. Y. ; removed to Illinois, 1858 ; thence to Colorado, 1861 ; on admis
sion of Colorado to Statehood, 1876, was elected to U. S. Senate as a
Republican ; re-elected to (J. S. Senate for the term 1876-1882 ;
appointed Secretary of Interior by President Arthur in 1882, and served
till March 3, 1885 ; re-elected to Senate in 1885, and again in 1890 ;
Chairman of Committee on Privileges and Elections; member of Com
mittees on Judiciary, Private Land Claims and Indian Tribes.
(4»)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 413
of that body. It was passed without a division, Senator
Harrison voting for it both in the committee and in the
Senate. Thus General Harrison was from first to last in
favor of the principle underlying the Chinese legislation.
After Mr. Harrison's nomination for the Presidency at
Chicago, 1888, Senator Mitchell made an investigation of
his record bearing on all the anti-Chinese bills and says : —
" I found that he voted against two measures providing a
form of restricting Chinese immigration. I talked with
General Harrison about the matter and he gave me the
grounds on which he objected to the proposed legislation,
which were that the measures were in direct conflict with
existing treaties. He held that before we passed statutory
laws we ought to abolish the existing treaties, so as to
avoid conflict. That is exactly the position I occupy, and
about two years ago I introduced a joint resolution in the
Senate proposing the abrogation of every treaty with China,
commercial as well as those on the subject of immigration,
and my intention was to introduce a general Chinese im
migration bill which would take the form of statutory law.
" One of the bills that Senator Harrison opposed was
passed by both houses and was vetoed by President Arthur. ,
During one of my talks with Senator Harrison he said :
' As a lawyer I could not afford to vote for laws which I
knew to be in direct conflict with existing treaties and which
I knew could not stand even the test they would be subjected
to in the lower courts. I did not want to make myself
ridiculous by voting for a measure which would conflict
with a treaty placed on the statute books during my own
term of public life.' I have," continued Senator Mitchell,
" received many inquiries from my constituents on this sub
ject, and I have without exception stated tha.t I considered

414 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
General Harrison's record on this subject not inimical to
the interests of our people.
" But the Chinese question will not be the paramount issue
in the approaching campaign on the Pacific slope. We
have secured as much restriction of immigration and as
much restriction of the rights of Chinese in our country as
we can get at this time. Our people are practically quiet
on the subject and the issue at the polls in November will
be fought on the tariff. The recent election in Oregon shows
what position the people there hold on this subject. The
nomination of General Harrison, it seems to me, was the
best possible solution of the complication in which the con
vention found itself this morning."
And Representative Morrow, of California, also said : —
" Mr. Harrison's views on the question are entirely satisfac
tory to us in California. We are all protectionists over
there, we are more interested in knowing what is going to
be done with prunes and raisins, and borax and manufac
turing interests generally than in inquiring what a man
thought on the Chinese question in 1882. Besides, we
think we have got the matter settled at last, and we certainly
prefer Mr. Harrison's views of the inviolability of treaty
obligations to those of Mr. Cleveland, who proposes to in
troduce Chinese products free of duty. The California
delegation took a leading part in bringing about Mr. Har
rison's nomination, and we shall give him our votes, though,
of course, you know who our first choice was."
And the newspapers of the Pacific coast thus view the
record : —
General Harrison's course on the Chinese question was
honorable, just and right. It never would be called in ques
tion except by men whose regard for the obligations of their
country w^s. not subordinated to <\ disposition to play the

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 415
part of a paltry demagogue to ignorance and prejudice.
Harrison did not oppose restriction of Chinese immigration,
but insisted that the acts of restriction should be kept within
the provisions of the treaties. Was not this right ? — Port
land Oregonian (Lnd. Rep.).
There are no weak points in Harrison's record. The
attempt to create a prejudice against him on this coast on
the Chinese question will not cost a vote. Harrison stood
in 1878 where Eastern men generally stood. — San Francisco
Call (Lnd).
General Harrison, like a great many other prominent men
in the East, Democrats as well as Republicans, did not at
first grasp the importance of the Chinese question, but as
soon as he saw that the rights of American labor and the
basic principle of Protection were involved in it, he wheeled
into line on the side of America, and has ever since been
the firm and determined opponent of Chinese admission. —
San Francisco Chronicle {Rep).
Mr. Harrison's position on the Chinese question some
years ago seems to be the main reliance of the Democracy
for beating him. California is not anxious to know what
Mr. Harrison thought about Chinese immigration ten years
ago. The voters of this State want to know what Mr. Har
rison thinks of Chinese immigration to-day. — San Francisco
Post {Rep).
The record of General Harrison, the nominee of the Re
publican party for the Presidency, is identical with that of
every anti-Chinese citizen of California. The coming of
these people was at first encouraged by almost everybody
in this State. It took twenty years of close study and ex
amination into all the details of the question to bring about
that radical change in the opinion of California and the
Pacific States jn relation to these interlopers which is now

416 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
universally entertained. General Harrison underwent pre
cisely the same change of sentiment on this question as our
own people, with this difference, that the process in his case
was much speedier. — San Francisco Bulletin {Lnd).
The " Coin and Currency " question was an important
one during Senator Harrison's term. On this question he
expressed himself in 1885, thus: —
" I have never believed that cheap money, in the sense of
depreciated money, was desirable. I have always thought
and said that the interest of the laboring and farming classes
especially was in the line of stable, par currency. The silver
question may be presented in divers forms. I am a bi-
metallist by my strong conviction. I think silver should be
preserved as a coin metal, but it is very apparent that the
present ratio between silver and gold is out of joint, and
that something ought to be done to correct this inequality.
" The aspect of the question here is this : The President
has taken strong grounds for a peremptory stoppage of the
coinage of the silver dollar, and the fight is on in his own
party in the House. Nothing we can do in the Senate on
the question will be of any avail."
One of General Harrison's strongest titles to public re
spect and admiration is found in the fact that when the in
flation craze spread over the country and swept from their
moorings many who have since lived to regret their infatua
tion, he never wavered in his fidelity to the cause of honest
money. On the bill to prevent the importation of contract labor
Senator Harrison made an argument in favor of keeping
out immigrants brought to this country under stipulations
to work for lower wages than those prevailing here. This
was his comment on the subject : —
" If I understand the evil sought to be guarded against

Hon. Chauncey M. Depew.
Born in Peekskill, N. Y., April 23, 1834; graduated at Yale, 1856;
studied law and admitted to bar; elected to New York Assembly,
1861-62 ; elected Speaker ; elected Secretary of New York State, 1863 ;
Tax Commissioner of N. Y. city; nominated Minister to Japan ; General
Counsel for Hudson R. & N. Y. Central R. R's, 1866 and 1869; -candi
date for Lieut. -Governor, 1872, but defeated ; Regent of State University,
1874; President of N. Y. Central R. R., 1885; President of Union
League and Yale Alumni Association ; prominent candidate for Presi
dent of U. S. before conventions of 1884, 1888 ; manager of Harrison
forces in convention of 1892; celebrated as orator and lecturer; spoken
of as Secretary of State to succeed Blaine.
(4i8j

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 419
by this bill it is that men living in foreign countries where
the rate of wages and the conditions of labor are so different
from what they are in this country shall not there, under
the strain that is upon them, make a contract which, of
course, is governed by rates of wages there that put them
in the power of the person furnishing the money when they
come to this country, and have a tendency to import the
rates of foreign labor and establish them here. I see noth
ing to prevent any person who is benevolently disposed, who
has no personal interest in an individual, from aiding any
one to come here, provided only he does not attempt to
secure the money he advances by a mortgage on that man's
labor." He also spoke on the alien ownership of land, taking a
decided stand against the evil of foreigners acquiring large
bodies of public and private lands to the exclusion of actual
settlers, who would improve small farms and make for them
selves homes.
During the first session of the 48th Congress, General
Harrison was heard in many speeches on the Blair Educa
tional bill, to which he made many serious objections. In
one speech on the subject he said : —
" There is a giving that pauperizes; there is a giving that
enfeebles. It is against that sort of giving that I protest.
The wisest managers of benevolence in these late years have
come to the conclusion that giving should always be so
regulated as to save self-respect, and awaken in the mind of
the recipient the lost faith in his ability to take care of him
self. We should carefully avoid that giving which creates
a disposition to lean and to expect, which takes the stamina
and strength and self-dependence out of men. That prin
ciple will, I think, apply to the giving which is proposed by
this bill." 19

420 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
After the inauguration of President Cleveland, and when
the Republicans of the Senate took issue with the Execu
tive about appointments, Senator Harrison was heard on
several occasions in speeches of a critical character.
On the question of the admission of Dakota as a State,
his reports and speeches took favorable and earnest ground,
and they have never been answered, though for partisan
reasons the right that is clearly due the populous and enter
prising Territory has been withheld for years. It was Sen
ator Harrison's strong plea for Dakota which first roused
the country to realize the injustice done to a great body of
honest settlers by the partisan exclusion of that Territory
from Statehood. The Union soldier had no more eloquent
and faithful champion than Senator Harrison, throughout
his Senatorial career. All his speeches in their behalf
evince the warmest affection for the " boys who wore the
blue," and the deepest solicitude for their welfare. He was
really the father of that pension bill which was asked for by
the members of the Grand Army of the Republic, and after
wards approved by them.
In the course of a speech in which he had occasion to
reply to Senator Voorhees' claim to be " the soldier's
friend," General Harrison gave utterance to these earnest
words, which seem to apply as well to a good many others :
— " The man who lived through the War of the Rebellion
and did not make some sacrifice for the success of the Union
armies — who did not say one brave word, or do one brave
thing, when, with bare and bleeding breasts, our soldiers
looked into the face of hell for their country — can never be
enshrined as the soldier's friend."
Senator Harrison had been for years a member of the
Mississippi Improvement Commission, and in the Senate he
was a Strong advocate of liberal appropriations for im-

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 421
proving the navigation of that important waterway. His
advocacy of self-government for Alaska was able and
earnest. General Harrison's service to the nation in the Senate won
for him the respect of his fellow-members, and the apprecia
tion of an intelligent constituency. The place he early and
easily assumed as a statesman of marked ability, large in
formation, sterling Republicanism and unblemished charac
ter, he held to the end of his term.
General Harrison's term in the Senate expired March 4,
1887, and the Legislature to choose his successor was to be
elected in the fall of 1 886. That was a memorable campaign,
and was to a large extent General Harrison's own campaign,
though many able assistants stood by his side in the fight.
The Democrats had carried the State in 1882 by 11,000
majority and in 1884, during a Presidential year, by nearly
7,000 majority. They had so gerrymandered the State as
to make a Republican majority in the Legislature next to
impossible, and they boasted that it would require a popular
majority of 20,000 in the State to overcome the effects of
their gerrymander. Add to this the shameful perversion of
the civil service rules which President Cleveland permitted
in order that his party might succeed, and you can form a
faint idea of the odds against the Republicans. There were
grave doubts in the minds of many shrewd Republicans
about the practicability of an energetic campaign at all, and
General Harrison was almost alone in the opinion that the
Legislature, or even the State, could be carried. This is no
disparagement of other Republican leaders, who did yeomen
service in the campaign, but it is a fact. The result attested
General Harrison's wisdom and his work. The Republicans
carried the State and came within a hair's breadth of carrying
the Legislature, though the apportionment had been gerry-

422 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
mandered so as to give the Democrats at least forty-six
majority on joint ballot, and Senator Voorhees said he should
feel personally disgraced if that was not the result. General
Harrison carried every Republican legislative district and
twenty-two Democratic districts, and had it not been for the
advantage the Democrats had in the State Senators holding
over, he, instead of Mr. Turpie, would have been the United
States Senator. As it was, the aggregate Republican majority
on the Legislative ticket was over 10,000, and the polling of
it has been distinctively recognized as Harrison's victory.
The Republican candidate for Lieutenant-Governor was
elected by 2,093 majority. The Democratic majority on
joint ballot in the Legislature was but two, but it was suf
ficient to elect Turpie, though grave doubts hung over the
legality of the choice.

Hon. Alfred A. Taylor.
Born in Carter co., Tenn., 1849; educated at Edge Hill and Pen
nington, N. J. ; admitted to bar, 1870 ; elected to Tennessee Legislature,
1875 ; distinguished as an orator and in Republican councils in the
State ; candidate for Governor in 1886 and defeated by his brother, R.
L. Taylor; delegate to Republican National Convention in 1888;
elected as Republican to 51st and 52d Congresses to represent First Ten
nessee District, comprising twelve counties ; member of Committee on
Elections and Invalid Pensions ; an earnest, popular member, who
commands the respect of his peers. '
(424)

V.
RETURN TO HIS PROFESSION.
On General Harrison's retiracy from the Senate in 1887,
he returned to Indianapolis and resumed his profession.
His reputation had been so well established at the bar, that
he was soon in the midst of a practice which embraced a
high class of cases.
This period, too, contributed to the general enlargement
of his fame, and to the firm place in popular affection which
came about with contact with the people and fuller knowl
edge of his ability and steadfastness to principle. He came
into demand as an orator on many public occasions, and his
speeches were then as now models of manly, clear, forcible,
pointed thought, suited exactly to the occasion. Perhaps
the one which attracted widest attention was that delivered
at a banquet of the Marquette Club, March 20, 1888, on
which occasion his theme was " Citizenship and Franchise,"
— a theme which has grown in importance in his bosom ever
since, and has become vital to the principle of free institu
tions. In it he said : —
" What questions are we to grapple with ? What unfin
ished work remains to be done? It seems to me that the
work that is unfinished is to make that Constitutional grant
of citizenship, the franchise to the colored men of the South,
a practical and living reality. The condition of things is such
in this country — a Government by Constitutional majority —
that whenever the people become convinced that an adminis
tration or a law does not represent the will ofthe majority of
(425)

426 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
our qualified electors, then that administration ceases to
challenge the respect of our people, and the law. ceases to
command their willing obedience. This is a Republican
' Government, a government by majority, the majority to be
ascertained by fair count, and each elector expressing his will
at the ballot-box. I know of no reason why any law should
yield respect to any executive officer whose title is not based
upon a majority vote of the qualified electors of this country.
(Applause.) What is the condition of things in the Southern
States to-day ?
" The Republican vote is absolutely suppressed. Elec
tions in many of those States have become a farce. In the
last Congressional election in the State of Alabama there were
several Congressional districts where the entire vote for mem
bers of Congress did not reach 2,000, whereas in most ofthe dis
tricts ofthe North the vote cast at our Congressional elections
goes from 30,000 to 50,000. I had occasion to say a day
or two ago that in a single Congressional district in the
State of Nebraska there were more votes cast to elect one
Congressman than were cast in the State of Alabama at the
same election to elect their whole delegation. Out of what
does this come ? The suppression of the Republican vote ;
the understanding among our Democratic friends that it is
not necessary that they should vote because their opponents
are not allowed to vote. But some one will suggest: 'Is
there a remedy for this ? ' I do not know, my fellow-citi
zens, how far there is a legal remedy under our Constitution,
but it does not seem to me to be an adequate answer. It
does not seem to me to be conclusive against the agitation
of this question even if we should be compelled to respond
to the arrogant question that is asked us : ' What are you
going to do about it ? ' Even if we should be compelled to
answer : ' We can do nothing but protest,' is it not worth while

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 427
here, and in relation to this American question, that we
should at least lift up our protest, that we should at least
denounce the wrong, that we should at least deprive the
perpetrators of what we used to call the usufructs ofthe crime ?
If you cannot prevent a burglar from breaking into your
house, you will do a great deal toward discouraging burglary
if you prevent him from carrying off anything, and so it
seems to me that if we can, upon this question, arouse the
indignant protest ofthe North and unite our efforts in a de
termination that those who perpetrate these wrongs against
popular suffrage shall not by means of those wrongs seat a
President at Washington to secure the Federal patronage in
a State, we shall have done much to bring this wrong to an
end. But at least while we are protesting by representatives
from our State Department at Washington against wrongs
perpetrated in Russia against the Jew, and in popular as
semblies here against the wrongs which England has in
flicted upon Ireland, shall we not at least in reference to this
gigantic and intolerable wrong in our own country, as a
party, lift up a stalwart and determined protest against it ?
" But some of these independent journalists, about which
our friend Macmillan taught, call this the ' bloody shirt'
They say we are striving to revive the strife of the war, to
rake over the extinct embers, to kindle the fire again. I
want it understood that for one I have no quarrel with the
South for what took place between 1861 and 1865. lam
willing to forget that they were rebels, at least as soon as they
are willing toforget it themselves [laughter,] and that time does
not seem to have come yet to them. But our complaint is
against what was done in 1884, not against what was done
during the war. Our complaint is against what will be
done this year, not what was done between 1861 and 1865.
No bloody shirt — though that cry never had any terror for

428 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
me. I believe we greatly underestimate the importance of
bringing the issue to the front, and with- that ofttime Repub
lican courage and outspoken fidelity to truth denouncing it
the land over. If we cannot do anything else, we can either
make these people ashamed of this outrage against the bal
lot or make the world ashamed of them."
General Harrison's personal courage, soldierly qualities
and great value as a citizen never came into more timely
play than during the great railway strikes of 1877, which
hung for so long as a threat upon the peace of communi
ties, and resulted in enormous losses of property. In this
instance, he unconsciously wrote one of the brightest
chapters of his life, not only by his devotion to the cause
of law and order, but by his readiness to aid the working
man to obtain the highest possible reward for his labor.
The strikers had burned $4,000,000 of property in Pitts
burg on July 22. The strike had spread West and was at
its height in Indianapolis, where was a United States Arse
nal with 300,000 stand of arms, and only twenty soldiers to
protect them. The Mayor became alarmed and called the
citizens in mass-meeting. Every citizen of influence went.
A committee of safety was formed, irrespective of party.
One of its members was Senator McDonald, who declared
that " the city must be protected from mob violence by
thorough organization." The meeting also appointed a
committee to wait on the strikers. General Harrison was
on this committee. The part he took is shown by the
record : —
" General Harrison counseled obedience to the law, but
at the same time very strongly expressed the opinion that
the wages were too low and desired very much that they
should be raised. He was willing to use his influence with
those in authority in favor of this desired increase."

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 429
Meanwhile the traffic was blockaded. Merchants could
do no business. Fear of the destruction of property was
growing. With terror upon them another meeting of lead
ing citizens was called on the 26th, at which speeches were
made by men of all parties declaring that life and property
were in danger and that riot must be prevented. The re
sult was a stronger Committee of Public Safety, composed
of Joseph E. McDonald, General Benjamin Harrison, Hon.
Conrad Baker, General John Love, General T. A. Morris,
General Daniel McCauley and General W. Q. Gresham.
Governor Williams issued a proclamation, in response to
which the citizens enrolled themselves in companies. The
Governor requested General Harrison to take command of
the companies. He declined, saying he was already a
captain of one company. General McCauley was then
placed in command. General Harrison's company was as
signed to protect the armory. It was the key to the situa
tion. There alone could the rioters obtain arms, and it
must be defended at all hazards.
General Harrison at once put the buildings, which were
scattered over several acres of ground on the outskirts of
the city, in a complete state of defence. While thus en
gaged in military duty, he did not cease exerting all his
influence to bring about peace. He was urged to attack
the strikers and compel them to disperse. His reply,
prompt and stern, has been preserved in its very words. It
was: "/ don't propose to go out and shoot down my neighbors
unless it is positively necessary to do so in order to uphold
the law!'
Not many days afterwards the strike was over. Two
hundred of the strikers had been arrested by order of
Judge Drummond, of the United States Court, for interfer-

43° BENJAMIN HARRISON.
ing with the operations of the Ohio and Mississippi Rail
road, then in the hands of receivers. These misguided men
were all sent to prison for ninety days. Thereupon General
Harrison voluntarily made a plea in their behalf. He rep
resented to Judge Drummond that the object of their pros
ecution had been accomplished ; that they had been taught
that they were, like all other citizens, subject to the law, and
General Harrison expressed his belief that they would heed
the lesson if released. Judge Drummond granted the plea,
and as the prisoners filed out to freedom many of them
grasped General Harrison's hand and thanked him for his
interference in their behalf.

VI.
HARRISON AT HOME.
Family life is an infallible index to character. Where
domestic relations are on a high plane, the participants can
not be without excellent heads and good hearts.
In person, President Harrison is not of commanding
height — rather below than above the medium. He has,
however, a straight, strong, broad-shouldered figure, fine
soldierly bearing, a genial face and an easy dignity of man
ner, that render him noticeable and distinguished among men.
His head is large, shapely, and indicative of those mental
powers and resources which have placed him in the first
rank of American thinkers and statesmen. His hair and
beard are ofthe blonde type, and do not show distinctly the
traces of gray which years and the cares of State might well
excuse. President Harrison has been charged with being a reserved,
unapproachable, cold man. There is no ground for such a
charge, and it is never made except by those who thereby
express disappointment over failure to receive favors, or to
use him for their purposes. He is not a bold man, nor an
effusive one. He is not a man of promises on the spot, to
break them upon deliberation. But he is most genial and
urbane as a host, and as an official is the most willing to
receive and the readiest to hear of all men in public place.
It is equally true that he always has something pleasant,
tactful and instructive to say — the high art of dismissing
with grace and dignity.
Orderly industry is a characteristic of Harrison's civic and
(43i)

432 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
public life. His powers of application are wonderful, and
his perfection of mental discipline is such that disorder does
not set in when it is necessary to pass from one subject to
another. Said his law partner in Indianapolis, " I have seen
Mr. Harrison, when in the Senate, come home to his law
office in Indianapolis, drive straight from the train, enter and
inquire what he could do, just as if his official absence had
hardly occasioned a break in his business. Then he would
take up the transcript of a case, study it during the night, go
into court the next morning a perfect master of its details,
and make one of his most powerful arguments." This same
trait appeared in all his State and National Campaigns, fitted
him for that accuracy and power which characterized his
debates in the Senate, and for the preparation of those clear
and intelligent reports which rendered his Committee work
so useful and impressive.
President Harrison has not acquired wealth. His income
from his law practice, after it became established, was always
ample for the maintenance of his plain, substantial home in
Indianapolis, but his charities were large, and he found more
delight in dispensing them than in hoarding his surplus in
come. Rich and poor were alike welcome to his gates, and
his home was reckoned as one of the most hospitable in
Indianapolis. All his life he has been a consistent member of the Pres
byterian Church, and an industrious worker along the lines
of practical religion. Devout by nature, he enlarges faith
by charitable works, and enforces the doctrine, by example,
that labor for the betterment of society is best bestowed
when it is given a good practical turn. With him the church
is an institution as well as a sect, an agent for the ameliora
tion of mankind as well as a medium for the expression of

Hon. Charles Foster. •
Born near Tiffin, Ohio, April 12, 1828 ; educated in Newark Academy
and by private tutors ; entered mercantile and banking business and en
gaged for fifty-six years in same; elected, as Republican, to 42d, 43d,
44th and 45th Congresses ; served on Committees of Claims, Appropria
tions and Ways and Means ; Chairman of sub-committee appointed to
inquire into Louisiana affairs, 1875 ; appointed by President, Chairman
of Commission to negotiate treaty with Sioux Indians, May, 1888 ; re
ceived votes of Republican members of Ohio Legislature for Senator,
1890; appointed Secretary of Treasury, by President Harrison, to suc
ceed Hon. Wm. Windom, deceased, February 7, 1891 ; an able, con
servative financier. (433?

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 435
personal belief and a form for the regulation of personal
conduct. For years President Harrison held the position of elder
in the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, and labored
in its Sunday-school. He was punctilious about attendance,
and morning and evening, on Sundays, he and his family
occupied the family pew. Even when called away on busi
ness, he strove to shape it so that he could reach the city
on Saturday nights in order to enjoy the quiet and fulfil the
duties of a home Sabbath. In one of his many hot cam
paigns he was pressed to address a meeting on Saturday
night. " I am," said he, "' entirely willing to speak to you,
but you must have a locomotive ready to carry me to
Indianapolis before midnight."
He was devoted to his large Bible Class, composed of
young men, students, clerks, and others. His method of
Bible-class teaching was so alive with interest that the class
speedily swelled in number and its ranks were always full.
His skill in cross-examining witnesses in the court-room was
turned to good purpose in the Bible-class, where his method
of instruction was what is styled catechetical, consisting
rather of questions so directed as to draw out the knowledge
of the pupils than of didactic lectures, meant to drive facts
or theories into their heads. His pupils hold him in the
highest esteem, and his library and home show many
evidences of their affection in the shape of books and other
class souvenirs, presented on appropriate occasions, such as
Christmas and anniversary days.
In his devotion to religion and to the cause of Christian
work and charity, Mr. Harrison has ever been ably seconded
by his estimable wife. For years she taught the Infant De
partment of the Sunday-school of her church, and presided
over its Aid and Missionary Societies. Her name is in-

43« BENJAMIN HARRISON.
separably connected with those organizations which have
for their object the civilization of Indians and the extending
of aid to missions and schools in foreign lands.
In personal appearance, Mrs. Harrison is of matronly
figure ; finely chiseled features; beautiful and expressive face;
brown, vivacious eyes ; dark, slightly gray-lined hair; firm,
smiling lip. She is of easy, affable manner; pleasing,
intellectual speech; and in full possession of the happy
accomplishment of imparting her sense of comfort and
welcome to all who meet her.
They have reared two children, a son and daughter.
Their son, Russell Harrison, married Miss Saunders, daugh
ter of Senator Saunders, of Nebraska. He is an editor and
has acquired newspaper interests in Helena, Mont., and New
York. The daughter, Miss Mary Harrison, married James
R. McKee, an Indianapolis merchant.
During his six years of Senatorial life, Harrison and his
family did not aspire to the show and cost of housekeeping
in Washington. Yet, having the prestige of illustrious
families on both sides and the graces of cultured life, they
took conspicuous place in the social realm of the National
Capital and dispensed a modest but well-bred hospitality.
Miss Harrison ranked as one of the most popular girls in
Washington, while Mrs. Harrison endeared herself to a large
and influential circle of friends.
Since the occupancy of the White House by President
Harrison and his family, they have perpetuated, as far as
practicable, the home life which all along gave them so much
happiness and appeared so beautiful. Mrs. Harrison, by her
knowledge of art, by her understanding of household
arrangement, by her social tact and graces, has made the
Presidential mansion a handsome and comfortable abode, a
social centre, a source of delightful influences, and has easily

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 437
maintained and greatly added to the lustre of the title,
" First Lady in the Land." Mrs. McKee has been her
almost constant companion, and her children serve to flush
the home with their sunlight. The venerable father, Mr.
Scott, passes his declining days in the midst of his children
of three generations, President Harrison himself finds
daily escape from the cares of State in the bosom of this
happy family, participates in their councils, joins in their
charities, their church goings, their private and public en
tertainments, their stated receptions, and beautifies by the
dignity of his presence and the constancy of his relations
the home that the nation has provided for its honored ser
vants.

VII.
A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
General Harrison's name was mentioned in connection
with the Presidency in the National Republican Convention
of 1880, but he promptly checked the movement in his
favor. It was again favorably considered in 1884, and this
time far more seriously than has ever been made public or,
possibly, than General Harrison himself ever suspected.
When the Republican party met in National Convention
at Chicago, June 19, 1888, it was felt by every delegate that
the work before him required unusual care and deliberation.
President Cleveland had been placed in nomination for a
second term by the Democrats at St. Louis, and Allen G.
Thurman, of Ohio, had been named for the Vice-Presidency.
This made the geography of the political situation compara
tively clear. In 1 884 the Democrats had had a decided ad
vantage by their wisdom in placing the head and tail of
their ticket in the two most doubtful States. They had now
virtually abandoned Indiana — left it open as an arena. As
to the issues of the campaign, these had been made plain
by the President's message, the Mills Tariff Bill, framed in
pursuance ofthe message, and the St. Louis platform, which
indorsed both the message and the bill. Long before the
Convention many estimable and real candidates loomed into
prominence, the chief names being Harrison, Ind. ; Sher
man, O. ; Alger, Mich. ; Gresham, Ind. ; Allison, Iowa ;
Depew, N. Y. ; Phelps, N. J. ; Hawley, Conn. ; Rusk, Wis.
There was, therefore, a wide field to select from. The Con
vention was not like other Conventions in the respect that
(438)

Hon. Stephen B. Elkins.
Born in Perry co., Ohio, September 26, 1841 ; graduated from Uni
versity of Missouri, 1860; admitted to bar, 1863; practiced in New
Mexico for several years ; elected to Territorial Legislature in 1866, and
soon after made Attorney-General of Territory; appointed U. S. District
Attorney in 1868; elected Delegate to Congress, 1873; re-elected in
1875 ; Delegate to Republican National Conventions, 1884, 1888 ; large
business and banking interests in Santa Fe, also large land owner;
moved to West Virginia, and extensively engaged in mining, timber,
railroad and banking interests; appointed, by President Harrison,
Secretary of War, December 17, 1891.
(439)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 441
it had the work of deliberate selection before it. It was not
there, in better judgment at least, to accept a candidate nor
to declare one. Its 800 delegates came, all with honest
views, but some shaded with local coloring, to get a clear
view, and to do the best for the party and country.
The Convention passed through several steps or stages
on its way to a clear view of the situation. The Blaine in
fluence was divided. His true friends soon convinced them
selves that it would not do to nominate him against his will.
His false friends wanted to nominate him at any cost. Their
differences were compromised by recognition of the fact that
it would be fatal to nominate him till the other candidates
whom his letters had invited into the field were ready to
unite in asking him to take the nomination. This fact never
came, and never could have come, for with so much and
such elegant material in the field, a wise choice was always
a possibility. The second stage was partly geographic and partly po
litical. It involved the doubtful States, and especially New
York, which, if not the most doubtful, was at least the most
important. The geographic feature soon settled itself. The
wisdom of placing the candidates so that the debatable
fields of New York and Indiana should be occupied, very
soon impressed the Convention. This not only involved
deference to the wishes of those States, but a feeling that
their choice would amount to a pledge of success. Mr.
Depew was settled upon by the New York delegation as
one likely to carry his own State. But he very prudently
looked over the ground and found that he might endanger
other States. He withdrew after the third ballot, and when
his State had made up its mind to stand for General Benja
min Harrison, who not only represented another doubtful
State, but who was deemed the best candidate for New
20

442 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
York, the other doubtful States and all the sure States. The
three ballots on June 22 were all field ballots. The two
ballots of June 23 were under the changed situation. They
brought no very material increase of strength to the other
nominees before the Convention, but showed its drift toward
Harrison, and really foreshadowed his nomination, as soon
as the silent strength, which was still hoping for a chance
to nominate Blaine, should feel the hopelessness of its en
deavors. This it was forced to feel on June 25, when a
telegram from Mr. Blaine was read asking his friends to
respect his previous letters. Sunshine broke upon the Con
vention at once. The three ballots of the 25 th were easy
ones. Every doubtful State whirled into the Harrison line.
After five days of discussion and voting — eliminating all
the other candidates and having established the correct
principles of choice, the Convention chose General Harrison
with surprising unanimity, on the eighth ballot, his vote
being 544, as against 118 for Sherman; 59 for Gresham;
100 for Alger ; 5 for Blaine and 4 for McKinley. They
wanted a doubtful State ; Harrison lived in Indiana. They
wanted a Western candidate ; Harrison was in the West,
and not far enough from the East to be out of knowledge
and sympathy with Eastern thought. Harrison lived near
the centre of population and was almost a composite photo
graph of the nation's want. He was neither granger nor
anti-granger. He had good running qualities of another
kind. He had a home and cherished it. He had all the
homely qualities which are the best gift to an American who
seeks for office by the popular vote. He had a good record.
He had an ancestry, but did not depend upon it. These
were the reasons which led the Convention, after six days
honest and conscientious examination, to nominate him. It
was the best possible outcome. He was the one candidate

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 443
whom many of the shrewdest leaders had months before
fixed upon as the most available and easiest to elect. As to
the party, he was the one happy issue out of all its troubles,
and this the Convention was fortunate enough to find out.
Never in the history of political parties was a nomination
v for the Presidency received with fuller accord and more
heartfelt acclaim than that of General Harrison by the
' Republican party. Its fitness, not only as to the man but to
the entire political situation, was apparent to all the moment
the choice of the Convention was announced. The country
took it up with cheers, demonstrations, speeches, spectacular
displays, quaint devices and mottoes, that reminded older
voters of the enthusiasm which was awakened by the nomi
nation of the " Hero of Tippecanoe " in 1840, and charmed
younger voters with their originality and appropriateness.
Factional differences, which had sundered the party in cer
tain sections and States, were instantly healed, and the re
solve became common to make the name of Harrison a
shibboleth and sign of victory. As a set off to the " red ban
dana," whose use by Mr. Thurman had caused its acceptance
as a Democratic guidon, the American flag, of handkerchief
size, appeared in all the shop windows, and the populace
bought them by the tens of thousands. Thus armed, they
good naturedly met the flaunts of the " red bandana " by a
wave of their colors, and the facetious remark, " This is
a good enough flag for me."
The press, without respect to party, was singularly unani
mous in its favorable expressions, and this applied to both
candidates on the Republican ticket. There was no dispo
sition, even among the bitterest partisan sheets, to be other
than respectful to the name and character of the nominees.
The scene in Indianapolis, after the nomination of Gen
eral Harrison was announced, was tumultuously joyous.

444 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Throats could not cheer enough, nor could men, women,
boys and girls find words adequate to the expression of
their feelings. Throngs of happy visitors poured in upon
him to tender congratulations, and amid all the crush and
excitement he maintained a modest reserve and mental poise
which showed his complete mastery of self. His impromptu
responses to the various visitors — committees, clubs and
unorganized crowds — were singularly apropos in thought
and felicitous in expression. They were watched intently
by Republicans all over the country, and Democratic ears
were on the alert for something inadvertent, but his every
utterance was in keeping with the situation which drew it
forth. He was ready, never effusive nor, self-adulatory, al
ways guarded and to the point, said the right thing in the
right spirit, and left the happiest of impressions. We regard
these after-nomination speeches of General Harrison as
models in their way, and impossible except with a man of
wide information, abundant self-control and the fullest ap
preciation of the most delicate situations.
July 4, 1888, was fixed as an appropriate day on which to
notify General Harrison officially of the high honor con
ferred by the Chicago Convention. Accordingly the com
mittee appointed for this purpose, at whose head was Mr.
Estee, Chairman of the Convention, called at the General's
residence on the above date, and extended to him a formal
notification. With a seriousness and earnestness which fully
showed the depth of his feelings and the gravity of the
situation, the General made the following reply :
" Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee : The
official notice which you have brought of the nomination
conferred upon me by the Republican National Convention
recently in session at Chicago, excites emotion of a pro
found, though of a somewhat conflicting character. That,

Hon. Benjamin P. Tracy.
Born at Owego, N. Y., April 26, 1830; educated at Owego Academy;
admitted to bar, May, 1851 ; elected District Attorney of Tioga co., 1853,
on Whig ticket; re-elected, 1856; elected to Assembly by Republicans
and War Democrats, 1861 ; Recruited 109th and 137th N. Y. Regiments
in 1862; became Colonel of the 109th; wounded in battle of Wilder
ness ; assigned to command of Military Post at Elmira ; brevetted Briga
dier-General, March 13, 1865 ; resumed practice of law in New York city ;
appointed District Attorney for Eastern District, N. Y., October, 1866;
resumed law practice in Brooklyn ; became distinguished as an advo
cate; chosen Secretary of Navy by President Harrison, March 5, 1889;
able and advanced official and ardent advocate of a new navy.
(446)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 44?
after full deliberation and free consultation, the representa
tives of the Republican party of the United States should
have concluded that the great principles enunciated in the
platform adopted by the Convention could be in some
measure confided to my care, is an honor of which I am
deeply sensible and for which I am very grateful. I do not
assume or believe that this choice implies that the Conven
tion found in me pre-eminent fitness or exceptional fidelity
to the principles of government to which we are mutually
pledged. My satisfaction with the result would be alto
gether spoiled if that result had been reached by any un
worthy methods or by a disparagement of the more eminent
men who divided with me the suffrages of the Convention.
I accept the nomination with so deep a sense of the dignity
of the office, and the gravity of its duty and responsibility,
as altogether to exclude any feeling of exultation or pride.
" The principles of government and the practice in admin-
istration, upon which issues are now fortunately clearly
made, are so important in their relations to the national and
to individual prosperity that we may expect" an unusual
popular interest in the campaign. Relying wholly upon
the considerate judgment of our fellow-citizens and the
gracious favor of God we will confidently submit our cause
to the arbitrament of a free ballot.
"The day you have chosen for this visit suggests no
thoughts that are not in harmony with the occasion. The
Republican party has walked in the light of the Declaration
of Independence. It has lifted the shaft of patriotism upon
the foundation laid at Bunker Hill. It has made the more
perfect union secure by making all men free. Washington
and Lincoln, Yorktown and Appomattox, the Declaration
of Independence and the Proclamation of Emancipation are
naturally and worthily associated in our thoughts to-day.

44§ BENJAMIN HARRISON.
" It gives me pleasure, gentlemen, to receive you in my
home and to thank you for the cordial manner in which
you have conveyed your official message."
The timely- and acceptable nomination of Harrison in
1888 was backed by a powerful platform of principles, af
firming in unmistakable language the cardinal doctrines of
the party, especially those relating to a free and untram
melled ballot, protective duties, schools, pensions, civil ser
vice, commercial interests and foreign relations. The plat
form and the candidate gave to the party a full affirmative
position in the campaign. Mr. Cleveland's startling free-
trade message of the previous year was readily accepted as
a gage of battle, followed as it was by his renomination.
The campaign was one largely of discussion and entirely
free from the bitter and offensive personalism which had
disgraced that of 1884. Perhaps never in our political his
tory was the issue of " Protection vs. Free-Trade " so sharply
defined nor so dispassionately handled. It was recognized
at a very early day that the fighting ground embraced the
four doubtful States of the North, to wit, New York, In
diana, Connecticut and New Jersey, though the Democrats
laid claim to one or more ofthe Northwestern States. Both
the leading parties labored strenuously to convince the pub
lic mind of the correctness of their economic views, and
speech-making, mammoth parades and spectacular argu
ments became the order of the day. The early autumn
elections, as those of Oregon, Vermont and Maine, showed
that the trend of sentiment was toward the Republican party,
and in the end that party carried New York and Indiana,
together with all the States it had carried in 1884, thus
securing 233 electoral votes out of the total of 401, or 31
more than was necessary to elect its candidate.
Features of the campaign were the confidence manifested

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 449
by both parties up till the day of the election, and the dis
missal of the English Minister at Washington, Lord Sack-
ville West, for having written a letter to one of his country
men, naturalized in the United States, which gave offence
because it was construed as an unwarranted interference
with our political affairs. The result of the election was so
decisive as to be cheerfully acquiesced in by the Democratic
party. The Northwestern States had not swung from their
Republican allegiance, as was expected by the Democracy,
and the border States showed a decided drift toward the
Republican idea, the issue in one of them, West Virginia,,
being in doubt for weeks after the. election. The Congres
sional elections were also favorable to the Republicans, the
Democratic majority of fifteen in the Fiftieth Congress being
turned into a Republican majority of from 5 to 10, depend
ent on the result of several contests, mostly in districts in
the Southern States.

VIII.
HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION.
March 4, 1889 — March 4, 1893.
FIFTY-FIRST AND FIFTY-SECOND CONGRESSES.
The political revolution which had swept the Republican
party out of power in 1884 ran its course in four years, and
was followed, in 1888, by a counter-revolution which proved
even more disastrous to the Democratic party. The Re
publicans had profited by the discipline of defeat ; the Dem
ocrats had failed to convert the prestige of a first into a
second victory. The Cleveland administration, strong in
some respects, had proven weak in its failure to cope with
the questions that fell to it as legacies, in the vagueness of
its foreign policy and, particularly, in its assumption of the
doctrine of free-trade.
It was the good fortune of Harrison to unite the factions
of his party and to stand forward as a trusted and command
ing exponent of its wishes respecting the vital issues of the
campaign. He, therefore, came into office under excellent
auspices. The campaign had been squarely, masterfully
fought on the basis of living ideas and principles. Partisan
ship had been at low ebb, and the bitterness of recrimination
had not marred argument or inflamed passions. He had
the confidence inspired by ability, sound sense, patriotic in
stinct and conservative purpose. The national verdict had
been emphatic in his favor. He was free from the complU
cation of pre-election pledges, and fully abreast of his party,
even though it should choose to signalize its triumph by
(4So)

Hon. John W. Noble.
Born in Lancaster,' Ohio, October 26, 1831 ; graduated at Yale, 1851;
studied law and admitted to St. Louis bar in 1855 ; moved to Keokuk,
Iowa, 1856 ; acquired a large practice ; entered Union army as 1st
Lieutenant Co. C, 3d Iowa Cavalry ; participated in compaigns which
led to fall of Vicksburg; Judge- Advocate-General of Army of South
west, 1862-63; brevetted Brigadier-General; served throughout the
war; resumed practice at St. Louis; appointed U. S. District Attorney
for Eastern Missouri, 1867 ; tendered position of Solicitor-General by
Grant, but declined ; continued practice ; appointed Secretary of Interior
by President Harrison, March 5, 1889 ; an able official, and conscientious
statesman. (4S2)

Hon. John Wanamaker.
Born in Philadelphia, July 11,1838; educated at Landreth public school;
entered mercantile business, 1861 ; helped to organize Christian Commis-i
sion, which dispensed supplies to soldiers during the war ; chairman of
Irish Famine, Yellow Fever and other public committees ; member of
Board of Finance, and chairman of Bureau of Revenue of Centennial
Exposition ; declined Republican nomination for Congressman-at-large
in 1882 ; also nomination for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1886 ; Republi
can elector in 1888; chairman of Republican Advisory Committee in
1888 ; appointed Postmaster-General by President Harrison, March 5,
1889 ; distinguished for energy, and organizing and disciplinary talent.
1453)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 455
new departures. But there was no immediate need of these,
especially at first, for the transit from a Democratic to a
Republican administration meant, for every practical pur
pose, a taking up of the political thread which had been
broken in 1884, and a resumption of the party traditions
which had been shelved during a minority period.
President Harrison evinced his ability to govern wisely
by the selection of his cabinet. While it was chosen with
due respect to location, the choice showed tactful deference
to party leadership, and a wholesome wish to avoid local
jealousies. Fitness, however, was a prime object. He
sought a working, as well as an advisory body, and the pop-
alar judgment was that he found it. As first chosen, it was
composed as follows : —
Secretary of State  James G. Blaine, Me.
Secretary of Treasury  William Windom, Minn.
Secretary of War  Redfield Proctor, Vt.
Secretary of Navy  Benj. F. Tracy, N. Y.
Secretary of Interior  John W. Noble, Mo.
Atty.-General  W. H. H. Miller, Ind.
Postmaster-General  John Wanamaker, Pa.
Secretary of Agriculture  Jeremiah Rusk, Wis.
President Harrison's inaugural was looked for with great
interest. It proved to be a plain, practical, pointed paper of
4,300 words, which called attention to the fact that the be
ginning of this twenty-sixth administration was a step over
the threshold into the second century of our national exist
ence under the constitution ; to the growth o. the protective
policy, its vindication in practice a\id at the polls, and the
necessity for its continuance ; to the propriety of laying aside
race prejudices and conceding equal rights to all; to the
evils of monopoly ; to the necessity for discriminating against
the immigration of foreign paupers ; to the maintenance of

4J6 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
the " Monroe Doctrine," especially in view of the Samoan
troubles and the danger of foreign governments coming to
the aid of the Panama Canal scheme; to a civil service
which should fulfil the law and at the same time not shield
official negligence or incompetency ; to a graduation of
duties and taxes so as to limit revenue to public needs ; to
the necessity for a stronger navy, for the encouragement of
commerce, for revised pension laws, and for laws which
would insure a free and pure ballot.
It was regarded as an exceedingly thoughtful and strong
State paper, and was accepted by his party as a definite and
satisfactory outline of what it had a right to expect of its
chief representative. The Senate, in extra session, confirmed
his selection of a Cabinet. Thus opened the Harrison Ad
ministration, whose mission was to apply and perpetuate the
ideas that had prevailed at the national election, and shape
public affairs on the lines indicated by the constitutional
majority. In that mission there was to be no failure, for no
one understood it better, nor had any statesman ever more
ability and resolution to fulfil it.
THE SAMOAN AFFAIR.
This matter came as a legacy from the Cleveland Adminis
tration, whose foreign policy had proved so weak and vacillat-
ingas to encourage foreign encroachments. The little island,
or group of islands, over which King Malietoa presided, lay in
the Pacific ocean, and near the line of traffic between our
shores and those of China and Japan. Germans, English
and Americans traded there, and used them as coaling sta
tions and harbors of refuge. Many of these, mostly Ger
mans, had settled there and engaged in planting and mer
chandise. The strategic value of the islands was very great.
The German element, with the sanction of Germany, deposed

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 457
Malietoa, and placed a rival in power whom they could com
mand. This act, equivalent to annexation to Germany, had
the sanction of England. King Malietoa appealed to the
United States. In accordance with the " Monroe Doctrine,"
President Harrison acted very promptly, restored the de
posed king, and saved the absorption of the islands by
foreign powers. For this, he received the approval of all
parties at home, nor was there any diplomacy abroad that
dared to insist further on the right to commit so brazen a
theft, and one destined to work us great commercial injury.
In his message to the second session of the Fifty-first
Congress President Harrison thus speaks of the adjustment
of the Samoan trouble : " The Samoan treaty, signed last
year (1889) at Berlin, by the United States, Germany and
Great Britain, has begun to produce salutary effects. The
formation of the new government agreed upon will soon re
place the disorder of the past by a stable administration.
Malietoa is respected as King."
THE BEHRING SEA QUESTION.
This, too, came as a legacy to Harrison's administration.
The Cleveland administration tried to settle it by arresting
poaching seal ships, but this only complicated matters by
law suits and threats of reprisal.
The history ofthe case dates back to 1799, when Russia
granted to the Russian-American Company the exclusive
right to catch seal and discover new lands from Behring
Strait down to latitude 550. In 182 1 Russia published a
ukase extending her jurisdiction down to 510 and prohibit
ing all foreign vessels from coming within 100 miles of her
coasts and islands. England and the United States pro
tested. The result was treaties with both countries, in 1825,
permitting navigation and fishing in the Pacific Ocean. The

458 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
English treaty was slightly different in its wording from the
American, and Lord Salisbury at a very late date took the
ground that the Behring Sea was not recognized as a sep
arate body of water by the treaty. The American position
was that it was so recognized.
The sale of Alaska to the United States, by Russia, in
1867, put an end to the rights of the Russian-American
Company, or rather merged them in the United States.
Those rights had been fully respected by England during the
existence ofthe company, to wit, for a period of sixty-eight
years, forty-two of which years were after the treaty of 1825,
and it was well recognized that the 100 mile limit was for
the protection of fur-bearing animals.
But no sooner was the sale of Alaska to the United States
made than Canadian poachers began their raids on seals in
the waters of Behring Sea. So inhuman and greedy did
they prove that they robbed our licensed sealing vessels of
their annual profits and threatened the extinction of the
animals. Against these encroachments and this robbery
the United States objected. This is the form in which the
question struck the Harrison administration. It was seen
to be a delicate question and one far-reaching in its results.
Title to water and to rights in a sea which may be either
open or shut as suits the parties most interested, was some
thing which could not be settled in a day, nor by any courts
except those created upon an international basis. Hence,
arbitration was proposed. Pending negotiations looking to
an arbitration treaty and final submission, a modus vivendi
was agreed upon for the year i89i,by which both England
and the United States agreed to prevent seal poaching.
The treaty of arbitration not having been concluded, the
United States wished to revive the modus vivendi for 1 892.
To this Lord Salisbury objected, and the result was that

Hon. J. M. Rusk.
Born in Morgan co., Ohio, June, 1830 ; reared on farm ; moved to
Wisconsin, 1853 ; engaged in farming near Vernon ; elected Sheriff,
1855; elected Coroner, 1857, and to Legislature, 1861; enlisted in
25th Wisconsin Volunteers, 1862 ; chosen Major, same year, and Lieu
tenant-Colonel in 1863; with Grant at Vicksburg, and Sherman at At
lanta and to the sea; elected Bank Comptroller of Wisconsin on Repub
lican ticket by 10,000 majority in 1865 ; elected to Congress from 6th
Wisconsin District in 1870 ; re-elected to 43d and 44th Congresses ; rose
to distinction as debater and worker ; elected Governor of Wisconsin,
1881, and twice re-elected ; selected by President Harrison as Secretary
of Agriculture, March 5, 1889 ; an earnest, able official and a credit to
the Administration and nation. (459)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 461
negotiations were endangered. But by tactful handling of
the matter, a treaty of submission was finally agreed upon,
and the whole matter will be finally settled by a board of
international arbitrators, to assemble in Paris during the fall
of 1892. Considering the intricacy and importance of this
question, not to mention the dangers involved, the disposi
tion of it in the way proposed, is one of the greatest achieve
ments of Harrison's administration.
THE ITALIAN QUESTION.
The massacre of Italians in the city of New Orleans, by
a mob of citizens, filled the country with horror and gave
occasion for a demand for reparation on the part of Italy,
which amounted almost to a threat of war. The matter
assumed serious aspect for a considerable time, and it was
with the utmost difficulty that Italy could be made to under
stand that the laws controlling such cases were State and
not national laws. However, the administration was not
slow in calling the attention of Congress to this defect in our
system, and in asking that the National government enact
laws for the punishment of such crimes as breaches of
treaties. Italy withdrew her minister and for a time diplo
matic relations were severed. By exercise of patience and
quiet firmness on the part of the administration, Italy came
to see that the United States could not be coerced. She
finally yielded her demand, agreed to restore former relations,
and was met on the part of the United States by payment
of a small and complimentary indemnity of $25,000, under
a precedent established in the case of the Spanish sufferers
in New Orleans in 1853, which indemnity was to be con
strued as no recognition of any right on the part of Italy,
but merely as an expression of friendly feeling on the part

462 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
of the United States and of regret at the horrible occur
rence. THE CHILIAN IMBROGLIO.
In January, 1891, civil war broke out in Chili between the
forces of President Balmaceda and the Congressional or In
surgent forces. During this war, an insurgent vessel, the
Ltata, which had taken a load of arms on board at San
Diego, Cal., was seized by the United States Marshal for
violation of the neutrality laws. The vessel put to sea with
the Marshal on board and made her escape after landing
the Marshal at a remote point. The offending vessel
was pursued, captured and returned to San Diego for adju
dication of her case.
This action was construed by the Insurgents, who after
wards drove the forces of Balmaceda to the wall and came
into full possession of his government, as an exhibition of
hostility to their cause by the United States. They, there
fore, without hearing, began to exhibit intense animosity
toward our government and toward all our people, especially
those who represented us officially in the Chilian State or
waters. This animosity pervaded the masses in Chili, as
well as her officials. It was inflamed by the British and
German traders and adventurers in Chili, and their news
papers in Europe took up the Chilian cause and made it
almost their own. They were especially severe on our
Minister to Chili, Mr. Egan, because he permitted the
American legation to give right of asylum to political
refugees in Santiago — a right never before denied by civil
ized nations and even then practiced by the English and
German legations.
On October 16, 1891, this animosity became so intense
that a Chilian mob, encouraged, if not directly aided, by the
police and soldiers in Valparaiso, attacked the sailors of the

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 463
United States cruiser Baltimore in the streets, killed a petty
officer outright and wounded nine seamen, one of whom
afterwards died. The news of this bloody and unprovoked
assault sent a thrill of indignation across our land, and it
was felt to be such an insult to our flag as only war could
wipe out. The administration sent a prompt inquiry into
the motive and asked for suitable apology. The tone of the
reply was impudent and it greatly intensified the feeling
against Chili. President Harrison immediately began to put
the navy in preparation for an offensive demonstration, de
termined no longer to brook delays nor further compromise
situations. Seeing that he was determined to seek repara
tion by force and to maintain the honor of the American
flag at all hazards, reason began to dawn in the Chilian
mind, and action was promised after judicial inquiry had
been instituted and & report had.
At this juncture, November 14th, the new President of
Chili sent Don Pedro Montt as Minister to Washington.
He announced that he came to " cultivate and maintain the
relations of peace and friendship between Chili and the
United States." President Harrison's response to him was
looked for by the whole country with intense interest, for
never had foreign minister been accredited and received
under precisely similar auspices. The response was most
able and filled the country with delight. It showed how
there could be no feeling in this country except that of good
will for a sister American Republic, how there was no de
sire to intermeddle in her internal affairs, how the Ltata
affair and all others representing acts on the United States
had been in accord with a desire to observe the neutrality
laws and avoid the intervention from which this country
had suffered so much during her civil war. It closed with
the hope that the sway of passion would soon end and that

464 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
speedy, peaceful and honorable adjustment of all difference?
might be had.
There was no threat of war, no bluster in the response.
It was dignified, pointed, tactful, but so firm, as that the
new minister could not but be impressed with its depth and
solemnity. In his message to Congress, December 9, 1891,
President Harrison reviewed the Chilian question with great
fullness and seriousness to date, and promised to make it
the subject of a special message, if the judicial investigation
then going on proved disappointing in its results, or if fur
ther needless delay intervened.
This promised special message came on January 25, 1892.
Its cause-was the receipt of the conclusions reached by the
Chilian Fiscal General, or Board of Crimes inquiry. These
conclusions were unsatisfactory to President Harrison, in
that they did not show that our sailors had not been as
saulted, beaten, stabbed and killed for what they had done,
but rather showed that such assaulting and killing was for
what the " Government of the United States had done, or was
charged with having done, by its civil officers and naval
commanders." In this message President Harrison reviewed
the whole situation in a masterly manner, submitted all the
correspondence, and asked Congress to take appropriate ac
tion. It was well known what this message meant. It was a
turning over of the question to the nation, stamped with the
ultimatum of the Administration. No message, certainly
none of modern times, so quickly received the approval of
the country, or so deeply touched the patriotic pride of our
people. As a declaration of American policy it took rank
with that of James Monroe, in which was first promulgated
the " Monroe Doctrine." A powerful and generous people
accepted it with the greatest unanimity, as their own procla-

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 465
mation to the world of a determination to assert their na
tional rights and maintain their national dignity, without any
disposition to despoil or humiliate ;. weak, erring and over
confident neighbor.
Such was the firmness of the President's position, such the
nature of the step, such the imposing character of the na
tion's response, that a result came which might not have
been reached by the arts of strict diplomacy for long, long
years. Three days after the submission of the President's
message to Congress, he was enabled to submit the an
nouncement to Congress and to the country, that Chili had
extended all necessary apologies for her conduct, had agreed
to see that reparation for injuries was made, and had satis
factorily complied with all our demands. Thus war was
averted by the tact and firmness of President Harrison, one
of the most dangerous questions of his administration
quickly and securely settled, and the national honor fully
vindicated. PROTECTION AND RECIPROCITY.
The Fifty-first Congress was Republican, but with a slim
working majority. With a weak and vacillating President,
without one who- was not popular, strong, determined, and
who had not the full confidence of his party and country,
there would have been little hope with so small a majority
in Congress, of effecting legislation of so important a kind
as that to which the Republican party stood pledged. But
with such a man as President Harrison to inspire, suggest
and lead, the Republican majority proved industrious, united
and effective. No Congress ever legislated on a higher
plane, nor passed upon so many measures of purely national
import; nor did any President ever find so many of the great
measures, sanctioned by his party's platform and recom-

466 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
mended and discussed in his messages, incorporated in a
single Congress into the laws ofthe land.
The Administration stood pledged to the Tariff Act of
1890, to the protective principles it involved, to the reduc
tions and increases it provided, to the greatly enlarged free
list it furnished, to the diminution of all taxation to the
lowest consistent point. It redeemed the pledge of the party
to the people in approving and making into law the McKin
ley Bill, which as to its schedules and adjustments is the best
application of tariff principles to our internal conditions ever
attempted in the country.
But President Harrison stood not alone upon the rock of
protection as embodied in the schedules of the Act. He saw,
as other leading statesmen saw, that the time had come when
our surplus products must find and make foreign markets
for themselves. He saw they were better and as cheap as
the surplus products of other nations. He saw the markets
of 40,000,000 people south of us, on our continent, occupied
by the nations of Europe, even though we were the best and
largest buyers in those very markets. He saw that the free
list, as contemplated in the McKinley Bill, would cover
nearly everything we bought in those markets — sugar, cof
fee, hides, molasses, woods and dyes. He saw that in most
of those markets our chief exports — flour, the cereals, farm
implements, oils, textiles — were heavily dutiable, in some
cases to the point of exclusion.
Now why should we not say to those markets, we are
about to take the duty off everything we get from you. In
consideration of this we ask you to reciprocate, not by tak
ing the duty off what we send you, but by adjusting it so
that we can sell to you on favorable terms, so that when we
go for a cargo of coffee to your market we can take along
a cargo of what we have to sell, and be able to sell it, This

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 467
will encourage us to buy more from you, and in the end it
will be better for all American markets, for by reason of our
proximity we can interchange at less cost for freight, and
American genius has proven that it can even now give you
better and cheaper manufactured products than you can get
elsewhere. This cannot endanger our principle of protec
tion, for we do not or cannot produce most of what we want
from you, and you do not or cannot produce most of what
you want from us.
All of these things entered into the logic of reciprocity,
whether with the markets of America, or with those other
markets of the world embracing like conditions. Reci
procity had heretofore been accomplished between nations
by long, tedious and uncertain treaties. We could make
reciprocity by a short cut, by a clause in a tariff bill, by
simply saying here we have done all, or more than all, that
could have been done by any reciprocity treaty. We are
willing to hear your terms.
President Harrison did not hesitate to make reciprocity a
measure of his administration, and in his messages and other
speeches he accepts and urges it as part of the grand plan
now cherished by all patriotic and far-seeing statesmen ; by
which we are to enter into full competition with other
nations in the world's markets, and once more enjoy the
profits and glory of an American marine. In quite a recent
speech he spoke of reciprocity as the dawn of an era which
shall once again restore the carrying trade of ocean to
American bottoms and witness the grand spectacle of the
stars and stripes in every port of the world. In this there
is a sturdy Americanism, which defies the limitations of
partyism, and it is woven into his organization so effectually
as that it gives lustre to all his speeches and writings. In a
letter to Mr, Cronemyer, of Demmler, Pa., dated October

468 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
19, 1891, acknowledging the receipt of a box of American-
made tin-plate, he said : — " I cannot quite understand how
an American can doubt that we have the mechanical skill
and business sagacity to establish successfully here the
manufacture of tin plate. ... It is surprising to me that
any patriotic American should approach this question with
a desjre to see this great and interesting experiment fail, or
with an unwillingness to accept the evidences of its suc
cess. It will be a great step in the direction of commercial
independence, when we produce our own tin-plate. . . .
" I can understand how our success should be doubted
and our failure accepted with satisfaction in Wales, but I
cannot understand how any American can take that view
of the question or why he should always approach every
evidence of the successful establishment of this industry in
this country with a disposition to discredit it and reject it.
If the great experiment is to fail, our own people should not
add to the mortification of failure, the crime of rejoicing at
it." THE ADMINISTRATION IN PARAGRAPHIC BRIEFS.
An administration in which duty has been met honestly,
courageously, promptly and with ability.
An administration which has filled the letter of the plat
form of principles.
An administration in which the President has daily grown
and strengthened in the public mind, and won the implicit
faith of the country.
An administration which typed American honor, in all its
foreign relations.
It stands for American industry, the home wage-earner,
domestic manufactures, expanded commerce, enlarged
markets. An administration of good judgment, liberality and public

Hon. Thomas B. Reed.
Born at Portland, Maine, October 18, 1839 ; graduated at Bowdoin,
1860 ; studied law and admitted to bar ; Assistant Paymaster in Navy,
1864-65 ; member of State House of Representatives, 1868-69, and of
Senate, 1870; Attorney General of Maine, 1870-72; Solicitor of Port
land, 1874-77 ; elected, as a Republican, to 45th, 46lh, 47th, 48th, 49th,
50th and 52d Congresses ; elected and presided as Speaker of House in
51st Congress; an able and efficient parliamentarian; his decision as to
actual presence and constructive absence in counting a quorum was sus
tained by the U. S. Supreme Court ; a writer and speaker of originality
and force. (47o)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 47 1
spirit, in its efforts to re-create a navy and establish coast-
defences commensurate with the power, dignity and necessi
ties of a great nation. '
An administration whose President has seen new markets
opened for American products in nearly all of the American
Republics to the south of us, and in most of the- Conti
nental States of Europe. He has seen, for the first time in
our history, the exports of our manufactures of iron exceed
our imports, and the triumphant establishment of our iron
and steel utensils, tools, etc., in the best markets of the
globe. He has seen our exports of beef and hog products
rise from #7,068,006 in May, 1891, to $10,501,592 in May,
1892, with a kindred increase for the other months of the
fiscal year.
He has seen our largest item of export — breadstuffs — take
the following bounds : —
Breadstuffs exported May, 1892  $19,410,394
" " " 1891  12,330,231
Increase  7,080,163
Breadstuffs exported 11 Mo. to May 31, 1892  272,476,023
" " 11 Mo. " " " 1891  109,956,984
Increase  $162,519,039
For many years prior to 1888, the balance of foreign
trade had been in our favor. But during that year and
1889 — the last of the Cleveland administration — it turned
largely against us. It was turned to #68,000,000 in our
fevor in 1890.
Under Harrison's administration the government's finances
have been handled at all points with ability and with the
greatest satisfaction to the people. Since 1889, #259,093,650
ofthe national debt have been paid off, or one quarter ofthe
entire interest-bearing debt outstanding when he assumed

472 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
the reins of government. This was done by calling in and
redeeming bonds which, at the premium upon them, had a
value of $296,316,931. Still, the stroke was masterly on
the part of the government, for if these bonds had run to
maturity they would have cost the government, principal
and interest, to redeem, $351,669,424. The savi.g, there
fore, amounted to $55,352,493.
The annual interest charge was reduced by these pur
chases from $34,578,219 to $22,893,871, or $11,684,348
annually, a sum sufficient to pay one-half of the additional
pensions under the Dependent Pension Act. By these
purchases, also, a sum equal to $209,366,348 was set free,
and added to the volume of the currency. Under the
Cleveland administration the amount thus set free and added
to the volume of the currency was only $117,456,837. It
will be seen, therefore, that the amount added to the circu
lation of the currency under Harrison's administration, by
the above process, was one-fifth of the body of the currency
— total, $936,798,644 — authorized between July 1, i860, and
March 1, 1889.
The decrease in the amount of revenue collected from the
people, under the operation of various reducing Acts passed
during Harrison's administration, amounted to from $35,-
000,000 to $50,000,000, and this reduction embraced largely
the articles which are of prime necessity to laboring man.
At the same time, the average annual exports of American
products, which average was $719,781,096, under Cleveland,
ran up to $907,083,731 under Harrison. During three
years of Harrison's administration our total foreign com
merce reached $5,161,305,023. During the last three
years of Cleveland's administration the aggregate was
$4,289,702,199. Under Mr. Cleveland the excess of
exports, in three years, was $28,984,379; under Harrison

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 473
they were, for three years, $281,197,367. Much of all this
may be ascribed to natural causes, but natural causes do
not operate in favor of a nation unless they are guided,
directed and restrained by wise legislation and prudent
administration. No administration ever negotiated so many treaties look
ing to reciprocal trade relations and commercial expansion.
New extradition treaties were made with England, the
Netherlands and Colombia, by which persons guilty of
crime, not purely political, especially defaulters, embez
zlers, and all that class of gentry, who, in places of trust,
treat all the money they are permitted to count as their own,
can no longer find safety from our law in those countries.
An administration under which the cost of collecting in
ternal revenues was reduced for the first time in our history
below three per cent.
Which enforced rigidly the immigration laws, reducing
greatly the number of pauper and alien contract immigrants.
Which for the first time in our history attempted to make
men of Indians by enlisting them as soldiers.
Which applied the Railway Postal Service to trans-Atlan
tic mails, extended the free-delivery system to small towns
and broke up lottery advertising through the mails.
Which established a system of pork and beef inspection,
which secures the entry of beef and pork products into
foreign ports.
Which has strengthened our credit at home and abroad,
lightened the burden of debt upon the people, and released
millions of dollars which the previous administration had
hoarded in the Treasury, and restored them to circulation in
the proper channels of trade and commerce.
Remembering the financial situation of 1890, beginning
with the Baring failure in London, extending to all Euro-

471 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
pean and South American countries, and threatening this
country, it was the intelligent, decisive and prompt action
of President Harrison's Administration which averted im
pending disaster. Between July 24th and November 10th,
the Treasury disbursed for the redemption of bonds alone
nearly one hundred millions of dollars, and by so doing re
lieved the stringency of the money market and gave confi
dence and strength to business.
President Harrison's resolute attitude during the life of
the Fifty-first Congress in opposition to the efforts of those
who were determined to pass a free and unlimited silver
coinage act, defeated their purpose and saved the country
from suffering from the certain evils which such an act
would have entailed. His wisdom has brought about an
International Monetary Congress, whose session will serve
to simplify if not settle the puzzling question of coin ratios,
and the principle of bimetallic money.
The question of Chinese immigration was settled for the
next ten years. Four new States were admitted. Okla
homa was opened to settlement, and reservation after reser
vation added to the public lands.
No other President ever stood so firmly for purity and
freedom ofthe Suffrage. In his efforts to establish national
protection for the right to vote, he has proven to be ahead
of his party, but millions of patriotic American citizens to
day realize that the time is not remote when his attitude
must find vindication or the great Republican experiment
must fail.
Harrison's Administration has shown what a Republican
Executive can do to protect American citizenship at home
and abroad, to uplift labor and develop industry, to guard
the trade ofthe country and the currency ofthe people
against financial folly, and to win from foreign powers ad-

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 475
vantages which no other nation has ever secured. Barriers
against American trade which successive administrations of
both parties have been unable to remove, under his admin
istration have at last been swept away. The best and most
progressive men ofthe South, the men who believe in justice
and law and order, have been brought into close harmony
with men of like thought and feeling at the North. The
policy of the great Republic has been so impressively rec
ommended to the workingmen and manufacturers, the
traders and financiers of other lands, that to-day the walls
of Free Trade are shaken in Great Britain as they have not
been before for fifty years, and the wishes of this nation
bring together a congress of nations to settle the long dis
pute regarding the monetary standard.
It has been a business administration. Neither war nor
conquest has fired the popular heart to overlook its short
comings in any respect. It is because the nation wants and
honors fidelity and wisdom in the every-day duties of peace
that the President has been so favorably spoken of as his
own worthy successor. At once an embodiment and a
champion of Republican ideas, Benjamin Harrison will un
doubtedly be asked to serve again because he has served
well, and the people will trust him again because he ha;
been found worthy of trust.

IX.
MINNEAPOLIS AND RENOMINATION.
CONVENTION OF 1 892 AND PLATFORM.
The Republican National Committee met in Washing
ton, pursuant to call, on November 23, 1891. A chief object
was the selection of the place at which the National Con
vention for the nomination of candidates for President and
Vice-President for 1892 should meet. Various cities, East
and West, sought the honor of the convention's sessions,
but the choice fell to Minneapolis, after full discussion of
the claims of all.
The place being designated, the time was fixed for Tues
day, June 7, 1892, and the usual call was issued for States
and Territories to send delegates — each State, four delegates-
at-large, and two from each Congressional district, each
Territory and the District of Columbia, all to be chosen
thirty days prior to the date of the convention.
This was the tenth call made by the Republican National
Committee for a convention.
At the date ofthe above call in November, 1891, the Re
publican political situation was clear. The thought was
well nigh unanimous that President Harrison had, by a wise
administration, earned the honor of a second candidacy. It
was felt by the business and laboring interests that the
record of the past three years should remain unbroken, and
that the Republican party could best confront its enemies
with the men and measures that had constituted and ren
dered illustrious that record.
(476)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 477
But after the turn of the year 1 892 it was made apparent
that there were elements in the Republican party which
were hostile to the administration. These elements had
previously made their mutterings known, but not in such a
way as to lead to the suspicion that an open declaration of
war was intended. The first overt opposition appeared in
the local conventions of Pennsylvania, called at an unusually
early period and with the evident intention of taking a snap
judgment on the situation. They reflected the sentiment
of those whose reason for hostility was inability to control
as much patronage as they thought they deserved.
At first no serious attention was paid to this peculiar, un
necessary and impolitic movement. But when it was taken
up in other sections, as New York, Ohio, Iowa and the
silver States, and when it threatened to become formidable
if left to run riot, there came a time for consideration on
the part of Mr. Harrison's friends and the real friends of
the Republican party.
Among these friends, President Harrison counted on none
as more intimate and safe than Mr. Blaine. He was his
premier, his bosom friend of State, the custodian of his offi
cial secrets, the spokesman of his policy. None felt keener
than Mr. Blaine the embarrassment likely to follow the free
dom with which his name was used for the purpose of shap
ing opposition to the administration. Poison was added to
the shaft by the fact that none of his now avowed admirers
had been his friends in former years, but, on the contrary,
had been his most bitter enemies. An additional source of
chagrin and danger lay in the fact that the leaders of the
opposition had failed of that importance in their own States
which was necessary to save their party from disaster.
Out of the situation, clear to even the unitiniated, grew a
motive, all compelling on the part of Mr. Blaine, if his

478 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
relationship to the administration was to be maintained. He
undoubtedly weighed it well. His decision was that he
could not be a candidate. He embodied this decision in the
following letter to Chairman Clarkson : —
Washington, Feb. 6, 1892.
Hon. J. S. Clarkson,
Chairman Republican National Committee.
My Dear Sir: —
I am not a candidate for the Presidency, and my name
will not go before the Republican National Convention for
the nomination. I make this statement in due season. To
those who have tendered me their support, I owe sincere
thanks, and am most grateful for their confidence. They
will, I am sure, make earnest efforts in the approaching
contest, which is rendered especially important by reason
of the industrial and financial policies of the government
being at stake. The popular decision on these measures is
of great moment and will be of far-reaching consequence.
Very sincerely yours,
James G. Blaine.
This letter was regarded as magnanimous by every one,
without regard to politics, for it was written in face of the
fact that a sentiment was crystalizing about the writer's
name which might have made him an easy victor at Minne
apolis. It was further regarded by friend and foe as exceed
ingly timely, for the reason that it would prove a bar to all
further improper use of his name and would leave party
sentiment free to flow in available channels. But most of
all, it was accepted as a sincere and truthful letter, expres
sive in good English of precisely what was meant, and as
coming from a source where duplicity of ideas, insincerity
of motive and misleading expression were impossible.
It so greatly clarified the situation as that Republicans
everywhere fell voluntarily to the thought that Harrison was

Hon. Matthew S. Quay.
Born at Dillsburg, York co., Pa., September 30, 1833 ; graduated at
Jefferson College, 1850 ; admitted to bar, 1854 ; elected Prothonotary uf
Beaver co., 1856 and 1859 ; served in Union army as Colonel of 134th
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and as Military State Agent at Washington,
Assistant Commissary-General and Chief of Transportation; Military
Secretary to Governor of Pennsylvania, 1861-65 ; member of Legisla
ture, 1865-67; Secretary of Commonwealth, 1872-78; Chairman of
Republican State Committee, 1878-79; Secretary of Commonwealth,
1879-82; elected State Treasurer, 1885 ; elected United States Senator,
as Republican, 1886 ; Chairman of Republican National Committee dur
ing campaign of 1888 ; Chairman of Committee on Library and member
of Committees on Commerce and Public Buildings and Grounds.
(479)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 481
the logical and inevitable candidate of the party. In every
State Convention, save one small Western State, his admin
istration met with unequivocal approval by resolution. In
many instances delegates were instructed directly to vote
for him. In others, they were, according to custom, left un-
instructed, but the understanding was accepted that they
should be for Harrison. It was of this last situation that
his opponents took advantage.
Harrison had never asked favor, never announced himself
as a candidate. The support he was getting from the States
came voluntarily. The man was there, let the public judge
and treat him as it please. The administration was there, let
the verdict respecting it be that which the masses of his party
chose to register. He asked for nothing, yet would not de
cline indorsement. If worthy of vindication, upon his rec
ord, let such vindication come spontaneously. In any
other shape, it would not be vindication. Never was sol
emn, subdued drift, more direct than toward him. It was a
long, irresistible ground wave, which refused to be diverted
by the arts of political engineers, the devices of ambitious
schemers, the intervention of disappointed and malicious
adventurers. There were several causes leading directly up to the nom?
nation of Mr. Harrison, and one of them was undoubted!
his dignified, manly bearing with regard to it. He did not
proclaim his own desire to be nominated. He submitted
himself, with reserve befitting his great office, to the desire
of the people, and waited for them to " signify their wishes."
Then came a time, when, if opposition was to amount to
anything, it must be made to cohere. Conjuration seemed
out of the question, except with the magnetic name of
Blaine. That name was used, despite his unequivocal letter.
Men gathered to his standard, as though they believed the

482 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
politicians who were using that name were sincere in ths
use of it. Many were so infatuated by their admiration for
the name as that they refused to see that their use of it was
to fasten a lie and a wrong on their favorite.
Thus matters shaped till the eve of the National Conven
tion. The Harrison opponents made free use of Mr. Blaine's
name, and its potency for their purposes was handicapped
only by the two facts that he had written his letter of Feb
ruary 6, and that he still remained in the Cabinet.
On June 4, 1892, an event transpired which was interpre
ted by the country to mean that Mr. Blaine was no longer
averse to the use of his name as a candidate. On that date,
he wrote the following letter of resignation to President
Harrison : —
Department of State, Washington, June 4, 1892.
To the President: —
I respectfully beg leave to submit my resignation of the
office of Secretary of State of the United States, to which I
was appointed by you on March 5, 1889.
The condition of public affairs in the Department of State
justifies me in requesting that my resignation may be ac
cepted immediately. I have the honor to be
Your very obedient servant,
James G. Blaine.
To this Mr. Harrison sent promptly the following
reply : — Executive Mansion, Washington, June 4, 1892.
To the Secretary of State : —
Your letter of this date tendering your resignation ofthe
office of Secretary of State of the United States has been
received. The terms on which you state your desires are

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 483
such as to leave me no choice but to accede to your wishes
at once.
Your resignation is therefore accepted.
Very respectfully yours,
Benjamin Harrison.
Hon. James G. Blaine.
This dramatic event was quickly turned to their account
by the Harrison opponents, many of whom were already in
Minneapolis, or on their way there. They did not hesitate
to construe it as a break between Harrison and Blaine, and
as notice that they were at perfect liberty to place the name
of the latter before the Convention and to count on his an
tagonism to the President.
This was the condition of affairs when the Republican
National Convention opened at Minneapolis on June 7, 1892.
It became apparent on the first day's session that the
Harrison opponents would use all the arts and ma
chinery within their control to carry their object. Assum
ing the aggressive, and having a majority on the National
Committee, they organized the Committee on Credentials,
and other Committees in their favor, and selected one of
their own number as Temporary Chairman of the Con
vention. There were in the Convention 906 votes, requiring 454
to nominate, if all were cast. On the second day of the
Convention, the friends of President Harrison found they
could cohere and hold their forces, even if they could
not exactly number them. In this they had the advan
tage of a single name and object, namely, Harrison and
his nomination. They were greatly aided too, by the fact
that Harrison delegates embodied steadfast convictions as
to the character and availability of their man, and, there-

484 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
fore, were not of a class that could be cajoled by specious
arguments or carried away by shouts and vain show.
On the other hand, the leaders of the opposition were not
succeeding as they had expected. They must prevent the
nomination of Harrison on the first ballot. In order to do
this they dare not let go the name of Blaine. Yet that
name was not proving as magical as they had anticipated.
This gave rise to the suggestion of a dark horse, which was
in itself a confession of weakness, though it was thought to
be in accord with the original designs of tliose who had
been using Blaine's name from the very first. Moreover,
the transit from Blaine to a dark horse would be fraught
with great danger, for there were many sincere friends of
Mr. Blaine in the Convention, who would not have deserted
him for a third man, but who would have preferred to
transfer their strength to Harrison.
On the third day of the Contention, the situation was
greatly simplified by a gathering of the delegates who
favored Harrison. They numbered more than half the Con
vention. They, therefore, resolved to take the initiative,
force the fighting and overcome the tactics of the opposi
tion, which were now tactics of delay. The report
of the Committee on Credentials gave them their op
portunity. They moved the adoption of a minority report
instead ofthe majority one, in the case ofthe Alabama con
tests, and easily carried it. The Convention was theirs from
this time on.
The fourth day of the Convention, June 10, brought the
nominations and balloting. It was a day of superb confi
dence on the part of the Harrison delegates and leaders. It
was a day of extreme anxiety and unrest on the part of the
Blaine forces, who had two battles on hand, one to make
everything rally to the standard of the " plumed knight " in

Hon. Levi P. Morton.
Born at Shoreham, Vt., May 16, 1824; educated in common schools;
entered mercantile business at Concord, N. H. ; at twenty-five, mem
ber of firm of Morton & Co., Boston ; member of firm of Morton &
Grinnell, New York, 1854; a banker in 1863; Morton, Bliss & Co., in
1868 ; elected to Congress in Twelth New York District in 1878 ; an
authority in matters of finance; declined Vice-Presidential nomination,
1880; furnished fourth of cargo to Irish sufferers; declined Secretary
ship of Navy under Garfield ; Minister to France under Garfield ; urged
for U. S. Senator, 1885; elected Vice-President, 1888 ; noted for finan
cial knowledge, charitable disposition, and nobility of character.
(4»$)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 487
order to prevent Harrison's nomination on the first ballot,
the other to make a fresh deployment of their forces, under
fire, and shift them bodily to a new man. They could not
do the former without formally presenting his name to the
Convention, yet to do this was to bring him face to face with
the contents of his own letter declining to be a candidate.
Neither could they do the latter without more time for man
ipulation than the majority were now willing to extend, for
already such time had been freely extended, and the legiti
mate excuse for further delay did not -exist.
So the roll call for nominations began. Senator Wolcott
nominated Mr. Blaine in an able speech, which was ably
seconded. The Convention burst into applause which was
continued for many minutes, to be renewed again and again.
The demonstrations did not result in the expected stam
pede. It did not even disguise the preparations for a change
of front on the part of Mr. Blaine's friends, which change
as will be seen by the vote was to McKinley, with a view to
keeping the Harrison votes in Ohio from going to where
they properly belonged, on the first ballot. The McKinley
movement had the same effect in one or two other States.
When Indiana was reached, the venerable Richard W.
Thompson placed the name of Benjamin Harrison in nomi
nation with a few appropriate remarks. This drew forth
equally long and loud applause, which was to be repeated
even more vociferously when the orator of the day and the
convention, Chauncey M. Depew, came to second the nom
ination. The address of Mr. Depew was a masterpiece of
eloquence. He felt that he had a great occasion, an inspir
ing subject, an exceptional opportunity, and he rose to
them all with an earnestness and force that carried the Con
vention quite away and left no doubts of the results of the
first ballot. As an analysis of the political situation, as a
22

488 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
brief of Republican history, as a record of the administra
tive achievements of President Harrison, as an argument for
again honoring him with nomination, this speech stands
without exception for brilliancy, beauty and force, and it
ought to become a classic in every Republican household.
DEPEW'S ELOQUENT ORATION.
" Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention : It is
the peculiarity of Republican National Conventions that
each one of them has-a distinct and interesting history. We
are here to meet conditions and solve problems which make
this gathering not /only no exception to the rule but sub
stantially a new departure. That there should be strong
convictions and earnest expressions as to preferences and
policies is characteristic of the right of individual judgment,
which is the fundamental principle of Republicanism. There
have been occasions when the result was so sure that the
delegates could freely indulge in the charming privilege of
favoritism and of friendship. But the situation which now
confronts us demands the exercise of dispassionate judg
ment and our best thought and experience.
" We cannot venture on uncertain ground or encounter
obstacles placed in the pathway of success by ourselves.
The Democratic party is now divided, but the hope of the
possession of power once more will make it in the final battle
more aggressive, determined, and unscrupulous than ever.
It starts with fifteen States secure without an effort, by pro
cesses which are a travesty upon popular Government, and
if continued long enough will paralyze institutions founded
upon popular suffrage. It has to win four more States in a
fair fight. States which in the vocabulary of politics are
denominated ' doubtful.'
" The Republican party must appeal to the conscience and
the judgment of the individual voter in every State in the
Union. This is in accordance with the principles upon
which it was founded and the objects for which it contends.
It has* accepted this issue before and fought it out with an
extraordinary continuance of success. The conditions of

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 489
Republican victory from i860 to 1880 were created by
Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. They were that
the saved Republic should be run by its saviours ; they were
the emancipation of the slaves, the reconstruction of the
States, the reception of those who had fought to destroy the
Republic back into the fold, without penalties or punish
ments, and to an equal share with those who had fought
and saved the nation, in the solemn obligations and inestim
able privilege of American citizenship. They were the em
bodiment into the Constitution of the principles for which
2,000,000 of men had fought and 500,000 had died. They
were the restoration of public credit, the resumption of
specie payments, and the prosperous condition of solvent
business. " For twenty-five years there were names with which to
conjure and events fresh in the public mind which were elo
quent with popular enthusiasm. It needed little else than a
recital of the glorious story of its heroes, and a statement
of the achievements of the Republican party to retain the
confidence of the people. But from the desire for change,
which is characteristic of free governments, there came a re
versal, there came a check to the progress of the Republi
can party and four years of Democratic administration.
These four years largely relegated to the realms of history
past issues, and brought us face to face with what the De
mocracy, its professions, and its practices mean to-day.
" The great names which adorned the roll of Republican
statesmen and soldiers are still potent and popular. The
great measures of the Republican party are still the best of
the history of the century. The unequaled and unexampled
story of Republicanism in its promises and its achievements
stands unique in the record of parties in governments which
are free.
" But we live in practical times, facing practical issues,
which affect the business, the wages, the labor, and the pros
perity of to-day. The campaign will be won or lost, not
upon the bad record of James K. Polk, or of Franklin Pierce,
or of James Buchanan — not upon the good record of Lin
coln, or of Grant, or of Arthur, or of Hayes, or of Garfield.

490 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
It will be won or lost upon the policy, foreign and domes
tic, the industrial measures and the administrative acts of
the administration of Benjamin Harrison. Whoever re
ceives the nomination of this convention will run upon the
judgment ofthe people as to whether they have been more
prosperous and happy, whether the country has been in a
better condition at home, and stood more honorably abroad
under these last four years of Harrison and Republican ad
ministration, than during the preceding four years of Cleve
land and Democratic government.
" Not since Thomas Jefferson has any administration been
called upon to face and solve so many or such difficult pro
blems as those which have been exigent in our condition.
No administration since the organization ofthe Government
has met difficulties better or more to the satisfaction of the
American people.
" Chili has been taught that no matter how small the
antagonist, no community can with safety insult the flag or
murder American sailors.
" Germany and England have learned in Samoa that the
United States has become one of the powers of the world,
and no matter how mighty the adversary at every sacrifice
American honor will be maintained. The Bering Sea ques
tion, which was the insurmountable obstacle in the diplomacy
of Cleveland and Bayard, has been settled upon a basis which
sustains the American position until arbitration shall have
determined our right.
" The dollar of the country has been placed and kept in
the standard of commercial nations, and a coin has been
agreed upon with foreign governments which, by making
bi-metallism the policy of all nations, may successfully solve
all our financial problems.
" The tariff tinkered with, and trifled with, to the serious
disturbance of trade and disaster to business since the days
of Washington- has been courageously embodied into a code
— a code which has preserved the principle of the protection
of American industries. To it has been added a beneficent
policy, supplemented by beneficent treaties, and wise diplo
macy, which has opened to our farmers and manufacturers

Hon. Joseph B. Foraker.
Born near Rainsborough, Ohio, July 5, 1846 ; enlisted from farm in
89th Ohio Regiment; served in army of Cumberland till close of war;
Sergeant in 1862; First Lieutenant in 1864; Captain in 1865; Aide to
General Slocum ; after war entered Wesleyan University ; graduated at
Cornell, 1869 ; studied law and admitted to bar ; Judge of Cincinnati
Superior Court, 1879-82 ; nominated as Republican candidate for Gov
ernor in 1883, and defeated ; re-nominated in 1885 and elected ; re
elected, but defeated by Gov. Campbell in 1889; noted for fiery eloquence
and devotion to cause of soldiers.

(492)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 493
the markets of other countries. The navy has been builded
upon lines which will protect American citizens and American
interests and the American flag all over the world. The
public debt has been reduced. Maturing bonds have been
paid off The public credit has been maintained. The
burdens of taxation have been lightened. Two hundred mil
lions of currency have been added to the people's money
without disturbance of the exchanges.
" Unexampled prosperity has crowned wise laws and their
wise administration. The main question which divides us
is to whom does the credit of all this belong ? Orators may
stand upon this platform more able and more eloquent than
I, who will paint in more brilliant colors, but they cannot
put in more earnest thought, the affection and admiration
of Republicans for our distinguished Secretary of State. I
yield to no Republican, no matter from which State he hails,
in admiration and respect for John Sherman, for Governor
McKinley, for Thomas B. Reed, for Iowa's great son, for
the favorites of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. But
when I am told that the credit for the brilliant diplomacy
of this administration belongs exclusively to the Secretary
of State, for the administration of its finances to the Secretary
of the Treasury, for the construction of its ships to the Secre
tary of the Navy, for the introduction of American pork in
Europe to the Secretary of Agriculture, for the settlement,
so far as it is settled, of the currency question to Senator
John Sherman, for the formulation of the tariff law to Gover
nor McKinley, for the removal of the restrictions placed by
foreign nations upon the introduction of American pork to
our ministers at Paris and Berlin, I am tempted to seriously
inquire who during the last four years has been President of
the United States, anyhow ?
" Caesar, when he wrote those commentaries, which were
the history of the conquests of Europe under his leadership,
modestly took the position of .rEneas when he said : ' They
are the narrative of events, the whole of which I saw and the
part of which I was.'
" General Thomas, as the rock of Chickamauga, occupies
a place in our history with Leonidas among the Greeks,

494 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
except that he succeeded where Leonidas failed. The fight
of Joe Hooker above the clouds was the poetry of battle.
The resistless rush of Sheridan and his steed down the valley
of Shenandoah is the epic of our civil war. The march of
Sherman from Atlanta to the sea is the supreme triumph of
gallantry and strategy. It detracts nothing from the^splen-
dor of the fame, or Dhe merits of the deeds of his lieutenants
to say that, having selected them with marvelous sagacity
and discretion, Grant still remained the supreme commander
of the national army.
" All the proposed Acts of any administration, before they
are formulated, are passed upon in Cabinet council, and the
measures and suggestions of the ablest Secretaries would
have failed with a lesser President. But for the great good
of the country, and the benefit of the Republican party, they
have succeeded, because of the suggestive mind, the in
domitable courage, the intelligent appreciation of situations,
and the grand magnanimity of Benjamin Harrison,
" It is an undisputed fact that during the few months when
both the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treas
ury were ill, the President personally assumed the duties of
the State and the Treasury Departments and both with equal
success. The Secretary of State, in accepting his portfolio
under President Garfield, wrote : ' Your administration must
be made brilliantly successful and strong in the confidence
and pride of the people, not at all diverting its energies for
re-election, and yet compelling that result by the logic of
events and by the imperious necessities of the situation.'
" Garfield fell before the bullet of the assassin and Mr.
Blaine retired to private life. General Harrison invited him
to take up that unfinished diplomatic career, where its threads
had been so tragically broken. He entered the Cabinet.
He resumed his work and has won a higher place in our
history. The prophecy he made for Garfield has been
superbly fulfilled by President Harrison. In the language
of Mr. Blaine, ' The President has compelled a re-election
by the logic of events and the imperious necessities of the
situation.' " The man who is nominated here to-day, to win, must:

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 495
carry a certain well-known number of the doubtful States.
Patrick Henry, in the convention which started rolling the
ball ofthe independence of the colonies from Great Britain,
said : ' I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided
and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of
judging of the future but by the past'
" New York was carried in 1880 by General Garfield and
in every important election since that time we have done
our best. We have put forward our ablest, our most popu
lar, our most brilliant leaders for Governor and State officers,
to suffer constant defeat. The only light which illumines
the sun of hope, the dark record of those twelve years, is
the fact that in 1888, the State of New York was trium
phantly carried by President Harrison. He carried it then
as a gallant soldier, a wise Senator, a statesman who
inspired confidence by his public utterances in daily
speeches from the commencement f the canvass to its
close. He still has all these claims, and in addition an
administration beyond criticism and rich with the elements
of popularity with which to carry New York again.
"An ancestry helps in the old world and handicaps in the
new. There is but one distinguished example of a son
overcoming the limitations imposed by the pre-eminent
fame of his father and then rising above it, and that was
when the younger Pitt became greater than Chatham.
" With an ancestor a signer of the Declaration of Inde
pendence and another who saved the Northwest from
savagery and gave it to civilization and empire, and who
was also President of the United States, a poor and unknown
lawyer of Indiana has risen by his unaided efforts to such
distinction as lawyer, orator, soldier, statesman and Presi
dent that he reflects more credit upon his ancestors than
they have devolved upon him and presents in American
history the parallel of the younger Pitt.
" By the grand record of a wise and popular administra
tion, by the strength gained in frequent contact with the
people, in wonderfully versatile and felicitous speech, by the
claims of a pure life in public and in the simplicity of a
typical American home, I nominate Benjamin Harrison."

496 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
When Wisconsin was called, the name of ex-Senator
Spooner was lustily cheered and a speech demanded. His
address was hardly less forcible than that of Mr. Depew's.
FIRST AND WINNING BALLOT.
The balloting began amid subdued excitement. From
the very first it was manifest that nothing had occurred to
shake the resolution of the Harrison delegates, and that the
arts of the opposition had so far exhausted themselves as to
prove of little further danger. The designed swing from
Blaine to McKinley cropped out early in the balloting, but
it carried little from the Harrison column until Ohio was
reached. All such losses were very nearly met by a corre
sponding swing from Blaine to Harrison, among those who
refused to enter the dark horse camp. The ballot was taken
on the afternoon of June 10, and resulted in the following
figures :
Whole number of votes cast  9°4}i
Necessary to a choice  453
Benjamin Harrison received  ,  535 J^
James G. Blaine  l82}£
William McKinley  182
Robert T. Lincoln  «
Thomas B. Reed  4
The following is the official vote by States :
States. Harrison. Blaine. McKinley
Alabama  15 •• 7
Arkansas  15
California  8 9
Colorado  8
Connecticut  4
Delaware  4 •
Florida  8
Georgia  26
Illinois  34 '4
Idaho  6
Indiana  3°
Iowa  20 5

aine.

McKinley

9

2

I

8

12

2
I
II
2
'9
9
I
4
2
V/z
I
BENJAMIN HARRISON. 497
first ballot — Continued.
States. Harrison.
Kansas  11
Kentucky  22
Louisiana  8
Maine . c. 
Maryland  14
Massachusetts  18
Michigan  7
Minnesota  8
Missouri  28
Mississippi  13^
Montana  5
Nebraska  15 . . 1
Nevada  6
New Hampshire  4 2
New Jersey  18 2
New York  27 35 10
North Carolina  17% 2% 1
North Dakota  2 4
Ohio  I .. 45
Oregon^  1 .. 7
Pennsylvania  19 3 42
Rhode Island  5 I I
South Carolina  13 3 2
South Dakota  8
Tennessee.,  17 4 3
Texas....:  22 6
Vermont....  8
Virginia....^  9 13
Washington . . . . .-  I 6 I
West Virginia  12
Wisconsin  19 2 3
Wyoming  4 2
Arizona  I I
District of Columbia  2
New Mexico. .../.. ,^"V  6
Oklahoma  2
Utah  2
Alaska  2
Indian Territory  ,  I I
Totals  535J6 «82}6 182
Ex-Speaker Reed received 4 votes, 1 from New Hampshire, I from Rhode
Island, and 2 from Texas, and Robert T. Lincoln I from New Hampshire.
There were 2^ votes absent.
The Chairman — President Harrison, having received a
majority of the votes cast, has received the nomination of
2
49§ BENJAMIN HARRISON.
this Convention. Shall it be unanimous ? [Loud cries of
" Yes."] The nomination is made unanimous.
During" the evening session Hon. Whitelaw Reid, late
Minister to France, and editor of the New York Tribune,
was nominated as the candidate for the Vice-Presidency.
This was a concession to the New York delegation, and his
nomination took place on the announcement of his name.
PLATFORM OF PRINCIPLES, 1892.
AS ADOPTED AT REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION.
The representatives of the Republicans of the United
States assembled in general convention on the shores of the
Mississippi river, the everlasting bond of an indestructible
Republic, whose most glorious chapter of history is the
record of the Republican party, congratulate their country
men on the majestic march of the nation under the banners
inscribed with the principles of our platform of 1888, vindi
cated by victory at the polls and prosperity in pur fields,
workshops and mines, and make the following declaration
of principles :
PROTECTION AND RECIPROCITYTj-We reaffirm
the American doctrine of protection. We c-ill attention to
its growth abroad. We maintain that the prosperous con
dition of our country is largely due to the wise revenue
legislation ofthe Republican Congress.
We believe that all articles which cannot be produced
in the United States, except luxuries, should be admitted
free of duty, and that on all imports coming into competi
tion with the products of American labor there should be
levied duties equal to the difference between wages abroad
and at home.
We assert that the prices of manufactured articles of

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 499
general consumption have been reduced under the opera
tions of the Tariff act of 1 890.
We denounce the efforts of the Democratic majority of
the. House of Representatives to destroy our tariff laws, as'
is manifested by their attacks upon wool, lead, and lead ores,
the chief product of a number of States, and we ask the
people for their judgment thereon.
We point to the success of the Republican policy of reci
procity under which our export trade has vastly increased
and new and enlarged markets have been' opened for the
products of our farms and workshops.
We remind the people ofthe bitter opposition ofthe Demo
cratic party to this practical business measure, and claim
that executed by a Republican administration our present
laws will eventually give us control of the trade of the
world. THE SILVER PLANK.— The American people from
tradition and interest favor bimetallism, and the Republican
party demands the use of both gold and silver as standard
money, with such restrictions and under such provisions, to
be determined by the legislation, as will secure the main
tenance ofthe parity of values of the two metals, so that the
purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of
silver, gold or paper, shall be at all times equal. The in
terests of the producers of the country, its farmers and its
workingmen, demand that every dollar, paper or coin, issued
by the government shall be as good as any other. We
commend the wise and patriotic steps already taken by our
government to secure an international conference, to adopt
such measures as will insure a parity of value between gold
and silver for use as money throughout the world.
A FREE BALLOT.— We demand that every citizen of
the United States shall be allowed to cast one free and un-

500 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
restricted ballot in all public elections, and that such ballot
shall be counted and returned as cast ; that such laws shall
be enacted and enforced as will secure to every citizen, be
he rich or poor, native or foreign born, white or black, this
sovereign right guaranteed by the Constitution.
The free and honest popular ballot, the just and equal
representation of all the people, as well as their just and
equal protection under the laws, are the foundation of our
Republican institutions, and the party will never relax its
efforts until the integrity of the ballot and the purity of elec
tions shall be fully guaranteed and protected in every State.
SOUTHERN OUTRAGES.— We denounce the con
tinued inhuman outrages perpetrated upon American citi-
izens for political reasons in certain Southern States of the
Union. FOREIGN RELATIONS.— We favor the extension of
our foreign commerce; the restoration of our mercantile
marine by home-built ships and the creation of a navy for
the protection of our national interests and the honor of our
flag ; the maintenance of the most friendly relations with all
foreign Powers, entangling alliance with none, and the pro
tection of the rights of our fishermen.
We reaffirm our approval of the Monroe doctrine, and
believe in the achievement of the manifest destiny of the
Republic in its broadest sense.
We favor the enactment of more stringent laws and regu
lations for the restriction of criminal, pauper and contract
immigration. CHURCH AND STATE— We favor efficient legislation
by Congress tp protect the life and limbs of employes of
transportation companies engaged in carrying on inter-State
commerce, and recommend legislation by the respective
States that will protect employees engaged in State com-

Hon. Joseph R. Hawley.
Born in Richmond co., N. C, October 31st, 1826; educated at
Hamilton College, N. Y. ; admitted to bar in Hartford, Conn., 1850 ;
editor of Hartford Evening Pi-ess and Courant from 1857 to present;
enlisted in army April 15, 1861; mustered out as Brevet Major-General
January 15, 1866 ; elected Governor of State, as a Republican, April,
1866; Delegate to Republican National Conventions, 1872-76-80;
President of Centennial Exhibition ; elected to 42d Congress, November,
1872 ; re-elected to 43d and 46th Congresses ; elected to U. S. Senate,
as a Republican, March 4, 1881 ; re-elected in 1887 ; Chairman of Com
mittee on Military Affairs, and member of Committees on Coast Defences,
Printing and Railroads. (5°I)

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 503
merce, in mining and manufacturing. The Republican
party has always been the champion of the oppressed, and
recognizes the dignity of manhood, irrespective of faith,
color or nationality ; it sympathizes with the cause of home
rule in Ireland and protests against the persecution of the
Jews in Russia.
The ultimate reliance of free proper government is the
intelligence of the people, and the maintenance of freedom
among its men. We therefore declare a new devotion to
liberty of thought and conscience, of speech and press, and
approve all agencies and instrumentalities which contribute
to the education of the children of the land ; but while in
sisting upon the fullest measure of religious liberty, we are
opposed to any union of Church and State.
TRUSTS. — We reaffirm our opposition, declared in the
Republican platform of 1888, to all combinations of capital
organized in trusts or otherwise to control arbitrarily the
condition of trade among our citizens. We heartily endorse
the action already taken upon this subject, and ask for
such further legislation as may be required to remedy any
defects in existing laws and to render their enforcement
more complete and effective.
LETTER POSTAGE.— We approve the policy of ex
tending to towns, villages and rural communities the advan
tages ofthe free delivery service now enjoyed by the larger
cities of the country, and reaffirm the declaration contained
in the Republican platform of 1888, pledging the reduction
of letter postage to one cent at the earliest possible moment
consistent with the maintenance of the Post-office Depart
ment and the highest class of postal service.
CIVIL SERVICE. — We commend the spirit and evi
dence of reform in the civil service and the wise and con-

504 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
sistent enforcement by the Republican party of the laws
regulating the same.
NICARAGUA CANAL.— The construction of the Ni
caragua Canal is of the highest importance to the American
people as a measure of national defence and to build up and
maintain American commerce, and it should be controlled
by the United States government.
TERRITORIES.— We favor the admission of the re
maining territories at the earliest practical date, having due
regard to the interests of the people of the territories and of
the United States. All the federal officers appointed for the
territories should be selected from bona fide residents
thereof, and the right of self-government should be ac
corded as far as practicable.
We favor cession, subject to homestead laws, of the arid
public lands to the States and Territories in which they lie,
under such Congressional restrictions as to disposition, re
clamation and occupancy by settlers as will secure the
maximum benefits to the people.
THE WORLD'S FAIR.— The World's Columbian Ex
position is a great national undertaking, and Congress
should promptly enact such reasonable legislation in aid
thereof as will insure a discharging ofthe expense and obli
gation incident thereto and the attainment of results com
mensurate with the dignity and progress ofthe nation.
INTEMPERANCE.— We sympathize with all wise and
legitimate efforts to lessen and prevent the evils of intem
perance and promote morality.
PENSIONS. — Ever mindful of the services and sacrifices
of the men who saved the life of the nation, we pledge anew
to the veteran soldiers of the republic a watchful care and
recognition of their just claims upon a grateful people.

BENJAMIN HARRISON. 505
HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION.— We commend
the able, patriotic and thoroughly American administration
of President Harrison. Under it the country has enjoyed
remarkable prosperity, and the dignity and honor of the
nation at home and abroad have been faithfully maintained,
and we offer the record of pledges kept as a guarantee of
faithful performance in the future.
SPREADING THE NEWS.
As news of the renomination of President Harrison was
flashed over the country, it drew most favorable comment
from friend and foe. The business and laboring elements
of the nation were especially pleased with the choice of the
Convention. Even those who had opposed him in Conven
tion acquiesced heartily in the result and pledged their
efforts to secure his election. Perhaps President Harrison
himself was the calmest of all the recipients of the news,
among -the Republican leaders. Perfectly dignified and self-
contained, he stood in a room of the White House amid a
crowd of distinguished friends, and received their congratu
lations. A large body of the newspaper men of the Capital
came in to congratulate and to get an expression of his
views. He, after persuasion, addressed them in one of his
felicitous speeches, which showed the trend of his thoughts
and emotions at a time so important as the date of a nom
ination and the beginning of a national campaign. He ex
pressed himself as entirely free from feeling against any one,
and as wishing a campaign without bitterness or other than
dignified discussion of the questions to be decided.
On June 20, a committee composed of one from each
State, appointed by the Minneapolis Convention, and whose
chairman was Governor McKinley, officially notified Presi
dent Harrison, at the White House, of his nomination.

506 BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Governor McKinley's speech on this occasion was a happy
one, and the reply of the President evoked the applause of
all present, for apt thought and felicitous expression. The
President promised a more formal and written acceptance,
in a short time.

Hon. Whitelaw Beid,

LIFE AND SERVICES

OF
Hon. Whitelaw Reid,
Republican Candidate for Vice-President.

Whitelaw Reid, the Republican Candidate for Vice-
President, was born in Xenia, Ohio, October 27, 1837. His
paternal grandfather came to this country from Scotland,
toward the close of the last century, and pushed his way to
Kentucky, there to become an active pioneer in the forests
Which embraced the " Dark and Bloody Ground."
In the year 1800 he crossed to the north of the Ohio,
and took up ground on the present site of Cincinnati. But
a part of the contract was that he should run the ferry
across the Ohio. This was a stipulation easily kept for six
days in the week, but on the seventh it proved to be a gall
ing contract, he being a stern old Covenanter, with a con
science above Sabbath-day labor and earnings.
His contract was therefore cancelled, and he moved to
Greene county, where he became a primitive settler in the
township of Xenia. Here his son, Robert Carleton Reid,
grew to man's estate, and married Mary Whitelaw Ronalds,
a descendant, in direct line, of the Clan Ronald, of the
Scottish Highlands.
These two were the parents of Whitelaw Reid, our sub-
23 (5°9)

510 WHITELAW REID.
ject. An uncle, Hugh McMillan, D. D., a Scotch Cove
nanter and conscientious man, took the task upon himself
of fitting Whitelaw for college. Dr. McMillan was a trus
tee of Miami University and principal of the old and long-
noted Xenia Academy, which was then reckoned by the
officers of Miami the best preparatory school in the State.
As a teacher of classics and general instructor Dr. McMil
lan had a fine reputation. Under his instruction his nephew
was so well drilled in Latin that at the age of fifteen years
he entered Miami as a sophomore, with a Latinist rank
equal to that of scholars in the upper classes. This was in
1853, and in 1856 he was graduated with the scientific hon
ors, the classical honors having by his own request been
yielded to a classmate.
Just after graduation, he was made principal of the graded
schools in South Charleston, Ohio, his immediate pupils
being generally older than himself. Here he taught French,
Latin, and the higher mathematics. During this period he
repaid his father the expense of his senior year in college,
and returning home at the age of twenty, he bought the
Xenia News, and for two years led the life of a country
editor. Directly after leaving college Mr. Reid identified himself
with the then new Republican party, and took the stump for
John C. Fremont. He was a constant reader of the New
York Tribune, and his own paper, the News, edited with
vigor and such success as to double its circulation during
his control of its columns, was conducted by him, as much
as possible, after the model of that great humanitarian jour
nalist he was destined to succeed. He didn't believe in
State rights, nor in chattel slavery, and said so with a vigor
and variety that made his utterances quoted from the start.
He met many public men and never lost a chance to talk

WHITELAW REID. 511
with them on the issues of the day. He formed acquaint
ances and made friends.
In i860, notwithstanding his personal admiration of Mr.
Chase, he advocated the nomination of Mr. Lincoln, The
News being the first Western newspaper outside of Illinois
to do so ; and its influence caused the election of a Lincoln
delegate to the Republican Convention from the Xenia dis
trict, thus strengthening the break in the Ohio column which
Governor Chase at the time so bitterly resented. After Mr.
Lincoln's famous speech at the Cooper Institute, in New
York city, and on his return to the West, Mr. Reid went to
Columbus to meet him, formed one of his escort to Xenia,
and introduced him at the railroad station to the citizens.
Subsequently he entered ardently into the business of the
campaign, making speeches and acting as secretary of the
Greene County Republican Committee.
His exertions during the campaign of i860 proved to be
too much for his health, and he was compelled to withdraw
from the political arena and take a vacation.- He travelled
through the Northwest, visiting the extreme head-waters
of the Mississippi and St. Louis Rivers, and returning by
way of Duluth.
This trip meant not only health but an opportunity for
the exercise of his genius. He proved to be a close and
accurate observer of nature and of social and political con
ditions, and a descriptive writer of great beauty and force.
His letters to the Cincinnati Gazette were received with
great favor by a large circle of readers, and they established
for him a reputation which made him a desirable acquisition
on the leading papers of the West.
The winter of 1860-61 he spent in Columbus, Ohio, as
legislative correspondent of tlie Cincinnati Times. His
engagement on the Times was followed by one on the

512 WHITELAW REID.
Cleveland Herald and also on the Cincinnati Gazette, each
at advanced figures. Mr. Reid entered heroically upon
all three engagements, and came, thereby, into receipt of a
handsome income for a journalist of the times. But the
task of writing daily three letters, distinct in tone, upon the
same dreary legislative themes was a species of drudgery
which severely tried even his versatility and courage. Such
discipline, however, rendered his later journalistic labors
comparatively light and attractive.
At the close of that session of the Ohio Legislature The
Gazette offered him the post of city editor, and this posi
tion, so full of varied training, he accepted until, at the be
ginning of the civil war, McClellan, then a captain in the
regular army and stationed at Cincinnati, was sent to West
Virginia. With this movement, Mr. Reid, by order of
The Gazette Company, took the position of its war cor
respondent. General Morris had command of the advance,
and Mr. Reid, as representative of the then foremost journal
in Ohio, was assigned to duty as volunteer aide-de-camp,
with the rank of captain. Then over the signature of
" Agate " began a series of letters which attracted general
attention and largely increased the demand for The
Gazette. After the West Virginia campaign terminated in
the victory over Garnet's army and the death of General
Garnet himself at Carrick's Ford, on Cheat River, Mr. Reid
returned to The Gazette office, and for a time wrote
editorial leaders. He was sent back to West Virginia, and
given a position on the staff of General Rosecrans. He
served through the second campaign that terminated with
the battles of Carnifex Ferry and Gauley Bridge. These
battles he wrote an account of, and then returning to The
Gazette office resumed his editorial duties and helped
organize the staff of correspondents the publishers of that

WHITELAW REID. 513
journal had found it necessary to employ. Fairly estab
lished as a journalist of much promise, only brief mention
can be made of the brilliant service which marked his sub
sequent career in the West. In 1861-62 he went west to
follow, as correspondent, the fortunes of the brilliant cam
paign of Grant which began with Fort Donelson and ended
with Shiloh. During this campaign his letters were de
tailed and graphic, and he easily led the corps of war corre
spondents as respects freshness, accuracy and lucidity.
He was at Pittsburgh Landing with the advance of the
army, and ahead of all companions of the press, and left a
sick-bed to witness and describe the terrible battle of Shiloh.
His graphic account of this conflict was almost the only one
which reached the newspapers of the North, and the ten
columns which found their way into The Gazette in a single
day, profuse in detail, burning in descriptive vigor, alive to
all the horrors ofthe situation, stamped him as a correspond
ent endowed with magnificent powers of observation, untir
ing zeal and marvellous versatility. Those ten columns of
The Gazette were widely copied and published in extras
by St. Louis and Chicago papers, and their writer was com
plimented by an advance in his already liberal salary.
At the siege of Corinth Mr. Reid was appointed chairman
of a committee of the correspondents to interview General
Halleck upon the occasion of the latter's difficulty with " the
gentlemen of the press," which ended in their dignified with
drawal from the military lines.
Mr. Reid went to Washington in the spring of 1862, where
he was offered the management of a leading St. Louis news
paper. On hearing of this offer the proprietors of The Gazette
offered to sell him a handsome interest in their establishment
at a fair price. This he accepted, and his share of the profits
for the first year amounted to two-thirds of the cost and laid

§14 WHlifELAW RglD.
the foundation of his fortune. As the correspondent of Thl
Gazette at the National Capital he soon distinguished him-
'self and attracted by his literary and executive ability the
notice of Horace Greeley, who from that time became his
highly appreciative and unswerving friend. Reid was an
industrious worker, and while a political writer of vigor,
never lost his knack as a reporter. He went up to Gettys
burg when that fight was on and gave a fine description of
that battle.
A visit to the South in 1865, as the companion of Chief-
Justice Chase on the trip made by the latter at the request
of President Johnson, resulted in the production of Mr. Reid's
first contribution to literature in the form of a book entitled
" After the War : a Southern Tour." This book is a fair
reflex of its author's independent and healthful mind and
practical experience of men and things, and an excellent
record of the affairs of the South during the years immedi
ately following the war. During this tour the business of
cotton-planting appeared so remunerative that in partnership
with General Francis J. Herron Mr. Reid engaged in it in
the spring of 1866; but when the crop looked most promis
ing the army worm destroyed three-fourths of it. Even
what remained, however, prevented the loss of their invest
ment and induced Mr. Reid to try his fortune subsequently
in the same business in Alabama ; but after two years, though
not a loser, his gain was principally in business experience.
During these years, however, he was otherwise engaged than
in growing cotton. His " Ohio in the War," two large
volumes of more than a thousand pages each, was produced
during the years when cotton-planting was his ostensible
business. This work is a monument of industry and a model
for every other State work of the kind. After the publica-

whitelaw reid. sis
tion of this work Mr. Reid in 1868 resumed the duties of
a leader-writer on The Gazette.
On the impeachment of President Johnson he went to
Washington and reported carefully that transaction. That
summer Mr. Greeley renewed an invitation, two or three
times made before, to Mr. Reid, to connect himself with the
political staff of The Tribune. Mr. Reid finally accepted,
and took the post of leading- editorial writer, with a salary
next in amount to that of Mr. Greeley and responsible
directly to him. He wrote many of the leaders thoughout
the campaign that ended in the first election of Grant.
Shortly afterward a difficulty between the managing editor
and the publishers resulted in the withdrawal of the former,
and Mr. Reid was installed in the managing editor's chair.
In this advancement he retained the affection and unbounded
confidence of his venerated chief, who since the withdrawal
of Mr. Dana to make his venture in Chicago and then to
get The Sun, had not failed to observe the uncertainties and
dangers attending this most arduous of journalistic positions.
By a bold expenditure in 1870 Mr. Reid surpassed all rivals
at home and abroad in reports of the Franco-Prussian war,
and from that time, with full power to do so, gradually re
organized and strengthened the staff of The Tribune.
After the nomination of Mr. Greeley for President in 1872
Mr. Reid was made editor-in-chief of The Tribune — an office
accepted by him with genuine reluctance, but with courage
and determination. Untrammelled by tradition, he made
The Tribune the exponent of a broad and catholic Ameri
canism. In this he failed not to rally to his support schol
arly and sagacious veterans of The Tribune establishment.
After the disastrous close of the campaign of 1872, that
which astonished friend and foe alike was the enormous
amount of resources Mr. Reid's conduct had gained for him

516 WHITELAW REID.
in the shape of capital freely and confidently placed at his
disposal. He was thus enabled to obtain entire control of
The Tribune. It was under his control that the new Tribune
building was erected, and the paper given an influence and
financial worth far exceeding the Greeley regime.
In personal appearance Mr. Reid is tall and straight ; the
outlines of his face are bold, his cheek bones are high
and his eyes are deeply set. He is direct and straightfor
ward in conversation, absolutely true to his purposes, pa
tient to the last degree, but quick and sure in action.
On October 26, 1881, Mr. Reid married the accomplished
and handsome daughter of D. O. Mills, a California million
aire, who then made New York his home. Their city resi
dence in New York is a palatial brown stone house at the
corner of Madison avenue and Fiftieth street. Their
country residence is at " Ophir Farm," a magnificent spot
in the heart of West Chester county, where as much as
$1, 000,000 have been expended in the improvement of
grounds and the erection of a residence which excels in
grandeur the finest mansions of baronial times. They are
blessed with two interesting children, Ogden Mills Reid and
Jennie Reid, and both parents being of domestic turn, the
household is a happy and delightful one.
Mr. Reid has filled the conspicuous and honorable posi
tions of President of the Lotos Club and Regent of the
University of New York State. As already said, he de
clined offers from Presidents Hayes and Garfield of the
Mission to Germany. The offer of President Harrison,
March 19, 1889, of the Mission to France he accepted, with
a full knowledge of the fact that it embraced more than
ordinary responsibilities. His wealth would enable him to
grace the position, but would his diplomatic knowledge
prove equal to the delicate task of effecting what was ex-

WHITELAW REID. 51?
pected by an administration bent on enlarging our foreign
commerce and establishing relations more intimate than
ever existed before ?
Fortunately for the country and for Mr. Reid, and greatly
to the credit of Harrison's administration, he brought to
bear on the situation the highest sagacity and was enabled
to achieve results that would have failed in less circumspect
hands. By adequate representation of a great power at a
friendly capital, he made an impression on the public, the
press and the government of France, whose great value ii
as little to be measured in precise terms as its record is to
be found in blue-books and despatches. In the face of an
embittered public opinion, created by the press of an almost
united Europe, he succeeded in negotiating treaties which
withdrew the barriers against the importation into France of
American pork and which provided valuable concessions
for other American products. These were services of an
exalted kind and their influence will be felt for generations.
They contributed greatly to Mr. Reid's fame as a skilled
diplomat and enhanced the glory of the administration as to
its vigorous and pronounced foreign policy.
In April, 1892, Mr. Reid returned to this country and
laid down the honors of his post as Minister Plenipotentiary.
He resumed his control of the Tribune, thoughtless of fur
ther political honors. But when the Minneapolis Convention
nominated Harrison and began to look over the field for a
suitable candidate for the Vice-Presidency, his name and
fame could not be overlooked. He had been welcomed
home by grand occasions arranged by the Chamber of
Commerce of New York, by the Ohio Society and by the
Lotos Club. He was free from entangling political alliances.
He was justly the most conspicuous and distinguished of
the citizens of his State. He was young, brilliant, available.

SiS WHITELAW REID.
What so natural as that he came at once and prominently
into the mind of the New York delegation as the man best
fitted to occupy the place of Vice-Presidential candidate.
Therefore, it was that when the great convention assem
bled on the evening of June 10, 1892, Senator Edmund
O'Connor, of Binghamton, N. Y., placed in nomination for
the Vice-Presidency the name of Whitelaw Reid, of New
York. General Horace Porter stepped upon the platform
and seconded the nomination in an eloquent speech, saying,
among other things, that the name he had to present would
command the respect of all the people, being that of New
York's favorite son, a worthy successor to Horace Greeley,
the creator of modern journalism. General Porter's speech
was exceedingly well received and he was frequently in
terrupted by applause. When he closed his remarks at
9. 1 5 o'clock there was a prolonged burst of cheering that
took the convention off its feet, and gave the most cold
blooded veteran among the delegates a thrill of contagious
enthusiasm. Delegate Settle, of Tennessee, then presented the name
of Thomas B. Reed, of Maine. This nomination was sec
onded by a Kansas delegate amid enthusiastic cheering.
Mr. Louthan, of Virginia, also seconded the nomination of
the ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives in a brief
but forcible speech.
Mr. Reed's name was soon withdrawn. Then simulta
neously from the Iowa delegation and West Virginia dele
gation came motions that Whitelaw Reid be declared nomi
nated by acclamation, and amid the greatest enthusiasm the
nomination of Mr. Reid was made unanimous. Then the
convention gave itself up to the most tumultuous cheering.
This nomination brought the work of the convention to
harmonious and satisfactory end. It was felt that Mr. Reid?

WHITELAW RElfi. 519
nomination was fortunate from every point of view and that
it was a deserved tribute to literary ability, diplomatic skill,
business integrity and sterling American manhood. Fur
thermore, it was felt that by reason of location and by affili
ation with a great and pure administration, the names of
Harrison and Reid would prove talismanic in the battle of
1892 for American industrial supremacy at home and com
mercial supremacy upon the seas.
On June 21st, a committee appointed by the Minneapolis
Convention waited on Mr. Reid at his country seat to offi
cially notify him of his nomination. The speech of notifi
cation was made by Senator Du Bois. Mr. Reid's reply
was in his happiest vein. After accepting the honor ten
dered and the doctrine propounded in the platform, he
said : —
" You find a natural leader in the eminent public servant,
the substantial results of whose wise and faithful administra
tion furnish such inspiration for the canvass. I had ex
pected to find associated with him my distinguished friend
who now adorns the office of Vice-President. As the dele
gation of my State, and with it the representatives of the
party at large, have thought it politically wise to adhere to
the doctrine of rotation in office, it gives me the right to
claim not merely the earnest support of a united party, of
which we are sure, but the best counsel and the most
watchful personal assistance of all its faithful and experi
enced leaders without exception, to the end that this great
commonwealth may again throw its decisive vote, as it did
four years ago, and indisputably can do again, on the Re
publican side.
" My State, and I think I may venture to add my profes
sion, will appreciate the manner in which this nomination
has been made and announced, deriving an added grace as

£2, WHITELAW REID.
it does from the unanimous vote, from the character of this
body of representative men from every section of our
country. " The political sky is bright with promise. It seems a
Republican year, and, invoking the favor of Almighty God
upon a cause which we profoundly believe just, we may
courageously face the contest with the confident hope of
victory at the end."

LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES
OF
Hon. Grover Cleveland.

i.
PARENTAGE AND EDUCATION.
Ex-President Cleveland sprang from an old and dis
tinguished New England ancestry. It is a line which is
plentifully interspersed with specimens of thorough culture,
high intellectual achievement, and true American instinct.
His father, Richard F. Cleveland, was a Connecticut clergy
man of the Presbyterian denomination, and different branches
of the family held prominent pulpit places in the Presby
terian, Congregational and Episcopalian Churches. They
were all alike public-spirited men, intensely loyal to their
convictions, and firmly attached to our free institutions.
The President's immediate ancestors formed a Connecti
cut branch of the large family. His great-grandfather was
Aaron Cleveland, who lived and died in or near the town of
Norwich, though born in East Haddam. He was a clergy
man of considerable power and reputation, but with a turn
for political life. A large and admiring constituency gave
him opportunity to indulge his inclination by sending him
to the State Legislature. (521'-

522 GROVER CLEVELAND.
The two sons of Aaron Cleveland who are most conspic
uously mentioned were Charles and William. Charles
Cleveland, great-uncle of the ex-President, had a daughter
who married Samuel Coxe. Their son, Alfred Cleveland
Coxe, became Bishop of Western New York. The other
son, William Cleveland, lived in Norwich most of his life,
where he carried on the business of a silversmith. At a
late period he went to Buffalo, N. Y., to live, that he might
be near other members of his family who resided there.
He died there in 1837.
William's son, Richard F. Cleveland, and father of the
President, was born in Norwich, Jan. 19, 1804. He entered
Yale College at the early age of sixteen years and gradu
ated in 1824. He then went to Baltimore to teach school,
in the meantime carrying on a series of studies designed to
fit him for the ministry. In 1828 he was ordained a minis
ter in the Presbyterian Church, and immediately took charge
of the congregation at Haddam, Conn. While teaching in
Baltimore he made the acquaintance of a Miss Neal, whom
he married after he had been preaching about a year.
The Rev. Richard F. Cleveland was a man of high in
tellectual attainments, and a most devoted student. Study
was a love beyond any thought of worldly advancement. In
the course of his ministerial work, and soon after his mar
riage, he accepted a call at Caldwell, N. J., where he offici
ated for some years. Thence he removed to Fayetteville,
Onondaga co., N. Y. After a time he moved to Clinton,
Oneida co., and thence to Holland Patent, in the same
county, where he died, Oct. 1, 1853. His wife, the ex-Presi
dent's mother, lived till July 19, 1882, almost long enough
to see her illustrious son elected to the highest office in the
gift of the American people.
Ex-President Cleveland was born in Caldwell. Essex co.,

GROVER CLEVELAND. 523
N. J., on March 18, 1837. He was therefore in the forty-
eighth year of his age when he was elected, and one of the
youngest of our Presidents. He was named Stephen
Grover Cleveland, though popularly known as Grover
Cleveland, the first part of his Christian name having fallen
into disuse.
He was the fifth in a family of nine children, the others being
Mrs. Hastings, William N. Cleveland, Mrs. Wm. E. Hoyt,
Richard C. Cleveland, Mrs. N. B. Bacon, Lewis F. Cleve
land, Mrs. L. Youmans, and Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, the
latter unmarried, a lady of strong intellectual capacity, and
a prominent woman suffrage advocate.
The two-story-and-a-half white house in which the ex-
President was born is still standing. At the age of three
years he left the scene of his birth to accompany the family
to their new home in Fayetteville, N. Y. Here he grew to
stout and active boyhood, amid the advantages then com
mon to village life, not the least of which was good common
schooling. At the age of fourteen he desired to supplement his com
mon school education with an academic one. His father
was somewhat averse to this step, on the score of expense,
and because he desired his boys to become self-supporting
as soon as possible. Accepting the parental verdict as final,
the youth started out to earn his own living, and push his
own way in life.
He entered the village store at a salary of fifty dollars for
the first year, which s.um was to be made one hundred for
the second year, in case he proved efficient. The boy's
pluck and energy did not fail him. His record in this
humble position bespoke the coming man. It was one of
simple, unswerving integrity and untiring loyalty to the in
terests of his employer. In public place, and in mature

$24 GROVER CLEVELAND.
years, it has ever been one of faithful adherence to deep-
rooted conviction and much-admired devotion to the inter
ests of the people who honored him with their confidence
and support. The testimony is unimpeachable that what
ever the boy found to do in the capacity in which he was
first called to serve he did with all his heart, and that in the
earliest chapter of his history of self-helpfulness and business
independence there is indelibly written down a reputatbn
for bravery of spirit, fidelity to trust, and candor of charac
ter, which has outlived the intermediate years.
The quality of courage, inherent in his composition, and
of ambition to acquire a broader education, were seconded
by economic habits ; so that after a year or two spent in the
Fayetteville store, and when his father moved to Clinton,
the youth rejoiced in a realization of his dreams by being
permitted to attend the academy in the village. Here he
made rapid progress in learning, for his purse was meagre,
and opportunity long coveted was to be turned to speedy
account. His father, with a large family to support, and
only a limited income to rely upon, could not supplement
his efforts to acquire a higher education. The path to suc
cess must be cut out of the hard rock of limited circum
stances by the boy's own ingenious and persevering hand.
Right well he held the chisel, and right well directed the
stroke. Acquisition with" him was easy, and his academic
career profitable, though brief. Education under such cir
cumstances may not be so full as when plenty of time and
money is at command, but it is better appreciated, and often
far more practical. Moreover, it is an incentive to higher
endeavor, for both youth ahd manhood are at their best
when it is understood that the price of victory is hard blows
with the weapons of one's own earning.
The breaking up of the paternal home in Clinton, by the

GROVER CLEVELAND.

GROVER CLEVELAND. 527
removal of his father to Holland Patent, a village of some
five or six hundred people, fifteen miles north of Utica,
ended his academic career. In this new field the father
preached but three Sundays,' when death ended his pastor
ate. Grover first , heard of ,-his; father's/death, while walking
with his sister in the streets of Utica. The sad event was
followed by the final break-up of a large family, which a
loving hand had held together and inspired with a truly
Christian- spirit. The children all" sought honorable walks
in life, and even those who have not found renown are in
possession of that independence, peace, and jomfort which
dften count for more than fame.
As Rev. Richard F. Cleveland died Oct. 1, 1853, the son»
Grover, rnvvst have been iri his seventeenth year. Though
young to' brave life without a father's counsel, he struck
eastward and found himself in the city of New York. " Here
he seems to have been fortunate in securing a situation as
teacher in the New York City Blind Asylum, where he had
a record as a devoted instructor and a great reader and
student. His tastes, or ambitions, were not, however, satis
fied in this confined situation. The world of the school
room was not large enough for him. There were other
things in store, and he would seek them. Two years ended
his teaching career, and he started for the West.
24

n.
AS A LAWYER AND OFFICIAL.
The young man's westward journey was without definite
plan, and even without destination, except in so far as the
persuasions of a friend had induced him to inspect the city
of Cleveland, Ohio, and try his fortune in what was then re
garded as one of the most growthy and promising cities of
the West. The coincidence of the name with his own
augured well, if boyish fancy were to play a part in estab
lishing his fortune. He therefore made that city his objec
tive point. Fortunately, he stopped for a time in Buffalo,
where he found a maternal uncle, Lewis F. Allen, a man
held in high esteem in Erie county, one who had been
honored by many public positions, and who in turn had
honored them.
Mr. Allen was very favorably impressed with his nephew
and young adventurer. He persuaded him that Buffalo
offered as many opportunities for success as any more re
mote place, and kindly proffered him much good counsel
and encouragement. Young Grover's predilections for the
West were overcome. He resolved to stay with his uncle.
Mr. Allen was than a noted breeder of blooded stock-cattle.
His farms in the neighborhood of Buffalo were extensive,
and his herds had a reputation for purity of quality which
was not limited by State lines. Desiring to perfect his
operations, he placed young Grover in charge of the herd-
books, at the modest sum of fifty dollars a year and found,
but with the understanding that he was to look around him
for other occupation in case this proved irksome, The old.
(5*8)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 529
uncle evidently knew that a young man with aspirations for
Western life, and with ambitions to succeed, could not be
abruptly switched off his line of intent, unless he himself
largely acquiesced in the diversion.
Besides, the youth had already signified his intention to
make himself a lawyer. This ambition he soon found
means to gratify. The entry of herd varieties, the noting
of pedigrees for Alderneys, short horns, Durhams, etc., was
not such sleepy work as to close his eyes to chances for
getting on, even though the location was two miles beyond
the centre of the city. On the contrary, it was a work
which gave him the control of much leisure. This he re
solved to turn to account.
He made application to the law firm of Messrs. Rogers,
Bowen & Rogers, in Buffalo, to be entered as a student.
Success followed the application. He had now the double
care of editing an important stock book and drinking in the
lore of Blackstone and Coke upon Littleton. From farm to
office, and back, he walked each day, winter and summer,
till he passed his final examination and was admitted to the
bar. This period of acquisition, under difficulties which would
have appalled a youth with less pluck, served as a training
time for the qualities which were to round out the able prac
titioner and assure his professional success. The privations
of the penniless novitiate were over. His receptive mind
had made the labor of learning light, and this was the one
joy which had pervaded the long, difficult and weary
pupilage. The date of his admission to the bar was 1859, he then
being in his twenty-third year. Such was the confidence of
the firm in his ability and integrity that he remained with it
for three or four years after his admission, He thHs added

53* GROVER CLEVELAND.
to previous training a large experience in active practice
and came to be noted for his close preparation of cases, his
clear and forcible method of statement, and his untiring ad
herence to the cause he espoused. The elements of growth
which bore him over the. obstacles of previous years were
now lifting him into honorable competition with the older
lights of the bar. If these elements, as they now cropped
out, were to be reduced to speech, they must be enumerated
as exhaustive preparation, stern adhesion to purpose, avoids
ance of legal quirk, just and faithful representation, sterling
honesty in details, loyal adhesion to clientage. Back of
these were a commanding presence, a gracious demeanor, a
fervid style of eloquence, which bespoke the confidence of
courts and juries, and stamped, him as one calculated to win
as much through worth as energy. Says one of his early
associates in Buffalo : — " Grover Cleveland won our admira
tion by his three traits of indomitable industry, unpreten-*
tious courage and unswerving honesty. I never saw amore
thorough man at anything he undertook. Whatever the
subject was he was reticent until he had mastered all its
bearings and made up his own mind, and then nothing
could swerve him from his convictions. It was this quality
of intellectual integrity more than anything else perhaps,
that made him afterwards listened to and respected when
men with greater dash and brilliancy who were opposed to
him were applauded and forgotten."
In 1863, the honors which: could not long be withheld
from a man of his solidity of character and pronounced pro
fessional status, fell upon him in the shape of a call to the
position of Assistant District Attorney of Erie county. The
call came at the instance of his associates at the bar, who
had united in a recommendation which was almost unani
mous, This was the true, beginning of his public career,

Hon. William C. P. Breckinridge.
Born August 28, 1837, at Lexington, Ky. ; graduated at Centre
College, Danville, April 26, 1855 ; studied law in Law Department of
University of Louisville, and graduated February 27, 1857 ; admitted to
bar and engaged in profession at native place ; elected to 49th, 50th,
51st and 52d Congresses, as a Democrat, to represent Seventh Kentucky
District ; distinguished as an able orator and parliamentarian ; member of
Committee on Appropriations and State Department Expenditures.
(S3*)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 533
It is significant that it had an origin in a confidence which
was widely -diffused, and untrammeled by creed or politics.
It was an unquestioned, unlimited confidence, such as goes
out only to those whose manhood is their guarantee of free
dom from belittling influences and false actions. He was a
Democrat, and had passed from boyhood to manhood as
such. But while imbued with lively party convictions and
given to earnest advocacy of vital party tenets, he never
stooped to the use of questionable methods, and never for
got for a moment the proper attitude of parties toward the
State, the nation, and the institutions which inlay and over
shadow all. There was no asperity in his politics, and none
of that narrow, intense partyism which estranges friends,
sanctions corrupt practices, or refuses to see any good in
men and things outside of clannish limits. In the hour of
war he placed country before party. In the hour of peace
he recognized the uses of party as legitimate and purifying,
provided partyism did not run away with and pervert honor
able and acceptable method^.
For all of the above reasons, his associates at the bar and
the "citizens of his town found it fitting to honor him with
his first public trust. While serving in the capacity of
Assistant District Attorney he was drafted, and promptly
furnished a substitute. His career in this office extended
over a period of three years. How acceptably he had
served was shown by the fact that he received the nomina
tion of his party for the position of District Attorney in
1865. His opponent on the Republican ticket, Lyman K.
Bass, was successful, after a spirited contest, in which Mr.
Cleveland showed himself much stronger than his party.
On the first of January, 1866, he formed a law partnership
with the late J. V. Vanderpool, which continued till January,
1869. It. then ended by the withdrawal of Mr. Vanderpool

534 GROVER CLEVELAND.
to fill the position of Police Justiceship to which he had
been elected. After this dissolution a new law-firm was
formed, known as Laning, Cleveland and Folsom, the head
of it being Hon. A. P. Laning, State Senator. While in this
firm and in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice he was
called upon to serve again in a public capacity. This time
it was as Sheriff of Erie county. The office is not usually
regarded as one requiring more than average ability to fill
it, nor does it ordinarily open a field for the exercise of very
high or commanding qualities. But in this instance, not
only the Democratic, but a conspicuous factor in the Re
publican party, had an object to accomplish which could be
done in no other way and through no other agency. Gross
favoritism and glaring corruption had crept into the admin
istration of the office. The management had become an
offense to every element of justice and defiant of every re
form remedy. The majority of the dominant party in the
county was usually large, running from three to six thousand.
Democracy alone had a poor show to correct crying evils.
It was only by putting up a man for the place whose char
acter was in itself a guarantee of the reforms demanded that
they could hope to draw the Republican contingent neces
sary to secure his election. Their choice fell on Grover
Cleveland as the man for the emergency. He would neces
sarily have to make a great personal and professional sacri
fice if he succeeded, but he was a man who shrank from no
consideration of expediency when a great public interest
had to be subserved. The purification of a pest-house dis
turbs the stereotyped order of things and puts society and
individuals to much present discomfort. But the general
good must be consulted, and he is not a hero who refuses
to second every effort to further the sanative and social wel
fare of his community.

GROVER CLEVELAND. 535
Fi:ll of this laudably sacrificial spirit aTid with the deter
mination to introduce marked and lasting reforms into a po
sition whose status had been shamefully lowered, he stood
for the election, and was flatteringly successful. His admin
istration was what was expected of a man of his integrity
and firmness. He broke up corrupt practices, wiped out
the shame which clouded the office and gave to execution
of county affairs a new direction and more significant mean
ing. He showed that dignity could be made to crown the
actions of an official, even though the office was that of
sheriff The object of his election was fully met by his
vigor and straightforwardness. At the end of his term he
returned the office to the majority party as a model piece
of county machinery and an evidence of what reforms could
be achieved if officials would only keep in view the best in
terests of those they are called upon to serve. His admin
istration was not forgotten in Buffalo. The man for this
emergency would prove the man for others, when the need
should become equally great.
His election to the sheriffalty occurred in the fall of 1869
His acceptance put an end to his partnership in the law-firm
of Laning, Cleveland and Folsom. At the expiration of his
official term he had to look around for other connections.
Soon a partnership was formed with Lyman K. Bass, his old
opponent in the race for District Attorney, and Wilson S.
Bissell, the firm being known as that of Bass, Cleveland and
Bissell. He was now back on favorite professional ground, after a
diversion which had brought into conspicuous view his mas
terly executive qualities and familiarized the Western end
of the State with an administration whose vigor was only
surpassed by its purity. In a short time Mr. Bass removed
from Buffalo and the law-firm became Cleveland, Bissell and

53* GROVER CLEVELAND.
Sicard. It took rank at once as among the foremost, if not
the foremost, in Western New York, a reputation which was
secured and maintained by the large acquaintance, high
standing, and recognized legal ability of the head of the
firm. Their office was in spacious and prominent quarters
on Main street, where each member had his own library,
consulting room and other facilities for carrying on the
different branches of their rapidly growing business. Cleve
land and Bissell were both very large men physically, and
they were often jokingly called the heavy weights of the
firm. Both were dignified and affable in demeanor, and
aside from their reputation as sound and successful lawyers,
were calculated to attract a large clientage and inspire it
with the utmost confidence.
In this partnership Mr. Cleveland regarded himself as
settled for life. Success was crowning his efforts and grati
fying his ambitions. He has been heard to say that he was
content with his partners and his practice. Had he been
left with them, he need never have entertained a fear that his
merits would have been overlooked by the great public, nor
that all the rewards of industry, honesty, and ability would
have failed to cluster in his path.
Says one who was well acquainted with him at this pe
riod : " It was while thus associated that Grover Cleveland
achieved his distinction as a lawyer second to few in the
Western part of the State for legal acumen and intellectual
honesty. His jury and bench trials were distinguished by
clear views, direct, simple logic, and a thorough mastery of
all the intricacies of the cases, and his invariable avoidance
of extrinsic issues and purely technical devices secured for
him the respect of his own profession and the admiration of
the public."

III.
MAYOR OF BUFFALO.
Destiny forbade a long continuance of this smootlhy run
ning tide. Municipal politics in Buffalo had assumed a
shape repugnant to the better citizens of both parties. Pow
erful rings existed which partitioned offices and their spoils
and perpetuated themselves with autocratic certainty and
audacity. Ingenious and corrupting cliques in both parties
conspired to plunder and divide. Perhaps the city was not
unlike others in this respect, except as to the enormity of
the evil, and the difficulty of a hopeful attack upon it. He
must possess more than ordinary bravery and tenacity of
purpose who ventured to deal the first blow at a situation
turreted with power and manned by skilled political manip
ulators. Redemptory effort, to be effective, must come from
a source above all suspicion, must be as persistent as a forge-
hammer, and regardless of consequences so far as they af
fected persons, parties or questions of sheer expediency.
All during the year 1881 the cry for local reform, which it
was well understood could only come by political revolution,
went up. Was there a man in the midst popular enough to
place experiment beyond reach of failure ? Was there one
indomitable enough to venture into the dens where the lions
of power divided and devoured their dark and secret con
quests ?
It seemed that there was one. His party singled him out,
at least the true men of his party. The true men of die
Republican party said he was the man of all others best cal
culated to meet the requirements of the difficult situation.
(537)

53§ GROVER CLEVELAND.
They heartily seconded his selection, and joined hands with
a will to give him a triumph at the polls. In a Republican
stronghold, and against combinations which reached far
toward the centre of his own party, he was chosen Mayor
by 5,000 majority; running far in advance of the State
ticket. If the election were a testimonial to his fortitude,
integrity and popularity, unexampled in Buffalo history, or
even in the history of the State, what must the net results
of his administration stand for? November, 1881, was
morning in a city whose politics had been a Cimmerian
midnight. His mayoralty was in the exact line of that pronounced
sentiment to which he owed the honors of his election. It
fully justified the expectations that were created by his well-
known character and previous public -record. The nomina
tion had come to him unsought and undesired, the election
by that spontaneity which ever marks a great popular and
tidal resolve, and prints its meaning so that even he that
runneth cannot mistake it.
The man and his methods were now to stand the test.
He was happily untrammeled in his choice of the latter.
His own good judgment was to be his criterion. This
judgment had been greatly widened and strengthened by
his practice at the bar, and his ample opportunities to study
men and political ways and measures. As to aught else
there was no fear, for his turn was executive, his nature
sterling and invincible. He was his own counsellor. With
characteristic industry he passed the first weeks after elec
tion in studying the details of every department of the city
administration and mapping a programme from which there
should be no departure either under vituperation or
applause. His inaugural address sounded the key-note of adminis

GROVER CLEVELAND. 539
tration. " We hold," said he, " the money of the people in
our hands, to be used for their purposes and to further their
interests as members ofthe municipality, and it is quite ap
parent that, when any part of the funds with which the tax
payers have thus intrusted us are diverted to other pur
poses, or when, by design or neglect, we allow a greater
sum to be applied to any municipal purpose than is neces
sary, we have to that extent violated our duty. There
surely is no difference in his duties and obligations, whether
a person is intrusted with the money of one man or many.
And yet it sometimes appears as though the office-holder
assumes that a different rule of fidelity prevails between him
and the taxpayers than that which should regulate his con
duct, when, as an individual, he holds the money of his
neighbor." Such was the great heed of reform in the city, the despera
tion of the battle to be fought, the explicit character of his
pledges, the firmness of the man, the curiosity to note the
outcome of the administrative struggle, that both parties
throughout the entire State looked on Buffalo and its
mayoralty as a prime part of a political drama, whose
further enactment in municipal high places for their purifi
cation and enlightenment should depend on its success
where first introduced. The Buffalo reform movement was
to be not only for Buffalo, but it was to be a criterion by
which all municipal reforms were to be graduated, after
which all should pattern, through which all should derive
hope and encouragement.
It is not in stations of glittering magnitude that men are
put to the severest tests. " The qualities," says Socrates,
" that fit a man to rule a city, fit him to rule an empire."
Indeed, it is true that public responsibility is deepest, and
official worth most radically tested, the nearer the office lies

S4o GrOVMr CLEVELAND.
to the people. This is what makes municipal governmenf
such a delicate and difficult thing. The fortitude, th«
knowledge of men and situations, the integrity, the states
manlike grasp, which are necessary, in "a municipal execu
tive, to assure pure and acceptable administration, are no
more largely required, and certainly never so constantly
called into active requisition, where the executive is even
that of a State or nation.
Scarcely had he launched his administration when it drew
the concentrated fire of his political enemies. The City
Council was against him, with its love of jobbery and adhe
sion to practices he would uproot and discard. The old
rings encircled him, either to gather him into deceptive em
brace or crush him in their deadening coils/ A street-
cleaning contract, as immense as it was iniquitous, went
through the Council. It was the grand opportunity of the
pilfering politician to enrich himself and friends. It was a
type of the jobs which had impoverished the city and
brought its administration into discredit. It was,; moreover,
the kind of enactment which cemented municipal influence
and made it hazardous to his popularity for an executive
officer to crush it with his veto. But; the veto came, and in
this instance promptly and with telling effect. It was as if
a bomb had suddenly burst in the midst of the plunderers.
" This is a time," said he, in his veto message, " for plain
speech, and my objection to your action shall be plainly
stated. I regard it as the culmination of a most barefaced,
impudent and shameless scheme to betray the interests of
the people and to worse than squander the public money.
We are fast gaining positions in the grades of public
stewardship. There is no middle ground. Those who are
not for the people either in or out of your honorable body,
are against them, and should be treated accordingly."

Hon. G-eorge Graham Vest.
Born at Frankfort, Ky., December 6, 1830 ; graduated at Centre Col
lege, Ky., 1848, and at Law Department of Transylvania University,
1853; same year moved to Missouri and began practice of law; Presi
dential Elector on Democratic ticket, 1860 ; member of Missouri Legis
lature, 1860-61 ; served for two years as member of Confederate
Congress, and one year in Confederate Senate; elected to U. S.
Senate, as a Democrat, 1879; re-elected 1885 and 1890; member of
Committees on Transportation, Commerce, Judiciary, Public Buildings
and Grounds, and Quadro-Centennial. (540

GROVER CLEVELAND. 543-
The people, who knew their man before, now knewhim
better. In fact, his political enemies knew him quite too
well. He was not the stuff that tricksters and cowards are
made of, but the sterling metal which enters into men coined
and stamped for great occasions. His action was received
with the greatest favor by his party friends, and by the
friends of purity and decorum throughout the county and
State. It was a harbinger of other victories far more sig
nificant, and an earnest that municipal reform was at last
within reach of a long aggrieved people. He was heralded;
far and wide as the strong, incorruptible, invincible hero of;
an emergency before which others had quailed and fell,
The results of this single veto to the city were of incal
culable benefit. Its moral effect was felt in every depart
ment. The political atmosphere was freshened. From an
economical standpoint, the saving was immense. Under a
subsequent ordinance, and the contracts based on it, the
work was done for $100,000 less money than at first pro
posed. It is hardly necessary for the exemplification of Grover
Cleveland's fortitude, integrity, and wonderful executive
ability, to go into painstaking and tedious details of his
mayoralty. We understand why he was , chosen and what
was expected of him. A thousand' instances of heroic and
timely application of the power with which he was vested
would not magnify the importance ofthe verdict of approval
which awaited the closing hours of his administration. -; Nor
would such serve to further illuminate those qualities of
manhood he was now seen to possess in a degree which
astounded and overawed his opponents. Yet mention must
be made of his second struggle with the powerful and cor
rupting influences about hini. This was a job to build a
large connecting sewer*.- The issue- was sharply joined, the

544 GROVER CLEVELAND.
contention bitter. The mayor's pluck and earnestness won,
and his second victory was far more significant than the
first. It saved $800,000 to the city. Altogether the first
six months of his administration saved to the city an amount
estimated at $1,000,000. This magnificent aggregate might
be safely doubled, if the entire term of his mayoralty were
to be considered. True, the rings were daunted and never
rallied to other audacious attacks on the treasury, yet the
mayor found frequent uses for his veto power in order to
preserve the position he had won and drive home on his op
ponents the wholesome effects of his reformatory teaching.
Not a single ordinance was ever passed over his veto. His
veto messages were models of directness and exactness.
We search American political annals in vain for an ex
ample of municipal administration so vigorous, effective and
productive of permanent good, as that which Grover Cleve
land gave to Buffalo. His comprehension of a delicate and
difficult situation, his mastery of details, his development of
au executive policy, his firm yet dignified command of the
powers at his disposal, his persistent following up of every
advantage gained, and finally his turning ofthe government
back to the people, washed as to its shame and purified as
to its corruption, constitute a chapter in his life whose
reading is inspiriting to both old and young, and whose con
templation ought to be a source of pride to any man, no
matter with what high honors his after life was crowned.
Let it not be forgotten that he had made no quest of the
honors of office. No election fanfaronade attended his can
didacy. No single act of self-glorification or self-advance
ment entered into his ministrations. A good and true man
found a trust to be executed in a plain, honest, faithful, in
dustrious way. The way was that of the people, and they
neither failed to remember nor to thank, and, honor, While

GROVER CLEVELAND. 545
a local constituency were ringing the plaudit, " Well done,
thou good and faithful servant ! " the people of an entire
State were getting ready to say, " Come up unto higher
places and honors."
While yet mayor, and in the spring of 1882, he had occa
sion to testify to the American spirit regnant within him as
presiding officer of a mass-meeting called to take action on
the case of Irish-Americans then aggrieved by English
tyranny and actually suffering from imprisonment in Ireland.
As is well known, our foreign policy was regarded as too
feeble to reach these cases and to make American citizen
ship respected abroad. Our minister to England seemed to
be indifferent to the fate of those naturalized Irishmen who,
on a visit to their native land and on natural expression of
sympathy with their long-suffering countrymen, had fallen
into the category of suspects, and had been, without hear
ing, deprived of their liberty by incarceration in British
bastiles. Neither did there seem to be a sentiment at home
sufficiently pronounced to demand the rights indubitably
attached to the name of American. The Buffalo meeting
was one of protest against a policy of weakness and timidity
on the part of our government. It was directly in the interest
of our citizens of foreign birth. One who had not their
cause at heart, a mere politician with selfish aims, or with
fears for his popularity, a trimmer for place and without
character or substantial convictions, might haye remanded
such a matter to the Secretary of State at Washington, or
complacently declined to interfere with a question which
concerned only a fraction of our populace. But Mayor
Cleveland was as ready to stand as the representative of
American citizenship in its broadest and fullest significance
as to throttle corruption in his adopted city. As chairman
of this meeting, he pointed ont, from a strictly legal and

546 GROVER CLEVELAND.
constitutional standpoint, and with, a clearness and precision
which always, characterized .his. presentation of pleas, the
common right, of native-born > and adopted, citizens of this
country to protection from the Government at Washington
the world over. . Then, proceeding in a. strain of earnest and
impassioned eloquence, . which captured: every hearer, he
enunciated the following doctrine, which,. if incorporated as
an. American citizen plank into a political; platform, any
candidate for even so high an office as President might be
proud to stand, upon : ......
" It needed not the statute which is now the law of the
land, declaring that ' all naturalized citizens while in foreign
lands are entitled to and shall receive, from this Government
the same protection of person and property which is accorded
to native-born citizens,' to voice the policy, of our nation.
In all lands where the semblance of liberty is preserved, the
right of a person arrested to a speedy accusation and trial
is, or ought to be, a fundamental law, as it is a rule of
civilization. At any rate, we hold it, to be so, and this is
one of the rights which we undertake to guarantee to any
native-born or naturalized citizen of ours, whether he be im
prisoned by order of the Czar of Russia or under the pretext
of a law administered for the benefit Of the landed aristoc
racy of England. We do not claim to make laws for other
countries, but we do insist that whatsoever those laws may
be, they shall,, in the interests of human freedom ; and the
rights of mankind, so far as they involve the liberty of our
citizens, be speedily administered. We have a right to say,
and do say, that mere suspicion Without examination on
trial is not sufficient to justify the long imprisonment of a
citizen of America. Other nations may permit their citizens
to be thus imprisoned — -ours willnot. And this in effect
has been solemnly declared by statute. We have met here
to-night to consider this subject and to inquire into the cause
and the reasons and the justice of the imprisonment of
certain of our fellow-citizens now held in-British prisons with
out the semblance of a'trialor legal examination. Our Jaw^

Hon. Thomas P. Bayard.
Born at Wilmington, Del., October 29, 1828 ; educated at Flushing
School; studied law and admitted to bar in 1851; appointed District
Attorney for Delaware, 1853 ; elected to United States Senate, 1869 ;
re-elected, 1875 and 1881; member of Electoral Commission, 1876; in
Democratic National Convention, 1880, received 153} votes as candidate
for President; in Convention of 1884, received 170 votes on first ballot;
chosen Secretary of State by President Cleveland in 1885, and served
during Cleveland Administration; distinguished as an able official, an
eloquent orator, ready debater, and pure-minded statesman of conserva
tive mold; has lived in retiracy since March, 1889.
(54»)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 549
declares that the Government shall act in such cases. But
the people are the creators of the Government. The un
daunted apostle of the Christian religion, imprisoned and
persecuted, appealing centuries ago to the Roman law and
the rights of Roman citizenship, boldly demanded, ' Is it
lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and un-
condemned ?,' So, too, might we ask, appealing to the law
of our land and the laws of civilization, ' Is it lawful that
these our fellows be imprisoned who are American citizens
and uncondemned ? ' "
25

IV.
GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK.
In 1882 the political situation in New York State was
peculiar. The Republican managers had nominated a ticket
from Governor down, which did not reflect the sentiment
of their party. It was believed to be directly in the interest
of President Arthur, and to be his attempt to assume, or
rather retain, control of the party machinery in the State.
Further, the methods resorted to in convention, in order to
secure the nomination of favorites, were regarded as unfair
and dishonorable. They were tricks, whose results were
bound to recoil on their perpetrators. There was a revolt
all along the line, and a determination to rebuke a procedure
which savored of corruption and punish the principals who
expected to find preferment in a resort to it.
Democratic candidates were not wanting who were anx
ious to take advantage of the situation. They saw in Re
publican schism an opportunity for triumph which was
tempting to every adventurer. But the wiser heads of the
party saw further than this. And without disparagement to
the older, it must be said that the younger elements of the
party composed to a large extent these wiser heads. They
saw that the Republican candidates — especially Mr. Folger,
candidate for Governor — were personally unobjectionable,
and that the protest was not so much against men as against
the ring methods which secured their nomination and the
objects to be gained by such nominations. They also saw
that a weak and frivolous Democratic nomination, one made
On the pretext that anybody could be elected, would only
(55.0)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 551
serve to drive back the protesting Republicans into the
deserted ranks and endanger the entire situation. Again,
they saw that in order to add emphasis to the protest they
must present in their candidate an assurance that, if elected,
a perfectly pure State administration would ensue. The
opportunity they saw was not one for a mere man ; but for
their party, the people, the entire State. They knew full
well the difficulties attending gubernatorial administration in
New York, the traps and pitfalls laid for honest men, the
temptations to go astray, the impossibilities, one may say,
of a perfectly straight official career, unless the incumbent
should come clad in tried armor.
In looking over the interesting situation, the eyes of the
party naturally turned to Grover Cleveland. In many
respects the State outlook was like that which preceded his
call to the mayoralty of Buffalo. At any rate, they saw in
the man who was winning the. encomiums of both parties
for his straightforward, impartial, and business-like municipal
administration, the candidate they wanted for the highest
office in the State. His was a character above suspicion at
the start, and one which would bear closest scrutiny even
under the calcium light of a campaign. He had been tried
in the severest of crucial fires, and no element of a success
ful executive had been found wanting. He was known, too,
within and without his party. All in all, Cleveland presented
in himself and in his record the very guarantee the Democ
racy desired for themselves, and also to offer to the Re
publicans. So he was placed on their ticket as candidate
for governor against Mr. Folger, one of the best known men
in the State, and one of the ablest.
The campaign was an interesting one from the beginning.
The missiles of the enemy flew thick and fast, but failed to
wound or even hit the Democratic nominee. He grew

552 GROVER CLEVELAND.
stronger and stronger from the very day of his nomination.
The enthusiasm his name kindled in his own party held it
to a strict allegiance, and drew an overflowing support.
Study of his character by the protesting Republicans, and
favorable knowledge of him, both as a man and official,
attracted thousands directly to his standard and led other
thousands to show their preference for him over their own
nominee by silent acquiescence. Both parties, in the State
and nation, were astounded at the result. It could hardly
be called popular election — it was rather popular revolution.
Never was the wisdom of a nomination so emphatically
vindicated. Never did the American people voluntarily
tender so lavish an ovation to one whom they honored and
trusted. His vote was 535,318, against 342,464 for his op
ponent, leaving him a plurality of 192,854, and a clear
majority over all opposition of 155,097. The height of the
wave which bore the new Governor from his home in the
extreme western part of the State to the capital in the ex
treme eastern part, and which strewed hills and valleys
with Republican wreckage, was unprecedented in political
history. The movement which made him governor, like that which
had made him mayor, was not of his origination. The office
had in both instances sought the man, as it should do in a
republic, and as it ever will do where purely unselfish ad
ministration is expected. Nor had he stooped to favor his
chances of election. He was in the hands of the peopleJ
and his cause was their cause.
He was inaugurated, without any ostentatious display, on
the first Tussday of January, 1883. He thoroughly under
stood the political situation, and speedily addressed himself
to the reforms which he knew were expected of him. His
inaugural was brief, forcible and happy — the duplicate

Hon. Charles S. Fairchild.
Born in Cazenovia, N. Y., April 30, 1842; graduated at Harvard,
1863; studied law at Harvard Law School and admitted to bar, 1865;
practiced for several years in firm of Hand, Hale, Swartz & Fairchild;
elected Attorney General of New York, as Democrat, 1876 ; settled in
New York city, 1880, and practiced law ; appointed Assistant Secretary
of Treasury by President Cleveland in 1885 ; succeeded Daniel Manning
as Secretary of Treasury, April 1 , 1887 ; an able lawyer and financier,
and conspicuous Democratic leader in New York.
(SS4)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 555
of the man in vigor and sincerity. It meant business.
Touching the civil service of the State, he said :
" Subordinates in public place should be selected and re
tained for their efficiency, and not because they may be used
to accomplish partisan ends. The people have a right to
demand here, as in cases of private employment, that their
money be paid to those who will render the best service in
return, and that the appointment to and tenure of such
places should depend upon ability and merit. If the clerks
and assistants in public departments were paid the same
compensation and required to do the same amount of work
as those employed in prudently conducted private establish
ments, the anxiety to hold these public places would be much
diminished and the cause of civil-service reform materially
aided. The expenditure of money to influence the action of
the people at the polls or to secure legislation is calculated to
excite the gravest concern. When this pernicious agency
is successfully employed a representative form of gov
ernment becomes a sham, and laws passed under its baleful
influence cease to protect, but are made the means by which
the rights of the people are sacrificed and the public treasury
despoiled. It is useless and foolish to shut our eyes to the
facj that this evil exists among us, and the party which leads
in an honest effort to return to better and purer methods
will receive the confidence of our citizens and secure their
support. It is willful blindness not to see that the people
care but little for party obligations, when they are invoked
to countenance and sustain fraudulent and corrupt practices.
And it is well for our country and for the purification of
politics that the people, at times fully roused to danger, re
mind their leaders that party methods should be something
more than a means used to answer the purposes of those
who profit by political occupation."
The first acts of an executive calculated to invite attention
and criticism, as well as to foreshadow the policy of his ad
ministration, are his appointments to office. There is no

556 GROVER CLEVELAND.
public duty so delicate, none in which mistakes recoil so
quickly. It must be set down to Governor Cleveland's
credit that his first appointments were made with rare good
judgment. Political friend and foe indorsed them as the
wisest selections possible, and saw at once in them an earnest
of the kind of administration they had hoped for and been
led to expect.
Two places were of peculiar importance — that of Super
intendent of Public Works and Commissioner of the New
Capitol. Public money had been running through these
like water through a sieve. They were centres Of immense
patronage and power, and were consequently much coveted
by those who would use them for political purposes. Both
offices employed hundreds of men. For each of them
Governor Cleveland selected a man fitted by practice and
special knowledge to do the required work. They were
both outspoken, square-dealing experts in the business they
were called upon to conduct. After their appointment the
ugly rumors of corruption which formerly centred about
their places were hushed, and the people were satisfied that
order and economy prevailed where once all was confusion,
extravagance and distrust.
All other appointments were characterized by the same
independence and close discernment of, fitness and charac
ter. In so far as these acts could contribute to energy and
purity of administration, it was manifest that Governor
Cleveland was bound to prove an exceptional executive,
that he had within him a probity, fearlessness and business
address before which the better sentiment of the State must
bow with respect.
It must not be supposed that he escaped the vulgar crit
icism of those who could not use him for their ambitious
and corrupt purposes. No great, unselfish, dirsct, single-

GROVER CLEVELAND. 557
purposed man can act either his business or political part
without incurring the opposition, and even inviting the cen
sure, of the smaller and narrower herd who delight in dis
traction and feed on enmities. The measure of admiration
for Governor Cleveland, while a candidate before the Chicago
Convention, was well expressed by a prominent delegate
who said, " I love the man for the enemies he has made."
It is not complimentary to our political society to feel that
true greatness is often an invitation for envious discrimina
tion and malignant attack. Yet we fear it must be accepted
as true that those virtues which we most seek and prize in
public men are the very ones whose persistent exercise pro
voke the bitterest hostility of the tricky and unconscionable
few. Out ofthe million voters of the Empire State, only a
modicum of mere trading politicians chose to withhold their
admiration for Governor Cleveland's energetic and business
like policy, as foreshadowed and proved by his executive
appointments. He showed in them all a keen analysis of
character and a knowledge of official fitness which were in
the highest degree complimentary. In every instance the
result proved the wisdom of his choice, and in no respect
has his administration been more powerfully vindicated.
In attention to the details of legislation Governor Cleve
land proved himself constant, guarded and thoughtful. His
messages, models of terseness and vigor, were laden with
clear-cut, practical advice, so that even the most wayward
could not mistake his spirit and meaning. It may well be
questioned whether any State administration ever crowded
into so brief a space so many substantial and far-reaching
reforms. And what is more worthy of note, this monu
mental work was marred in but few places by idle, irrelevant
and impracticable legislation, owing to his watchfulness and
free use of the veto power.

558 GROVER CLEVELAND.
Perhaps his administration was expected to achieve most
in the way of reforms in the government of New York city.
If judged by their extent and importance, it was wonderfully
successful, and too much credit cannot be given the execu
tive through whose agency they were effected. In urging
and fostering them he had to combat an element in his own
party, which had all along been defiant of interference.
But the seven reform bills relating to the city went through
and received his approval all the same. The autocratic
power of the old Board of Aldermen was smashed, the
princely incomes of county officers were cut down to re
spectable salarias, the political atmosphere was purified, a
freer and better ballot was promised. No more difficult task
ever lay before an executive. He was compelled to brave
an opposition at once political and personal, clamorous and
slanderous, malignant and threatening. He never swerved
for a moment, but went right on. Let it be written that
what fifty years of effort on the part of a score of governors
failed to achieve for New York city was accomplished by
Governor Cleveland in a single year of energetic, fearless
and consistent administration.
The general features of his administration were no less
acceptable to the people and creditable to the man and of
ficial. He vetoed the " Five-Cent-Car-Fare-Bill," of which
veto the New York Tribune said : —
" The message containing his reasons for so doing is
straightforward and forcible, and we believe will be pro
nounced sound by most of those who have been strenuous
in their demands for a reduction of fares on the elevated
roads. His objections to the measure are of a serious
nature. He argues that to suffer it to become a law would
mean the impairment of the obligation of a contract, involv-

GROVER CLEVELAND. 559
ing a breach of faith and a betrayal of confidence by the
State." He vetoed the " Mechanic's Lien Bill," a carelessly drawn
bill, ostensibly in the interest of the working man, but as he
showed in his veto message, really in the interest of lawyers
and court-hangers-on. The gist of the veto was as follows : —
" The bill repeals in distinct terms a number of mechanics'
lien laws, including one specially applicable to the city of
New York. I notice two features which I think objection
able, enough to warrant me in declining to sign it. First, it
gives all partie* having claims four months after performance
of work or furnishing of material to file a lien. Second, it
allows on proceedings to enforce the lien the same costs as
in foreclosure cases. This would be quite onerous, and, I
think, should not be allowed."
He vetoed the " Twelve-Hours-Bill," which was designed
to limit the day of street car employes to twelve hours. His
reasoning was thus : —
" It is distinctly and palpably class legislation, in that it
only applies to conductors and drivers on hoi'st railroads.
It does not prohibit the making of a contract for any number
of hours' work, I think, and if it does, it is an interference
with the employes' as well as employers' rights. If the car-
drivers and conductors work fewer hours they «nust receive
less pay, and this bill does not prevent that. I cannot think
that this bill is in the interest of the workingman."
The Public Worship bill was one granting permission to
the Catholic clergy to hold services at the House of Refuge,
on Randall's Island. This bill he never vetoed. It only
passed one branch of the Assembly, and therefore never
reached the Governor. Of the Catholic Protectory bill, his
failure to approve which was harshly used against him, there
can be but one opinion. It appropriated $30,000 to improve

560 GROVER CLEVELAND.
the sewerage of the Catholic Protectory, built by the church
in Westchester county for the reception and reform of young
men and women sent there by magistrates of the surround
ing counties. The laws of the State prevented the use of
public moneys for sectarian uses. The fate of the bill would
have been the same had the institution been Presbyterian,
Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, or that of any other
denomination. He was merely keeping his oath to observe
and execute the laws.
Much account was made at the time of his veto of the
" Tenure of Office Bill." The fact is the bill was glaringly
defective, and the most pronounced friends of the bill ad
mitted as much after its defects were pointed out in the veto
message. Such is the peculiarity of executive function that of the
hundreds of bills signed and which enure to the general
good we hear nothing. It is those which are vetoed which
damn or praise an executive, because these are the ones
which embrace some current thought, too often the outcrop
of passion, or too frequently the embodiment of something
evanescent. It must be conceded that no executive ever
made freer use of the veto power than Governor Cleveland.
But, all in all, his use ofthe veto power proved discreet and
was sanctioned by intelligent popular approval. His mes
sages were all well-studied, clear-cut papers, evidences of
exhaustive analysis of measures and deep research respect
ing them, and assurances of the most impartial motive and
deepest rectitude of intention. Judged by his vetoes alone,
his administration not only attracted the widest approval
but stood unparalleled for its vigor and consistency. A
feeble man, one without the true executive instinct, would
have quailed before corrupting pressure or unreasoning
clamor, and often given sanction to measures which his

GROVER CLEVELAND. 561
inner conscience disapproved. But Grover Cleveland moved
on a highly conscientious plane, regardless of partisan appeal,
brutal threat or slanderous arrow, never counting the bear
ing his conduct might have on his personal or political
fortune, apparently bound only to the discharge of a duty
he owed to the whole people. There is observable at every
turn of his executive career stern adhesion to the cardinal
principles that preserved and honored his youth and gave
him a firm foothold among his fellow-citizens as an humble
attorney. His scrutiny of every bill was close, and attended
with a sharp legal insight. As he had been his own coun
sellor while mayor, so he was really his own Attorney-
General while Governor. His vetoes stood every test ap
plied to them, and not one rejected bill was passed over his
protest. Many bills were returned because improperly and
loosely drawn. These, when amended so as to be no longer
inconsequential or mere deadwood accumulations on the
statute books, he afterwards approved. Whether in signing
bills or rejecting them he bestowed a diligence, patience,
and competent inquiry which have elicited the warmest
esteem ofthe fair-minded people of the State. They looked
upon him as a strong, determined, unselfish man in whom,
as executive, there was full security. It was this very sense
of security that put him in the minds of the people as
candidate for President, and made him so successful a
nominee. It must not be imagined that his tenacity of principle and
disregard of consequences made him indifferent or conserva
tive. On the contrary he was ever alive to surroundings,
watchful of the movements of public sentiment, and at the
front as a progressist, whether the column was political, so
cial or moral. The Civil Service Act for the State of New
York, a miniature of the system soon after adopted by the

562 GROVER CLEVELAND.
General Government, received his unqualified sanction.
Of the same spirit were the Reform bills for New York city,
and numberless others to mention which would be tiresome
and unprofitable.
The personal and business habits of Grover Cleveland as
governor were those the public were to become more fa
miliar with in higher station. The " bachelor governor "
as he was then facetiously called was of height above the
average, broad-shouldered and commanding, with a decided
tendency toward corpulency. His face was regular, clear
cut, strong and handsome. It was then, and for reasons
the reader will readily appreciate, still more now a paternal
face, being reserved yet genial, firm yet kind, dignified yet
not distant. His business manner was and is brusque yet
simple, precisely that required for promptitude and dispatch.
His social mood is pleasing and assuring after the formali
ties of introduction. When not pressed with business care
he is open to all comers, and the rag-picker and the prince
find his hand equally extended. Notwithstanding his avoir
dupois he is of nervous temperament, and by dint of study
and self-control finds himself easy in society and calm in
emergency. His complexion is neither ruddy nor light, his
hair is brown, slightly inclined to gray, and his massive,
shapely head begins to plead guilty to baldness. When
governor, he was a persistent walker, and made the distance
of half a mile between his residence and the capitol, daily on
foot, both ways. As President this was turned into horse
back riding.
During the whole term of his gubernatorial career, he was
the subject of persistent misrepresentation by the Tammany
organization of New York city. That organization tried to
use him for its purposes, and in more than one instance
courted hostility. But it never sucoeeded in drawing the

Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar.
Born in Putnam Co., Ga., September 1, 1825 ; graduated at Emory Col
lege, 1845 ; admitted to Macon bar, 1847 ; professor in Univ. of Mississippi,
1849 ; resumed practice of law in Covington, Ga. ; elected to Georgia
Legislature, 1853-54; returned to Mississippi and settled on plantation
in Lafayette ; elected to Congress, 1857-1859 ; resigned to take seat in
Secession Convention ; entered Confederate army ; after war, elected
professor in Mississippi University ; re-elected to Congress, 1872 and
1874; elected to U. S. Senate, 1877; selected Secretary of Interior by
President Cleveland, 1885 ; appointed a Judge of U. S. Supreme Court,
1887. (563)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 565
broad-minded and astute governor within its toils. In the
instance of Senator Grady, the pressure became so strong
that the governor was forced to establish publicly his posi
tion. This he did in a letter which reads as follows : —
Executive Chamber, Albany, October 20, 1883. — Hon.
John Kelly — My dear Sir : It is not without hesitation that
I write this. I have determined to do so, however, because
I see no reason why I should not be entirely frank with you.
I am anxious that Mr. Grady should not be returned to the
next Senate. I do not wish to conceal the fact that my
personal comfort and satisfaction are involved in this matter.
But I know that good legislation, based upon a pure desire
to promote the interests of the people, and the improvement
of legislative methods are also deeply involved. I forbear
to write in detail of the other considerations having relation
to the welfare of the party and the approval to be secured
by a change for the better in the character of its represen
tatives. These things will occur to you without sugges
tion from me. Yours very truly, Grover Cleveland.
No comment on this is needed, except that somebody mis
took Governor Cleveland's unalterable purpose to have
" good legislation " and " improvement of legislative
methods " in New York city as well as elsewhere.

V.
CAMPAIGN OF 1884.
Long before the meeting of the Chicago Convention, July
8, 1884, indications pointed to Governor Cleveland as the
proper Democratic nominee for President. The political
situation was such as to make New York a pivotal State in
the Presidential contest. His fame as an executive had
gone abroad in the land. He had the prestige of unprece
dented majority in his favor when he carried off the honors
of Governor. He, more than any other man spoken of, was
the embodiment of all the great qualities which combined
in the formation of an ideal leader. He typed the instincts
and sentiments of a younger Democracy who loved hjs in
dependence of character, his sterling methods, his sublime
mastery of circumstances. He stood for what the older
Democracy most cherished, adherence to patriotic tradition,
plain, common sense devotion to principle, economic and
business-like execution of high official trust. There was
only one ripple in the current running toward his nomina
tion. That was occasioned by the Tammany pebble at the
bottom of the stream. There the stream murmured, but
ran rapidly on, its murmur a laugh.
The convention was thoroughly representative of the
Democratic party. As the presiding officer, Col. William
F. Vilas, said, — " The convention was the greatest and most
magnificent council of freemen ever assembled on the face
of God's round globe. For three days it listened to a ' pro
found debate from the greatest speakers in the country'
upon the various candidates, and the point of order was
(S66)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 567
justly raised that it was contrary to the rules governing the
convention to thus discuss the candidates, but it was unani
mously voted by the convention that the freest discussion
should be permitted, in order to develop all the facts obtain
able. The debate of three days left no doubt in the minds
of the delegates as to whom the choice of the convention
should be."
It was particularly noteworthy that amid all the caucus
ing for rival candidates, amid the arguments educed for
favorites from respective States and sections, amid the formal
presentation of names to the convention, no Democratic
orator of high and unquestioned standing in his party ever
spoke a derogatory word of Governor Cleveland or ex
pressed a doubt of the propriety and fitness of his nomina
tion. It is equally noteworthy that the magic of his name
was such as to hold his State delegation as a unit and turn
every malignant attempt to break it into an argument and
inspiration in his behalf.
At 3.55 p. M. of July 9, 1884, Mr. Lockwood, New York,
took the platform to place in nomination the name of
Grover Cleveland. He did this in an eloquent speech, in
which he said : —
" The responsibility which he felt was made greater when
he remembered that the richest pages of American history
had been made up from the records of Democratic adminis
trations, and remembered that the outrage of 1876 was still
unavenged. No man had a greater respect than he for the
honored names presented to the convention, but the world
was moving, and new men, who had participated but little
in politics, were coming to the front. Three years ago he
had the honor in the city of Buffalo to present the name of
the same gentleman for the office of Mayor. Without hesi
tation the name of Grover Cleveland had been accepted as
the candidate. [Applause in the galleries and delegations.]

568 GROVER CLEVELAND.
" The result of that election and of the holding of that
office was that in less than nine months the State of New
York found itself in a position to want such a candidate,
and when in the Convention of 1882 his name was presented
for the office of Governor of the State of New York the
same class of people knew that that meant honest govern
ment; that it meant pure government ; that it meant Demo
cratic government, and it was ratified. Now the State of
New York came and asked that there be given to the Inde
pendent and Democratic voters of the country — the young
men of the country, the new blood of the country — the
name of Grover Cleveland."
The nomination was eloquently seconded by Harrison of
Illinois and Jones of Minnesota.
The first ballot was had on the night of the 10th. The
friends of Governor Cleveland had computed his strength
at 397 votes. Their count proved to be exceedingly close,
for as the ballot showed he commanded 392 votes. His
opponents were such illustrious men as Thomas F. Bayard,
Joseph E. McDonald, John G. Carlisle, Allen G. Thurman,
Samuel J. Randall, George E. Hoadley and George A. Hen
dricks. On the second ballot he easily forged ahead of all oppo
nents and obtained 683 votes out of a total of 820, with
547 to nominate. The motion to make his nomination
unanimous was carried without dissent. The news of Gov
ernor Cleveland's nomination was received with demonstra
tions of delight by the Democratic party and by the inde
pendent element of the Republican party. Party newspapers
in general spoke of it as a hopeful and proper political step.
Large ratification meetings were improvised in city and
village, at which great enthusiasm prevailed, and from which
proceeded hearty endorsement of the convention's action.
What is known as the independent, or bolting Republican

Hon. William C. Whitney.
Born in Conway, Mass., July 15,1841; graduated at Yale, 1863;
graduated at Harvard Law School, 1865; continued study of law in
New York city and admitted to bar there ; prominent member of
Young Men's Democratic Club; conspicuous for activity against
"Tweed Ring;" Inspector City Schools, 1872; candidate of Reformed
Democracy for District Attorney and defeated ; appointed Corporation
Counsel for New York city, 1876-80 ; reputed to have saved the city
large sums by resisting fraudulent claims ; resigned office, 1882 ; ap
pointed Secretary of Navy by President Cleveland, March 5, 1885; re
ceived degree of LL. D. from Yale, 1888 ; advocate of a new navy, and
made this a conspicuous feature of his administration.
1570)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 571
press, was, if anything, more encomiastic than the regular
Democratic press.
Papers like the New York Times, the Evening Post, Har
per's Weekly and Philadelphia Ledger echoed the following
sentiment, copied from the last named :
" Governor Cleveland has shown through the whole of
his life, private and public, from boyhood to his present dis
tinction, that he has the sterling qualities befitting the
exalted office of Chief Executive of the United States. It
is the highest function of that office to administer the laws
with an eye single to the public welfare. Our Government
has been tersely described as ' of the. people, by the people,
and for the people.' No eminent public man has exhibited
a better understanding of that definition of the American
government than Grover Cleveland ; none has exemplified
it better than he has in his performance of public duty, and
but few, very few indeed, have exemplified it so well. His
guiding characteristics have been loyalty to duty, courage
in the discharge of it, and the best and most faithful per
formance of it withinhis power. These are strong words;
strong because they are true."
Governor Cleveland received the news of his nomination
with entire equanimity. He had not shown himself ambi
tious of the honors, had done nothing directly to secure
them. They came as a free-will offering, and by virtue of
a record made in the path of duty. He would not have
been disappointed had the Convention in its wisdom seen fit
to similarly honor some one else. Yet he did not shirk the
responsibilities which he knew were inseparable from can
didacy, nor fail to announce himself as gratified with his
political preference.
The nomination of Governor Cleveland for the Presidency
was fittingly followed in Convention by the nomination of
that sterling old Democrat, Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indi-
26

572 GROVER CLEVELAND.
ana, for the Vice-Presidency. These two made a ticket
which proved a source of inspiration to the party. Even if
it at first failed to awaken the enthusiasm provoked by the
Republican leaders, Blaine and Logan, it had better staying
powers. Geographically it was a tower of strength, for Mr.
Cleveland represented the fighting-ground in the East,
while Mr. Hendricks represented it in the West. Both
candidates were thus at an advantage which it would require
more than personal magnetism and campaign clatter on the
part of opponents to overcome.
The Convention backed up these able candidates with an
admirable platform, and the campaign of 1884 was duly
opened. Cleveland and Hendricks had not only to con
tend with the Republican nominees, who were both strong
and brilliant campaignists, backed by a party which had
won victories for twenty-four years and with all the patron
age of the government in its control, but with that veteran
campaignist, B. F. Butler, who headed the Labor ticket, and
St. John, who headed the Prohibitionists. The campaign
at first took a vicious, personal turn, but this diversion soon
spent its force and the more serious questions involved came
to the surface. At this point Cleveland's reform record
in New York came mightily to his aid. His career had
been brief, to be sure, but it had also been one of consistency
and persistency, and admiration for it proved a wall which
could not be shaken by the enemy's batteries. He held
his party throughout one of the most heated campaigns
known to American history, and his strength was con
stantly augmented by accessions from the Republican
ranks, all of whom claimed to see in him the embodiment
of the reform spirit which seemed to be abroad in the land.
In the very last stages of what every political observer felt
to be a desperate battle, when the scales of victory were

GROVER CLEVELAND. 573
tipping now this way and now that, the Republican candi
date tried the effect of his powerful personalism directly on
New York State, to which the contest had, by common
consent, narrowed. It is not worth w.hile to inquire how
much this attempt was worth, nor whether it lost or won
the battle. Speculation is out of place in the face of figures.
The- official returns of New York showed a plurality of
1,047 votes for Cleveland and Hendricks, which assured
them twenty out of the thirty-eight States, a majority of
thirty-seven votes in the electoral college and a popular
vote of 4,911,017, as against 4,848,334 for Blaine and
Logan. It thus passed to the credit of Grover Cleveland that he
headed the ticket which won the first Presidential victory
for his party in twenty-four years, and that, too, against the
one man whom the Republican party claimed to be invin
cible. Not only this, the victory was a political revolution
which even enthusiasts of his own party thought to be im
possible a few months before, so strongly were the Repub
licans entrenched in power and so skilful were they in party
manipulation. But while the national election brought to Cleveland,
Hendricks and the Democratic party a great victory, it
brought also a responsibility which the party had never
before been called upon to meet, for not only parties, but
the nation had made great strides forward since the days of
President Buchanan. How would the new President and
Vice-President meet this responsibility ? Would they prove
safe guardians of the greatest and gravest public trust in the
world? Would they honor themselves, their party, the
people at large, our American institutions ? Unfortunately,
the Vice-President did not live long enough (he died No
vember 25, 1885) to contribute much by counsel to the

574 GROVER CLEVELAND.
success ofthe administration, of which he was an honored
part. But, fortunately, the elections ofthe year 1884 gave
to the lower house of Congress a majority of Democrats.
The new President could find in this fact a source of en
couragement. With or without these, however, he would
move boldly and confidently forward in the line of duty, as
he had moved before, and trust to the honest sentiment of
his countrymen for appreciative support.

Hon. A. H. Garland.
Born in Tipton co., Tenn., June 11, 1832; moved to Arkansas when
young ; educated at St. Mary's College, Ky., and St. Joseph's College,
Ky. ; admitted to Arkansas bar, 1853; moved to Little Rock, 1856; a
Bell-Everett elector, 1860; opposed Secession, but went with his State;
a delegate to First Confederate Congress ; elected to Confederate Senate ;
admitted to practice in U. S. Supreme Court without taking " oath of
allegiance," 1867; elected to U. S. Senate, 1867, but seat refused;
elected Governor of Arkansas, as Democrat, 1874 ; elected to U. S.
Senate, 1876, and re-elected in 1882 ; appointed Attorney General by
President Cleveland, March 5, 1885. (576)

VII.
CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRATION.
FORTY-NINTH and fiftieth congresses.
President Cleveland was inaugurated on March 4, 1885,
amid ceremonies which were truly national. The throng
of visitors at the National Capitol was estimated at half a
million. Inauguration day was auspicious in its spring-like
brightness arid balm. Flags floated from all the public
buildings and the spacious avenues were gay with decora
tions. The procession was the largest of a civic nature that
had ever passed over Pennsylvania avenue, and the military
escort, made up of battalions from the various States, was
exceeded only by the great reviews which took place at the
close of the Civil War in 1865. The objective point was
first the Senate Chamber and then the grand plaza in front
of the Capitol, where 200,000 people awaited the inaugural.
As soon as silence could be commanded President Cleve
land delivered his inaugural in such a rich, clear voice'that
it was heard by nearly all in that vast assemblage. When
he had finished he turned to Chief-Justice Waite and said :
" I am now ready to take the oath prescribed by law." The
Chief-Justice held in his hand a small Bible which had been
given to Mr. Cleveland by his mother when he had started
to seek his fortune in the world. Placing his right hand on
this he received the oath of office and then kissed the sacred
(577)

578 GROVER CLEVELAND.
book, his lips touching verses 5-10, inclusive, of the 112th
Psalm. Then those on the platform congratulated the President,
the multitude made the welkin ring with cheers, a hundred
bands played " Hail to the Chief," and the cannon at the
navy yard and arsenal thundered forth the " Presidential
salute." The procession re-formed, with President Cleve
land at its head. It marched to the White House, where
the President took the grand stand and reviewed the im
mense procession as it passed by for three long hours. In
the evening came fireworks and the inauguration ball, par
ticipated in by 10,000 people. This was regarded as a fitting
close to the brilliant ceremonies of the day.
In the President's brief and chaste inaugural he pledged
himself and his administration to a close observance of the
Constitution and laws ; to peace, commerce and honest
friendship with all nations and entangling alliances with
none ; to care for the public domain and fair treatment of
the Indians; to rigid enforcement ofthe laws against polyg
amy and the immigration of foreign servile classes ; to strict
execution of the civil service laws on the principle an
nounced in his letter of acceptance, that public office is a
public trust; to limitation of public expenditure to actual
needs of government. The document was a plain statement
of the President's views, and was satisfying in every respect.
It gave promise that he would launch his administration on
broad and safe waters, and would not dare that which was
entirely novel, brilliant and startling. He preferred to be
reposeful rather than dashing, sure of his ground rather
than take chances in a sudden - rush for notoriety over sur
faces which had not been surveyed and mapped by political
pioneers. During his first months in office President Cleveland pro-

GROVER CLEVELAND. 579
ceeded quietly and cautiously toward the adoption of a pol
icy and purpose. He examined every situation with care,
and perhaps gave closer personal attention to routine work
than any predecessor in the high office. He was young,
vigorous in mind and body and a lover of detail. He had
surrounded himself with the following admirable Cabinet,
which was regarded as happily chosen and thoroughly rep
resentative ofthe best interests of his party and the country
at large :
Secretary of State  Thomas F. Bayard, Del.
Secretary of Treasury  Daniel Manning, N. Y.
Secretary of War  Wm. C. Endicott, Mass.
Secretary of Navy  Wm. C. Whitney, N. Y.
Secretary of Interior  L. Q. C. Lamar, Miss.
Attorney-General  Aug. H. Garland, Ark.
Postmaster-General  Wm. F. Vilas, Wis.
This was a body of counsellors-in which any administra
tion might place the utmost confidence. He was no less
fortunate in having for his private secretary Colonel Daniel
S. Lamont, who had served him faithfully in that capacity
when he was Governor and who had such a comprehensive
knowledge of public men and political life as is vouchsafed
to few. The possessor of great personal urbanity, always
clear-headed, very reticent, especially concerning executive
affairs, he was emphatically the " right man in the right
place." From the date of inauguration to the opening of the
Forty-ninth Congress, Dec. 7, 1885, the administration of
President Cleveland moved smoothly and satisfactorily along.
His message to that Congress was waited for with anxiety
by the country, as his first opportunity for presenting in
detail a plan of administration. The document proved to
be a lengthy but very worthy State paper, embracing in the

580 GROVER CLEVELAND.
main three distinct points — the silver question, the tariff and
civil service, with brief discussion of the Indian problem,
commercial treaties, Mormonism, the navy, and other cur
rent subjects. He disapproved of further coinage of the
Bland dollar, advised conservative action respecting the
tariff, gave much dignified and courageous advice relative
to civil service. The nation was pleased with such outline
of administration as the message promised, and it was es
pecially lauded by the independent Republicans who had
supported him for office.
He found in the House a Democratic majority which was
in thorough accord with him, and many special champions
in the Senate. However smoothly a new administration
may run while the Congress is not in session, it cannot ex
pect to escape criticism and antagonism when brought into
close contact with the legislative body of the land, espe
cially if all, or a part of it, be of the opposition. The
Senate was Republican, and its first duty was to pass on the
numerous nominations of the President. A hitch occurred
almost at the start, when the Senate asked for sight of the
recommendations on which the President had based some
of his important appointments, and also of papers on which
he had based his removals. He regarded them as personal
papers, and the Attorney-General sustained his refusal to
show them. The Senate took an opposite view, but the
affair was so adjusted as not to interfere greatly with the
serenity of either the President or Senators.
The first session of the Forty-ninth Congress lasted till
Aug. 5, 1886. It accomplished but little to affect the coun
try or the status of parties. Looked in upon critically, the
administration of President Cleveland had thus far been
plain, straightforward and unmomentous. Peace and pros
perity reigned, and the political revolution of 1884 had

GROVER CLEVELAND. 581
brought none of the disasters so freely prophesied by
croakers. It was to some extent true that Mr. Cleveland's
own party had not profited as much as it desired from his
administration. But he could well afford to face this situa
tion, for the utmost that could be laid to his discredit was
the exercise of prudence in changing from one set of office
holders to another, and the bringing to bear severe discrim
ination in making up his mind as to the qualifications of
those who should represent him. If the resolve to have a
safe administration did not suit a few hot-heads who would
have overturned everything and brought disgrace on the
party, he was not greatly disturbed about it, but went on his
cautious way, sure of the fact that the end would vindicate
his procedure.
The second session of the Forty-ninth Congress, which
met Dec. 6, 1886, gave the President another opportunity to
present his views to the country in an annual message.
The interim had been signalized by nothing of political mo
ment except a more pronounced desire on the part of Demo
crats who favored tariff revision to accomplish something in
that direction during the pending session. The Congres
sional elections had been held and, from whatever cause,
there had been a diminution of the Democratic majority in
the House. President Cleveland delivered a message which
was much more vigorous and pointed than his former one.
In it he urged upon his party the necessity for taking a de
cided step in favor of tariff revision, and a reduction of the
surplus. He was as emphatic as before in his objections to
compulsory coinage, and the longer continuance of internal
taxes. He had been harshly criticised by his opponents for
numerous vetoes of bills conferring pensions in exceptional
cases. These vetoes he ably defended, because the class of
legislation against which they were aimed was one which

582 GROVER CLEVELAND.
was dangerous in principle and calculated to open the doors
to extravagance and corruption. The message evinced a
determination on the President's part to secure, in so far as
he could, a greater amount of legislation than the first
session of the Forty-ninth Congress had given to the coun
try. He was now well grounded in popular regard, had a
full understanding of national and party wants, and felt that
he could afford to make his advice emphatic. The result
was that at this short session the Congress did an immense
amount of work, and settled many pressing questions. The
Anti-Polygamy act was passed ; one redeeming Trade Dol
lars ; regulating the Electoral Count, and repealing the
Tenure of Office law. But for the fact that the Democrats
in the House were divided on the questions of tariff revi
sion, internal taxation, and reduction of the surplus in the
treasury, all the important measures urged in his message
would have been enacted into laws, and their beneficial re
sults given to the country.
Thus ended the first two years of President Cleveland's
administration. He had been singularly successful in recon
ciling the country to the political change which came about
with the advent of his party to power. Antagonisms had
been avoided by a wise use of his functions. He had made
no foolish haste, had done everything conscientiously and
for the best, had met on every hand the expectations of
those who contributed to his election. Better than all he
had not lost the best wishes of his political opponents to
see him successful in his administration of national affairs.
At times it was felt on all sides that he was bigger, braver,
and more advanced than his party, and that this would, in
the end, prove a greater source of danger to his success
than attacks from without. But he had the sagacity to
ward off all harm in this direction by choosing his ground

GROVER CLEVELAND. 583
well, taking bold and firm stands without appearing to be
arbitrary or dictatorial, and then patiently waiting for the
sober, second thought of his followers. He thus grew upon
them, as it were, and without any spirit, of assumption or
attempt at cross-purposes, came to be recognized as one
abundantly worthy of entire confidence and admirably
equipped for safe and victorious leadership.
As party lines began to shape up for the contest of 1888,
President Cleveland's administration naturally passed under
closer scrutiny by his political opponents. He could hardly
expect to escape that small, invidious criticism which every
trifling official error and every slight departure from the
usual course of things are too apt to provoke in this country,
and which is none to the credit of our newsmongers and
partisan writers. Thus his veto of what was known as the
Dependent Pension Bill, though based on grounds which
every impartial man will, almost at a glance, regard as ten
able, was heralded as evidence of his opposition to the
soldier element. This was both unfair and unjust, and it
did not take long for the better second thought of the coun
try to come to the President's vindication. There was an
other outburst of the same sentiment when the order to " re
turn the rebel flags " was issued. But when it appeared
that the order was really that of a subordinate, and that it
was countermanded by the President as soon as its true na
ture became known, full credit was given to him for recti
tude of intention.
But with _.. nicoe annoyances there was a broader and
fairer field of criticism to encounter. This he did not fear;
this, indeed, he would invite, in so far as a perfectly straight
and fearless course proved an invitation. Aggressiveness
was never a part of President Cleveland's organization, yet
he was not a man to stand still. He saw the political situa-

584 GROVER CLEVELAND.
tion of 1884 as plainly as any man could. The things
which contributed to his own and Democratic success in
that year — the mistrust of the party in power, the personal
antagonism to its candidate, the general desire for political
change — could not contribute to the same end again. Party
success a second time must depend on a record made, on
something done, on confidence inspired, on a grand affirma
tive position to be stoutly maintained. How could this
standpoint be reached ? Clearly not by the reposeful, nega
tive methods which were so well adapted to the first two
years of his administration. There must be a change, more
action, for, as the legend on the ruins of Dendera hath it,
" action is life." It was to this end that he almost scolded
the second session of the Forty-ninth Congress for its inert
ness during the first and long session — the session of oppor
tunity. He would not scold, or urge, or plead again, but,
as was justly his place, he would present a clear issue,
would father a central thought, would ask his party and the
nation to take something definite in hand for its own good.
In writing the life of President Cleveland it is not neces
sary to go into an analysis of parties. It is sufficiently un
derstood that the doctrine of Protection is fostered by the
Republican party through and by means of the tariff laws,
and that such doctrine has become cardinal with the party.
It is just as well understood that the Democratic party has
never accepted this doctrine in its entirety, but has acqui
esced in it as a means of raising revenue when necessary,
and has always claimed that, the necessity passed, the tariff
laws should be revised, and tariff rates reduced, the same
as with any other tax laws. In the opinion of many Demo
cratic leaders of thought, which opinion Mr. Cleveland
shared, the excess of income over expenditures, and the ac
cumulation of an unnecessary surplus of public money in the

Hon. William C. Endicott.
Born in Salem, Mass., November 26, 1826 ; educated in Salem
schools and graduated from Harvard, 1847; studied law and admitted
to Essex County Bar; practiced profession to 1873, in firm of Perry &
Endicott; appointed, 1873, by Governor of State, to Judgeship on Su
preme Bench of Massachusetts ; continued on bench till 1882, when lie
resigned his commission ; appointed Secretary of War by President
Cleveland, March, 1885, and remained in office till 1889; resumed
practice of law, and continues to date; recognized as an able jurist and
excellent statesman. (S85)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 587
national treasury, afforded an excellent argument and made
the time propitious for declaring a policy which looked
toward both tariff and internal tax reduction, and which
should at the same time answer for a more definite declara
tion of party principles than had been the custom in National
Conventions and platforms. While the desire to do this
had long existed on the part of many prominent Democrats,
no one seemed bold enough, or felt himself sufficiently
strong as a leader, to take such an initiative as would im
press the people. There was a small but resolute faction
within the party which antagonized any such step, and re
mained as firmly attached to the Protection school of
thought as the Republicans themselves. They were chiefly
responsible for the failure of tariff legislation in the Forty-
ninth Congress, and were still more hostile in the Fiftieth
Congress. Mr. Cleveland had, of course, fully discounted
their strength before he concluded on his step forward. He
felt also, no doubt, that he, of all men, was the one to place
himself in the van of what bade fair to be the most impor
tant political movement since the civil war, for he was not
only the most conspicuous man in the country, but the one
best calculated, by reason of his sturdy character and well-
established official record, to inspire confidence.
This was the logic of that situation which President
Cleveland presented to the country when, on December 5,
1887, he delivered to Congress that brief message of only
4,500 words, which touched upon only that branch of finance
involved in taxation, customs duties and the treasury sur
plus, which awakened his party as if from a long dream and
which electrified the nation. It was an indication of a de
parture from the hesitating and shuffling methods which had
so long prevailed and was equivalent to a new declaration
of principles for modern Democracy, or rather to a broad

588 GROVER CLEVELAND.
and emphatic announcement of those principles which had
made statesmen of the Democratic fathers and given them
repeated victories. The message was hailed by his party as
a step in the right direction, and the President was made
the recipient of congratulations which showed he had struck
an immensely popular chord. So earnest was he in his
presentation of the financial situation, and so candid and
fearless in his statements respecting high and unnecessary
taxation, with its dangerous concomitant of an overflowing
treasury, that not even his enemies failed to applaud his
utterances as the very essence of frankness and his step as
Napoleonic in conception and importance. The Democratic
majority in the House promptly responded to the President's
advice and presented a bill which looked toward the reforms
indicated in the message, and they made strenuous efforts to
pass it over the Republican strength aided by a factious
Democratic minority.
This heroic step on the part of President Cleveland con
tributed greatly to his reputation as a broad-minded thinker,
and a statesman capable of seeing in advance of his time and
preparing for victories on a basis which should admit of no
misconstruction. But there was one thing about it which he
may not have fully considered, or if so, then it should be care
fully weighed by every candid mind, in order that misap
prehension may not arise respecting the future which it
opened to Mr. Cleveland, and also in order that the criticism
which his nomination for a second term called forth from his
political enemies may be met at once. The new policy
of the administration placed Mr. Cleveland so clearly in the
van of his party, that it would have been cowardly, if not
suicidal, for him to have shrunk from the responsibility im
posed, no matter what form that responsibility assumed.
Thus, without intent or volition on his part, but by sheer

GROVER CLEVELAND. 589
force of political circumstances, he found his leadership of
that pronounced and momentous kind, which impelled him
directly and inevitably toward a renomination by his party.
There can be no doubt in the world of his sincerity, when,
in his letter of acceptance in 1884, he made known his con
viction that a President should not be an aspirant for a second
term. His reasoning was that such ambition might lead to
misuse of the power and patronage at his disposal. The
reasoning was just as potential in 1886, or 1888, and there
is no need for supposing that his convictions underwent
. change at any time. The fact that an emergency might arise,
or that a changed set of conditions might_come, which
could not be foreseen, but which might warrant a second
term for a President, was not one which he combated in his
letter, nor did hie reasoning apply to it. He was as much
at liberty to stand for a second term, after his letter as before
it, unless it became apparent that he was an ambitious seeker
after the place, and was using the power and patronage in
his hands to secure it. Nothing like this appeared. In
shaping an administrative policy which would enure to the
good and glory of his party and the country, he acted like
a brave, broad-gauge statesman, and as President, or if you
please, party leader, he was willing to face every storm and
shoulder every responsibility. When events, political and
otherwise, shaped up so as to show forth the campaign of
1888, and his position became such as to make battle doubt
ful without the magic of his name, the wisdom of his coun
sel, and the force of his presence, there arose spontaneously
a situation which rendered his candidacy imperative. In
stead of using effort in a personal direction, and resorting
to means unworthy of a high official to bring about a de
sirable result, the course of events, the trend of sentiment,
the uprising of feeling, were such as to carry him along,

590 GROVER CLEVELAND.
without the asking, toward a second candidature. Always
before in our political history such spontaneous results have
been regarded as most fortunate for public" men, and as evi
dence of a popular favor and confidence which speak worlds
for their character and ability as officials and statesmen.
And so it really was in Mr. Cleveland's case.
During the first session of the Fiftieth Congress, Mr.
Cleveland reorganized his Cabinet by promoting his- Secre
tary of Interior, L. Q. C. Lamar, to the place in the Supreme
Court, made vacant by the death of Chief-Justice Wait'e, by
transferring his Postmaster-General, William F. Vilas, to
the Interior Department, by promoting Charles S. Fairchild
to the Secretaryship of the Treasury, and by appointing
Don M. Dickinson, of Michigan, Postmaster-General. These
appointments were all acceptable to the Senate, and they
were confirmed.
President Cleveland had on hand from the beginning of
his administration the delicate question of the American
Fisheries. The treaty of 1818, between this country and
England, had never been satisfactory, and the English made
several seizures of American fishing vessels in Canadian
waters, contrary to our construction of the treaty. The
administration took the matter in hand, and under the aus
pices of a commission composed of representatives from all
the countries concerned, a new treaty was framed and pre
sented to the Senate for confirmation. This action was
deemed the wisest on the part of the administration, as it
was least likely to provoke hard feeling, and most likely to
get at the root of the troubles. It gave a happy relief to his
premier, and placed the future responsibility on the Senate.
President Cleveland made reform in the Public Land
System a conspicuous feature of his administration, and it
is safe to say that in this respect he was the means of cor-

Hon. William F. Vilas.
Born at Chelsea, Vt., July 9, 1840; moved to Madison, Wis., 1851>
graduated at State University, 1858 ; studied law at University of Al
bany, N. Y., 1860, and admitted to bars of New York and Wisconsin ;
Began practice at Madison, July 9, 1860; entered Union army, and
mustered out as Lieutenant-Colonel of 23d Reg. Wis. Vols. ; a Professor
in Law Department of State University since 1868 ; Regent of same,
1880-85 ; member Board of Revision of Statutes, 1878 ; elected to Wis
consin Legislature, 1885; delegate to Democratic National Conventions,
1876-80-84; appointed Postmaster-General by President Cleveland,
March 7, 1885 ; appointed Secretary of Interior, January 16, 1888 ;
elected to United States Senate, January 28, 1891; member of Com
mittees on Claims, Civil Service, Indian Affairs, Pensions and Quad
ro-Centennial, I59i)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 593
recting one of the most vicious systems in the whole do
main of government, and at the same time of saving
millions to the Treasury. In the execution of laws he was
energetic and persistent, and, it may be, imbued with a good
deal of that philosophy which prompted President Grant to
say that " the best way to secure the repeal of an obnox
ious law was to enforce it to the letter."
Said a conspicuous American statesman :
" The day on which Grover Cleveland, the plain, straight
forward, typical American citizen took the oath of office,
marked the close of an old era and the beginning of a new
one. It closed the era of usurpation of power by the Fed
eral authority, of illegal force, of general contempt for con
stitutional limitations and plain law, of glaring scandals,
profligate waste, and unspeakable corruption, of narrow
sectionalism and class strife, of the reign of a party whose
good work had long been done. It began the era of per
fect peace and perfect union of the States, fused in all
their sovereignty into a Federal Republic, with limited but
ample powers ; of a public service conducted with absolute
integrity and strict economy ; of reforms pushed to their
extreme limit ; of comprehensive, sound and safe financial
policy ; giving security and confidence to all enterprise and
endeavor — a Democratic administration, faithful to its
mighty trust, loyal to its pledges ; true to the constitution,
safeguarding the interests and liberties of the people. And
now we stand on the edge of another era, perhaps a greater
contest ; with a relation to the electors that we have not
held for a generation, that of responsibility for the great
trust of government. We are no longer authors, but ac
countants ; no longer critics, but the criticised. The respon
sibility is ours, and if we have not taken all the power
27

594 GROVER CLEVELAND.
necessary to make that responsibility good the fault is ours,
not that of the people.
" The administration of President Cleveland has triumph
antly justified his election. It compels the respect, confi
dence and approval of the country. The prophets of evil
and disaster are dumb. What the people see is the govern
ment of the Union restored to its ancient footing of justice,
peace, honesty and impartial enforcement of the law. They
see the demands of labor and agriculture met, so far as
government can meet them, by the legislative enactments
for their encouragement and protection. They see the vet
erans ofthe civil war granted pensions long due them to the
amount of more than twice in number and nearly three times
in value of those granted under any previous administration.
They see more than 32,000,000 acres of land recklessly and
illegally held by the grantees of the corrupt Republican
regime restored to the public domain for the benefit of
honest settlers. They see the negro, whose fears of Demo
cratic rule were played upon by demagogues four years ago,
not only more fully protected than by his pretended friends,
but honored as his race was never honored before. They
see a financial policy under which reckless speculation has
practically ceased and capital freed from distrust. They see
for the first time an honest observance of the law governing
the civil establishment, and the employees of the people rid,
at least, of the political highwaymen with a demand for
tribute in one hand and a letter of dismissal in the other.
They see useless offices abolished and expenses of adminis
tration reduced, while improved methods have lifted the
public service to high efficiency. They see tranquility,
order, security and equal justice restored in the land, a
watchful, safe, steady and patriotic administration — the sol-

GROVER CLEVELAND. 595
emn promises made by Democracy faithfully kept. It is
' an honest government by honest men.'
" Four years ago you trusted tentatively the Democratic
party and supported with zeal and vigor its candidate for
President. You thought him strong in all the sturdy qual
ities requisite for the great task of reform. No President in
time of peace had so difficult and laborious a duty to per
form. His party had been out of power for twenty-four
years. Every member of it had been almost venomously
excluded from the smallest post where administration could
be studied. Every place was filled by men whose interest
it was to thwart inquiry and belittle the new administration,
but the master hand came to the helm, and the true course
has been kept from the beginning.
" We need not wait- for time to do justice to the character
and services of President Cleveland. Honest, clear-sighted,
patient, grounded in respect for law and justice; with a
thorough grasp of principles and situations ; with marvel
lous and conscientious industry ; the very incarnation of
firmness — he has nobly fulfilled the promise of his party,
nobly met the expectations of his country and written his
name high on the scroll where future Americans will read
the names of men who have been supremely useful to the
Republic." President Cleveland carried into the White House the
strong physique, the habits of industry, the attention to de
tails that had characterized his/previous life. As the labors
were more telling he began to find a necessity for exercise
in the recreation of riding, and he rode much on horse
back. He still possessed that gentle but firm strength of
official demeanor, that modesty of deportment and indiffer
ence to popular clamor, that affability of spirit and willing
receptivity where interested, which impressed all with the

596 GROVER CLEVELAND.
thought personally and politically he meant to do the right.
In general appearance he grew impressive with age, experi
ence and dignity. His large head, broad forehead, deeply set
blue eyes, conspicuous nose, vigorous nostrils, firm mouth, and
heavy moustache, typed one born to command. His closely
buttoned coat, slight, dark neck-tie and immaculate collar
and bosom, showed that he was not indifferent to the laws
of style in dress. In receiving, or in conversation, he poised
with his hands behind him, but in thought his hands came
to the front and, not infrequently, one to his head. His
order of public life and domestic affair was rigidly observed.
He rose at regular hours, made his toilet by rule, appeared
at his desk at a certain hour for attention to his correspond
ence. He was promptly on hand at the hour for the recep
tion of visitors, heard with easy grace and patience the
claims of all, had a kind word or pleasant hand-shake for
the thousands whose mission was that of compliment or
curiosity. After luncheon he returned to his desk and
worked so long as work was found to do. No predecessor
ever weighed the claims and qualifications of candidates for
place with greater care. He carefully pondered all recom
mendations, and made his appointments only after the full
est consideration of the merits of rival applicants.
He had the happy faculty of dispossessing himself of
the cares of State at bed-time, and of settling daily the work
of each day. For nearly two years of his administration
the domestic affairs of the White House were presided over
by his sister, Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland. But the
monotony of bachelorhood was soon to be broken by his
marriage, an event which created a sensation in the fashion
able world and greatly contributed to the social atmosphere
of the Presidential Mansion. President Cleveland was mar
ried at the White House at seven p. m. on June 2, 1886, to

Hon. David B. Hill.
Bom in Chemung Co., N. Y., August 29, 1843; graduated at Havanna
Academy ; admitted to Elmira bar, November, 1864, and appointed
City Attorney ; member of State Assembly, 1871-72 ; President of
Democratic State Conventions, 1877, 1881 ; elected Mayor of Elmira,
1882; President of New York Bar Association, 1886-87 ; elected Lieu
tenant-Governor of New York, November, 1882 ; succeeded Grover
Cleveland as Governor, January, 1885 ; elected Governor, November,
1885, on Democratic ticket ; re-elected Governor, 1888 ; elected to
United States Senate, as Democrat, 1891 ; a distinguished party organ
izer and leader ; name much discussed in connection with the Presidency.
(598)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 599
Miss Frances Folsom, daughter of his former law partner.
Though this was the eighth marriage within the walls of the
White House, it was the first in which a President of the
United States participated as a bridegroom. It was a plain
ceremony, after the Presbyterian form, with the Marine
Band to play the wedding march and the President's salute
from the guns of the Navy Yard to notify the world that
the vows had been finally sealed. This marriage introduced
into the executive mansion and to public life one of the~
most charming ladies of the land. She bore all her blush
ing honors meekly and contributed greatly to. the sociability,
vivacity and elegance of the White House establishment.
On Oct. 4, 1 89 1, she became the mother of a daughter,
Ruth Cleveland. The summer home of Mr. and Mrs.
Cleveland is at " Gray Gables," a beautiful villa surrounded
by 100 acres of land, lying upon the shores of Buzzard's
Bay.

VIII.
CONVENTION AND CAMPAIGN OF 1888.
The Democrats met in National Convention, pursuant to
call, at St. Louis, June 5, 1888. The high position taken
by President Cleveland in his celebrated message of Dec. 5,
1 887, delivered to the first session of the Fiftieth Congress,
supplemented by the Mills Bill favoring tariff reduction,
peinted to the way to his renomination.
When Convention day dawned, and the great Democratic
party sat in National Council, when an outlook of the situa
tion was had after a comparison of political views, when
grave men had deliberated and arrived at the mature judg
ment as to what was best for party success and the triumph
of immutable principles, there was more than ever one voice
in favor of the renomination -of President Cleveland. All
private likes and dislikes were merged in the common
thought that he was the man best calculated by experience,
by towering ability as leader, by impregnable record to bear
the party standard through the campaign battles of 1888.
No other name was mentioned in Convention, in connection
with the Presidency, and when his was mentioned it always
awakened an enthusiasm which found vent in vociferous and
prolonged cheers.
For President Cleveland, the St. Louis Convention was
both endorsement and ovation. It ratified nearly four years
of administrative work, and pledged a continuance of con
fidence and support. That public career which, in. 1884, had
been limited by State lines, was, at St. Louis, bounded by
(600)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 601
the horizon of every civilized country. In 1884 he was
pledged to his country by his party for what he gave promise
as President to be. In 1888 no such formal pledge was
needed, for as one of the orators in the convention put it,
" He had not only won the applause of his countrymen, but
the plaudit of the civilized world of ' Well done, thou good
and faithful servant.' "
When State after State had risen in that grandly repre
sentative convention to shower on the President its eulogies
and pledge him anew its support, the climax was reached
at the call of Kentucky, whose spokesman, McKenzie,
closed his eloquent tribute to Mr. Cleveland's greatness by
saying : —
" Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I move to suspend the
rules and make the nomination of Grover Cleveland for
President of the United States absolutely unanimous."
This was the last step of that superb movement which
crowned President Cleveland with the honors of a second
nomination. There was no ballot, no contest, no dissent.
The convention rose as a unit, and as a personation of a
sentiment which was all pervading, and with a voice which
made the immense spaces of Musical Hall ring, acclaimed
him the candidate of the Democratic party for 1888. It
was a tribute such as is seldom paid to mortal man. That
spontaneous accord, that emphatic pronouncement, con
tained something higher than the honors of office, some
thing fuller of meaning than a crown. It measured not
only the estimation in which the man was held, but it
showed the heartfelt gratitude of a party whose destiny he
had held sacredly in his keeping through its first period of
triumph in twenty-four years. It was a ratification of the
past, and a tender for the future, not of a man in the shape

602 GROVER CLEVELAND.
of a promise, as in 1884, but as a happy and splendid
realization. In recognition of the older element of the party, Mr.
Cleveland's nomination was supplemented by that of Allen
G. Thurman, of Ohio, for Vice-President. The platform
reaffirmed that of 1884; indorsed the views of President
Cleveland in his message of December 5, 1887, and also the
efforts of Democratic Congressmen to secure the reduction
of excessive taxation ; expressed party faith in the main
tenance of a Union of free and indestructible States ; chal
lenged investigation of administrative methods ; claimed a
wise dispensation of the public land system ; asked for
recognition of the fact that the administration had paid out
more than any other for pensions and bounties to soldiers
and sailors ; claimed to have set on foot the reconstruction
of the American navy, the adoption of a prudent foreign
policy, the exclusion of Chinese laborers, and honest reform
in the Civil Service ; declared against tax laws and trusts ;
proclaimed the necessity for free revision of all laws tending
to the accumulation of a surplus in the Treasury.
The Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison, of
Indiana, and Oliver P. Morton, of New York. The cam
paign was largely one of discussion and free from the bitter
personalism which had characterized that of 1884. The
purity and strength of President Cleveland's administration
was admitted on all sides, but never were party lines drawn
closer than on the issue courted in his message of 1887.-
In that message he had been bold and frank enough to
create an issue for his party upon which- it could go confi
dently before the country. At an early day in the cam
paign it was seen that the fighting ground was narrowed to
the doubtful States of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut
and Indiana. In these States both parties concentrated

GROVER CLEVELAND. 603
their best efforts. Each sought by speech, procession and
spectacular performance, to convince the public of the recti
tude of its views. The early autumn elections in Maine,
Oregon and Vermont showed a trend of sentiment decidedly
against the Democratic position. The November result
showed that this trend was real. Harrison carried all the
States which Blaine had carried in 1 884, and added the two
States of Indiana and New York, thus securing 233 out of
the 401 electoral votes, or a majority of 31.
The confidence of both parties remained supreme till the
very last. An unusual episode of the campaign was the
dismissal of the English Minister, Lord Sackville West, for
unwarranted interference with our political affairs. The
result of the election was so decisive as to be cheerfully
acquiesced in by Mr. Cleveland and his party.
Notwithstanding his defeat, President Cleveland rounded
out his administration with one of his longest and ablest
messages to the Second Session of the 50th Congress, in
which he was firmly adhesive to his doctrine of " Tariff Re
form," and presaged for it a triumph at no distant day. He
had the courage of his convictions, even in the hour of
disaster, and had his professed friends remained as steadfast
as he when the battle was on the result might have been
different. It is not for us to introduce controversy into a
life of a distinguished and pure-minded citizen and official,
but it was a fairly debatable . question as to whether Mr.
Cleveland received the full measure of Democratic support
from his friends in New York State. The charge has been
made and with no little plausibility, that a factional element
at home stabbed him in the back, and color is given to the
charge by the fact that New York elected a Democratic
Governor of the machine type at the very moment it de
feated a Democratic candidate for President, who stood for
pure politics and the highest party principles.

IX.
IN PRIVATE LIFE.
President Cleveland retired from office with the dis
tinction of having been the only Democratic President since
1856. He had upheld the traditions and promises of his
party with a faithfulness that gave him rank with the Jef-
fersons and Jacksons of the long ago. He had evinced a
spirit of originality and determination which often disap
pointed those who believed in machinery methods, but in
every such instance he took a deeper hold on the masses.
He was true to the axiom that " a public office is a public
trust," and no one ever did more to carry the axiom home
to the popular heart.
There was no sighing on his part over his defeat, no re
luctance in his retiracy. None other could have changed
the rasult. He had glorious achievements to his credit and
could wait till the dawn of an era of appreciation. He had
his profession to fall back upon, and he entered civic pur
suit in connection with one of the most prosperous law firms
of New York city. His services here soon came to be
highly appreciated and his name became coupled with many
celebrated cases, some of which found their way into the
Supreme Court of the United States.
Retiracy from public life did not mean loss of interest in
affairs appertaining to the welfare of his fellow-men. He
was constantly consulted by public bodies, and invitsd by
educational and charitable organizations. Many of his
letters of reply found their way into print, and they all
(604)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 605
evinced the same broad view, the same candor and earnest
ness of sentiment that had made him a popular favorite
when in official position.
When occasion called for a public expression of his views
on the much mooted question of " free and unlimited coin
age of silver," in 1 891, he did not hesitate to write an
elaborate letter, in which he took distinctive ground against
a system which invalidated our silver dollar, and taxed the
power of our gold reserve to carry it.
The letter was dated Feb. 10, 1891, and was his reply to
a request to address a meeting of business men in New
York City, called for Feb. 11, for the purpose of voicing op
position to the free silver legislation then pending in Con
gress. It read as follows : —
E. Ellery Anderson, Esq.
My Dear Sir : — I have this afternoon received your note
inviting me to attend to-morrow evening a meeting called
for the purpose of voicing the opposition of the business
men of our city to " free coinage of silver in the United
States." I shall not be able to attend and address the meet
ing as you request, but I am glad that the business interests
of New York are at last to be heard on the subject. It
surely cannot be necessary for me to make a formal expres
sion of my agreement with those who believe that the
greatest perils would be invited by the adoption of the
scheme embraced in the measure now pending in Congress
for an unlimited coinage of silver at our mints.
If we have developed an unexpected capacity for the
assimilation of a largely increased volume of the currency,
and even if we have demonstrated the usefulness of such an
increase, these conditions fall far short of insuring us against
disaster if in the present situation we enter upon the dan
gerous and reckless experiment of free, unlimited and inde
pendent silver coinage. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
Feb. 10, 1 891.

6o6 GROVER CLEVELAND.
His views were accepted by the financial world as sound
in every particular, and there is no doubt that his timely
and forceful expression of them contributed largely to the
demand for his renomination at Chicago ; at least, to that
measure of confidence which the vital interests of the
country expect to, repose in those who are called to preside
over its affairs.
Mr. Cleveland, in private life, has not been unmindful of
its rational enjoyment. He has had a rural retreat in New
Jersey, for the delight and health of his family. He has
provided a still more beautiful and permanent summer re
treat on Buzzard's Bay, which he calls " Gray Gables " and
where he enjoys the delights of fishing and driving. He
has jaunted it to remote parts, intermingling with party
friends, studying public sentiment, and broadening his views
of men and localities. In his summer home on the outer
coasts ofthe Atlantic he has found congenial society among
authors and men of genius, and that rest and recreation
which is beneficial to himself and family. In this he is
philosophic. The hurly-burly has few charms for him, the
quietude of the beach many. As a student of affairs, he
prefers to look in on the mighty surge of events. His view
is thus unimpassioned, his judgment unclouded.
A correspondent thus sketches Mr. Cleveland's home and
home life : —
" Gray Gables, by the road, is four miles from the tele
graph office ; as the birds fly it is less than two. In this
case we shall have to reckon by the road, as the birds are
not carrying dispatches this year.
" Buzzard's Bay, as those who have travelled over the Old
Colony Road to the Cape or the Vineyard know, is quite
an important railroad junction. It is a village of the town
of Bourne. The population of the village, which clusters

Daniel

Voorhees.

Born in Butler co., Ohio, September 26, 1827 ; moved in infancy with
parents to Indiana; graduated at Indiana Asbury, 1849; studied law
and began practice, 1851 ; United States District Attorney for Indiana,
1858-61 ; elected to 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st and 42d Congresses ;
appointed Senator to fill vacancy caused by death of O. P. Morton, No
vember 12, 1877 ; distinguished as advocate of greenback currency and
free silver coinage ; elected to Senate, 1879 ; re-elected, 1885 and in
1891 ; eminent as leader and exponent of Democracy ; member of Com
mittees on Finance, Immigration, Library, and Chairman of Committee
to provide additional accommodations for Library of Congress.
(607)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 609
about the station, is not large. The inhabitants will not ex
ceed 300 or 400.
" To reach Gray Gables from the railroad station it is
necessary to first travel a mile and a half in the opposite
direction. The reason for the detour is there is no highway
bridge across the Monument River, which flows through
the village on its way to Buzzard's Bay, and which it is
necessary to cross in order to reach Mr. Cleveland's residence.
" The Cleveland residence is situated at the mouth of
Monument River, and it has water on three sides of it.
" Mr. Cleveland is very well pleased with his property.
He does not get over to the village often, but Mrs. Cleveland
comes over nearly every day; sometimes twice in a day.
Her carriage goes regularly to the post-office, and it stops
at the modest little stores, too. She does not fail to do her
part toward supporting the institutions of the place.
" One hears reports of her here similar to those which have
come a thousand times from other places where she has
lived. Her beauty, affability, courtesy, and general good
ness are praised by every tongue. She's what I call one of
God's own women."
It was in the midst of such a life that he maintained his
hold on the affections of his party. At no moment after his
retiracy did he lose his identity or cease to be a party idol.
Let come what would, let who might connive and aspire,
the question of his availability as a Presidential Candidate in
¦1892 never came into doubt. With him the verdict of 1888
was never regarded as final. There was no other exponent
ofthe views which were then clouded with defeat, but which
burst into victory in 1890. 1888, with what happened after
wards, was a drawn battle; 1892 was necessary, under the
same sterling leadership, to test finally the issue so ably,
forcibly and directly propounded in the message of 1887.

CHICAGO AND RENOMINATION.
The Democratic National Convention of ,1892 met at
Chicago, pursuant to the call of the National Committee, on
June 21, 1892. For months prior to the meeting of the
Convention the quiet sentiment of the masses of the party
had been cohering about Mr. Cleveland. He was no as
pirant for nomination, and was doing nothing to elicit pop
ular favor or to control State Conventions. ,
So unwilling was he to appear to be pushing his candi
dacy, that on April 8, 1892, he wrote the following to a
friend in Chattanooga, touching the question of his own re
nomination: — Lakewood, N. J., April 8, 1892.
My Dear Sir : I desire to thank you for the report of
the meeting at Chattanooga, which you so kindly sent me,
and for the friendly words you spoke of me on that occa
sion. I am exceedingly anxious to have our party do ex
actly the right thing at the Chicago Convention, and I hope
that the delegates will be guarded by judgment and actuated
by true Democratic spirit and the single desire to succeed
on principle.
I should not be frank if I did not say to you that I often
fear I do not deserve all the kind things such friends as you
say of me, and I have frequent misgivings as to the wisdom
of again putting me in nomination. I therefore am anxious
that sentiment and too unmeasured personal devotion should
be checked when the delegates to the convention reach the
period of deliberation. In any event there will be no dis
appointment for me in the result. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland,
(610)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 6ri
But there was a magic about his name which seemed to
touch the hearts of the people, and to act as a spell in his
behalf, so that in every minor convention resolutions directly
in his favor as a candidate, or paying him the highest
respect, were the order of the hour.
This all pervasive and general popularity led to the
thought that a nomination by acclamation would be almost
a sure result at Chicago. But the discipline of a Conven
tion requires something more than mere acclaim to insure
results. It was found that in order to arrive at his nomina
tion his forces must be marshalled and led. Many willing
leaders rose to assume this task.
The necessity for brave, discreet leadership became all
the more imperative by reason of what had transpired in
New York State, where Senator Hill had announced his own
candidacy, and had called an early State Convention which
selected delegates to the National Convention, pledged to
his support. This hasty action gave rise to a counter-move
ment, of a popular nature, designed to show where the sen
timent of the masses of the party in New York really lay.
While it did not result in an opposing delegation at Chi
cago, it served to subtract from the efficacy of the solid Hill
forces and to reduce them to the plane of simple manipula
tors of a serious situation.
As soon as the Convention air was sufficiently clarified
for an alignment of forces it became manifest that nothing
could shake the strength which clustered about the Cleve
land standards. It was spontaneous, enthusiastic, resolved.
True it had lost points in the Committee rooms, and had
even surrendered to an adverse temporary chairman of the
Convention, but in this it had not lost confidence, and per
haps had shown wisdom.
The Convention was called, tq ord,er at 12.45 °^ June 2I>

612 GROVER CLEVELAND.
by Senator Brice, Chairman of the National Committee.
He announced the temporary organization and placed the
gavel in the hands of Hon. Wm. C. Owens, of Kentucky,
who accepted the honor in an eloquent address. The ap
pointment of the usual committees followed and the public
work of the day was practically over.
The session of the 22d was destined to be lengthy. The
reports of committees were in order, and that upon the plat
form — especially the tariff clause — gave rise to discussion.
The Convention passed into the hands of the permanent
organization, and the chairman became the Hon. Wm. L.
Wilson, of West Virginia, who accepted in an excellent
speech. And the night session was to be still more lengthy.
As it passed along it became manifest that the friends of Mr.
Cleveland were in a mood to force a ballot before adjourn
ment. There was no excuse for further delay, their forces
were well in hand and most enthusiastic, postponement of
decisive action might prove a loss of well-ascertained ad
vantage. The prime rules of generalship required a show
of hands at that precise juncture,
A motion was carried to call the roll of States for nomi
nations. The names of Senator David B. Hill, of New York,
and Governor Horace Boies, of Iowa, were placed in nomi
nation, during the evening, with eloquent speeches and amid
much applause. But the applause of the time and the elo
quence of the occasion seemed reserved for the nomination
of Cleveland. Arkansas yielded to New Jersey, when her
name was called, and Governor Leon Abbett of the latter
State rose to present Mr. Cleveland's name to the Conven
tion. He arose amid deafening cheers and thus spoke :—
" Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen ofthe Convention: — In
presenting a name to this convention, I speak for the united
Democracy of the State of New Jersey, whose loyalty to

Hon. Don M. Dickinson.
Born in Port Ontario, Oswego Co., N. Y., January 17, 1847 ; gradu
ated at University of Michigan, 1867; studied law and admitted to bar ;
rose rapidly to distinction in his profession and acquired a large prac-
t.ce; Chairman of Michigan State Democratic Committee in 1876, and
ldSO Chairman of Michigan Delegation in National Convention ; repre
sented Michigan in Democratic National Committee since 1884; ap
pointed by President Cleveland to be Postmaster-General, January 17,
1888 ; an able official and popular party leader.
(614)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 615
the Democratic principles, faithful service to the party, and
whose contributions to its success entitle it to the respectful
consideration of the Democracy of the United States. Its
electoral vote has always been cast in support of Democratic
principles and Democratic candidates. [Crfeers.J
" In voicing the unanimous wish of the delegation from
New Jersey, I present as their candidate for the suffrage of
this convention the name of a distinguished Democratic
statesman, born upon its soil, for whom in the two great
Presidential contests the State of New Jersey has given its
electoral vote. [Cheers.]
" The supreme consideration in the mind of the Democ
racy of New Jersey is the success of the Democratic party
and its principles. We have been in the past and will be in
the future ready at all times to sacrifice personal preference
in deference to the clear expressions of the will of the De
mocracy ofthe Union. It is because this name will awaken
throughout our State the enthusiasm of the Democracy and
insure success, it is because he represents the great Demo
cratic principles and policy upon which this entire conven
tion is a unit ; it is because we believe that with him as a
candidate the Democracy of the Union wil sweep the coun
try and establish its principles throughout the length and
breadth of the land that we offer to the convention as a
nominee, the choice of New Jersey, Grover Cleveland.
[Applause.] " If any doubt existed in the minds of the Democrats of
New Jersey of his ability to lead the great Democratic hosts
to victory, they would not present his name to-day. With
them success of the party and the establishment of its prin
ciples are beyond their love and admiration for any man.
[Cheers.] We feel certain that every Democratic State,,
though its preference may be for some other distinguished
Democrat, will give its warm, enthusiastic and earnest sup
port to the nominee of this convention. The man whom
we present will rally to his party thousands of independent
voters, whose choice is determined by their personal con
viction that the candidate will represent principles dear to
them, and whose public life and policy give assurance that
28

616 GROVER CLEVELAND.
if chosen bythe people they will secure an honest, pure and
conservative administration and the great interest of the
country will be encouraged and protected.
" The time will come when other distinguished Demo
crats who have*" been mentioned in connection with this
nomination will receive that consideration to which the
great services they have rendered their party entitled
them, but we stand to-day in the presence of the fact that
the majority of the Democratic masses throughout the
country, the rank and file, the millions of its voters demand
the nomination of Grover Cleveland. [Cheers.]
" This sentiment is so strong and overpowering that it has
effected and controlled the actions of delegates who would
otherwise present the name of some distinguished leader of
their own State, with whom they feel victory would be
assured and in whom the entire country would feel confi
dence, but the people have spoken and favorite sons anti
leaders are standing aside, in obedience to their wilL-
[Cheers.] " Shall w listen to the voice of the Democracy of the
Union? Shad we place on our banner the man of our
choice, the man in whom they believe, or shall we for any
consideration of policy or expediency hesitate to obey their
will ? [Cheers.]
" I have sublime faith in the expression of the people
when it is clear and decisive. When the question before
them is one that has excited discussion and debate ; when
it appeals to their interests and their feelings, and calls for
the exercise of their judgment, and they then say they want-
this man and we can elect him, we, their representatives,
must not disobey nor disappoint them. It is incumbent
upon us to obey their wishes and concur in their judgment;
then, having given them the candidate of their choice, they
will give us their best, their most energetic efforts to secure
success [Cheers.]
" We confidently rely upon the loyal and successful work
of the Democratic leaders who have advocated other candi
dates. We know that in the great State across the river
from New Jersey, now controlled by the Democratic party,

GROVER CLEVELAND. 617
there is no Democrat who will shirk the duty of making
every effort to secure the success of the candidate of this
convention, notwithstanding his judgment may differ from
that ofthe majority. The Democracy of New York and its
great leaders, whose efforts and splendid generalship have
given to us a Democratic Senator and Governor, will always
be true to the great party they represent; they will not
waver, nor will they rest in the coming canvass until they
have achieved success.
"Their grand victories of the past, their natural and
honorable ambition, their unquestioned Democracy, will
make them arise and fight as never before, and with those
that they represent and lead they will march in the great
independent vote and we will again secure Democratic vic
tory in New York. The grand Democrats under whose
leadership the city and State of New York are now gov
erned will give to the cause the great benefit of their or
ganizations. " The thundering echoes of this convention announcing
the nomination of Grover Cleveland will not have died out
over the hills and through the valleys of this land before
you will hear and see all our leaders rallying to the support
of our candidate. They will begin their efforts for organi
zation and success, and continue their work until victory
crowns their efforts.
" All Democrats will fight for victory, and they will suc
ceed because the principles of the party enunciated here are
for the best interests of the country at large, and because
the people of this land have unquestioning faith that Grover
Cleveland will give the country a pure, honest and stable
government, and an administration by which the great busi
ness interests of the country and the agricultural and labor
interests of the masses will receive proper and due considera
tion. " The question has been asked why it is that the masses
of the party demand the nomination of Grover Cleveland ?
Why is it that this man who has no office to distribute, no
wealth to command, should have stirred the spontaneous
support of the great body of Democracy ? Why is it that

618 GROVER CLEVELAND.
with all that has been urged against him the people still cry
give us Cleveland ? Why is it, though he has pronounced
in honest, clear- and able language his views upon questions
upon which some of his party may differ with him that he
is still near and dear to the masses ?
" It is because he has crystallized into a living issue the
great principle upon which this battle is to be fought out.
If he did not create tariff reform, he made it a Presidential
issue. He vitalized it, and presented it to our party as the
issue for which we ought to fight and continue to battle un
til' upon it victory is now assured.
" There are few men in his position who would have the
courage to boldly make the issue and present it so clearly
and forcibly as he did in his great message of 1887. I
believe that his policy then was to force a national issue
which would appeal to the judgment of the people. We
must honor a man who is honest enough and bold enough
under such circumstances to proclaim that the success of
the party upon principles is better than evasion or shirking
of true national issues for temporary success. When vic
tory is obtained upon a principle, it forms the solid founda
tion of party success in the future. It is no longer the
question of a battle to be won on the mistakes of our foes,
but it is a victory to be accomplished by a charge along the
whole line under the banner of principle.
"There is another reason why the people demand his
nomination. They feel that the tariff reform views of Pres
ident Cleveland and the principles laid down- in his great
message, whatever its temporary effect may have been, give
us a live and a vital issue to fight for, which has made the
great victories since 1888 possible. It consolidated in one
solid phalanx the Democracy of the nation. In every State
of this Union that policy has been placed in Democratic
platforms, and our battles have been fought upon it, and
this great body of representative Democrats have seen its
good results.
" Every man in this Convention recognizes the policy of
the party. In Massachusetts it gave us a ' Russell ; ' in Iowa
it gave us a ' Boies.' In Wisconsin it gave us a ' Peck ' for

Hon. John G. Carlisle.
Born in Kenton co., Ky., September 5,1835; educated in common
schools and as teacher; admitted to bar, 1858; member of Kentucky
State Legislature, 1859-61 ; elected to State Senate, 1866 and 1869 ;
elected Lieutenant-Governor of State, 1871; elected to 45th, 46th, 47th,
48th, 49th, 50th and 51st Congresses ; presided as Speaker of House in
48th, 49th and 50th Congresses; a dignified officer and skilled parlia
mentarian ; elected to United States Senate, as Democrat, to succeed
Senator Beck, deceased, May 17, 1890; member of Committees on Fi
nance, Territories, Canadian Relations, Indian Depredations and Wo
man's Suffrage ; conspicuous in party affairs and a recognized exponent
of Democratic thought. (620)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 621
Governor and Vilas for Senator. In Michigan it gave us
Winans for Governor, and gave us a Democratic Legislature,
and will give us eight electoral votes for President. In 1 889,
in Ohio, it gave u-. James Campbell for Governor, and in
1 89 1, to defeat him, it required the power, the wealth, and
the machinery of the entire Republican party.
" In Pennsylvania it gave us Robert E. Pattison ; in Con
necticut it gave us a Democratic Governor who was kept
out of office by the infamous conduct of the Republican
party. In NewHampshire it gave us a Legislature of which
we were defrauded. In Illinois it gave us a Palmer for
Senator, and in Nebraska it gave us Boyd for Governor. In
the great Southern States it has continued in power Demo
cratic Governors and Democratic Legislatures. In New
Jersey the power of the Democracy has been strengthened
and the Legislature and Executive are both Democratic.
In the great State of New York it gave us Hill for Senator
and Roswell P. Flower for Governor. [Loud cheering.]
" With all these glorious achievements it is the wisest and
best party policy to nominate again the man whose policy
made these successes possible. The people believe that
these victories which gave us a Democratic House of Rep
resentatives in 1890, and Democratic Governors and Sen
ators in Republican and doubtful States are due to the cour
age and wisdom of Grover Cleveland. And so believing
they recognize him as their great leader.
" In presenting his name to the Convention, it is no reflec
tion upon, any of them as the leaders of the party. The
victories which have been obtained are not alone the heritage
of these States ; they belong to the whole party. I feel that
every Democratic State and that every individual Democrat
has reason to rejoice and be proud and applaud these
splendid successes. The candidacy of Grover Cleveland is
not a reflection upon others. It is not antago- istic to any
great Democratic leader. He comes before this Convention,
not as the candidate of any one State — he is the choice of
the great majority of Democratic voters.
" The Democracy of New Jersey, therefore, presents to
this Convention, in this, the people's year, the nominee of

622 GROVER CLEVELAND.
the people, the plain, blunt, honest citizens, the idol of the
Democratic masses — Grover Cleveland." [Cheers.]
When Governor Abbett named Cleveland the hurrah of an
hour before was repeated. The delegates sprang to their
feet, many of them mounted the chairs, hats were thrown into
the air, and the noise of the cheering was deafening.
The nomination was seconded by half a score of speakers
from different States, who vied with each other in praise of
Mr. Cleveland and whose eloquence contributed to the
incessant flow of good feeling and applause.
Balloting at length began. It was late, and the end of
the first ballot was not reached till 3.30 in the morning.
But it was most decisive. The well-managed Cleveland
forces had stuck to their man and their faith, and had crowned
both with victory. They had rolled up far more votes than
the necessary two-thirds required to nominate, and had made
the " man of destiny " again their standard- bearer. The
nomination was made unanimous, amid a storm of ap
plause. figures of the ballot.

¦o

o

>.

States. T5 A •£ •§. g » g Sj •}> £
I % -S | 1 o "S | 1 I |
Alabama  14 2 1 2 2 1
Arkansas  16
California  18
Colorado  3 5
Connecticut  12
Delaware  6
Florida  5  3
Georgia  17 5  4
Idaho  6
Illinois  48
Indiana  3D
Iowa  26
Kansas  20
Kentucky  18 .. 2  6

GROVER CLEvELAlSfD. 623

States.

c

^

tn

XI

b0

0,
a

a

•¦¦ a -3 s § § ^ 5 3* g g

Louisiana  3 1 11 .. .. 1
Maine  9 1  1
Maryland  6  9j£
Massachusetts  24 4 1 
Michigan  28
Minnesota  18
Mississippi  8 3 3 .. .. 4
Missouri  34
Montana  6
Nebraska  15  I
Nevada  4 . . . . 2
New Hampshire. . . 8
New Jersey  20
New York  72
North Carolina  3 "4 1 1  16%
North Dakota  6
Ohio  14 6 16 .. .. 5 5
Oregon  8
Pennsylvania  64
Rhode Island  8
South Carolina. ... 2 3 13
South Dakota .... . 7 I
Tennessee  24
Texas  23 1 6
Vermont  8
Virginia  12 11  I
Washington  8
West Virginia  7 1  3 .. ..
Wisconsin  24
Wyoming  3  3
Territories.
Alaska  2
Arizona  5  I
District of Columbi a 2
New Mexico  4 1 I
Oklahoma  2
Utah  2
Indian  2

Totals 617^ 115 103 2 2 36^ 14 16% 111
Number of votes cast, 909^.
Necessary to choice, 607. PLATFORM OF 1892.
PLEDGE OF PRINCIPLES.— The representatives of
the Democratic party of the United States, in National Con-

624 GROVER CLEVELAND.
vention assembled, do reaffirm their allegiance to the prin
ciples of the party as formulated by Jefferson and exempli
fied bythe long and illustrious line of nine of his successors
in Democratic leadership, from Madison to Cleveland ; we
believe the public welfare demands that these principles be
applied to the conduct ofthe Federal Government, through
the accession to power of the party that advocates them ;
and we solemnly declare that the need of a return to these
fundamental principles of a free, popular government, based
on Home Rule and individual liberty, was never more
urgent than now, when the tendency to centralize all power
at the Federal Capital has become a menace to the reserved
rights of the States that strike at the very roots of our
government under the Constitution as framed by the fathers
of the Republic.
THE FORCE BILL. — We warn the people of our com
mon country, jealous for the preservation of their free insti
tutions, that the policy of Federal control of elections to
which the Republican party has committed itself is fraught
with the gravest dangers, scarcely less momentous than
would result from a revolution practically establishing a
monarchy on the ruins of the republic. It strikes at the
North as well as the South, and injures the colored citizen
even more than the white ; it means a horde of deputy
marshals at every polling place, armed with Federal power,
returning boards appointed and controlled by Federal
authority ; the outrage of the electoral rights of the people
in the several States; the subjugation ofthe colored people
to the control ofthe party in power and the reviving of race
antagonisms, now happily abated, of the utmost peril to the
safety and happiness of all — a measure deliberately and
justly described by a leading Republican Senator as "the
most infamous bill that ever crossed the threshold of the
Senate." Such a policy, if sanctioned by law, would mean
the dominance of a self-perpetuating oligarchy of office
holders, and the party first intrusted with its machinery
could be dislodged from power only by an appeal to the re
served right of the people to resist oppression which is in
herent in all self-governing communities. Two years ago

GROVER CLEVELAND. 625
this revolutionary policy was emphatically condemned by
the people at the polls ; but, in contempt of that verdict, the
Republican party has defiantly declared, in its latest authori
tative utterance, that its success in the coming elections will
mean the enactment of the Force Bill and the usurpation of
despotic control over elections in all the States.
Believing that the preservation of Republican government
in the United States is dependent upon the defeat of this
policy of legalized force and fraud, we invite the support of *
all citizens who desire to see the Constitution maintained in
its integrity with the laws pursuant thereto which have
given our country a hundred years of unexampled pros
perity ; and we pledge the Democratic party, if it be in
trusted with power, not only to the defeat of the Force Bill
but also to relentless opposition to the Republican policy
of profligate expenditure, which in the short space of two
years has squandered an enormous surplus and emptied an
overflowing Treasury, after piling new burdens of taxation
upon the already overtaxed labor of the country.
TARIFF AND LABOR. — The tariff plank as reported
to the Convention by the Committee on Resolutions began
as follows : —
" We reiterate the oft-repeated doctrines of the Demo
cratic party that the necessity of the government is the only
justification for taxations, and whenever a tax is unnecessary
it is unjustifiable; that when Custom House taxation is
levied upon articles of any kind produced in this country,
the difference between the cost of labor here and labor
abroad, when such a difference exists, fully measures any
possible benefits to labor, and the enormous additional im
positions of the existing tariff fall with crushing force upon
our farmers and workingmen, and, for the mere advantage
of the few whom it enriches, exact from labor a grossly un
just share of the expenses of the government, and we de
mand such a revision of the tariff laws as will remove their
iniquitous inequalities, lighten their oppressions and put
them on a constitutional and equitable basis.
" But, in making reduction in taxes, it is not proposed to

626 Grover Cleveland.
injure any domestic industries, but rather to promote their
healthy growth. From the foundation of this government,
taxes collected at the Custom House have been the chief
source of Federal revenue. Such they must continue to be.
Moreover, many industries have come to rely upon legisla
tion for successful continuance, so that any change of law
must be at every step regardful of the labor and capital thus
involved. The process of reform must be subject in the
execution to this plain dictate of justice."
But the above was stricken out by a majority vote in
Convention, and the plank as adopted read as follows : —
We denounce Republican Protection as a fraud — as a
robbery of a great majority of the American people for the
benefit of a few. We declare it to be a fundamental prin
ciple of the Democratic party that the government has no
constitutional power to impose and collect a dollar for tax
except for purposes of revenue only, and demand that the
collection of such taxes be imposed by the government
when only honestly and economically administered.
We denounce the McKinley Tariff law enacted by the
Fifty-first Congress as the culminating atrocity of class leg
islation : we endorse the efforts made by the Democrats of
the present Congress to modify its most oppressive features
in the direction of free raw materials and cheaper manufac
tured goods that enter into general consumption, and we
promise its repeal as one of the beneficent results that will
follow the action of the people in entrusting power to the
Democratic party. Since the McKinley tariff went into
operation there have been ten reductions of the wages of
laboring men to one increase. We deny that there has been
any increase of prosperity to the country since that tariff
went into operation, and we point to the dulness and distress,
the wage reductions and strikes in the iron trade as the best
possible evidence that no such prosperity has resulted from
the McKinley act.
We call the attention of thoughtful Americans to the fact
that after thirty years of restrictive taxes against the impor
tation of foreign wealth in exchange for our agricultural

GROVER CLEVELAND. 627
surplus the homes and farms of the country have become
burdened with a real estate mortgage debt of over $2,500,-
000,000, exclusive of all other forms of indebtedness ; that
in one ofthe chief agricultural States of the West there ap
pears a real estate mortgage debt averaging $165 per capita
of the total population, and that similar conditions and ten
dencies are shown to exist in the other agricultural export
ing States. We denounce a policy which fosters no industry
so much as it does that of {he Sheriff.
RECIPROCITY. — Trade interchange on the basis of re
ciprocal advantages to the countries participating is a time-
honored doctrine of the Democratic faith, but we denounce
the sham reciprocity which juggles with the people's desire
for enlarged foreign markets and freer exchanges by pre
tending to establish closer trade relations for a country
whose articles of export are almost exclusively agricultural
products with other countries that are also agricultural,
while erecting a Custom House barrier of prohibitive tariff
taxes against the richest countries of the world that stand
ready to take our entire surplus of products and to exchange
therefor commodities which are necessaries and comforts of
life among our own people.
TRUSTS. — We recognize in the trusts and combinations
which are designed to enable capital to secure more than its
just share ofthe joint product of capital and labor a natural
consequence of the prohibitive taxes which prevent the free
competition which is the life of honest trade ; but we believe
their worst evils can be abated by law, and we demand the
rigid enforcement of the laws made to prevent and control
them, together with such further legislation in restraint of
their abuses as experience may show to be necessary.
PUBLIC LANDS.— The Republican party, while pro
fessing a policy of reserving the public land for small hold
ings by actual settlers, has given away the people's heritage,
till now a few railroads and non-resident aliens, individual
and corporate, possess a larger area than that of all our
farms between the two seas. The last Democratic admin
istration reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the

628 GROVER CLEVELAND.
Republican party touching the public domain, and reclaimed
from corporations and syndicates, alien and domestic.-and
restored to the people nearly 100,000,000 acres of valuable
land, to be sacredly held as homesteads for our citizens, and
we pledge ourselves to continue this policy until every acre
of land so unlawfully held shall be reclaimed and restored
to the people.
SILVER COINAGE— We denounce the Republican
legislation known as the Sherman Act of 1890 as a cowardly
makeshift, fraught with possibilities of danger in the future,
which should make all its supporters, as well as its author,
anxious for its speedy repeal. We hold to the use of both
gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and
to the coinage of both gold and silver, without discriminat
ing against either metal or charge for mintage, the dollar
unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic
and exchangeable value, or be adjusted through international
agreement or by such safeguards of legislation as shall in
sure the maintenance of the parity of the two metals, and
the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets
and in the payment of debts, and we demand that all paper
currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such
coin. We insist upon this policy as specially necessary for
the protection of the farmers and laboring classes, the first
and most defenceless victims of unstable money and a fluc
tuating currency.
BANK TAXATION.— We recommend that the prohib
itory ten per cent, tax on State bank issues be repealed.
PUBLIC OFFICES.— Public office is a public trust. We
reaffirm the declaration of the Democratic National Con
vention of 1876 for the reform of the Civil Service, and we
call for the honest enforcement of all laws regulating the
same. The nomination of a President, as in the recent Re
publican Convention, by delegations composed largely of
his appointees, holding office at his pleasure, is a scandalous
satire upon free popular institutions and a startling illustra
tion of the methods by which a President may gratify his
ambition. We denounce a policy under which Federal

Hon. Charles P. Crisp.
Born in Sheffield, England, January 29, 1845, of American parents;
educated in common schools of Savannah and Macon, Ga. ; entered
Confederate army, May, 1861 ; a prisoner of war, 1864-65; studied law
in Americus, Ga., and admitted to bar, 1866; practiced in Ellaville;
appointed Solicitor-general in 1872 and again in 1873 ; moved to Americus
in 1873 ; appointed Judge of Superior Court, 1876, and elected to same,
1878 ; re-elected Judge, 1880 ; elected to 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st and 52d
Congresses ; elected Speaker of House in 52d Congress, after a long and
exciting canvass, his leading opponent being Roger Q. Mills, of Texas.
(6 y)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 631
office-holders usurp control of party conventions in the
States, and we pledge the Democratic party to the reform
of these and all other abuses which threaten individual lib
erty and local self-government.
FOREIGN POLICY.— The Democratic party is the
only party that has ever given the country a foreign policy
consistent and vigorous, compelling respect abroad and in
spiring confidence at home. While avoiding entangling
alliances, it has aimed to cultivate friendly relations with
other nations, and especially with our neighbors on the
American Continent, whose destiny is closely linked with
our own ; and we view with alarm the tendency to apolicy
of irritation and bluster which is liable at any time to con
front us with the alternative of humiliation or war. We
favor the maintenance of a navy strong enough for all pur
poses of national defence and to properly maintain the
honor and dignity of the country abroad.
FOREIGN OPPRESSION.— This country has always
been the refuge of the oppressed from every land — exiles
for conscience sake — and in the spirit of the founders of our
government we condemn the oppression practiced by the
Russian Government upon its Lutheran and Jewish sub
jects, and we call upon our national government, in the
interest of justice and humanity, by all just and proper
means to use its prompt and best efforts to bring about a
cessation of these cruel persecutions in the dominions of
the Czar and to secure to the oppressed equal rights.
We tender our profound and earnest sympathy to those
lovers of freedom who are struggling for Home Rule and
the great cause of local self-government in Ireland.
CONTRACT LABOR.— We heartily approve all legiti
mate efforts to prevent the United States from being used as
the dumping ground for the known criminals and profes
sional paupers of Europe, and we demand the rigid enforce
ment of the laws against Chinese immigration or the
importation of foreign workmen under contract, to degrade
American labor and lessen its wages ; but we condemn and

632 GROVER CLEVELAND.
denounce any and all attempts to restrict the immigration
of the industrious and worthy of foreign lands.
PENSIONS. — This convention hereby renews the expres
sion of appreciation of the patriotism of the soldiers and
sailors of the Union in the war for its preservation, and we
favor just and liberal pensions for all disabled Union sol
diers, their widows and dependents, but we demand that the
work of the Pension Office shall be done industriously, im
partially and honestly. We denounce the present adminis
tration of that office as incompetent, corrupt, disgraceful and
dishonest. MISSISSIPPI IMPROVEMENTS. — The Federal
Government should care for and improve the Mis
sissippi river and other great waterways of the repub
lic, so as to secure for the interior States easy and cheap
transportation to the tidewater. When any waterwa)t
of the republic is of sufficient importance to demand the
aid of the government, such aid should be extended on a
definite plan of continuous work until permanent improve
ment is secured.
NICARAGUA CANAL.— For purposes of national de
fence and the promotion of commerce between the States
we recognize the early construction of the Nicaragua Ca
nal and its protection against foreign control as of great
importance to the United States.
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. — Recognizing the
World's Columbian Exposition as a national under
taking of vast importance, in which the general gov
ernment has invited the co-operation of all the powers
of the world, and appreciating the acceptance by many of
such powers of the invitation so extended, and the broad
and liberal efforts being made by them to contribute to the
grandeur of the undertaking, we are of the opinion that
Congress should make such necessary financial provision as
shall be requisite to the maintenance of the national honor
and public faith.
POPULAR EDUCATION.— Popular education being

GROVER CLEVELAND. 633
the only safe basis of popular suffrage, we recom
mend to the several States most liberal appropriations
for the public schools. Free common schools are the
nursery of good government, and they have always re
ceived the fostering care of the Democratic party, which
favors every means of increasing intelligence. Freedom of
education, being an essential of civil and religious liberty, as
well as a necessity for the development of intelligence, must
not be interfered with under any pretext whatever. We are
opposed to State interference with parental rights and rights
of conscience in the education of children as an infringement
of the fundamental Democratic doctrine that the largest in
dividual liberty consistent with the rights of others insures
the highest type of American citizenship and the best gov
ernment. NEW STATES. — We approve the action of the present
House of Representatives in passing bills for the admission
into the Union as States of the Territories of New Mexico
and Arizona, and we favor the early admission of all the
Territories having necessary population and resource's to
admit them to Statehood, and while they remain Territories
we hold that the officials appointed to administer the gov
ernment of any Territory, together with the Districts of
Columbia and Alaska, should be bona fide residents of the
Territory or district in which their duties are to be per
formed. The Democratic party believes in Home Rule
and the control of their own affairs by the people of the
vicinage. RAILWAY EMPLOYES. — We favor legislation
by Congress and State Legislatures to protect the lives
and limbs of railway employes and those of other haz
ardous transportation companies, and denounce the in
activity of the Republican party, and particularly the
Republican Senate, for causing the defeat of measures bene
ficial and protective to this class of wage-workers.
THE SWEATING SYSTEM.— We are in favor of the
enactment by the States of laws for abolishing the noto
rious sweating system, for abolishing contract convict labor

634 GROVER CLEVELAND.
and for prohibiting the employment in factories of children
under fifteen years of age.
SUMPTUARY LAWS— We are opposed to all sump
tuary laws as an interference with the individual rights of
the citizen.
FINAL REQUEST. — Upon this statement of principles
and policies the Democratic party asks the intelligent judg
ment of the American people. It asks a change of ad
ministration and a change of party in order that there may
be a change of system and a change of methods, thus assur
ing the maintenance, unimpaired, of institutions under which
the republic has grown great and powerful.
On the third day of its session, June 23, 1892, the Con
vention nominated Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, as
the Democratic candidate for Vice-President.
reception of the news.
Promptly, on receipt of the news of his nomination, Mr.
Cleveland authorized the following to be. made public
through Governor Russell, of Massachusetts : '
" I should certainly be chargeable with dense insensibility
if I were not profoundly touched by this new proof of the
confidence and trust of the great party to which I belong
and whose mandates claim my loyal obedience.
" I am confident that our fellow-countrymen are ready to
receive with approval the principles of true Democracy, and
I cannot rid myself of the belief that to win success it is
only necessary to persistently and honestly advocate these
principles. " Differences of opinion and judgment in Democratic
conventions are by no means unwholesome indications, but
it is hardly conceivable in view of the importance of our
success to the country and to the party that there should
be anywhere among Democrats any lack of harmonious and

Hon. Roger Q. Mills.
Bom in Salem, Kentucky, in 1832 ; when seventeen years of age he
emigrated to Texas ; he became a lawyer, and when twenty-seven years
of age was elected to the Texas Legislature; at the breaking out of the
civil war he joined the Southern army as Colonel of a regiment of
infantry; he was wounded a number of times, though not seriously, and,
returning to his home at Corsicana, resumed the practice of his profes
sion ; in 1872 he was elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket, and
has been returned at every subsequent election. His majority at the
last election was over 16,000; Mr. Mills was always a tariff reformer,
and he was entrusted by Speaker Carlisle in the Fiftieth Congress with
the task of framing a tariff bill, which was the issue of the campaign of
1888, in which the Democrats were defeated ; Mr. Mills was a candi
date for Speaker for the present House, but Mr. Crisp secured the prize;
elected to TJ. S. Senate, March 22, 1892, by unanimous vote of Texas
Legislature. * (635)

GROVER CLEVELAND. 637
active effort to win in the campaign which opens before us.
I have, therefore, no concern on that subject.
" It will certainly be my constant endeavor to deserve the
support of every Democrat." spreading the news.
The triumph of Mr. Cleveland within the Democratic
ranks is in many respects creditable to his party. It clari
fies and simplifies the campaign. It contributes to a sharp,
clear-cut, unmistakable battle of principles. On the main
issue it means no juggle, no evasion, no subterfuge. — Phila
delphia Press.
The nomination of Mr. Cleveland is the most encourag
ing political event which has occurred in this country since
the war. — New York Post.
The issue was clearly made between the people and the
" managers." The people wanted a man that they could
trust. The " managers " wanted a man who would do their
bidding. The people won. How could it have been other
wise? The Democratic party has triumphed over its
bosses. This is a great victory which deserves celebration.
— Baltimore Evening News.
The best Democratic citizenship has spoken at Chicago
as the best Republican citizenship spoke at Minneapolis. —
New York Times.
The triumphant nomination of Grover Cleveland on the
first ballot in the Chicago Convention is a signal victory of
the people over the managing and intriguing politicians. —
Atlanta Journal.
The National Convention of the Democratic party at
Chicago has once more vindicated its claim to be par excel
lence the people's party of the country, the best embodiment
29

638 GROVER CLEVELAND.
of its sterling common-sense and innate sagacity as well as
honesty of purpose. — Baltimore Sun.
Cleveland is to-day the most conspicuous representative
of Democracy in its pristine simplicity, purity and fidelity
to the people, and it is this conviction pervading the masses
ofthe Democratic voters in all sections that asserted its om
nipotence in the Convention and compelled leaders and
tricksters and professional spoilsmen to bow to the im
perious command of honest Democracy. — Philadelphia
Times. " The next President must be a Democrat"
We intend to see that pledge fulfilled, and to this end we
invoke and expect to receive the aid of all true Democrats.
— New York World.
Grover Cleveland will be the next President of the United
States. — Charleston, S. C, News and Courier.
We expect Mr. Cleveland to sweep the country. — Rich
mond Dispatch.
Now is the time for all Democrats to get together and
work together. — Birmingham, Ala., Age-Journal.
There is victory in the man and platform. — Columbus
Enquirer— Sun.
Mr. Cleveland stands pre-eminently for policies of re
form. Jt was for this he was nominated. — Chattanooga
Times. There is nothing artificial or insincere about the Cleveland
movement. — Atlanta Constitution.
For a third time Mr. Cleveland's name will symbolize the
cause of pure and honest politics and government. — Gal
veston-Dallas News.
The triumphant nomination of Grover Cleveland as the
Democratic candidate for the Presidency is a marked honor,
both to the man and to the party. — Indianapolis Sentinel.

GROVER CLEVELAND. 639
In Mr. Cleveland the Democratic party has a leader whom
all Democrats can trust ; whom all Americans in all parties
can trust, for whether they agree with him or not they know
that he is a sincere, candid, honest, manly American ; a man
of the people; full of sympathy for the masses, with a
genuine American aversion to classes. — St. Louis Republic.
On Jutjr 20; Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Stevenson were publicly "notified of
their nominations at Madison Square Garden, New York, by the committee
appointed for the purpose. Mr. Cleveland's response weighed the responsi
bility of the party ; alluded to its strength and its sympathy with the peo
ple ; inveighed against the burdens imposed by the tariff upon consumers,
and the robbery of farmers' pockets " by the stealthy hand of protection ; "
pointed to the strikes as evidence of the falsity " that the existing protective
tariff is a boon to " the workingman ; claimed that his party was not a " de
structive party," but in favor of fairness and justice ; invited " opposition to
the death " to Federal interference with State elections ; appealed to Democ
racy to strive for success in the campaign.

I^S&s

Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson.

LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICE
OF
Hon. Adlai E.Stevenson.

Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson, the Democratic nominee for
Vice-President on the ticket with Grover Cleveland, was
born in Christian county, Kentucky, October 23, 1835. His
ancestry settled at a very early period of Colonial history in
North Carolina, and there rose to distinction, one of them
being a signer of the celebrated Mecklenburg Declaration
of Independence.
His parents sought fortune in the West and moved to
Kentucky, settling in Christian county. They were a plain,
sturdy, well-to-do people who brought along with them the
convictions that had rendered the name famous for genera
tions, and which were to give character and fame to their
offspring. Young Stevenson received his preliminary education in
the common schools of his native county. He was a youth
of more than ordinary promise, being industrious, bright
and acquisitive to a degree that found him fitted for higher
studies at an early age.
In 1852 his parents moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where
young Stevenson entered the Wesleyan University and went
through a course of study preparatory for college. He then
entered Centre College at Danville, Kentucky, and com-
(643)

644 ADLAI E. STEVENSON.
pleted his education. , He stood well in his classes, and was
a favorite with both fellows and professors. Among his
classmates were Senator J. C. S. Blackburn, Governor Mc
Creary, of Kentucky, and others who afterwards distinguished
themselves at the bar and in public life.
After graduating he began the study of law, and was ad
mitted to the bar in 1858. He began practice in Metamora,
Woodford county, Illinois, and remained there till 1868, a
period of ten years. He soon found himself in the enjoy
ment of a lucrative practice and in the midst of a wide and
encouraging popularity. As a recognition of his character
and talent he received the appointment of Master in Chancery
of the Circuit Court, which position he occupied for a period
of four years. He was then chosen District Attorney, which
office he held for four years, and which he administered with
ability and fidelity.
During these years he became identified with politics,
and such had been the character of his administrations of
office and such his growth in popular estimation that the
people of his district selected him as a Presidential Elector
in 1864. He entered the campaign for General McClellan
with all the ardor of youth and all the intensity of deep con
viction, and proved himself one of the ablest of campaignists.
His Democracy was of uncompromising quality and he
gained a deep place in the affections of his party. His
industry was of the most energetic and persevering type, and
in his stumping tour of the State he visited nearly every
county. At the expiration of his term as District Attorney in 1 868
he moved to Bloomington, 111., where he formed a law part
nership with his cousin, J. S. Ewing, which connection is
retained to date. This firm came into the enjoyment of an
extensive law practice, and took rank with the first in the

ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 645
State. The cases which came under its control were of
great magnitude, and not a few of them proved to be of
State and national importance. Mr. Stevenson enjoyed a
reputation as a lawyer which any practitioner might envy.
He was recognized as able in every branch of law, as in
defatigable in the preparation and prosecution of cases, and
as devoted to the interests of his clients. He was an
eloquent pleader, and commanded the respect of both court
and jury.
All the while he kept up his interest in politics and con
tinually enlarged his influence with the masses of his party.
His traits of fairness and frankness, and of unswerving devo
tion to his political principles, as well as of adhesion to the
methods which insure party success, won for him a strength
and popularity which augured well for his future standing
in party councils.
When quite young he married Miss Lettie Green, the
handsome and accomplished daughter of President Green,
of Centre College at Danville, Ky., a profound scholar, and
a minister of high standing.
In 1874 Mr. Stevenson was honored by his party with
the nomination for Congress in the Bloomington District.
Such a nomination meant the leadership of a forlorn hope,
for the district was counted as safely Republican by a ma
jority of three thousand. The situation was especially
desperate at that time, for his opponent was General Mc-
Nulta, who was regarded as one of the best stumpers and
debaters in the State, and who was strong with his party.
But Stevenson plunged into the canvass with an ardor and
persistency characteristic of him. He fought every inch of
ground with bravery and ability, and made one of the hot
test and most interesting canvasses of modern times. If a
winner, it would be a surprising and glorious victory. If

646 ADLAI E. STEVENSON.
defeated, he would go down with his flag flying and with
the admiration of friend and foe for his gallant efforts.
This campaign showed precisely of what stuff Stevenson
was made. He was a Napoleon in energy, a Ney in tac
tics, a Taylor in persistency. That the campaign grew
bitter as it grew excited was to be expected, but it was not
the fault of either candidate, so much as the indiscretion of
their friends. The war was waged unremittingly till the
polls closed.
During this malignant and scorching campaign Mr.
Stevenson was forced to meet and demolish the charge that
he was not in sympathy with the Union and that he had
been a member of the Knights of the Golden Circle. He
showed that he had never been a member of any society,
except the fraternities connected with his college, ahd the
remarkable result of his campaign fully vindicated him from
the aspersions cast upon him. Speaking of the malicious
story then circulated for the purpose of encompassing his
defeat, he has taken occasion to say : —

" While I was not in the army I favored every method for
the suppression ofthe rebellion by force of arms and gave
every action toward that end my cordial sympathy and
support. On the 4th day of July, 1861, 1 delivered a eulogy
on the life of Stephen A. Douglas at Metamora, Woodford
County. I was always an admirer of Douglas and agreed
with him as to his position in regard to the war. In that
speech I spoke firmly and unwaveringly in support of the
Union and for the suppression of the rebellion. When
Colonel Sidwell, of Woodford County, set out to raise a
regiment of Union soldiers, I accompanied him on his mis
sion, made speeches and in every way aided him in the
work, for which service he afterwards gave me a written ex
pression of thanks.
" In 1874 I was elected to Congress by a large majority

ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 647
in this district, which just before had given 3000 Republican
majority, and defeated General McNulta, a gallant Union
soldier. It is not likely that this could have been accom
plished by a man whose loyalty was doubted, and mind you,
I was elected to represent the people of a district who had
once been represented in Congress by Abraham Lincoln.
I desire again to state, as strongly as it is possible to state,
that there is not one word of truth in the charge that I was
disloyal to the Union, in thought or deed, or that I ever be
longed to or sympathized with or knew of the existence of
sych an organization as the Knights of the Golden Circle."
The result of this election was astounding to both sides.
He had overcome quite three thousand opposition majority
and had -turned it into a Democratic majority of nearly
twelve hundred. Such a revolution is seldom witnessed,
especially in stable communities. It was largely a personal
triumph, and it greatly augmented his fame as a politician
and his standing as a popular, lion-hearted man. It gave
him a prestige in his party which only needed cultivation
and opportunity to establish him as among its chief advisers.
His career in Congress was that of a thorough-going
Democrat. He did not originate measures, but he proved
to be a staunch advocate of all that was Democratic, a safe
and shrewd adviser, and a reliable exponent of party
measures. He retired with honors, and with a career that
greatly endeared him to his constituency. He had made a
mark for industry, for courage in debate, for consistency,
earnestness and ability, which laid the foundation of other
favors. In 1876 his party renominated him for Congress. Again
he fought the ground minutely and persistently. But con
ditions had changed, and after a brilliant battle he was
forced to acknowledge a defeat. It was one of those defeats,
however, which did not diminish the glory of the van-

648 ADLAI E. STEVENSON.
quished. He lost nothing in the esteem of his friends and
gained in the estimation of his enemies. The fates that had
favored him proved fickle. The show had been desperate
from the first.
Such was the esteem in which he was held by his party,
and such its confidence in his ability to fight against odds,
that they renominated him for Congress in 1878. All
know the thankless character of that undertaking which in
volves candidacy in a district where opposition is con
fidently intrenched. It is the bearing of a flag in despair,
with no recompense except the comfort of conserving party
discipline. It is the costliest service one can render, in that
it is so sacrificial of the time of the standard-bearer. This
sacrifice Stevenson was willing to make. This despair did
not impair his resolution. He entered the canvass with re
newed ardor. Behind him was a solid Democracy. He
inclined to a more extended currency, and would certainly
receive the support of all those who had identified them
selves with the " Greenback " movement, then so popular,
and before which both of the great parties trembled. He
made a campaign which was active, brilliant, convincing,
and walked away with the honors, having rolled up a ma
jority in his district of nearly 2,000, carrying every county.
This result was simply phenomenal, and impossible with
any other man than General Stevenson.
It must here be said that the title " General " is merely
honorary. He did not originate it, nor does he care for its
use. It came to him through others, and if it has allusion
to one characteristic more than another, it may be to that
happy knack of marshalling his forces in a desperate cam
paign and of fighting his political battles without reference
to the comfort of the enemy. When Grant came East and
was asked his opinion of the battles of the Potomac he

ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 649
could find no fault with their plans but laconically re
marked, "They don't appear to have been fought out."
Stevenson's battles are not open to this objection. They
were not only skilfully planned but always fought out. The
heroic abides in him. He could not be half of a Democrat
if he tried.
His career in Congress for his second term duplicated his
first for industry, consistency and pertinacity. If not as
showy as others, he was true, and his party knew exactly
where to find him. He retired once more with honors, and
such a confidence on the part of his friends as that forget-
fulness was out of the question.
In 1880 he was again nominated for Congress. But
political conditions had changed since his last election and
the times were unpropitious. The " Greenback " swell had
subsided, and his chief reliance must be on a straight party
vote in a hopelessly Republican district. But he allowed
nothing to go by default. He fought with desperation and
kept his party lines intact. His defeat was accomplished
only after herculean effort on the part of his foes and by
much less than a normal majority. Defeat occasioned no
loss of prestige ; if anything it fixed him firmer in the af
fections and councils of his party.
In 1882 Mr. Stevenson again yielded to the desire of his
party and became a candidate for Congress on the straight
Democratic ticket. He saw from the beginning the des
perate character of the undertaking, for political matters had
resumed their old ruts, and the possibility of drawing from
the enemy was remote. Nevertheless he made a rattling
campaign and called forth all the fighting qualities of his
opponents. He was defeated by the normal majority ofthe
district, which might be said to average about 2700, in an
off year.

650 ADLAI E. STEVENSON.
On his retiracy from Congress in 1881 he, resumed the
practice of the law, which he conducted with success and
profit, as before. But his interest in politics did not cease.
He was consulted by the party leaders in his State, and was
regarded as the ablest of organizers and the most cour
ageous of workers and exponents. In 1 884 he was elected a
delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago,
where he made most favorable impression by earnestness of
speech and commanding personal presence.
By virtue of his services at this Convention, of his excel
lent standing in his community, of his conceded legal and
administrative ability, he was appointed First Assistant Post
master-General under the Cleveland Administration, July
6, 1885. An important function of this office is the appoint
ment of postmasters, below the grade of Presidential ap
pointees. It is, therefore, easy to see that the main duty is
one of great delicacy, yet of momentous importance. It re
quires great care and discrimination, wonderful patience and
pertinacity, and, as custom has it, an amount of fearlessness
and party devotion which few men can exercise, amid a
harrowing environment. Duty overdone is as perilous as
duty underdone ; and to measure the exact amount of duty
requires discrimination of an exalted order.
Mr. Stevenson came up to the full standard of an able and
uncompromising official. He had full grasp of the situation,
was painstaking and industrious, conscientious in his desire
to better the service. If removals and appointments were
frequent, he had excellent precedent for his action. If in the
course of his administration he brought about a change in
the political complexion of the service, his action had the
sanction of time-honored custom and met the demands of
his party. The quality of his own politics had always been
of the sterling type, and his sense of both duty and pro-

Hon. Arthur P. Gorman.
Born in Howard co., Md., March 11, 1839; appointed Senate page,
1852, and continued in service till 1866 ; served as Collector of Internal
Revenue for Fifth Maryland District, 1866-69 ; elected as Democrat to
Maryland Legislature, November, 1869. Re-elected 1871, and became
Speaker of House; elected to State Senate, 1875; re-elected in 1879
elected to United States Senate, 1880; re-elected, 1886 and 1892
prominent exponent of Democratic thought and recognized leader
name familiar in connection with the Presidency; ability as an organ
izer conceded by all ; member of Committees on Appropriations, Com
merce, Inter-State Commerce, Printing, etc. ; a director of Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal Company. («5i)

ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 653
priety would have been outraged if he had not employed
the power and opportunity at his disposal to perfect the ser
vice through agents in harmony with his own and the polit
ical views of his Chief.
He proved to be an affable and popular official in a
place full of embarrassments. He earned the respect of all
his subordinates and associates, and the confidence of all his
superiors. He held his position with honor and daily
growing popularity till the end of Mr. Cleveland's term,
when he retired to resume his profession, with the best
wishes of all with whom he had been connected, whose
numbers were legion, and with the proud consciousness
that he had left the postal service of the land in a better
condition than he found it.
Upon his retiracy Mr. Stevenson not only resumed his
profession, but greatly enlarged his business connections.
Besides his interest in other substantial affairs, he was made
President of the Interstate Building and Loan Association
ef Bloomington, which institution was incorporated and
started in 1889.
Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson is of tall, well-proportioned,
commanding figure, not inclined to corpulency ; his features
are regular and his face expressive ; his forehead is high and
well shaped ; his hair is light and rather thin ; his eyes are
blue and keen ; his moustache is light colored. He has an
agreeable manner, and his voice is pleasant in conversation.
In public address his voice is clear and penetrating. The
nervousness noticeable when he begins to speak passes
away and is entirely lost in his earnestness. He stands
high as an orator and debater, and as a pleader at the bar
he ranks with the best in his State. In society he is dig
nified and graceful. His hand-shake is warm and assuring,

654 ADLAI E. STEVENSON.
and he has that happy faculty of remembering names per
fectly, which counts for so much with men in public life.
He is, like Cleveland, an adherent of the Presbyterian de
nomination, and in his private life a model of morality, with
no bad habits. He is devoted to his family and his family
is devoted to him. In Bloomington, where he lives, in a
modest but thoroughly comfortable house, as in Washing
ton, where he never felt rich enough to keep house or enter
tain, he is most popular with those who know him best.
One of the last official acts of Mr. Cleveland was to
nominate Mr. Stevenson for Justice ofthe Supreme Court of
the District of Columbia, but the Republican Senate failed
to act upon this nomination, and it fell through with the end
of the administration. In 1877 Mr. Hayes honored him
with the appointment of a place on the Board to inspect the
Military Academy at West Point. The recent Illinois
Democratic State Convention elected him one of the dele
gates at large to the National Democratic Convention at
Chicago, and he was therefore a member of the body which
was to confer further honors on himself.
Though Mr. Stevenson's name had been mentioned in
connection with the Vice-Presidency for some time before
the Chicago Convention, other names appeared to be more
prominent. After the Convention assembled, and a com
parison of notes had been had, it was generally conceded
that the nomination would go to Hon. Isaac P. Gray, of
Indiana. Geographically he occupied a " coign of vantage."
Consideration of his name, and even the inducement of a
nomination, operated as a cohesive force upon the Indiana
delegation, and perhaps influenced them in favor of Mr.
Cleveland. At any rate, as affairs shaped up in the Con
vention, Mr. Gray's name was most conspicuously before it
till the hour of making nominations came. Then came his

ADLAI E. STEVENSON 655
period of weakness. The geographic idea lost its force, and
other questions of expediency arose, among which was the
one that Illinois was, equally with Indiana, a doubtful State,
and might be carried by a man of Mr. Stevenson's wonder
ful energy, popularity and organizing ability. But whether
this were so or not, his name at any rate would carry
greater weight throughout the land, and round out the
ticket with a more perfect symmetry.
On the third day of the Convention's session, June 23,
1892, the roll was called for nominations for the Vice-
Presidency. Arkansas yielded to. Indiana, and the name of
Hon. Isaac P. Gray was placed in nomination by Hon. John
E. Lamb, in a pleasing speech, and amid much applause.
When Colorado was called, she yielded to Illinois, when
ex-Congressman Worthington arose, amid general cheering,
and presented the name of Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson. He
spoke in part as follows :
"Mr. Chairman. and Fellow-Delegates: — Illinois has
presented no Presidential candidate to this Convention.
But for the Vice-Presidency, for the second highest place in
the gift of the people, it has a candidate so fully equipped
by nature and education that it feels that it would be a po
litical fault to fail to urge his name for nomination.
" He is a big-bodied, big-hearted, big-brained man ; a man
of commanding presence, of dignified mien : a man whose
courtesy in his every-day manners is rarely equalled and
never excelled ; a man who in the administration of his du
ties in the last Democratic Administration was the beau
ideal of an honest, honorable, useful and efficient Demo
cratic office-holder, like his great leader.
" Will you help us give the twenty-four electoral votes
to Grover Cleveland ? If you will vote for the man whose
name I now present, a man who does not have to get a cer
tificate from a labor organization to prove that he is a friend
of the people [applause] ; a man that we all love — give us
Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois." [Prolonged applause.]

656 Adlai e. stevenson.
This address was received with vociferous applause and it
was easy to understand that the nomination had opened a
new trend of sentiment in the Convention. The nomination
was seconded by Kentucky and North Carolina.
The names of Chief-Justice Allen B. Morse, of Michigan,
and Hon. John L. Mitchell, of Wisconsin, were also placed
in nomination, but it was plain that the contest was to lie
between Stevenson and Gray.
The balloting showed the following figures : — Stevenson,
402 ; Gray, 343 ; Morse, 86 ; Mitchell, 45 ; Watterson, 26.
But before this result was announced, Iowa was recog
nized and changed its twenty-six votes from Watterson to
Stevenson. This started the stampede and Montana threw
her six votes to Stevenson, followed by Nebraska and Ne
vada who gave their solid vote.
Ohio changed forty-six votes to Stevenson. Oregon
changed eight votes to Stevenson. Tennessee changed to
Stevenson. Texas changed to Stevenson. This was suffi
cient to nominate Stevenson, and on motion the rules were
suspended and he was nominated by acclamation.
After his nomination General Stevenson held an informal
reception at the Palmer House, and was warmly congratu
lated by a host of his friends and supporters, who regarded
his success as propitious of a larger success in November.
On the reception of the news at his home In Blooming
ton, the greatest enthusiasm prevailed throughout the entire
county among the people of all parties, and preparations for
an elaborate greeting, on his return home, were at once
begun. The country accepted the nomination as an unusually
strong one, and interpreted the entire action of the Conven
tion as the wisest possible, every line of political thought
being considered.

YALE UNIVERSITY

3 9002 00659 3009

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