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diff --git a/old/cleve10.txt b/old/cleve10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b82e7fb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cleve10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5168 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Cleveland Era +by Henry Jones Ford + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + +Title: The Cleveland Era, A Chronicle of the New Order in +Politics + +Author: Henry Jones Ford + +THIS BOOK, VOLUME 44 IN THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA SERIES, ALLEN +JOHNSON, EDITOR, WAS DONATED TO PROJECT GUTENBERG BY THE JAMES J. +KELLY LIBRARY OF ST. GREGORY'S UNIVERSITY; THANKS TO ALEV AKMAN. + + +THE CLEVELAND ERA, A CHRONICLE OF THE NEW ORDER IN POLITICS + +BY HENRY JONES FORD + +NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & CO. +LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD +OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS + +1919 + +Volume 44 in the Chronicles of America Series. Abraham Lincoln +Edition. + + +CONTENTS + +I. A TRANSITION PERIOD +II. POLITICAL GROPING AND PARTY FLUCTUATION +III. THE ADVENT OF CLEVELAND +IV. A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS +V. PARTY POLICY IN CONGRESS +VI. PRESIDENTIAL KNIGHT-ERRANTRY +VII. THE PUBLIC DISCONTENTS +VIII. THE REPUBLICAN OPPORTUNITY +IX. THE FREE SILVER REVOLT +X. LAW AND ORDER UPHELD +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +THE CLEVELAND ERA + + +CHAPTER I. A TRANSITION PERIOD + +Politicians at Washington very generally failed to realize that +the advent of President Hayes marked the dismissal of the issues +of war and reconstruction. They regarded as an episode what +turned out to be the close of an era. They saw, indeed, that +public interest in the old issues had waned, but they were +confident that this lack of interest was transient. They admitted +that the emotional fervor excited by the war and by the issues of +human right involved in its results was somewhat damped, but they +believed that the settlement of those issues was still so +incomplete that public interest would surely rekindle. For many +years the ruling thought of the Republican party leaders was to +be watchful of any opportunity to ply the bellows on the embers. +Besides genuine concern over the way in which the negroes had +been divested of political privileges conferred by national +legislation, the Republicans felt a tingling sense of party +injury. + +The most eminent party leaders at this time--both standing high +as presidential possibilities--were James G. Blaine and John +Sherman. In a magazine article published in 1880 Mr. Blaine +wrote: "As the matter stands, all violence in the South inures to +the benefit of one political party.... Our institutions have been +tried by the fiery test of war, and have survived. It remains to +be seen whether the attempt to govern the country by the power of +a 'solid South,' unlawfully consolidated, can be successful.... +The republic must be strong enough, and shall be strong enough, +to protect the weakest of its citizens in all their rights." And +so late as 1884, Mr. Sherman earnestly contended for the +principle of national intervention in the conduct of state +elections. "The war," he said, "emancipated and made citizens of +five million people who had been slaves. This was a national act +and whether wisely or imprudently done it must be respected by +the people of all the States. If sought to be reversed in any +degree by the people of any locality it is the duty of the +national government to make their act respected by all its +citizens." + +Republican party platforms reiterated such opinions long after +their practical futility had become manifest. Indeed, it was a +matter of common knowledge that negro suffrage had been undone by +force and fraud; hardly more than a perfunctory denial of the +fact was ever made in Congress, and meanwhile it was a source of +jest and anecdote among members of all parties behind the scenes. +Republican members were bantered by Democratic colleagues upon +the way in which provision for Republican party advantage in the +South had actually given to the Democratic party a solid block of +sure electoral votes. The time at last came when a Southern +Senator, Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina, blurted out in the +open what had for years been common talk in private. "We took the +government away," be asserted. "We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot +them. We are not ashamed of it.... With that system--force, +tissue ballots, etc.--we got tired ourselves. So we called a +constitutional convention, and we eliminated, as I said, all of +the colored people we could under the fourteenth and fifteenth +amendments.... The brotherhood of man exists no longer, because +you shoot negroes in Illinois, when they come in competition with +your labor, and we shoot them in South Carolina, when they come +in competition with us in the matter of elections." + +Such a miscarriage of Republican policy was long a bitter +grievance to the leaders of the party and incited them to action. +If they could have had their desire, they would have used +stringent means to remedy the situation. Measures to enforce the +political rights of the freedmen were frequently agitated, but +every force bill which was presented had to encounter a deep and +pervasive opposition not confined by party lines but manifested +even within the Republican party itself. Party platforms insisted +upon the issue, but public opinion steadily disregarded it. +Apparently a fine opportunity to redress this grievance was +afforded by the election of President Harrison in 1888 upon a +platform declaring that the national power of the Democratic +party was due to "the suppression of the ballot by a criminal +nullification of the Constitution and laws of the United States," +and demanding "effective legislation to secure integrity and +purity of elections." But, although they were victorious at the +polls that year, the Republican leaders were unable to embody in +legislation the ideal proposed in their platform. Of the causes +of this failure, George F. Hoar gives an instructive account in +his "Autobiography." As chairman of the Senate committee on +privileges and elections he was in a position to know all the +details of the legislative attempts, the failure of which +compelled the Republican leaders to acquiesce in the decision of +public opinion against the old issues and in favor of new issues. + +Senator Hoar relates that he made careful preparation of a bill +for holding, under national authority, separate registrations and +elections for members of Congress. But when he consulted his +party associates in the Senate he found most of them averse to an +arrangement which would double the cost of elections and would +require citizens to register at different times for federal +elections and for state and municipal elections. Senator Hoar +thereupon abandoned that bill and prepared another which provided +that, upon application to court showing reasonable grounds, the +court should appoint officers from both parties to supervise the +election. The bill adopted a feature of electoral procedure which +in England has had a salutary effect. It was provided that in +case of a dispute concerning an election certificate, the circuit +court of the United States in which the district was situated +should hear the case and should award a certificate entitling the +one or other of the contestants to be placed on the clerk's roll +and to serve until the House should act on the case. Mr. Hoar +stated that the bill "deeply excited the whole country," and went +on to say that "some worthy Republican senators became alarmed. +They thought, with a good deal of reason, that it was better to +allow existing evils and conditions to be cured by time, and the +returning conscience and good sense of the people, rather than +have the strife, the result of which must be quite doubtful, +which the enactment and enforcement of this law, however moderate +and just, would inevitably create." The existence of this +attitude of mind made party advocacy of the bill a hopeless +undertaking and, though it was favorably reported on August 7, +1890, no further action was taken during that session. At the +December session it was taken up for consideration, but after a +few days of debate a motion to lay it aside was carried by the +Democrats with the assistance of enough Republicans to give them +a majority. This was the end of force bills, and during President +Cleveland's second term the few remaining statutes giving +authority for federal interference in such matters was repealed +under the lead of Senator Hill of New York. With the passage of +this act, the Republican party leaders for the first time +abandoned all purpose of attempting to secure by national +legislation the political privileges of the negroes. This +determination was announced is the Senate by Mr. Hoar and was +assented to by Senator Chandler of New Hampshire, who had been a +zealous champion of federal action. According to Mr. Hoar, "no +Republican has dissented from it." + +The facts upon which the force bill was based were so notorious +and the bill itself was so moderate in its character that the +general indifference of the public seemed to betray moral +insensibility and emotional torpor. Much could be said in favor +of the bill. This latest assertion of national authority in +federal elections involved no new principle. In legalistic +complexion the proposed measure was of the same character as +previous legislation dealing with this subject, instances of +which are the Act of 1842, requiring the election of members of +the House by districts, and the Act of 1866, regulating the +election of United States Senators. Fraudulent returns in +congressional elections have always been a notorious evil, and +the partisan way in which they are passed upon is still a gross +blemish upon the constitutional system of the United States, and +one which is likely never to be removed until the principle of +judicial determination of electoral contests has been adopted in +this country as it has been in England. The truth of the matter +appears to be that the public paid no attention to the merits of +the bill. It was viewed simply as a continuation of the radical +reconstruction policy, the practical results of which had become +intolerable. However great the actual evils of the situation +might be, public opinion held that it would be wiser to leave +them to be dealt with by state authority than by such incompetent +statesmanship as had been common in Washington. Moreover, the man +in the street resented the indifference of politicians to all +issues save those derived from the Civil War. + +Viscount Bryce in his "American Commonwealth," the most complete +and penetrating examination of American political conditions +written during this period, gives this account of the party +situation: + +"The great parties are the Republicans and the Democrats. What +are their principles, their distinctive tenets, their tendencies? +Which of them is for tariff reform, for the further extension of +civil service reform, a spirited foreign policy, for the +regulation of railroads and telegraphs by legislation, for +changes in the currency, for any other of the twenty issues which +one hears discussed in this country as seriously involving its +welfare? This is what a European is always asking of intelligent +Republicans and intelligent Democrats. He is always asking +because he never gets an answer. The replies leave him deeper in +perplexity. After some months the truth begins to dawn upon him. +Neither party has, as a party, anything definite to say on these +issues; neither party has any clean-cut principles, any +distinctive tenets. Both have traditions. Both claim to have +tendencies. Both certainly have war cries, organizations, +interests, enlisted in their support. But those interests are in +the main the interests of getting or keeping the patronage of the +government. Tenets and policies, points of political doctrine and +points of political practice have all but vanished. They have not +been thrown away, but have been stripped away by time and the +progress of events, fulfilling some policies, blotting out +others. All has been lost, except office or the hope of it." + +That such a situation could actually exist in the face of public +disapproval is a demonstration of the defects of Congress as an +organ of national representation. Normally, a representative +assembly is a school of statesmanship which is drawn upon for +filling the great posts of administration. Not only is this the +case under the parliamentary system in vogue in England, but it +is equally the case in Switzerland whose constitution agrees with +that of the United States in forbidding members of Congress to +hold executive office. But somehow the American Congress fails to +produce capable statesmen. It attracts politicians who display +affability, shrewdness, dexterity, and eloquence, but who are +lacking in discernment of public needs and in ability to provide +for them, so that power and opportunity are often associated with +gross political incompetency.* The solutions of the great +political problems of the United States are accomplished by +transferring to Washington men like Hayes and Cleveland whose +political experience has been gained in other fields. + +* Of this regrettable fact the whole history of emancipation is a +monument. The contrast between the social consequences of +emancipation in the West Indies, as guided by British +statesmanship, under conditions of meager industrial opportunity, +and the social consequences of emancipation in the United States, +affords an instructive example of the complicated evils which a +nation may experience through the sheer incapacity of its +government. + + +The system of congressional government was subjected to some +scrutiny in 1880-81 through the efforts of Senator George H. +Pendleton of Ohio, an old statesman who had returned to public +life after long absence. He had been prominent in the Democratic +party before the war and in 1864 he was the party candidate for +Vice-President. In 1868 he was the leading candidate for the +presidential nomination on a number of ballots, but he was +defeated. In 1869 he was a candidate for Governor of Ohio but was +defeated; he then retired from public life until 1879 when he +was elected to the United States Senate. As a member of that +body, he devoted himself to the betterment of political +conditions. His efforts in this direction were facilitated not +only by his wide political experience but also by the tact and +urbanity of his manners, which had gained for him in Ohio +politics the nickname of "Gentleman George." + +In agreement with opinions long previously expressed in Story's +"Commentaries," Senator Pendleton attributed the inefficiency of +national government to the sharp separation of Congress from the +Administration--a separation not required by the Constitution but +made by Congress itself and subject to change at its discretion. +He proposed to admit the heads of executive departments to +participation in the proceedings of Congress. "This system," said +he, "will require the selection of the strongest men to be heads +of departments, and will require them to be well equipped with +the knowledge of their offices. It will also require the +strongest men to be the leaders of Congress and participate in +the debate. It will bring those strong men in contact, perhaps +into conflict, to advance the public weal and thus stimulate +their abilities and their efforts, and will thus assuredly result +to the good of the country."* The report--signed by such party +leaders as Allison, Blaine, and Ingalls among the Republicans, +and by Pendleton and Voorhees among the Democrats--reviewed the +history of relations between the executive and legislative +branches and closed with the expression of the unanimous belief +of the committee that the adoption of the measure "will be the +first step towards a sound civil service reform, which will +secure a larger wisdom in the adoption of policies, and a better +system in their execution." + +* "Senate Report," No. 837, 46th Congress, 3d session, February +4, 1881. + + +No action was taken on this proposal, notwithstanding the favor +with which it was regarded by many close students of the +political institutions of the country. Public opinion, +preoccupied with more specific issues, seemed indifferent to a +reform that aimed simply at general improvement in governmental +machinery. The legislative calendars are always so heaped with +projects that to reach and act upon any particular measure is +impossible, except when there is brought to bear such energetic +pressure as to produce special arrangements for the purpose, and +in this case no such pressure was developed. A companion measure +for civil service reform which was proposed by Senator Pendleton +long remained in a worse situation, for it was not merely left +under the congressional midden heap but was deliberately buried +by politicians who were determined that it should never emerge. +That it did emerge is due to a tragedy which aroused public +opinion to an extent that intimidated Congress. + +Want of genuine political principles made factional spirit only +the more violent and depraved. So long as power and opportunity +were based not upon public confidence but upon mere advantage of +position, the contention of party leaders turned upon questions +of appointment to office and the control of party machinery. The +Republican national convention of 1880 was the scene of a +factional struggle which left deep marks upon public life and +caused divisions lasting until the party leaders of that period +were removed from the scene. In September 1879, General Grant +landed in San Francisco, after a tour around the world occupying +over two years, and as he passed through the country he was +received with a warmth which showed that popular devotion was +abounding. A movement in favor of renominating him to the +Presidency was started under the direction of Senator Roscoe +Conkling of New York. Grant's renown as the greatest military +leader of the Civil War was not his only asset in the eyes of his +supporters. In his career as President he had shown, on occasion, +independence and steadfastness of character. He stayed the +greenback movement by his veto after eminent party leaders had +yielded to it. He had endeavored to introduce civil service +reform and, although his measures had been frustrated by the +refusal of Congress to vote the necessary appropriations, his +tenacity of purpose was such that it could scarcely be doubted +that with renewed opportunity he would resume his efforts. The +scandals which blemished the conduct of public affairs during his +administration could not be attributed to any lack of personal +honesty on his part. Grant went out of the presidential office +poorer than when he entered it. Since then, his views had been +broadened by travel and by observation, and it was a reasonable +supposition that he was now better qualified than ever before for +the duties of the presidential office. He was only fifty-eight, +an age much below that at which an active career should be +expected to close, and certainly an age at which European +statesmen are commonly thought to possess unabated powers. In +opposition to him was a tradition peculiar to American politics, +though unsupported by any provision of the Constitution +according to which no one should be elected President for more +than two terms. It may be questioned whether this tradition does +not owe its strength more to the ambition of politicians than to +sincere conviction on the part of the people.* + +* The reasoning of "The Federalist," in favor of continued +reeligibility, is cogent in itself and is supported by the +experience of other countries, for it shows that custody of power +may remain in the same hands for long periods without detriment +and without occasioning any difficulty in terminating that +custody when public confidence is withdrawn. American +sensitiveness on this point would seem to impute to the +Constitution a frailty that gives it a low rating among forms of +government. As better means are provided for enforcing +administrative responsibility, the popular dislike of third terms +will doubtless disappear. + + +So strong was the movement in favor of General Grant as President +that the united strength of the other candidates had difficulty +in staying the boom, which, indeed, might have been successful +but for the arrogant methods and tactical blunders of Senator +Conkling. When three of the delegates voted against a resolution +binding all to support the nominee whoever that nominee might be, +he offered a resolution that those who had voted in the negative +"do not deserve and have forfeited their vote in this +convention." The feeling excited by this condemnatory motion was +so strong that Conkling was obliged to withdraw it. He also made +a contest in behalf of the unit rule but was defeated, as the +convention decided that every delegate should have the right to +have his vote counted as he individually desired. Notwithstanding +these defeats of the chief manager of the movement in his favor, +Grant was the leading candidate with 304 votes on the first +ballot, James G. Blaine standing second with 284. This was the +highest point in the balloting reached by Blaine, while the +Grant vote made slight gains. Besides Grant and Blaine, four +other candidates were in the field, and the convention drifted +into a deadlock which under ordinary circumstances would have +probably been dissolved by shifts of support to Grant. But in the +preliminary disputes a very favorable impression had been made +upon the convention by General Garfield, who was not himself a +candidate but was supporting the candidacy of John Sherman, who +stood third in the poll. On the twenty-eighth ballot, two votes +were cast for Garfield; although he protested that he was not a +candidate and was pledged to Sherman. But it became apparent that +no concentration could be effected on any other candidate to +prevent the nomination of Grant, and votes now turned to Garfield +so rapidly that on the thirty-sixth ballot he received 399, a +clear majority of the whole. The adherents of Grant stuck to him +to the end, polling 306 votes on the last ballot and subsequently +deporting themselves as those who had made a proud record of +constancy. + +The Democratic national convention nominated General Hancock, +which was, in effect, an appeal to the memories and sentiments of +the past, as their candidate's public distinction rested upon his +war record. The canvass was marked by listlessness and +indifference on the part of the general public, and by a fury of +calumny on the part of the politicians directed against their +opponents. Forgery was resorted to with marked effect on the +Pacific coast, where a letter--the famous Morey letter--in which +Garfield's handwriting was counterfeited, was circulated +expressing unpopular views an the subject of Chinese immigration. +The forgery was issued in the closing days of the canvass, when +there was not time to expose it. Arrangements had been made for a +wide distribution of facsimiles which exerted a strong influence. +Hancock won five out of the six electoral votes of California and +came near getting the three votes of Oregon also. In the popular +vote of the whole country, Garfield had a plurality of less than +ten thousand in a total vote of over nine million. + +The peculiarities of the party system which has been developed in +American politics, forces upon the President the occupation of +employment agent as one of his principal engagements. The +contention over official patronage, always strong and ardent upon +the accession of every new President, was aggravated in +Garfield's case by the factional war of which his own nomination +was a phase. The factions of the Republican party in New York at +this period were known as the "Stalwarts" and the "Half-Breeds," +the former adhering to the leadership of Senator Conkling, the +latter to the leadership of Mr. Blaine, whom President Garfield +had appointed to be his Secretary of State. Soon after the +inauguration of Garfield it became manifest that he would favor +the "Half-Breeds"; but under the Constitution appointments are +made by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and both +the Senators from New York were "Stalwarts." Although the +Constitution contemplates the action of the entire Senate as the +advisory body in matters of appointment, a practice had been +established by which the Senators from each State were accorded +the right to dictate appointments in their respective States. +According to Senator Hoar, when he entered public life in 1869, +"the Senate claimed almost the entire control of the executive +function of appointment to office.... What was called 'the +courtesy of the Senate' was depended upon to enable a Senator to +dictate to the executive all appointments and removals in his +territory." This practice was at its greatest height when +President Garfield challenged the system, and he let it be +understood that he would insist upon his constitutional right to +make nominations at his own discretion. When Senator Conkling +obtained from a caucus of his Republican colleagues an expression +of sympathy with his position, the President let it be known that +he regarded such action as an affront and he withdrew all New +York nominations except those to which exception had been taken +by the New York Senators, thus confronting the Senate with the +issue whether they would stand by the new Administration or would +follow Conkling's lead. + +On the other hand, Senator Conkling and his adherents declared +the issue to be simply whether competent public officials should +be removed to make room for factional favorites. This view of the +case was adopted by Vice-President Arthur and by +Postmaster-General James of Garfield's own Cabinet, who, with New +York Senators Conkling and Platt, signed a remonstrance in which +they declared that in their belief the interests of the public +service would not be promoted by the changes proposed. These +changes were thus described in a letter of May 14,1881, from the +New York Senators to Governor Cornell of New York: + +"Some weeks ago, the President sent to the Senate in a group the +nominations of several persons for public offices already filled. +One of these offices is the Collectorship of the Port of New +York, now held by General Merritt; another is the consul +generalship at London, now held by General Badeau; another is +Charge d'Affaires to Denmark, held by Mr. Cramer; another is the +mission to Switzerland, held by Mr. Fish, a son of the former +Secretary of State.... It was proposed to displace them all, not +for any alleged fault of theirs, or for any alleged need or +advantage of the public service, but in order to give the great +offices of Collector of the Port of New York to Mr. William H. +Robertson as a 'reward' for certain acts of his, said to have +aided in making the nomination of General Garfield possible.... +We have not attempted to 'dictate,' nor have we asked the +nomination of one person to any office in the State." + +Except in the case of their remonstrance against the Robertson +appointment, they had "never even expressed an opinion to the +President in any case unless questioned in regard to it." Along +with this statement the New York Senators transmitted their +resignations, saying "we hold it respectful and becoming to make +room for those who may correct all the errors we have made, and +interpret aright all the duties we have misconceived." + +The New York Legislature was then in session. Conkling and Platt +offered themselves as candidates for reelection, and a protracted +factional struggle ensued; in the course of which, the nation was +shocked by the news that President Garfield had been assassinated +by a disappointed once seeker in a Washington railway station on +July 2, 1881. The President died from the effects of the wound on +the 19th of September. Meanwhile, the contest in the New York +Legislature continued until the 22d of July when the deadlock was +broken by the election of Warner Miller and Elbridge G. Lapham to +fill the vacancies. + +The deep disgust with which the nation regarded this factional +war, and the horror inspired by the assassination of President +Garfield, produced a revulsion of public opinion in favor of +civil service reform so energetic as to overcome congressional +antipathy. Senator Pendleton's bill to introduce the merit +system, which had been pending for nearly two years, was passed +by the Senate on December 27, 1882, and by the House on January +4, 1883. The importance of the act lay in its recognition of the +principles of the reform and in its provision of means by which +the President could apply those principles. A Civil Service +Commission was created, and the President was authorized to +classify the Civil Service and to provide selection by +competitive examination for all appointments to the service thus +classified. The law was essentially an enabling act, and its +practical efficacy was contingent upon executive discretion. + + + +CHAPTER II. POLITICAL GROPING AND PARTY FLUCTUATION + +President Garfield's career was cut short so soon after his +accession to office, that he had no opportunity of showing +whether he had the will and the power to obtain action for the +redress of public grievances, which the congressional factions +were disposed to ignore. His experience and his attainments were +such as should have qualified him for the task, and in his public +life he had shown firmness of character. His courageous +opposition to the greenback movement in Ohio had been of great +service to the nation in maintaining the standard of value. When +a party convention in his district passed resolutions in favor of +paying interest on the bonds with paper instead of coin, he gave +a rare instance of political intrepidity by declaring that he +would not accept the nomination on such a platform. It was the +deliberate opinion of Senator Hoar, who knew Garfield intimately, +that "next to the assassination of Lincoln, his death was the +greatest national misfortune ever caused to this country by the +loss of a single life." + +The lingering illness of President Garfield raised a serious +question about presidential authority which is still unsettled. +For over two months before he died he was unable to attend to any +duties of office. The Constitution provides that "in case of the +removal of the President from office, or of his death, +resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of +the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President." +What is the practical significance of the term "inability"? If it +should be accepted in its ordinary meaning, a prostrating illness +would be regarded as sufficient reason for allowing the +Vice-President to assume presidential responsibility. Though +there was much quiet discussion of the problem, no attempt was +made to press a decision. After Garfield died, President Arthur, +on succeeding to the office, took up the matter in his first +annual message, putting a number of queries as to the actual +significance of the language of the Constitution--queries which +have yet to be answered. The rights and duties of the +Vice-President in this particular are dangerously vague. The +situation is complicated by a peculiarity of the electoral +system. In theory, by electing a President the nation expresses +its will respecting public policy; but in practice the candidate +for President may be an exponent of one school of opinion and the +candidate for Vice-President may represent another view. It is +impossible for a voter to discriminate between the two; he cannot +vote for the candidate for President without voting for the +candidate for Vice-President, since he does not vote directly for +the candidates themselves but for the party electors who are +pledged to the entire party ticket. Party conventions take +advantage of this disability on the part of the voter to work an +electioneering device known as a "straddle," the aim of which is +to please opposite interests by giving each a place on the +ticket. After Garfield was nominated, the attempt was made to +placate the defeated faction by nominating one of its adherents +for Vice-President, and now that nominee unexpectedly became the +President of the United States, with power to reverse the policy +of his predecessor. + +In one important matter there was, in fact, an abrupt reversal of +policy. The independent countries of North and South America had +been invited to participate in a general congress to be held in +Washington, November 24, 1881. James Gillespie Blaine, who was +then Secretary of State, had applied himself with earnestness and +vigor to this undertaking, which might have produced valuable +results. It was a movement towards closer relations between +American countries, a purpose which has since become public +policy and has been steadily promoted by the Government. +With the inauguration of President Arthur, Blaine was succeeded +by Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, who practically +canceled the invitation to the proposed Congress some six weeks +after it had been issued. On February 3, 1889, Blaine protested +in an open letter to the President, and the affair occasioned +sharp discussion. In his regular message to Congress in the +following December, the President offered excuses of an evasive +character, pointing out that Congress had made no appropriation +for expenses and declaring that he had thought it "fitting that +the Executive should consult the representatives of the people +before pursuing a line of policy somewhat novel in its character +and far-reaching in its possible consequences." + +In general, President Arthur behaved with a tact and prudence +that improved his position in public esteem. It soon became +manifest that, although he had been Conkling's adherent, he was +not his servitor. He conducted the routine business of the +presidential office with dignity, and he displayed independence +of character in his relations with Congress. But his powers were +so limited by the conditions under which he had to act that to a +large extent public interests had to drift along without +direction and management. In some degree, the situation resembled +that which existed in the Holy Roman Empire when a complicated +legalism kept grinding away and pretentious forms of authority +were maintained, although, meanwhile, there was actual +administrative impotence. Striking evidence of the existence of +such a situation is found in President Arthur's messages to +Congress. + +In his message of December 6, 1881, the President mentioned the +fact that in the West "a band of armed desperadoes known as +'Cowboys,' probably numbering fifty to one hundred men, have been +engaged for months in committing acts of lawlessness and +brutality which the local authorities have been unable to +repress." He observed that "with every disposition to meet the +exigencies of the case, I am embarrassed by lack of authority to +deal with them effectually." The center of disturbance was in +Arizona, and the punishment of crime there was ordinarily the +business of the local authorities. But even if they called for +aid, said the President, "this Government would be powerless to +render assistance," for the laws had been altered by Congress so +that States but not Territories could demand the protection of +the national Government against "domestic violence." He +recommended legislation extending to the Territories "the +protection which is accorded the States by the Constitution." On +April 26, 1882, the President sent a special message to Congress +on conditions in Arizona, announcing that "robbery, murder, and +resistance to laws have become so common as to cease causing +surprise, and that the people are greatly intimidated and losing +confidence in the protection of the law." He also advised +Congress that the "Cowboys" were making raids into Mexico, and +again begged for legal authority to act. On the 3rd of May, he +issued a proclamation calling upon the outlaws "to disperse and +retire peaceably to their respective abodes." In his regular +annual message on December 4, 1882, he again called attention "to +the prevalent lawlessness upon the borders, and to the necessity +of legislation for its suppression." + +Such vast agitation from the operations of a band of ruffians, +estimated at from fifty to one hundred in number, and such +floundering incapacity for prompt action by public authority seem +more like events from a chronicle of the Middle Ages than from +the public records of a modern nation. Of like tenor, was a +famous career which came to an end in this period. Jesse W. +James, the son of a Baptist minister in Clay County, Missouri, +for some years carried on a bandit business, specializing in the +robbery of banks and railroad trains, with takings computed at +$263,778. As his friends and admirers were numerous, the elective +sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, and judges in the area of his +activities were unable to stop him by any means within their +reach. Meanwhile, the frightened burghers of the small towns in +his range of operations were clamoring for deliverance from his +raids, and finally Governor Crittenden of Missouri offered a +reward of $10,000 for his capture dead or alive. Two members of +his own band shot him down in his own house, April 3, 1882. They +at once reported the deed and surrendered themselves to the +police, were soon put on trial, pleaded guilty of murder, were +sentenced to death, and were at once pardoned by the Governor. +Meanwhile, the funeral ceremonies over Jesse James's remains drew +a great concourse of people, and there were many indications of +popular sympathy. Stories of his exploits have had an extensive +sale, and his name has become a center of legend and ballad +somewhat after the fashion of the medieval hero Robin Hood. + +The legislative blundering which tied the President's hands and +made the Government impotent to protect American citizens from +desperadoes of the type of the "cowboys" and Jesse James, is +characteristic of Congress during this period. Another example of +congressional muddling is found in an act which was passed for +the better protection of ocean travel and which the President +felt constrained to veto. In his veto message of July 1, 1882, +the President said that he was entirely in accord with the +purpose of the bill which related to matters urgently demanding +legislative attention. But the bill was so drawn that in practice +it would have caused great confusion in the clearing of vessels +and would have led to an impossible situation. It was not the +intention of the bill to do what the President found its language +to require, and the defects were due simply to maladroit +phrasing, which frequently occurs in congressional enactments, +thereby giving support to the theory of John Stuart Mill that a +representative assembly is by its very nature unfit to prepare +legislative measures. + +The clumsy machinery of legislation kept bungling on, +irresponsive to the principal needs and interests of the times. +An ineffectual start was made on two subjects presenting simple +issues on which there was an energetic pressure of popular +sentiment--Chinese immigration and polygamy among the Mormons. +Anti-Chinese legislation had to contend with a traditional +sentiment in favor of maintaining the United States as an asylum +for all peoples. But the demand from the workers of the Pacific +slope for protection against Asiatic competition in the home +labor market was so fierce and so determined that Congress +yielded. President Arthur vetoed a bill prohibiting Chinese +immigration as "a breach of our national faith," but he admitted +the need of legislation on the subject and finally approved a +bill suspending immigration from China for a term of years. This +was a beginning of legislation which eventually arrived at a +policy of complete exclusion. The Mormon question was dealt with +by the Act of March 22, 1882, imposing penalties upon the +practice of polygamy and placing the conduct of elections in the +Territory of Utah under the supervision of a board of five +persons appointed by the President. Though there were many +prosecutions under this act, it proved so ineffectual in +suppressing polygamy that it was eventually supplemented by +giving the Government power to seize and administer the property +of the Mormon Church. This action, resulting from the Act of +March 3, 1887, created a momentous precedent. The escheated +property was held by the Government until 1896 and meanwhile, the +Mormon Church submitted to the law and made a formal declaration +that it had abandoned polygamy. + +Another instance in which a lack of agreement between the +executive and the legislative branches of the Government +manifested itself, arose out of a scheme which President Arthur +recommended to Congress for the improvement of the waterways of +the Mississippi and its tributaries. The response of Congress was +a bill in which there was an appropriation of about $4,000,000 +for the general improvements recommended, but about $14,000,000 +were added for other special river and harbor schemes which had +obtained congressional favor. President Arthur's veto message of +August 1, 1882, condemned the bill because it contained +provisions designed "entirely for the benefit of the particular +localities in which it is proposed to make the improvements." He +thus described a type of legislation of which the nation had and +is still having bitter experience: "As the citizens of one State +find that money, to raise which they in common with the whole +country are taxed, is to be expended for local improvements in +another State, they demand similar benefits for themselves, and +it is not unnatural that they should seek to indemnify themselves +for such use of the public funds by securing appropriations for +similar improvements in their own neighborhood. Thus as the bill +becomes more objectionable it secures more support." The truth of +this last assertion Congress immediately proved by passing the +bill over the President's veto. Senator Hoar, who defended the +bill, has admitted that "a large number of the members of the +House who voted for it lost their seats" and that in his opinion +the affair "cost the Republican party its majority in the House +of Representatives." + +Legislation regarding the tariff was, however, the event of +Arthur's administration which had the deepest effect upon the +political situation. Both national parties were reluctant to face +the issue, but the pressure of conditions became too strong for +them. Revenue arrangements originally planned for war needs were +still amassing funds in the Treasury vaults which were now far +beyond the needs of the Government, and were at the same time +deranging commerce and industry. In times of war, the Treasury +served as a financial conduit; peace had now made it a catch +basin whose excess accumulations embarrassed the Treasury and at +the same time, caused the business world to suffer from a +scarcity of currency. In his annual message on December 6, 1881, +President Arthur cautiously observed that it seemed to him "that +the time has arrived when the people may justly demand some +relief from the present onerous burden." In his message of +December 4, 1882, he was much more emphatic. Calling attention to +the fact that the annual surplus had increased to more than +$145,000,000, he observed that "either the surplus must lie idle +in the Treasury or the Government will be forced to buy at market +rates its bonds not then redeemable, and which under such +circumstances cannot fail to command an enormous premium, or the +swollen revenues will be devoted to extravagant expenditures, +which, as experience has taught, is ever the bane of an +overflowing treasury." + +The congressional agents of the protected industries were +confronted by an exacting situation. The country was at peace but +it was still burdened by war taxes, although the Government did +not need the accumulating revenue and was actually embarrassed by +its excess. The President had already made himself the spokesman +of the popular demand for a substantial reduction of taxes. Such +a combination of forces in favor of lightening the popular burden +might seem to be constitutionally irresistible, but by adroit +maneuvering the congressional supporters of protection managed to +have the war rates generally maintained and, in some cases, even +increased. The case is a typical example of the way in which +advantage of strategic position in a governmental system can +prevail against mere numbers. + +By the Act of May 15, 1882, a tariff commission was created to +examine the industrial situation and make recommendations as to +rates of duty. The President appointed men who stood high in the +commercial world and who were strongly attached to the protective +system. They applied themselves to their task with such energy +that by December 4, 1882, they had produced a voluminous report +with suggested amendments to customs laws. + +But the advocates of high protection in the House were not +satisfied; they opposed the recommendations of the report and +urged that the best and quickest way to reduce taxation was by +abolishing or reducing items on the internal revenue list. This +policy not only commanded support on the Republican side, but +also received the aid of a Democratic faction which avowed +protectionist principles and claimed party sanction for them. +These political elements in the House were strong enough to +prevent action on the customs tariff, but a bill was passed +reducing some of the internal revenue taxes. This action seemed +likely to prevent tariff revision at least during that session. +Formidable obstacles, both constitutional and parliamentary, +stood in the way of action, but they were surmounted by ingenious +management. + +The Constitution provides that all revenue bills shall originate +in the House of Representatives, but the Senate has the right to +propose amendments. Under cover of this clause the Senate +originated a voluminous tariff bill and tacked it to the House +bill as an amendment. When the bill, as thus amended, came back +to the House, a two-thirds vote would have been required by the +existing rules to take it up for consideration, but this obstacle +was overcome by adopting a new rule by which a bare majority of +the House could forthwith take up a bill amended by the Senate, +for the purpose of non-concurrence but not for concurrence. The +object of this maneuver was to get the bill into a committee of +conference where the details could be arranged by private +negotiation. The rule was adopted on February 26, 1883, but the +committee of conference was not finally constituted until the 1st +of March, within two days of the close of the session. On the 3rd +of March, when this committee reported a measure on which they +had agreed, both Houses adopted this report and enacted the +measure without further ado. + +In some cases, rates were fixed by the committee above the +figures voted in either House and even when there was no +disagreement, changes were made. The tariff commission had +recommended, for example, a duty of fifty cents a ton on iron +ore, and both the Senate and the House voted to put the duty at +that figure; but the conference committee fixed the rate at +seventy-five cents. When a conference committee report comes +before the House, it is adopted or rejected in toto, as it is not +divisible or amendable. In theory, the revision of a report is +feasible by sending it back to conference under instructions +voted by the House, but such a procedure is not really available +in the closing hours of a session, and the only practical course +of action is either to pass the bill as shaped by the conferees +or else to accept the responsibility for inaction. Thus pressed +for time, Congress passed a bill containing features obnoxious to +a majority in both Houses and offensive to public opinion. +Senator Sherman in his "Recollections" expressed regret that he +had voted for the bill and declared that, had the recommendations +of the tariff commission been adopted, "the tariff would have +been settled for many years," but "many persons wishing to +advance their particular industries appeared before the committee +and succeeded in having their views adopted." In his annual +message, December 4, 1883, President Arthur accepted the act as a +response to the demand for a reduction of taxation, which was +sufficiently tolerable to make further effort inexpedient until +its effects could be definitely ascertained; but he remarked that +he had "no doubt that still further reductions may be wisely +made." + +In general, President Arthur's administration may therefore be +accurately described as a period of political groping and party +fluctuation. In neither of the great national parties was there a +sincere and definite attitude on the new issues which were +clamorous for attention, and the public discontent was reflected +in abrupt changes of political support. There was a general +feeling of distrust regarding the character and capacity of the +politicians at Washington, and election results were apparently +dictated more by fear than by hope. One party would be raised up +and the other party cast down, not because the one was trusted +more than the other, but because it was for a while less odious. +Thus a party success might well be a prelude to a party disaster +because neither party knew how to improve its political +opportunity. The record of party fluctuation in Congress during +this period is almost unparalleled in sharpness.* + +* In 1875, at the opening of the Forty-fourth Congress, the House +stood 110 Republicans and 182 Democrats. In 1881, the House stood +150 Republicans to 131 Democrats, with 12 Independent members. In +1884, the Republican list had declined to 119 and the Democratic +had grown to 201, and there were five Independents. The Senate, +although only a third of its membership is renewed every two +years, displayed extraordinary changes during this period. The +Republican membership of 46 in 1876 had declined to 33 by 1880, +and the Democratic membership had increased to 42. In 1882, the +Senate was evenly balanced in party strength, each party having +37 avowed adherents, but there were two Independents. + + +In state politics, the polling showed that both parties were +disgusted with their leadership and that there was a public +indifference to issues which kept people away from the polls. A +comparison of the total vote cast in state elections in 1882 with +that cast in the presidential election of 1880, showed a decline +of over eight hundred thousand in the Republican vote and of +nearly four hundred thousand in the Democratic vote. The most +violent of the party changes that took place during this period +occurred in the election of 1882, in New York State, when the +Republican vote showed a decline of over two hundred thousand and +the Democratic candidate for Governor was elected by a plurality +of nearly that amount. It was this election which brought Grover +Cleveland into national prominence. + + + +CHAPTER III. THE ADVENT OF CLEVELAND + +Popular dissatisfaction with the behavior of public authority had +not up to this time extended to the formal Constitution. Schemes +of radical rearrangement of the political institutions of the +country had not yet been agitated. New party movements were +devoted to particular measures such as fresh greenback issues or +the prohibition of liquor traffic. Popular reverence for the +Constitution was deep and strong, and it was the habit of the +American people to impute practical defects not to the +governmental system itself but to the character of those acting +in it. Burke, as long ago as 1770, remarked truly that "where +there is a regular scheme of operations carried on, it is the +system and not any individual person who acts in it that is truly +dangerous." But it is an inveterate habit of public opinion to +mistake results for causes and to vent its resentment upon +persons when misgovernment occurs. That disposition was bitterly +intense at this period. "Turn the rascals out" was the ordinary +campaign slogan of an opposition party, and calumny formed the +staple of its argument. Of course no party could establish +exclusive proprietorship to such tactics, and whichever party +might be in power in a particular locality was cast for the +villain's part in the political drama. But as changes of party +control took place, experience taught that the only practical +result was to introduce new players into the same old game. Such +experience spread among the people a despairing feeling that +American politics were hopelessly depraved, and at the same time +it gave them a deep yearning for some strong deliverer. To this +messianic hope of politics may be ascribed what is in some +respects the most remarkable career in the political history of +the United States. The rapid and fortuitous rise of Grover +Cleveland to political eminence is without a parallel in the +records of American statesmanship, notwithstanding many instances +of public distinction attained from humble beginnings. + +The antecedents of Cleveland were Americans of the best type. He +was descended from a colonial stock which had settled in the +Connecticut Valley. His earliest ancestor of whom there is any +exact knowledge was Aaron Cleveland, an Episcopal clergyman, who +died at East Haddam, Connecticut, in 1757, after founding a +family which in every generation furnished recruits to the +ministry. It argues a hereditary disposition for independent +judgment that among these there was a marked variation in +denominational choice. Aaron Cleveland was so strong in his +attachment to the Anglican church that to be ordained he went to +England--under the conditions of travel in those days a hard, +serious undertaking. His son, also named Aaron, became a +Congregational minister. Two of the sons of the younger Aaron +became ministers, one of them an Episcopalian like his +grandfather. Another son, William, who became a prosperous +silversmith, was for many years a deacon in the church in which +his father preached. William sent his second son, Richard, to +Yale, where he graduated with honors at the age of nineteen. He +turned to the Presbyterian church, studied theology at Princeton, +and upon receiving ordination began a ministerial career which +like that of many preachers was carried on in many pastorates. He +was settled at Caldwell, New Jersey, in his third pastorate, and +there Stephen Grover Cleveland was born, on March 18, 1837, the +fifth in a family of children that eventually increased to nine. +He was named after the Presbyterian minister who was his father's +predecessor. The first name soon dropped out of use, and from +childhood he went by his middle name, a practice of which the +Clevelands supply so many instances that it seems to be quite a +family trait. + +In campaign literature, so much has been made of the humble +circumstances in which Grover made his start in life that the +unwary reader might easily imagine that the future President was +almost a waif. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He really +belonged to the most authentic aristocracy that any state of +society can produce--that which maintains its standards and +principles from generation to generation by the integrity of the +stock without any endowment of wealth. The Clevelands were people +who reared large families and sustained themselves with dignity +and credit on narrow means. It was a settled tradition with such +republican aristocrats that a son destined for a learned +profession--usually the ministry--should be sent to college, and +for that purpose heroic economies were practiced in the family. +The opportunities which wealth can confer are really trivial in +comparison with the advantage of being born and reared in such +bracing conditions as those which surrounded Grover Cleveland. As +a boy he was a clerk in a country store, but his education was +not neglected and at the age of fifteen he was studying, with a +view to entering college. His father's death ended that prospect +and forced him to go to work again to help support the family. +Some two years later, when the family circumstances were +sufficiently eased so that he could strike out for himself, he +set off westward, intending to reach Cleveland. Arriving at +Buffalo, he called upon a married aunt, who, on learning that he +was planning to get work at Cleveland with the idea of becoming a +lawyer, advised him to stay in Buffalo where opportunities were +better. Young Cleveland was taken into her home virtually as +private secretary to her husband, Lewis F. Allen, a man of means, +culture, and public spirit. Allen occupied a large house with +spacious grounds in a suburb of the city, and owned a farm on +which he bred fine cattle. He issued the "American Short-Horn +Herd Book," a standard authority for pedigree stock, and the +fifth edition, published in 1861, made a public acknowledgment of +"the kindness, industry, and ability" with which Grover Cleveland +had assisted the editor "in correcting and arranging the +pedigrees for publication." + +With his uncle's friendship to back him, Cleveland had, of +course, no difficulty in getting into a reputable law office as a +student, and thereafter his affairs moved steadily along the road +by which innumerable young Americans of diligence and industry +have advanced to success in the legal profession. Cleveland's +career as a lawyer was marked by those steady, solid gains in +reputation which result from care and thoroughness rather than +from brilliancy, and in these respects it finds many parallels +among lawyers of the trustee type. What is exceptional and +peculiar in Cleveland's career is the way in which political +situations formed about him without any contrivance on his part, +and as it were projected him from office to office until he +arrived in the White House. + +At the outset nothing could have seemed more unlikely than such a +career. Cleveland's ambitions were bound up in his profession and +his politics were opposed to those of the powers holding local +control. But the one circumstance did not shut him out of +political vocation and the other became a positive advantage. He +entered public life in 1863 through an unsought appointment as +assistant district attorney for Erie County. The incumbent of the +office was in poor health and needed an assistant on whom he +could rely to do the work. Hence Cleveland was called into +service. His actual occupancy of the position prompted his party +to nominate him to the office; and although he was defeated, he +received a vote so much above the normal voting strength of his +party that, in 1869, he was picked for the nomination to the +office of sheriff to strengthen a party ticket made up in the +interest of a congressional candidate. The expectation was that +while the district might be carried for the Democratic candidate +for Congress, Cleveland would probably fail of election. The +nomination was virtually forced upon him against his wishes. But +he was elected by a small plurality. This success, reenforced by +his able conduct of the office, singled him out as the party's +hope for success in the Buffalo municipal election; and after his +term as sheriff he was nominated for mayor, again without any +effort on his part. Although ordinarily the Democratic party was +in a hopeless minority, Cleveland was elected. It was in this +campaign that he enunciated the principle that public office is a +public trust, which was his rule of action throughout his career. +Both as sheriff and as mayor he acted upon it with a vigor that +brought him into collision with predatory politicians, and the +energy and address with which he defended public interests made +him widely known as the reform mayor of Buffalo. His record and +reputation naturally attracted the attention of the state +managers of the Democratic party, who were casting about for a +candidate strong enough to overthrow the established Republican +control, and Cleveland was just as distinctly drafted for the +nomination to the governorship in 1882 as he had been for his +previous offices. + +In his career as governor Cleveland displayed the same stanch +characteristics as before, and he was fearless and aggressive in +maintaining his principles. The most striking characteristic of +his veto messages is the utter absence of partisan or personal +designs. Some of the bills he vetoed purported to benefit labor +interests, and politicians are usually fearful of any appearance +of opposition to such interests: His veto of the bill +establishing a five cent fare for the New York elevated railways +was an action of a kind to make him a target for calumny and +misrepresentation. Examination of the record reveals no instance +in which Cleveland flinched from doing his duty or faltered in +the full performance of it. He acted throughout in his avowed +capacity of a public trustee, and he conducted the office of +governor with the same laborious fidelity which he had displayed +as sheriff and as mayor. And now, as before, he antagonized +elements of his own party who sought only the opportunities of +office and cared little for its responsibilities. He did not +unite suavity of manner with vigor of action, and at times he +allowed himself to reflect upon the motives of opponents and to +use language that was personally offensive. He told the +Legislature in one veto message that "of all the defective and +shabby legislation which has been presented to me, this is the +worst and most inexcusable." He once sent a scolding message to +the State Senate, in which he said that "the money of the State +is apparently expended with no regard to economy," and that +"barefaced jobbery has been permitted." The Senate having refused +to confirm a certain appointee, he declared that the opposition +had "its rise in an overwhelming greed for the patronage which +may attach to the place," and that the practical effect of such +opposition was to perpetuate "the practice of unblushing +peculation." What he said was quite true and it was the kind of +truth that hurt. The brusqueness of his official style and the +censoriousness of his language infused even more personal +bitterness into the opposition which developed within his own +party than in that felt in the ranks of the opposing party. At +the same time, these traits delighted a growing body of reformers +hostile to both the regular parties. These "Mugwumps," as they +were called, were as a class so addicted to personal invective +that it was said of them with as much truth as wit that they +brought malice into politics without even the excuse of +partisanship. But it was probably the enthusiastic support of +this class which turned the scale in New York in the presidential +election of 1884. + +In the national conventions of that year, there was an unusually +small amount of factional strife. In the Republican convention, +President Arthur was a candidate, but party sentiment was so +strong for Blaine that he led Arthur on the first ballot and was +nominated on the fourth by a large majority. In the Democratic +convention, Cleveland was nominated on the second ballot. +Meanwhile, his opponents had organized a new party from which +more was expected than it actually accomplished. It assumed the +title Anti-Monopoly and chose the notorious demagogue, General +Benjamin F. Butler, as its candidate for President. + +During this campaign, the satirical cartoon attained a power and +an effectiveness difficult to realize now that it has become an +ordinary feature of journalism, equally available for any school +of opinion. But it so happened that the rise of Cleveland in +politics coincided with the artistic career of Joseph Keppler, +who came to this country from Vienna and who for some years +supported himself chiefly as an actor in Western theatrical +companies. He had studied drawing in Vienna and had contributed +cartoons to periodicals in that city. After some unsuccessful +ventures in illustrated journalism, he started a pictorial weekly +in New York in 1875. It was originally printed in German, but in +less than a year it was issued also in English. It was not until +1879 that it sprang into general notice through Keppler's success +in reproducing lithographed designs in color. Meanwhile, the +artist was feeling his way from the old style caricature, crowded +with figures with overhead loops of explanatory text, to designs +possessing an artistic unity expressive of an idea plain enough +to tell its own story. He had matured both his mechanical +resources and his artistic method by the time the campaign of +1884 came on, and he had founded a school which could apply the +style to American politics with aptness superior to his own. It +was Bernhard Gillam, who, working in the new Keppler style, +produced a series of cartoons whose tremendous impressiveness was +universally recognized. Blaine was depicted as the tattooed man +and was exhibited in that character in all sorts of telling +situations. While on the stump during the campaign, Blaine had +sometimes literally to wade through campaign documents assailing +his personal integrity, and phrases culled from them were chanted +in public processions. One of the features of a great parade of +business men of New York was a periodical chorus of "Burn this +letter," suiting the action to the word and thus making a +striking pyrotechnic display.* But the cartoons reached people +who would never have been touched by campaign documents or by +campaign processions. + +* The allusion was to the Mulligan letters, which had been made +public by Mr. Blaine himself when it had been charged that they +contained evidence of corrupt business dealings. The disclosure +bad been made four years before and ample opportunity had existed +for instituting proceedings if the case warranted it, but nothing +was done except to nurse the scandal for campaign use. + + +Notwithstanding the exceptional violence and novel ingenuity of +the attacks made upon him, Blaine met them with such ability and +address that everywhere he augmented the ordinary strength of his +party, and his eventual defeat was generally attributed to an +untoward event among his own adherents at the close of the +campaign. At a political reception in the interest of Blaine +among New York clergymen, the Reverend Dr. Burchard spoke of the +Democratic party as "the party of rum, Romanism, and rebellion." +Unfortunately Blaine did not hear him distinctly enough to +repudiate this slur upon the religious belief of millions of +American citizens, and alienation of sentiment caused by the +tactless and intolerant remark could easily account for Blaine's +defeat by a small margin. He was only 1149 votes behind Cleveland +in New York in a poll of over 1,125,000 votes, and only 23,005 +votes behind in a national poll of over 9,700,000 votes for the +leading candidates. Of course Cleveland in his turn was a target +of calumny, and in his case the end of the campaign did not bring +the customary relief. He was pursued to the end of his public +career by active, ingenious, resourceful, personal spite and +steady malignity of political opposition from interests whose +enmity he had incurred while Governor of New York. + +The situation which confronted Cleveland when he became President +was so complicated and embarrassing that perhaps even the most +sagacious and resourceful statesman could not have coped with it +successfully, though it is the characteristic of genius to +accomplish the impossible. But Cleveland was no genius; he was +not even a man of marked talent. He was stanch, plodding, +laborious, and dutiful; but he was lacking in ability to +penetrate to the heart of obscure political problems and to deal +with primary causes rather than with effects. The great successes +of his administration were gained in particular problems whose +significance had already been clearly defined. In this field, +Cleveland's resolute and energetic performance of duty had +splendid results. + +At the time of Cleveland's inauguration as President, the Senate +claimed an extent of authority which, if allowed to go +unchallenged, would have turned the Presidency into an office +much like that of the doge of Venice, one of ceremonial dignity +without real power. "The Federalist"--that matchless collection +of constitutional essays written by Hamilton, Madison, and +Jay--laid down the doctrine that "against the enterprising +ambition" of the legislative department "the people ought to +indulge all their jealousy and exhaust all their precautions." +But some of the precautions taken in framing the Constitution +proved ineffectual from the start. The right conferred upon the +President to recommend to the consideration of Congress "such +measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient," was emptied +of practical importance by the success of Congress in +interpreting it as meaning no more than that the President may +request Congress to take a subject into consideration. In +practice, Congress considers only such measures as are +recommended by its own committees. The framers of the +Constitution took special pains to fortify the President's +position by the veto power, which is treated at length in the +Constitution. By a special clause, the veto power was extended to +"every order, resolution or vote... except on a question of +adjournment"--a clause which apparently should enable the +President to strike off the "riders" continually put upon +appropriation bills to coerce executive action; but no President +has ventured to exercise this authority. Although the Senate was +joined to the President as an advisory council in appointments to +office, it was explained in "The Federalist" that "there will be +no exertion of choice on the part of Senators." Nevertheless, the +Senate has claimed and exercised the right to dictate +appointments. While thus successfully encroaching upon the +authority of the President, the Senate had also been signally +successful in encroaching upon the authority of the House. The +framers of the Constitution anticipated for the House a masterful +career like that of the House of Commons, and they feared that +the Senate could not protect itself in the discharge of its own +functions; so, although the traditional principle that all +revenue bills should originate in the House was taken over into +the Constitution, it was modified by the proviso that "the Senate +may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills." This +right to propose amendments has been improved by the Senate until +the prerogative of the House has been reduced to an empty form. +Any money bill may be made over by amendment in the Senate, and +when contests have followed, the Senate has been so successful in +imposing its will upon the House that the House has acquired the +habit of submission. Not long before the election of Cleveland, +as has been pointed out, this habitual deference of the House had +enabled the Senate to originate a voluminous tariff act in the +form of an amendment to the Internal Revenue Bill voted by the +House. + +In addition to these extensions of power through superior address +in management, the ascendancy of the Senate was fortified by +positive law. In 1867, when President Johnson fell out with the +Republican leaders in Congress, a Tenure of Office Act was passed +over his veto, which took away from the President the power of +making removals except by permission of the Senate. In 1869, when +Johnson's term had expired, a bill for the unconditional repeal +of this law passed the House with only sixteen votes in the +negative, but the Senate was able to force a compromise act which +perpetuated its authority over removals.* President Grant +complained of this act as "being inconsistent with a faithful and +efficient administration of the government," but with all his +great fame and popularity he was unable to induce the Senate to +relinquish the power it had gained. + +* The Act of April 5, 1869, required the President, within thirty +days after the opening of the sessions, to nominate persons for +all vacant offices, whether temporarily filled or not, and in +place of all officers who may have been suspended during the +recess of the Senate. + + +This law was now invoked by Republicans as a means of +counteracting the result of the election. Such was the feeling of +the times that partisanship could easily masquerade as +patriotism. Republicans still believed that as saviors of the +Union they had a prescriptive right to the government. During the +campaign, Eugene Field, the famous Western poet, had given a +typical expression of this sentiment in some scornful verses +concluding with this defiant notice: + +These quondam rebels come today +In penitential form, +And hypocritically say +The country needs "Reform!" +Out on reformers such as these; +By Freedom's sacred powers, +We'll run the country as we please; +We saved it, and it's ours. + +Although the Democratic party had won the Presidency and the +House, the Republicans still retained control of the Senate, and +they were expected as a matter of course to use their powers for +party advantage. Some memorable struggles, rich in constitutional +precedents, issued from these conditions. + + + +CHAPTER IV. A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS + +As soon as Cleveland was seated in the presidential chair, he had +to deal with a tremendous onslaught of office seekers. In +ordinary business affairs, a man responsible for general policy +and management would never be expected to fritter away his time +and strength in receiving applicants for employment. The fact +that such servitude is imposed upon the President of the United +States shows that American political arrangements are still +rather barbaric, for such usages are more suitable to some +kinglet seated under a tree to receive the petitions of his +tribesmen than they are to a republican magistrate charged with +the welfare of millions of people distributed over a vast +continent. Office seekers apparently regard themselves as a +privileged class with a right of personal access to the +President, and any appearances of aloofness or reserve on his +part gives sharp offense. The exceptional force of such claims of +privilege in the United States may be attributed to the +participation which members of Congress have acquired in the +appointing power. The system thus created imposes upon the +President the duties of an employment agent, and at the same time +engages Congressmen in continual occupation as office brokers. +The President cannot deny himself to Congressmen, since he is +dependent upon their favor for opportunity to get legislative +consideration for his measures. + +It was inevitable that numerous changes in office should take +place when the Democratic party came into power, after being +excluded for twenty-four years. It may be admitted that, in a +sound constitutional system, a change of management in the public +business would not vacate all offices any more than in private +business, but would affect only such leading positions as are +responsible for policy and discipline. Such a sensible system, +however, had existed only in the early days of the republic and +at the time of Cleveland's accession to office federal offices +were generally used as party barracks. The situation which +confronted President Cleveland he thus described in later years: + +"In numerous instances the post-offices were made headquarters +for local party committees and organizations and the centers of +partisan scheming. Party literature favorable to the postmaster's +party, that never passed regularly through the mails, was +distributed through the post-offices as an item of party service; +and matter of a political character, passing through the mails in +the usual course and addressed to patrons belonging to the +opposite party, was withheld; disgusting and irritating placards +were prominently displayed in many post-offices, and the +attention of Democratic inquirers for mail matter was tauntingly +directed to them by the postmaster; and in various other ways +postmasters and similar officials annoyed and vexed those holding +opposite political opinions, who, in common with all having +business at public offices, were entitled to considerate and +obliging treatment. In some quarters, official incumbents +neglected public duty to do political work and especially in +Southern States, they frequently were not only inordinately +active in questionable political work, but sought to do party +service by secret and sinister manipulation of colored votes, and +by other practices inviting avoidable and dangerous collisions +between the white and colored population."* + +*Cleveland, "Presidential Problems," pp. 42-43. + + +The Administration began its career in March, 1885. The Senate +did not convene until December. Meanwhile, removals and +appointments went on in the public service, the total for ten +months being six hundred and forty-three which was thirty-seven +less than the number of removals made by President Grant in seven +weeks, in 1869. + +In obedience to the statute of 1869, President Cleveland sent in +all the recess appointments within thirty days after the opening +of the session. They were referred to various committees +according to the long established custom of the Senate, but the +Senate moved so slowly that three months after the opening of the +session, only seventeen nominations had been considered, fifteen +of which the Senate confirmed. + +Meanwhile, the Senate had raised an issue which the President met +with a force and a directness probably unexpected. Among the +recess appointments was one to the office of District Attorney +for the Southern District of Alabama, in place of an officer who +had been suspended in July 1885, but whose term of office +expired by limitation on December 20, 1885. Therefore, at the +time the Senate took up the case, the Tenure of Office Act did +not apply to it, and the only question actually open was whether +the acting officer should be confirmed or rejected. Nevertheless, +the disposition to assert control over executive action was so +strong that the Senate drifted into a constitutional struggle +over a case that did not then involve the question of the +President's discretionary power of removal from office, which was +really the point at issue. + +On December 26, 1885, the Judiciary Committee notified the +Attorney-General to transmit "all papers and information in the +possession of the Department" regarding both the nomination and +"the suspension and proposed removal from office" of the former +incumbent. On January 11, 1886, the Attorney-General sent to the +Committee the papers bearing upon the nomination, but withheld +those touching the removal on the ground that he had "received +no direction from the President in relation to their +transmission." The matter was debated by the Senate in executive +session and on January 25, 1886, a resolution was adopted which +was authoritative in its tone and which directed the +Attorney-General to transmit copies of all documents and papers +in relation to the conduct of the office of District Attorney for +the Southern District of Alabama since January 1, 1885. Within +three days, Attorney-General Garland responded that he had +already transmitted all papers relating to the nomination; but +with regard to the demand for papers exclusively relating to the +suspension of the former incumbent he was directed by the +President to say "that it is not considered that the public +interests will be promoted by a compliance." + +The response of the Attorney-General was referred to the +Judiciary Committee which, on the 18th of February, made an +elaborate report exhibiting the issue as one which involved the +right of Congress to obtain information. It urged that "the +important question, then, is whether it is within the +constitutional competence of either House of Congress to have +access to the official papers and documents in the various public +offices of the United States, created by laws enacted by +themselves." The report, which was signed only by the Republican +members of the Committee, was an adroit partisan performance, +invoking traditional constitutional principles in behalf of +congressional privilege. A distinct and emphatic assertion of the +prerogative of the Senate was made, however, in resolutions +recommended to the Senate for adoption. Those resolutions +censured the Attorney-General and declared it to be the duty of +the Senate "to refuse its advice and consent to proposed removals +of officers" when papers relating to them "are withheld by the +Executive or any head of a department." + +On the 2nd of March, a minority report was submitted, making the +point of which the cogency was obvious, that inasmuch as the +term of the official concerning whose suspension the Senate +undertook to inquire had already expired by legal limitation, the +only object in pressing for the papers in his case must be to +review an act of the President which was no longer within the +jurisdiction of the Senate, even if the constitutionality of the +Tenure of Office Act should be granted. The report also showed +that of the precedents cited in behalf of the majority's +contention, the applicability could be maintained only of those +which were supplied by cases arising since 1867, before which +time the right of the President to remove officers at his own +discretion was fully conceded. + +The controversy had so far followed the ordinary lines of +partisan contention in Congress, which public opinion was +accustomed to regard with contemptuous indifference as mere +sparring for points in the electioneering game. President +Cleveland now intervened in a way which riveted the attention of +the nation upon the issue. Ever since the memorable struggle +which began when the Senate censured President Jackson and did +not end until that censure was expunged, the Senate had been +chary of a direct encounter with the President. Although the +response of the Attorney-General stated that he was acting under +the direction of the President, the pending resolutions avoided +any mention of the President but expressed "condemnation of the +refusal of the Attorney-General under whatever influence, to send +to the Senate" the required papers. The logical implication was +that, when the orders of the President and the Senate conflicted, +it was the duty of the Attorney-General to obey the Senate. This +raised an issue which President Cleveland met by sending to the +Senate his message of March 1, 1886, which has taken a high rank +among American constitutional documents. It is strong in its +logic, dignified in its tone, terse, direct, and forceful in its +diction. + +Cleveland's message opened with the statement that "ever since +the beginning of the present session of the Senate, the different +heads of the departments attached to the executive branch of the +government have been plied with various requests and documents +from committees of the Senate, from members of such committees, +and at last from the Senate itself, requiring the transmission of +reasons for the suspension of certain officials during the recess +of that body, or for papers touching the conduct of such +officials." The President then observed that "though these +suspensions are my executive acts, based upon considerations +addressed to me alone and for which I am wholly responsible, I +have had no invitation from the Senate to state the position +which I have felt constrained to assume." Further on, he clinched +this admission of full responsibility by declaring that "the +letter of the Attorney-General in response to the resolution of +the Senate... was written at my suggestion and by my direction." + +This statement made clear in the sight of the nation that the +true issue was between the President and the Senate. The strength +of the Senate's position lay in its claim to the right of access +to the records of public offices "created by laws enacted by +themselves." The counterstroke of the President was one of the +most effective passages of his message in its effect upon public +opinion. "I do not suppose," he said, "that the public offices of +the United States are regulated or controlled in their relations +to either House of Congress by the fact that they were 'created +by laws enacted by themselves.' It must be that these +instrumentalities were enacted for the benefit of the people and +to answer the general purposes of government under the +Constitution and the laws, and that they are unencumbered by any +lien in favor of either branch of Congress growing out of their +construction, and unembarrassed by any obligation to the Senate +as the price of their creation." + +The President asserted that, as a matter of fact, no official +papers on file in the departments had been withheld. "While it is +by no means conceded that the Senate has the right, in any case, +to review the act of the Executive in removing or suspending a +public officer upon official documents or otherwise, it is +considered that documents and papers of that nature should, +because they are official, be freely transmitted to the Senate +upon its demand, trusting the use of the same, for proper and +legitimate purposes, to the good faith of that body; and though +no such paper or document has been especially demanded in any of +the numerous requests and demands made upon the departments, yet +as often as they were found in the public offices they have been +furnished in answer to such applications." The point made by the +President, with sharp emphasis, was that there was nothing in his +action which could be construed as a refusal of access to +official records; what he did refuse to acknowledge was the right +of the Senate to inquire into his motives and to exact from him a +disclosure of the facts, circumstances, and sources of +information that prompted his action. The materials upon which +his judgment was formed were of a varied character. "They consist +of letters and representations addressed to the Executive or +intended for his inspection; they are voluntarily written and +presented by private citizens who are not in the least instigated +thereto by any official invitation or at all subject to official +control. While some of them are entitled to Executive +consideration, many of them are so irrelevant or in the light of +other facts so worthless, that they have not been given the least +weight in determining the question to which they are supposed to +relate." If such matter were to be considered public records and +subject to the inspection of the Senate, the President would +thereby incur "the risk of being charged with making a suspension +from office upon evidence which was not even considered." + +Issue as to the status of such documents was joined by the +President in the sharpest possible way by the declaration: "I +consider them in no proper sense as upon the files of the +department but as deposited there for my convenience, remaining +still completely under my control. I suppose if I desired to take +them into my custody I might do so with entire propriety, and if +I saw fit to destroy them no one could complain." + +Moreover, there were cases in which action was prompted by oral +communications which did not go on record in any form. As to +this, Cleveland observed, "It will not be denied, I suppose, that +the President may suspend a public officer in the entire absence +of any papers or documents to aid his official judgment and +discretion; and I am quite prepared to avow that the cases are +not few in which suspensions from office have depended more upon +oral representations made to me by citizens of known good repute +and by members of the House of Representatives and Senators of +the United States than upon any letters and documents presented +for my examination." Nor were such representations confined to +members of his own party for, said he, "I recall a few +suspensions which bear the approval of individual members +identified politically with the majority in the Senate." The +message then reviewed the legislative history of the Tenure of +Office Act and questioned its constitutionality. The position +which the President had taken and would maintain was exactly +defined by this vigorous statement in his message: + +"The requests and demands which by the score have for nearly +three months been presented to the different Departments of the +government, whatever may be their form, have but one complexion. +They assume the right of the Senate to sit in judgement upon the +exercise of my exclusive discretion and executive function, for +which I am solely responsible to the people from whom I have so +lately received the sacred trust of office. My oath to support +and defend the Constitution, my duty to the people who have +chosen me to execute the powers of their great office and not +relinquish them, and my duty to the chief magistracy which I must +preserve unimpaired in all its dignity and vigor, compel me to +refuse compliance with these demands." + +There is a ringing quality in the style of this message not +generally characteristic of President Cleveland's state papers. +It evoked as ringing a response from public opinion, and this +effect was heightened by a tactless allusion to the message made +at this time in the Senate. In moving a reference of the message +to the Judiciary Committee, its chairman, Senator Edmunds of +Vermont, remarked that the presidential message brought vividly +to his mind "the communication of King Charles I to the +Parliament, telling them what, in conducting their affairs, they +ought to do and ought not to do." The historical reference, +however, had an application which Senator Edmunds did not +foresee. It brought vividly to mind what the people of England +had endured from a factional tyranny so relentless that the +nation was delighted when Oliver Cromwell turned Parliament out +of doors. It is an interesting coincidence that the Cleveland era +was marked by what in the book trade was known as the Cromwell +boom. Another unfortunate remark made by Senator Edmunds was that +it was the first time "that any President of the United States +has undertaken to interfere with the deliberations of either +House of Congress on questions pending before them, otherwise +than by message on the state of the Union which the Constitution +commands him to make from time to time." The effect of this +statement, however, was to stir up recollections of President +Jackson's message of protest against the censure of the Senate. +The principle laid down by Jackson in his message of April 15, +1834, was that "the President is the direct representative of the +American people," whereas the Senate is "a body not directly +amenable to the people." However assailable this statement may be +from the standpoint of traditional legal theory, it is +indubitably the principle to which American politics conform in +practice. The people instinctively expect the President to guard +their interests against congressional machinations. + +There was a prevalent belief that the Senate's profession of +motives, of constitutional propriety, was insincere and that the +position it had assumed would never have been thought of had the +Republican candidate for President been elected. A feeling that +the Senate was not playing the game fairly to refuse the +Democrats their innings was felt even among Senator Edmunds' own +adherents. A spirit of comity traversing party lines is very +noticeable in the intercourse of professional politicians. Their +willingness to help each other out is often manifested, +particularly in struggles involving control of party machinery. +Indeed, a system of ring rule in a governing party seems to have +for its natural concomitant the formation of a similar ring in +the regular opposition, and the two rings maintain friendly +relations behind the forms of party antagonism. The situation is +very similar to that which exists between opposing counsel in +suits at law, where the contentions at the trial table may seem +to be full of animosity and may indeed at times really develop +personal enmity, but which as a general rule are merely for +effect and do not at all hinder cooperation in matters pertaining +to their common professional interest. + +The attitude taken by the Senate in its opposition to President +Cleveland jarred upon this sense of professional comity, and it +was very noticeable that in the midst of the struggle some +questionable nominations of notorious machine politicians were +confirmed by the Senate. It may have been that a desire to +discredit the reform professions of the Administration +contributed to this result, but the effect was disadvantageous to +the Senate. "The Nation" on March 11, 1886, in a powerful article +reviewing the controversy observed: "There is not the smallest +reason for believing that, if the Senate won, it would use its +victory in any way for the maintenance or promotion of reform. In +truth, in the very midst of the controversy, it confirmed the +nomination of one of Baltimore's political scamps." It is +certainly true that the advising power of the Senate has never +exerted a corrective influence upon appointments to office; its +constant tendency is towards a system of apportionment which +concedes the right of the President to certain personal +appointments and asserts the reciprocal right of Congressmen to +their individual quotas. + +As a result of these various influences, the position assumed by +the Republicans under the lead of Senator Edmunds was seriously +weakened. When the resolutions of censure were put to the vote on +the 26th of March, that condemning the refusal of the +Attorney-General to produce the papers was adopted by thirty-two +ayes to twenty-six nays--a strict party vote; but the resolution +declaring it to be the duty of the Senate in all such cases to +refuse its consent to removals of suspended officials was adopted +by a majority of only one vote, and two Republican Senators voted +with the Democrats. The result was, in effect, a defeat for the +Republican leaders, and they wisely decided to withdraw from the +position which they had been holding. Shortly after the passage +of the resolutions, the Senate confirmed the nomination over +which the contest started, and thereafter the right of the +President to make removals at his own discretion was not +questioned. + +This retreat of the Republican leaders was accompanied, however, +by a new development in political tactics, which from the +standpoint of party advantage, was ingeniously conceived. It was +now held that, inasmuch as the President had avowed attachment to +the principle of tenure of office during good behavior, his +action in suspending officers therefore implied delinquency in +their character or conduct from which they should be exonerated +in case the removal was really on partisan grounds. In reporting +upon nominations, therefore, Senate committees adopted the +practice of noting that there were no charges of misconduct +against the previous incumbents and that the suspension was on +account of "political reasons." As these proceedings took place +in executive session, which is held behind closed doors, reports +of this character would not ordinarily reach the public, but the +Senate now voted to remove the injunction of secrecy, and the +reports were published. The manifest object of these maneuvers +was to exhibit the President as acting upon the "spoils system" +of distributing offices. The President's position was that he was +not accountable to the Senate in such matters. In his message of +the 1st of March he said: "The pledges I have made were made to +the people, and to them I am responsible for the manner in which +they have been redeemed. I am not responsible to the Senate, and +I am unwilling to submit my actions and official conduct to them +for judgement." + +While this contest was still going on, President Cleveland had to +encounter another attempt of the Senate to take his authority out +of his hands. The history of American diplomacy during this +period belongs to another volume in this series,* but a +diplomatic question was drawn into the struggle between the +President and the Senate in such a way that it requires mention +here. Shortly after President Cleveland took office, the fishery +articles of the Treaty of Washington had terminated. In his first +annual message to Congress, on December 8, 1885, he recommended +the appointment of a commission to settle with a similar +commission from Great Britain "the entire question of the fishery +rights of the two governments and their respective citizens on +the coasts of the United States and British North America." But +this sensible advice was denounced as weak and cowardly. Oratory +of the kind known as "twisting the lion's tail" resounded in +Congress. Claims were made of natural right to the use of +Canadian waters which would not have been indulged for a moment +in respect of the territorial waters of the United States. For +instance, it was held that a bay over six miles between headlands +gave free ingress so long as vessels kept three miles from shore +--a doctrine which, if applied to Long Island Sound, Delaware +Bay, or Chesapeake Bay, would have impaired our national +jurisdiction over those waters. Senator Frye of Maine took the +lead in a rub-a-dub agitation in the presence of which some +Democratic Senators showed marked timidity. The administration of +public services by congressional committees has the incurable +defect that it reflects the particular interests and attachments +of the committeemen. Presidential administration is so +circumstanced that it tends to be nationally minded; committee +administration, just as naturally, tends to be locally minded. +Hence, Senator Frye was able to report from the committee on +foreign relations a resolution declaring that a commission +"charged with the consideration and settlement of the fishery +rights... ought not to be provided for by Congress." Such was the +attitude of the Senate towards the President on this question, +that on April 13, 1886, this arrogant resolution was adopted by +thirty-five ayes to 10 nays. A group of Eastern Democrats who +were in a position to be affected by the longshore vote, joined +with the Republicans in voting for the resolution, and among them +Senator Gorman of Maryland, national chairman of the Democratic +party. + +* See "The Path of Empire," by Carl Russell Fish (in "The +Chronicles of America"). + + +President Cleveland was no more affected by this Senate +resolution than he had been by their other resolutions attacking +his authority. He went ahead with his negotiations and concluded +treaty arrangements which the Senate, of course, rejected; but, +as that result had been anticipated, a modus vivendi which had +been arranged by executive agreements between the two countries +went into effect, regardless of the Senate's attitude. The case +is a signal instance of the substitution of executive +arrangements for treaty engagements which has since then been +such a marked tendency in the conduct of the foreign relations of +the United States. + +A consideration which worked steadily against the Senate in its +attacks upon the President, was the prevalent belief that the +Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional in its nature and +mischievous in its effects. Although Senator Edmunds had been +able to obtain a show of solid party support, it eventually +became known that he stood almost alone in the Judiciary +Committee in his approval of that act. The case is an instructive +revelation of the arbitrary power conferred by the committee +system. Members are loath to antagonize a party chairman to whom +their own bills must go for approval. Finally, Senator Hoar dared +to take the risk, and with such success that on June 21, 1886, +the committee reported a bill for the complete repeal of the +Tenure of Office Act, the chairman--Senator Edmunds--alone +dissenting. When the bill was taken up for consideration, Senator +Hoar remarked that he did not believe there were five members of +the Senate who really believed in the propriety of that act. "It +did not seem to me to be quite becoming," he explained, "to ask +the Senate to deal with this general question, while the question +which arose between the President and the Senate as to the +interpretation and administration of the existing law was +pending. I thought, as a party man, that I had hardly the right +to interfere with the matter which was under the special charge +of my honorable friend from Vermont, by challenging a debate upon +the general subject from a different point of view." + +Although delicately put, this statement was in effect a +repudiation of the party leadership of Edmunds and in the debate +which ensued, not a single Senator came to his support. He stood +alone in upholding the propriety of the Tenure of Office Act, +arguing that without its restraint "the whole real power and +patronage of this government was vested solely in the hands of a +President of the United States and his will was the law." He held +that the consent of the Senate to appointments was an +insufficient check if the President were allowed to remove at his +own will and pleasure. He was answered by his own party +colleagues and committee associates, Hoar and Evarts. Senator +Hoar went so far as to say that in his opinion there was not a +single person in this country, in Congress or out of Congress, +with the exception of the Senator from Vermont, who did not +believe that a necessary step towards reform "must be to impose +the responsibility of the Civil Service upon the Executive." +Senator Evarts argued that the existing law was incompatible with +executive responsibility, for "it placed the Executive power in a +strait-jacket." He then pointed out that the President had not +the legal right to remove a member of his own Cabinet and asked, +"Is not the President imprisoned if his Cabinet are to be his +masters by the will of the Senate?" The debate was almost wholly +confined to the Republican side of the Senate, for only one +Democrat took any part in it. Senator Edmunds was the sole +spokesman on his side, but he fought hard against defeat and +delivered several elaborate arguments of the "check and balance" +type. When the final vote took place, only three Republicans +actually voted for the repealing bill, but there were absentees +whose votes would have been cast the same way had they been +needed to pass the bill.* + +* The bill was passed by thirty yeas and twenty-two nays, and +among the nays were several Senators who while members of the +House had voted for repeal. The repeal bill passed the House by a +vote of 172 to 67, and became law on March 3, 1887 + + +President Cleveland had achieved a brilliant victory. In the +joust between him and Edmunds, in lists of his adversary's own +contriving, he had held victoriously to his course while his +opponent had been unhorsed. The granite composure of Senator +Edmunds' habitual mien did not permit any sign of disturbance to +break through, but his position in the Senate was never again +what it had been, and eventually he resigned his seat before the +expiration of his term. He retired from public life in 1891, at +the age of sixty-three. + +From the standpoint of the public welfare, it is to be noted that +the issue turned on the maintenance of privilege rather than on +the discharge of responsibility. President Cleveland contended +that he was not responsible to the Senate but to the people for +the way in which he exercised his trusteeship. But the phrase +"the people" is an abstraction which has no force save as it +receives concrete form in appropriate institutions. It is the +essential characteristic of a sound constitutional system that it +supplies such institutions, so as to put executive authority on +its good behavior by steady pressure of responsibility through +full publicity and detailed criticism. This result, the Senate +fails to secure because it keeps trying to invade executive +authority, and to seize the appointing power instead of seeking +to enforce executive responsibility. This point was forcibly put +by "The Nation" when it said: "There is only one way of securing +the presentation to the Senate of all the papers and documents +which influence the President in making either removals or +appointments, and that is a simple way, and one wholly within the +reach of the Senators. They have only to alter their rules, and +make executive sessions as public as legislative sessions, in +order to drive the President not only into making no nominations +for which he cannot give creditable reasons, but into furnishing +every creditable reason for the nomination which he may have in +his possession."* + +* "The Nation," March 11, 1888. + + +During the struggle, an effort was made to bring about this very +reform, under the lead of a Republican Senator, Orville H. Platt +of Connecticut. On April 13,1886, he delivered a carefully +prepared speech, based upon much research, in which he showed +that the rule of secrecy in executive sessions could not claim +the sanction of the founders of the government. It is true that +the Senate originally sat with closed doors for all sorts of +business, but it discontinued the practice after a few years. It +was not until 1800, six years after the practice of public +sessions had been adopted, that any rule of secrecy was applied +to business transacted in executive sessions. Senator Platt's +motion to repeal this rule met with determined opposition on both +sides of the chamber, coupled with an indisposition to discuss +the matter. When it came up for consideration on the 15th of +December, Senator Hoar moved to lay it on the table, which was +done by a vote of thirty-three to twenty-one. Such prominent +Democratic leaders as Gorman of Maryland and Vest of Missouri +voted with Republican leaders like Evarts, Edmunds, Allison, and +Harrison, in favor of Hoar's motion, while Hoar's own colleague, +Senator Dawes, together with such eminent Republicans as Frye of +Maine, Hawley of Connecticut, and Sherman of Ohio voted with +Platt. Thus, any party responsibility for the result was +successfully avoided, and an issue of great constitutional +importance was laid away without any apparent stir of popular +sentiment. + + + +CHAPTER V. PARTY POLICY IN CONGRESS + +While President Cleveland was successfully asserting his +executive authority, the House of Representatives, too, was +trying to assert its authority; but its choice of means was such +that it was badly beaten and was reduced to a state of humble +subordination from which it has never emerged. Its traditional +procedure was arranged on the theory that Congress ought to +propose as well as to enact legislation, and to receive +recommendations from all quarters without preference or +discrimination. Although the Constitution makes it the right and +duty of the President to "recommend to their consideration such +measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient," measures +proposed by the Administration stand on the same footing under +the rules as those proposed by the humblest citizen of the United +States. In both cases, they are allowed to reach Congress only in +the form of a bill or resolution introduced by a member of +Congress, and they go on the files without any distinction as to +rank and position except such as pertains to them from the time +and order in which they are introduced. Under the rules, all +measures are distributed among numerous committees, each having +charge of a particular class, with power to report favorably or +adversely. Each committee is constituted as a section of the +whole House, with a distribution of party representation +corresponding to that which exists in the House. + +Viewed as an ideal polity, the scheme has attractive features. In +practice, however, it is attended with great disadvantages. +Although the system was originally introduced with the idea that +it would give the House of Representatives control over +legislative business, the actual result has been to reduce this +body to an impotence unparalleled among national representative +assemblies in countries having constitutional government. In a +speech delivered on December 10, 1885, William M. Springer of +Illinois complained: "We find ourselves bound hand and foot, the +majority delivering themselves over to the power of the minority +that might oppose any particular measures, so that nothing could +be done in the way of legislation except by unanimous consent or +by a two-thirds vote." As an instance of legislative paralysis, +he related that "during the last Congress a very important bill, +that providing for the presidential succession... was reported +from a committee of which I had the honor to be a member, and was +placed on the calendar of the House on the 21st day of April, +1884; and that bill, which was favored by nearly the entire +House, was permitted to die on the calendar because there never +was a moment, when under the rules as they then existed, the bill +could be reached and passed by the House." During the whole of +that session of Congress, the regular calendar was never reached. +"Owing to the fact that we could not transact business under the +rules, all business was done under unanimous consent or under +propositions to suspend the rules upon the two Mondays in each +month on which suspensions were allowed." As a two-thirds +majority was necessary to suspend the rules, any considerable +minority had a veto power. + +The standing committees, whose ostensible purpose was to prepare +business for consideration, were characterized as legislative +cemeteries. Charles B. Lore of Delaware, referring to the +situation during the previous session, said: "The committees were +formed, they met in their respective committee rooms day after +day, week after week, working up the business which was committed +to them by this House, and they reported to this House 8290 +bills. They came from the respective committees, and they were +consigned to the calendars of this House, which became for them +the tomb of the Capulets; most of them were never heard of +afterward. From the Senate there were 2700 bills.... Nine tenths +of the time of the committees of the Forty-eighth Congress was +wasted. We met week after week, month after month, and labored +over the cases prepared, and reported bills to the House. They +were put upon the calendars and there were buried, to be brought +in again and again in succeeding Congresses." + +William D. Kelley of Pennsylvania bluntly declared: "No +legislation can be effectually originated outside the Committee +on Appropriations, unless it be a bill which will command +unanimous consent or a stray bill that may get a two-thirds vote, +or a pension bill." He explained that he excepted pension bills +"because we have for several years by special order remitted the +whole subject of pensions to a committee who bring in their bills +at sessions held one night in each week, when ten or fifteen +gentlemen decide what soldiers may have pensions and what +soldiers may not." + +The Democratic party found this situation extremely irritating +when it came into power in the House. It was unable to do +anything of importance or even to define its own party policy, +and in the session of Congress beginning in December, 1885, it +sought to correct the situation by amending the rules. In this +undertaking it had sympathy and support on the Republican side. +The duress under which the House labored was pungently described +by Thomas B. Reed, who was just about that time revealing the +ability that gained for him the Republican leadership. In a +speech, delivered on December 16, 1885, he declared: "For the +last three Congresses the representatives of the people of the +United States have been in irons. They have been allowed to +transact no public business except at the dictation and by the +permission of a small coterie of gentlemen, who, while they +possessed individually more wisdom than any of the rest of us, +did not possess all the wisdom in the world." + +The coterie alluded to by Mr. Reed was that which controlled the +committee on appropriations. Under the system created by the +rules of the House, bills pour in by tens of thousands. A member +of the House, of a statistical turn of mind, once submitted +figures to the House showing that it would take over sixty-six +years to go through the calendars of one session in regular +order, allowing an average of one minute for each member to +debate each bill. To get anything done, the House must proceed by +special order, and as it is essential to pass the appropriations +to keep up the government, a precedence was allowed to business +reported by that committee which in effect gave it a position of +mastery. O. R. Singleton of Mississippi, in the course of the +same debate, declared that there was a "grievance which towers +above all others as the Alps tower above the surrounding hills. +It is the power resting with said committee, and oftentimes +employed by it, to arrest any legislation upon any subject which +does not meet its approval. A motion to go into committee of the +whole to consider appropriation bills is always in order, and +takes precedence of all other motions as to the order of +business." +The practical effect of the rules was that, instead of remaining +the servant of the House, the committee became its master. Not +only could the committee shut off from any consideration any +measure to which it was opposed, but it could also dictate to the +House the shape in which its own bills should be enacted. While +the form of full consideration and amendment is preserved, the +terms of a bill are really decided by a conference committee +appointed to adjust differences between the House and the Senate. +John H. Reagan of Texas stated that "a conference committee, made +up of three members of the appropriations committee, acting in +conjunction with a similar conference committee on the part of +the Senate, does substantially our legislation upon this subject +of appropriations." In theory, the House was free to accept or +reject the conference committee's report. Practically the choice +lay between the bill as fixed by the conference committee or no +bill at all during that session. Mr. Reagan stated the case +exactly when he said that it meant "letting six men settle what +the terms are to be, beyond our power of control, unless we +consent to a called session of Congress." + +To deal with this situation, the House had refused to adopt the +rules of the preceding Congress; and after electing John G. +Carlisle as Speaker and authorizing the appointment of a +committee on rules, it deferred the appointment of the usual +legislative committees until after a new set of rules had been +adopted. The action of the Speaker in constituting the Rules +Committee was scrupulously fair to the contending interests. It +consisted of himself, Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania, and +William R. Morrison of Illinois from the Democratic side of the +House; and of Thomas B. Reed of Maine and Frank Hiscock of New +York from the Republican side. On the 14th of December, the +committee made two reports: a majority report presented by Mr. +Morrison and a minority report presented by Mr. Randall and +signed by him alone. + +These reports and the debates which followed are most +disappointing. What was needed was a penetrating discussion of +the means by which the House could establish its authority and +perform its constitutional functions. But it is a remarkable +circumstance that at no time was any reference made to the only +way in which the House can regain freedom of action--namely, by +having the Administration submit its budget demands and its +legislative proposals directly to the committee of the whole +House. The preparatory stages could then be completed before the +opening of the legislative session. Congress would thus save the +months of time that are now consumed in committee incubation and +would almost certainly be assured of opportunity of considering +the public business. Discrimination in legislative privilege +among members of the House would then be abolished, for every +member would belong to the committee on appropriations. It is +universally true in constitutional governments that power over +appropriations involves power over legislation, and the only +possibility of a square deal is to open that power to the entire +membership of the assembly, which is the regular practice in +Switzerland and in all English commonwealths. The House could not +have been ignorant of the existence of this alternative, for the +whole subject had been luminously discussed in the Senate Report +of February 4,1881. It was, therein, clearly pointed out that +such an arrangement would prevent paralysis or inaction in +Congress. With the Administration proposing its measures directly +to Congress, discussion of them and decisions upon them could not +be avoided. + +But such a public forum could not be established without sweeping +away many intrenchments of factional interest and private +opportunity, and this was not at all the purpose of the committee +on rules. It took its character and direction from an old feud +between Morrison and Randall. Morrison, as chairman of the Ways +and Means Committee in 1876, had reported a tariff reform measure +which was defeated by Randall's influence. Then Randall, who had +succeeded to the Speakership, transferred Morrison from the +chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee to the chairmanship +of the committee on public lands. But Morrison was a man who +would not submit to defeat. He was a veteran of the Civil War, +and had been severely wounded in leading his regiment at Fort +Donelson. After the war, he figured in Illinois politics and +served as Speaker of the State Legislature. He entered Congress +in 1873 and devoted himself to the study of the tariff with such +intelligence and thoroughness that his speeches are still an +indispensable part of the history of tariff legislation. His +habitual manner was so mild and unassuming that it gave little +indication of the force of his personality, which was full of +energy and perseverance. + +Randall was more imperious in his mien. He was a party leader of +established renown which he had gained in the struggles over +force bills at the close of the reconstruction period. His +position on the tariff was that of a Pennsylvania protectionist, +and upon the tariff reform issue in 1883, he was defeated for the +Speakership. At that time, John G. Carlisle of Kentucky was +raised to that post, while Morrison again became chairman of the +Ways and Means Committee. But Randall, now appointed chairman of +the Appropriations Committee, had so great an influence that he +was able to turn about forty Democratic votes against the tariff +bill reported by the Ways and Means Committee, thus enabling the +Republicans to kill the bill by striking out the enacting clause. + +Only this practical aim, then, was in view in the reports +presented by the committee on rules. The principal feature of the +majority report was a proposal to curtail the jurisdiction of the +Appropriations Committee by transferring to other committees five +of the eleven regular appropriation bills. What, from the +constitutional point of view, would appear to be the main +question--the recovery by the House of its freedom of action--was +hardly noticed in the report or in the debates which followed. +Heretofore, the rules had allotted certain periods to general +business; now, the majority report somewhat enlarged these +periods and stipulated that no committee should bring more than +one proposal before the House until all other committees had had +their turn. This provision might have been somewhat more +effective had it been accompanied by a revision of the list of +committees such as was proposed by William M. Springer. He +pointed out that there were a number of committees "that have no +business to transact or business so trifling and unimportant as +to make it unnecessary to have standing committees upon such +subjects"; he proposed to abolish twenty-one of these committees +and to create four new ones to take their place; he showed that +"if we allow these twenty useless committees to be again put on +our list, to be called regularly in the morning hour... forty-two +days will be consumed in calling these committees"; and, finally, +he pointed out that the change would effect a saving since it +would "do away with sixteen committee clerkships." + +This saving was, in fact, fatal to the success of Springer's +proposal, since it meant the extinction of so many sinecures +bestowed through congressional favor. In the end, Springer +reduced his proposed change to the creation of one general +committee on public expenditures to take the place of eight +committees on departmental expenditures. It was notorious that +such committees did nothing and could do nothing, and their +futility, save as dispensers of patronage, had been demonstrated +in a startling manner by the effect of the Acts of July 12, 1870, +and June 20, 1874, requiring all unused appropriations to be paid +into the Treasury. The amounts thus turned into the Treasury +aggregated $174,000,000 and in a single bureau there was an +unexpended balance of $36,000,000, which had accumulated for a +quarter of a century because Congress had not been advised that +no appropriation was needed. Mr. Springer remarked that, during +the ten years in which he had been a member of Congress, he had +observed with regard to these committees "that in nearly all +cases, after their appointment, organization, and the election of +a clerk, the committee practically ceased to exist, and nothing +further is done." William R. Morrison at once came to the rescue +of the endangered sinecures and argued that even although these +committees had been inactive in the past they "constituted the +eyes, the ears, and the hands of the House." In consequence, +after a short debate Mr. Springer's motion was rejected without a +division. + +The arrangements subsequently made to provide time and +opportunity for general legislation, turned out in practice to be +quite futile and indeed they were never more than a mere formal +pretense. It was quite obvious, therefore, that the new rules +tended only to make the situation worse than before. Thomas Ryan +of Kansas told the plain truth when he said: "You do not propose +to remedy any of those things of which you complain by any of the +rules you have brought forward. You propose to clothe eight +committees with the same power, with the same temptation and +capacity to abuse it. You multiply eightfold the very evils of +which you complain." James H. Blount of Georgia sought to +mitigate the evils of the situation by giving a number of other +committees the same privilege as the appropriation committees, +but this proposal at once raised a storm, for appropriation +committees had leave to report at any time, and to extend the +privilege would prevent expeditious handling of appropriation +bills. Mr. Blount's motion was, therefore, voted down without a +division. + +While in the debate, the pretense of facilitating routine +business was ordinarily kept up; occasional intimations of actual +ulterior purpose leaked out, as when John B. Storm of +Pennsylvania remarked that it was a valuable feature of the rules +that they did hamper action and "that the country which is least +governed is the best governed, is a maxim in strict accord with +the idea of true civil liberty." William McKinley was also of the +opinion that barriers were needed "against the wild projects and +visionary schemes which will find advocates in this House." Some +years later, when the subject was again up for discussion, Thomas +B. Reed went to the heart of the situation when he declared that +the rules had been devised not to facilitate action but to +obstruct it, for "the whole system of business here for years has +been to seek methods of shirking, not of meeting, the questions +which the people present for the consideration of their +representatives. Peculiar circumstances have caused this. For a +long time, one section of the country largely dominated the +other. That section of the country was constantly apprehensive +of danger which might happen at any time by reason of an +institution it was maintaining. Very naturally, all the rules of +the House were bent for the obstruction of action on the part of +Congress." It may be added that these observations apply even +more forcibly, to the rules of the Senate. The privilege of +unrestricted debate was not originally granted by those rules but +was introduced as a means of strengthening the power of sectional +resistance to obnoxious legislation. + +The revision of the rules in 1885, then, was not designed really +to facilitate action by the House, but rather to effect a +transfer of the power to rule the House. It was at least clear +that under the proposed changes the chairman of the committee on +appropriations would no longer retain such complete mastery as +Randall had wielded, and this was enough to insure the adoption +of the majority report. The minority report opposed this +weakening of control on the ground that it would be destructive +of orderly and responsible management of the public funds. +Everything which Randall said on that point has since been amply +confirmed by much sad experience. Although some leading +Republicans, among whom was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, argued +strongly in support of Randall's views, the temper of the House +was such that the majority in favor of the change was +overwhelming, and on December 18, 1885, the Morrison plan was +finally adopted without a roll call. + +The hope that the change in organization would expedite action on +appropriation bills, was promptly disappointed. Only one of the +fourteen regular appropriation bills became law before the last +day of the fiscal year. The duress to which the House was subject +became tighter and harder than before, and the Speakership +entered upon a development unparalleled in constitutional +history. The Speaker was practically in a position to determine +what business the House might consider and what it might not, and +the circumstances were such as to breed a belief that it was his +duty to use his discretion where a choice presented itself. It is +obvious that, when on the floor of the House there are a number +of applicants for recognition, the Speaker must choose between +them. All cannot be allowed to speak at once. There is no chance +to apply the shop rule, "first come first served," for numerous +applications for the floor come at the same time. Shall the +Speaker choose at random or according to some definite principle +of selection? In view of the Speaker's interest in the welfare of +the party which raised him to the office, he would naturally +inquire in advance the purpose for which the recognition of the +chair was desired. It was a manifest step towards orderly +procedure in session, however, when instead of crowding around +the clerk's desk bawling for recognition, members applied to the +Speaker in advance. In Speaker Blaine's time, this had become a +regular practice and ever since then, a throng of members at the +Speaker's office trying to arrange with him for recognition has +been a daily occurrence during a legislative session. Samuel W. +McCall, in his work on "The Business of Congress," says that the +Speaker "usually scrutinizes the bill and the committee's report +upon it, and in case of doubt he sometimes refers them to a +member in whom he has confidence, for a more careful examination +than he himself has time to give." + +Under Speaker Carlisle, this power to censor proposals was made +conspicuous through the factional war in the Democratic party. +For several sessions of Congress, a bill had been pending to +repeal the internal revenue taxes upon tobacco, and it had such +support that it might have passed if it could have been reached +for consideration. On February 5, 1887, a letter was addressed to +Speaker Carlisle by three prominent Democrats: Samuel J. +Randall of Pennsylvania, George D. Wise of Virginia, and John S. +Henderson of North Carolina, saying: "At the instance of many +Democratic members of the House, we appeal to you earnestly to +recognize on Monday next, some Democrat who will move to suspend +the rules for the purpose of giving the House an opportunity of +considering the question of the total repeal of the internal +revenue taxes on tobacco." The letter went on to argue that it +would be bad policy to let a Republican have credit for a +proposal, which it was declared "will command more votes than any +other measure pending before the House looking towards a +reduction in taxation; and favorable action on this proposition +will not interfere with other efforts that are being made to +reduce the burden of the people." + +Speaker Carlisle, however, refused to allow the House to consider +the matter on the ground that negotiations with Randall and his +friends for concerted party action had so far been fruitless. +"Among other things," he wrote, "we proposed to submit the entire +subject to a caucus of our political friends, with the +understanding that all parties would abide by the result of its +action.... We have received no response to that communication, +and I consider that it would not be proper under the +circumstances for me to agree to a course of action which would +present to the House a simple proposition for the repeal of the +internal revenue tax on tobacco, snuff and cigars, to the +exclusion of all other measures for the reduction of taxation." +The letter closed by "sincerely hoping that some plan may yet be +devised which will enable the House to consider the whole subject +of revenue reduction." + +No one was less of an autocrat in temper and habit of thought +than Speaker Carlisle, and he assumed this position in deference +to a recognized function of his office, supported by a long line +of precedents. The case was, therefore, a signal illustration of +the way in which the House has impaired its ability to consider +legislation by claiming the exclusive privilege of proposing +legislation. If the rules had allowed the President to propose +his measures directly to the House, then the way would have been +opened for a substitute or an amendment. As it was, the House was +able to act only upon matters within the control of a few persons +advantageously posted, and none of the changes of rules that have +been made from time to time have seriously disturbed this +fundamental situation. + +Notwithstanding the new rules adopted in December, 1885, nothing +of importance was accomplished by the House. On February 15, +1886, William R. Morrison introduced a tariff bill making a +moderate reduction in rates of duty, which, after considerable +amendment in the committee of ways and means, was reported to the +House on the 12th of April; but no further action was taken until +the 17th of June, when Morrison moved that the House go into +committee of the whole to consider the bill. Thirty-five +Democrats voted with the Republicans against the motion, which +was defeated by 157 nays to 140 yeas. No further attempt was made +to take up the bill during that session, and in the ensuing fall +Morrison was defeated as a candidate for reelection. Before +leaving Congress he tried once more to obtain consideration of +his bill but in vain. Just as that Congress was expiring, John S. +Henderson of North Carolina was at last allowed to move a +suspension of the rules in order to take a vote on a bill to +reduce internal revenue taxes, but he failed to obtain the +two-thirds vote required for suspension of the rules. + +That the proceedings of the Forty-ninth Congress were not +entirely fruitless, was mainly due to the initiative and address +of the Senate. Some important measures were thus pushed through, +among them the act regulating the presidential succession and the +act creating the Interstate Commerce Commission. The first of +these provided for the succession of the heads of departments in +turn, in case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability of +both the President and the Vice-President. + +The most marked legislative achievement of the House was an act +regulating the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, to which +the Senate assented with some amendment, and which was signed +with reluctance by the President, after a special message to the +House sharply criticizing some of the provisions of the act. A +bill providing for arbitration of differences between common +carriers and their employees was passed by the Senate without a +division, but it did not reach the President until the closing +days of the session and failed of enactment because he did not +sign it before the final adjournment. Taken as a whole, then, the +record of the Congress elected in 1884 showed that while the +Democratic party had the Presidency and the House of +Representatives, the Republican party, although defeated at the +polls, still controlled public policy through the agency of the +Senate. + + + +CHAPTER VI. PRESIDENTIAL KNIGHT-ERRANTRY + +Although President Cleveland decisively repelled the Senate's +attempted invasion of the power of removal belonging to his +office, he was still left in a deplorable state of servitude +through the operation of old laws based upon the principle of +rotation in office. The Acts of 1820 and 1836, limiting +commissions to the term of four years, forced him to make +numerous appointments which provoked controversy and made large +demands upon his time and thought. In the first year of his +administration, he sent about two thousand nominations to the +Senate, an average of over six a day, assuming that he was +allowed to rest on Sunday. His freedom of action was further +curtailed by an Act of 1863, prohibiting the payment of a salary +to any person appointed to fill a vacancy existing while the +Senate was in session, until the appointment had been confirmed +by the Senate. The President was thus placed under a strict +compulsion to act as a party employment agent. + +If it is the prime duty of a President to act in the spirit of a +reformer, Cleveland is entitled to high praise for the stanchness +with which he adhered to his principles under most trying +circumstances. Upon November 27, 1885, he approved rules +confirming and extending the civil service regulations. Charges +that Collector Hedden of the New York Customs House was violating +the spirit of the Civil Service Act, and was making a party +machine of his office, caused the Civil Service Commission to +make an investigation which resulted in his resignation in July, +1886. On the 10th of August, Daniel Magone of Ogdensburg, New +York, a widely known lawyer, was personally chosen by the +President with a view to enforcing the civil service law in the +New York Customs House. Before making this appointment, President +Cleveland issued an order to all heads of departments warning all +officeholders against the use of their positions to control +political movements in their localities. "Officeholders," he +declared, "are the agents of the people, not their masters. They +have no right, as officeholders, to dictate the political action +of their associates, or to throttle freedom of action within +party lines by methods and practices which prevent every useful +and justifiable purpose of party organization." In August, +President Cleveland gave signal evidence of his devotion to civil +service reform by appointing a Republican, because of his special +qualifications, to be chief examiner for the Civil Service +Commission. + +Democratic party workers were so angered and disgusted by the +President's policy that any mention of his name was enough to +start a flow of coarse denunciation. Strong hostility to his +course of action was manifested in Congress. Chairman Randall, of +the committee on appropriations, threatened to cut off the +appropriation for office room for the commission. A "rider" to +the legislative appropriation bill, striking at the civil service +law, caused a vigorous debate in the House in which leading +Democrats assailed the Administration, but eventually the "rider" +was ruled out on a point of order. In the Senate, such party +leaders as Vance of North Carolina, Saulsbury of Delaware, and +Voorhees of Indiana, openly ridiculed the civil service law, and +various attempts to cripple it were made but were defeated. +Senator Vance introduced a bill to repeal the law, but it was +indefinitely postponed by a vote of 33 to 6, the affirmative vote +being cast mainly by Republicans; and in general the strongest +support for the law now came from the Republican side. Early in +June, 1887, an estimate was made that nine thousand civil offices +outside the scope of the civil service rules were still held by +Republicans. The Republican party press gloated over the +situation and was fond of dwelling upon the way in which old-line +Democrats were being snubbed while the Mugwumps were favored. At +the same time, civil service reformers found much to condemn in +the character of Cleveland's appointments. A special committee of +the National Civil Service Reform League, on March 30, 1887, +published a report in which they asserted that, "tried by the +standard of absolute fidelity to the reform as it is understood +by this League, it is not to be denied that t this Administration +has left much to be desired." At a subsequent session of the +League, its President, George William Curtis, proclaimed that the +League did not regard the Administration as "in any strict sense +of the words a civil service reform administration." Thus while +President Cleveland was alienating his regular party support, he +was not getting in return any dependable support from the +reformers. He seemed to be sitting down between two stools, both +tilting to let him fall. + +Meanwhile, he went on imperturbably doing his duty as he saw it. +Like many of his predecessors, he would rise early to get some +time to attend to public business before the rush of office +seekers began, but the bulk of his day's work lay in the +discharge of his compulsory duties as an employment agent. Many +difficult situations were created by contentions among +Congressmen over appointments. It was Cleveland's habit to deal +with these cases by homely expostulation and by pleas for mutual +concessions. Such incidents do not of course go upon record, and +it is only as memoirs and reminiscences of public men are +published that this personal side of history becomes known. +Senator Cullom of Illinois in his "Fifty Years of Public Service" +gives an account that doubtless fairly displays Cleveland's way +of handling his vexatious problems. "I happened to be at the +White House one day, and Mr. Cleveland said to me, 'I wish you +would take up Lamar's nomination and dispose of it. I am between +hay and grass with reference to the Interior Department. Nothing +is being done there; I ought to have some one on duty, and I +cannot do anything until you dispose of Lamar.'" Mr. Lamar, who +had entered the Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior, was +nominated for associate justice of the Supreme Court on December +6, 1887. He had been an eminent member of the Senate, with +previous distinguished service in the House, so that the Senate +must have had abundant knowledge of his character and +attainments. It is impossible to assign the delay that ensued to +reasonable need of time for inquiry as to his qualifications, but +Senator Cullom relates that "the nomination pended before the +Judiciary Committee for a long time." Soon after the personal +appeal, which was made by the President to every Senator he could +reach, action was finally taken and the appointment was confirmed +January 16, 1888. + +Senator Cullom's reminiscences also throw light upon the process +by which judges are appointed. President Cleveland had selected +Melville W. Fuller of Illinois for the office of chief justice of +the Supreme Court. According to Senator Cullom, Senator Edmunds +"was very much out of humor with the President because he had +fully expected that Judge Phelps, of his own State, was to +receive the honor.... The result was that Senator Edmunds held +the nomination, without any action, in the Judiciary Committee +for some three months." Senator Cullom, although a party +associate of Edmunds, was pleased that the President had selected +an Illinois jurist and he was determined that, if he could help +it, Edmunds should not have the New Hampshire candidate +appointed. He therefore appealed to the committee to do something +about the nomination, either one way or the other. The committee +finally reported the nomination to the Senate without +recommendation. When the matter came up in executive session, +"Senator Edmunds at once took the floor and attacked Judge Fuller +most viciously as having sympathized with the rebellion." But +Cullom was primed to meet that argument. He had been furnished +with a copy of a speech attacking President Lincoln which Phelps +had delivered during the war, and he now read it to the Senate, +"much to the chagrin and mortification of Senator Edmunds." +Cullom relates that the Democrats in the Senate enjoyed the +scene. "Naturally, it appeared to them a very funny performance, +two Republicans quarreling over the confirmation of a Democrat. +They sat silent, however, and took no part at all in the debate, +leaving us Republicans to settle it among ourselves." The result +of the Republican split was that the nomination of Fuller was +confirmed "by a substantial majority." + +Another nomination which caused much agitation at the time was +that of James C. Matthews of New York, to be Recorder of Deeds in +the District of Columbia. The office had been previously held by +Frederick Douglass, a distinguished leader of the colored race; +and in filling the vacancy the President believed it would be an +exercise of wise and kindly consideration to choose a member of +the same race. But in the Washington community, there was such a +strong antipathy to the importation of a negro politician from +New York to fill a local office that a great clamor was raised, +in which Democrats joined. The Senate rejected the nomination, +but meanwhile Mr. Matthews had entered upon the duties of his +office and he showed such tact and ability as gradually to soften +the opposition. On December 21,1886, President Cleveland +renominated him, pointing out that he had been in actual +occupation of the office for four months, managing its affairs +with such ability as to remove "much of the opposition to his +appointment which has heretofore existed." In conclusion, the +President confessed "a desire to cooperate in tendering to our +colored fellow-citizens just recognition." This was a shrewd +argument. The Republican majority in the Senate shrank from what +might seem to be drawing the color line, and the appointment was +eventually confirmed; but this did not remove the sense of +grievance in Washington over the use of local offices for +national party purposes. Local sentiment in the District of +Columbia is, however, politically unimportant, as the community +has no means of positive action.* + +* It is a singular fact, which contains matter for deep +consideration, that the District of Columbia, the national +capital, is the only populated area in the civilized world +without any sort of suffrage rights. + + +In the same month in which President Cleveland issued his +memorable special message to the Senate on the Tenure of Office +Act, he began another struggle against congressional practice in +which he was not so fortunate. On March 10, 1886, he sent to +Congress the first of his pension vetoes. Although liberal +provision for granting pensions had been made by general laws, +numerous special applications were made directly to Congress, and +congressmen were solicited to secure favorable consideration for +them. That it was the duty of a representative to support an +application from a resident of his district, was a doctrine +enforced by claim agents with a pertinacity from which there was +no escape. To attempt to assume a judicial attitude in the matter +was politically dangerous, and to yield assent was a matter of +practical convenience. Senator Cullom relates that when he first +became a member of the committee on pensions he was "a little +uneasy" lest he "might be too liberal." But he was guided by the +advice of an old, experienced Congressman, Senator Sawyer of +Wisconsin, who told him: "You need not worry, you cannot very +well make a mistake allowing liberal pensions to the soldier +boys. The money will get back into the Treasury very soon." + +The feeling that anything that the old soldiers wanted should be +granted was even stronger in the House, where about the only +opportunity of distinction allowed by the procedure was to +champion these local demands upon the public treasury. It was +indeed this privilege of passing pension bills which partially +reconciled members of the House to the actual control of +legislative opportunity by the Speaker and the chairmen of a few +dominating committees. It was a congressional perquisite to be +allowed to move the passage of so many bills; enactment followed +as a matter, of course. President Cleveland made a pointed +reference to this process in a veto message of June 21, 1886. He +observed that the pension bills had only "an apparent +Congressional sanction" for the fact was that "a large proportion +of these bills have never been submitted to a majority of either +branch of Congress, but are the results of nominal sessions held +for the express purpose of their consideration and attended by a +small minority of the members of the respective houses of the +legislative branch of government." + +Obviously, the whole system of pension legislation was faulty. +Mere individual effort on the part of the President to screen the +output of the system was scarcely practicable, even if it were +congruous with the nature of the President's own duties; but +nevertheless Cleveland attempted it, and kept at it with stout +perseverance. One of his veto messages remarks that in a single +day nearly 240 special pension bills were presented to him. He +referred them to the Pension Bureau for examination and the labor +involved was so great that they could not be returned to him +until within a few hours of the limit fixed by the Constitution +for the President's assent. + +There could be no more signal proof of President Cleveland's +constancy of soul than the fact that he was working hard at his +veto forge, with the sparks falling thickly around, right in his +honeymoon. He married Miss Frances Folsom of Buffalo on June 2, +1886. The ceremony took place in the White House, and immediately +thereafter, the President and his charming bride went to Deer +Park, Maryland, a mountain resort. The respite from official +cares was brief; on June 8th, the couple returned to Washington +and some of the most pugnacious of the pension vetoes were sent +to Congress soon after. The rest of his public life was passed +under continual storm, but the peace and happiness of his +domestic life provided a secure refuge. + +On the other hand, the rebuffs which Democratic Congressmen +received in the matter of pension legislation were, it must be +admitted, peculiarly exasperating. Reviewing the work of the +Forty-ninth Congress, "The Nation" mentioned three enactments +which it characterized as great achievements that should be +placed to the credit of Congress. Those were the act regulating +the presidential succession, approved January 18, 1886; the act +regulating the counting of the electoral votes, approved February +3, 1887; and the repeal of the Tenure of Office Act, approved +March 3, 1887. But all three measures originated in the Senate, +and the main credit for their enactment might be claimed by the +Republican party. There was some ground for the statement that +they would have been enacted sooner but for the disturbance of +legislative routine by political upheavals in the House; and +certainly no one could pretend that it was to get these +particular measures passed that the Democratic party was raised +to power. The main cause of the political revolution of 1884 had +been the continuance of war taxes, producing revenues that were +not only not needed but were positively embarrassing to the +Government. Popular feeling over the matter was so strong that +even the Republican party had felt bound to put into its national +platform, in 1884, a pledge "to correct the irregularities of the +tariff and to reduce the surplus." The people, however, believed +that the Republican party had already been given sufficient +opportunity, and they now turned to the Democratic party for +relief. The rank and file of this party felt acutely, therefore, +that they were not accomplishing what the people expected. +Members arrived in Washington full of good intentions. They found +themselves subject to a system which allowed them to introduce +all the bills they wanted, but not to obtain action upon them. +Action was the prerogative of a group of old hands who managed +the important committees and who were divided among themselves on +tariff policy. And now, the little bills which, by dint of +persuasion and bargaining, they had first put through the +committees, and then through both Houses of Congress, were cut +down by executive veto, turning to their injury what they had +counted upon to help them in their districts. + +During the campaign, Democratic candidates had everywhere +contended that they were just as good friends of the old soldiers +as the Republicans. Now, they felt that to make good this +position they must do something to offset the effect of President +Cleveland's vetoes. In his messages, he had favored "the most +generous treatment to the disabled, aged and needy among our +veterans"; but he had argued that it should be done by general +laws, and not by special acts for the benefit of particular +claimants. The Pension Committee of the House responded by +reporting a bill "for the relief of dependent parents and +honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who are now disabled +and dependent upon their own labor for support." It passed the +House by a vote of 180 to 76, with 63 not voting, and it passed +the Senate without a division. On the 11th of February, President +Cleveland sent in his veto, accompanied by a message pointing out +in the language of the act defects and ambiguities which he +believed would "but put a further premium on dishonesty and +mendacity." He reiterated his desire that provision should be +made "for those who, having served their country long and well, +are reduced to destitution and dependence," but he did not think +that the bill was a proper means of attaining that object. On the +19th of February, the House committee on pensions submitted an +elaborate report on the veto in which they recited the history of +the bill and the reasons actuating the committee. Extracts from +Cleveland's messages were quoted, and the committee declared +that, in "hearty accord with these views of the President and +largely in accordance with his suggestions, they framed a bill +which they then thought, and still continue to think, will best +accomplish the ends proposed." A motion to pass the bill over the +veto on the 24th of February received 175 votes to 125, but +two-thirds not having voted in the affirmative the bill failed to +pass. The Republicans voted solidly in support of the bill, +together with a large group of Democrats. The negative vote came +wholly from the Democratic side. Such a fiasco amounted to a +demonstration of the lack of intelligent leadership. If the +President and his party in Congress were cooperating for the +furtherance of the same objects, as both averred, it was +discreditable all around that there should have been such a +complete misunderstanding as to the procedure. + +Meanwhile, the President was making a unique record by his +vetoes. During the period of ninety-six years, from the +foundation of the Government down to the beginning of Cleveland's +administration, the entire number of veto messages was 132. In +four years, Cleveland sent in 301 veto messages, and in addition +he practically vetoed 109 bills by inaction. Of 2042 private +pension bills passed by Congress, 1518 were approved and 284 +became laws by lapse of time without approval. The positive +results of the President's activity were thus inconsiderable, +unless incidentally he had managed to correct the system which he +had opposed. That claim, indeed, was made in his behalf when "The +Nation" mentioned "the arrest of the pension craze" as a +"positive achievement of the first order.'" But far from being +arrested, "the pension craze" was made the more furious, and it +soon advanced to extremes unknown before.* + +* March 19, 1887. + + +The Democratic politicians naturally viewed with dismay the +approach of the national election of 1888. Any one could see that +the party was drifting on to the rocks and nobody deemed to be at +the helm. According to William R. Morrison, who certainly had +been in a position to know, President Cleveland had "up to this +time taken no decided ground one way or the other on the question +of tariff." He had included the subject in the long dissertation +on the state of the Union, which ever since Jefferson's time the +President has been wont to send to Congress at the opening of a +session, but he had not singled it out as having precedence. He +now surprised the country, roused his party, and gave fresh +animation to national politics on December 6, 1887, by devoting +his third annual message wholly to the subject of taxation and +revenue. He pointed out that the treasury surplus was mounting up +to $140,000,000; that the redemption of bonds which had afforded +a means for disbursement of excess revenues had stopped because +there were no more bonds that the Government had a right to +redeem; and that, hence, the Treasury "idly holds money uselessly +subtracted from the channels of trade," a situation from which +monetary derangement and business distress would naturally ensue. +He strongly urged that the "present tariff laws, the vicious, +inequitable and illogical source of unnecessary taxation, ought +to be at once revised and amended." Cleveland gave a detailed +analysis of the injurious effects which the existing tariff had +upon trade and industry, and went on to remark that "progress +toward a wise conclusion will not be improved by dwelling upon +the theories of protection and free trade. This savors too much +of bandying epithets. It is a condition which confronts us, not a +theory." The effect of the message was very marked both upon +public opinion and party activity. Mr. Morrison correctly summed +up the party effect in saying that "Mr. Mills, obtaining the +substantial support of the Administration, was enabled to press +through the House a bill differing in a very few essential +measures from, and combining the general details and purposes of, +the several measures of which I have been the author, and which +had been voted against by many of those who contributed to the +success of the Mills Bill." + +An incident which attracted great notice because it was thought +to have a bearing on the President's policy of tariff revision, +was the veto of the Allentown Public Building Bill. This bill was +of a type which is one of the rankest growths of the +Congressional system--the grant of money not for the needs of +public service but as a district favor. It appropriated $100,000 +to put up a post-office building at Allentown, Pennsylvania, +where adequate quarters were being occupied by the post-office at +an annual rent of $1300. President Cleveland vetoed the bill +simply on the ground that it proposed an unnecessary expenditure, +but the fact was at once noted that the bill had been fathered by +Congressman Snowden, an active adherent of Randall in opposition +to the tariff reform policy of the Administration. The word went +through Congress and reverberated through the press that "there +is an Allentown for every Snowden." Mr. Morrison said in more +polite phrase what came to the same thing when he observed that +"when Mr. Cleveland took decided ground in favor of revision and +reduction, he represented the patronage of the Administration, in +consequence of which he was enabled to enforce party discipline, +so that a man could no longer be a good Democrat and favor +anything but reform of the tariff." + +After the Mills Bill had passed the House* and had been sent to +the Senate, it was held in committee until October 3, 1888. When +it emerged it carried an amendment which was in effect a complete +substitute, but it was not taken up for consideration until after +the presidential election, and it was meant simply as a +Republican alternative to the Mills Bill for campaign use. +Consideration of the bill began on the 5th of December and lasted +until the 22nd of January, when the bill was returned to the +House transformed into a new measure. It was referred to the Ways +and Means Committee, and Chairman Mills reported it back with a +resolution setting forth that "the substitution by the Senate +under the form of an amendment.... of another and different +bill," is in conflict with the section of the Constitution which +"vests in the House of Representatives the sole power to +originate such a measure." The House refused to consider the +resolution, a number of Democrats led by Mr. Randall voting with +the Republicans in the negative. No further action was taken on +the bill and since that day the House has never ventured to +question the right of the Senate to amend tax bills in any way +and to any extent. As Senator Cullom remarks in his memoirs, the +Democrats, although they had long held the House and had also +gained, the Presidency, "were just as powerless to enact +legislation as they had been before." + + * The Mills Bill was passed July 21, 1888, yeas 162, nays 149, +not voting 14. Randall, Snowden, and two other Democrats joined +the Republicans in voting against the bill. + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE PUBLIC DISCONTENTS + +While President and Congress were passing the time in mutual +obstruction, the public discontents were becoming hot and bitter +to a degree unknown before. A marked feature of the situation was +the disturbance of public convenience involving loss, trouble, +and distress which were vast in extent but not easily expressed +in statistical form. The first three months of 1886 saw an +outbreak of labor troubles far beyond any previous record in +their variety and extent. In 1885, the number of strikes reported +was 645 affecting 2284 establishments, a marked increase over +preceding years. In 1886, the number of strikes rose to 1411, +affecting 9861 establishments and directly involving 499,489 +persons. The most numerous strikes were in the building trades, +but there were severe struggles in many other industries. There +was, for example, an interruption of business on the New York +elevated railway and on the street railways of New York, +Brooklyn, and other cities. + +But the greatest public anxiety was caused by the behavior of the +Knights of Labor, an organization then growing so rapidly that it +gave promise of uniting under one control the active and +energetic elements of the working classes of the country. It +started in a humble way, in December, 1869, among certain garment +cutters in Philadelphia, and for some years spread slowly from +that center. The organization remained strictly secret until +1878, in which year it held a national convention of its fifteen +district assemblies at Reading, Pennsylvania. The object and +principles of the order were now made public and, thereafter, it +spread with startling rapidity, so that in 1886 it pitted its +strength against public authority with a membership estimated at +from, 500,000 to 800,000. Had this body been an army obedient to +its leaders, it would have wielded great power; but it turned out +to be only a mob. Its members took part in demonstrations which +were as much mutinies against the authority of their own +executive board as they were strikes against their employers. The +result of lack of organization soon began to be evident. In +March 1886, the receiver of the Texas Pacific Railroad +discharged an employee prominent in the Knights of Labor and thus +precipitated a strike which was promptly extended to the Missouri +Pacific. There were riots at various points in Missouri and +Kansas, and railroad traffic at St. Louis was completely +suspended for some days, but the strike was eventually broken. +The Knights of Labor, however, had received a blow from which it +never recovered, and as a result its membership declined. The +order has since been almost wholly superseded by the American +Federation of Labor, established in 1886 through shrewd +management by an association of labor unions which had been +maintained since 1881. The Knights had been organized by +localities with the aim of merging all classes of working men +into one body. The Federation, on the other hand, is composed of +trades unions retaining their autonomy--a principle of +organization which has proved to be more solid and durable. + +To these signs of popular discontent the Government could not be +blind. A congressional committee investigated the railroad +strikes, and both parties in Congress busied themselves with +labor legislation. But in spite of this apparent willingness to +cope with the situation, there now followed another display of +those cross purposes which occurred so often during the Cleveland +administration. The House had already passed a bill providing +means of submitting to arbitration controversies between +railroads engaged in interstate commerce and their employees. +President Cleveland now sent a special message recommending that +"instead of arbitrators chosen in the heat of conflicting claims +and after each dispute shall arise, there be created a Commission +of Labor, consisting of three members, who shall be regular +officers of the government, charged among other duties with the +consideration and settlement when possible, of all controversies +between labor and capital." In spite of the urgency of the +situation, the Senate seized this occasion for a new display of +party tactics, and it Allowed the bill already passed by the +House to lie without action while it proceeded to consider +various labor measures of its own. For example, by June 1, 1886, +the Senate had passed a bill providing that eight hours should be +a day's work for letter-carriers; soon afterwards, it passed a +bill legalizing the incorporation of national trades unions, to +which the House promptly assented without a division; and the +House then continued its labor record by passing on the 15th of +July a bill against the importation of contract labor. This last +bill was not passed by the Senate until after the fall elections. +It was approved by the President on February 23, 1887. + +The Senate also delayed action on the House bill, which proposed +arbitration in labor disputes, until the close of the session; +and then the President, in view of his disregarded suggestion, +withheld his assent. It was not until the following year that the +legislation recommended by the President was enacted. By the Act +of June 13, 1888, the Department of Labor was established, and by +the Act of October 1, 1888, in addition to provision for +voluntary arbitration between railroad corporations and their +employees, the President was authorized to appoint a commission +to investigate labor conflicts, with power to act as a board of +conciliation. During the ten years in which the act remained on +the statute books, it was actually put to use only in 1894, when +a commission was appointed to investigate the Pullman strike at +Chicago, but this body took no action towards settling the +dispute. + +Thus far, then, the efforts of the Government to deal with the +labor problem had not been entirely successful. It is true that +the labor conflicts arose over differences which only indirectly +involved constitutional questions. The aims of both the Knights +of Labor and of the American Federation were primarily economic +and both organizations were opposed to agitation of a +distinctively political character. But parallel with the labor +agitation, and in communication with it, there were radical +reform movements of a type unknown before. There was now to arise +a socialistic movement opposed to traditional constitutionalism, +and therefore viewed with alarm in many parts of the country. +Veneration of the Constitution of 1787 was practically a national +sentiment which had lasted from the time the Union was +successfully established until the Cleveland era. However violent +political differences in regard to public policy might be, it was +the invariable rule that proposals must claim a constitutional +sanction. In the Civil War, both sides felt themselves to be +fighting in defense of the traditional Constitution. + +The appeal to antiquity--even such a moderate degree of antiquity +as may be claimed for American institutions--has always been the +staple argument in American political controversy. The views and +intentions of the Fathers of the Constitution are exhibited not +so much for instruction as for imitation, and by means of glosses +and interpretations conclusions may be reached which would have +surprised the Fathers to whom they are imputed. Those who examine +the records of the formative period of American institutions, not +to obtain material for a case but simply to ascertain the facts, +will readily observe that what is known as the principle of +strict construction dates only from the organization of national +parties under the Constitution. It was an invention of the +opposition to Federalist rule and was not held by the makers of +the Constitution themselves. The main concern of the framers was +to get power for the National Government, and they went as far as +they could with such success that striking instances may be +culled from the writings of the Fathers showing that the scope +they contemplated has yet to be attained. Strict construction +affords a short and easy way of avoiding troublesome +issues--always involved in unforeseen national developments--by +substituting the question of constitutional power for a question +of public propriety. But this method has the disadvantage, that +it belittles the Constitution by making it an obstacle to +progress. Running through much political controversy in the +United States is the argument that, even granting that a proposal +has all the merit claimed for it, nevertheless it cannot be +adopted because the Constitution is against it. By strict logical +inference the rejoinder then comes that, if so, the Constitution +is no longer an instrument of national advantage. The traditional +attachment of the American people to the Constitution has indeed +been so strong that they have been loath to accept the inference +that the Constitution is out of date, although the quality of +legislation at Washington kept persistently suggesting that view +of the case. + +The failures and disappointments resulting from the series of +national elections from 1874 to 1884, at last, made an opening +for party movements voicing the popular discontent and openly +antagonistic to the traditional Constitution. The Socialist Labor +party held its first national convention in 1877. Its membership +was mostly foreign; of twenty-four periodical publications then +carried on in the party interest, only eight were in the English +language; and this polyglot press gave justification to the +remark that the movement was in the hands of people who proposed +to remodel the institutions of the country before they had +acquired its language. The alien origin of the movement was +emphasized by the appearance of two Socialist members of the +German Reichstag, who made a tour of this country in 1881 to stir +up interest in the cause. It was soon apparent that the growth of +the Socialist party organization was hindered by the fact that +its methods were too studious and its discussions too abstract to +suit the energetic temper of the times. Many Socialists broke +away to join revolutionary clubs which were now organized in a +number of cities without any clearly defined principle save to +fight the existing system of government. + +At this critical moment in the process of social disorganization, +the influence of foreign destructive thought made itself felt. +The arrival of Johann Most from Europe, in the fall of 1882, +supplied this revolutionary movement with a leader who made +anarchy its principle. Originally a German Socialist aiming to +make the State the sole landlord and capitalist, he had gone over +to anarchism and proposed to dissolve the State altogether, +trusting to voluntary association to supply all genuine social +needs. Driven from Germany, he had taken refuge in England, but +even the habitual British tolerance had given way under his +praise of the assassination of the Czar Alexander in 1881 and his +proposal to treat other rulers in the same way. He had just +completed a term of imprisonment before coming to the United +States. Here, he was received as a hero; a great mass meeting in +his honor was held in Cooper Union, New York, in December, 1882; +and when he toured the country he everywhere addressed large +meetings. + +In October 1883, a convention of social revolutionists and +anarchists was held in Chicago, at which a national organization +was formed called the International Working People's Association. +The new organization grew much faster than the Socialist party +itself, which now almost disappeared. Two years later, the +International had a party press consisting of seven German, two +Bohemian, and only two English papers. Like the Socialist party, +it was, therefore, mainly foreign in its membership. It was +strongest in and about Chicago, where it included twenty groups +with three thousand enrolled members. The anarchist papers +exhorted their adherents to provide themselves with arms and even +published instructions for the use of dynamite. + +Political and industrial conditions thus supplied material for an +explosion which came with shocking violence. On May 4, 1885, +towards the close of an anarchist meeting held in Chicago, a +dynamite bomb thrown among a force of policemen killed one and +wounded many. Fire was at once opened on both sides, and, +although the battle lasted only a few minutes, seven policemen +were killed and about sixty wounded; while on the side of the +anarchists, four were killed and about fifty were wounded. Ten of +the anarchist leaders were promptly indicted, of whom one made +his escape and another turned State's evidence. The trial of the +remaining eight began on June 21, 1886, and two months later the +death sentence was imposed upon seven and a penitentiary term of +fifteen years upon one. The sentences of two of the seven were +commuted to life imprisonment; one committed suicide in his cell +by exploding a cartridge in his mouth; and four met death on the +scaffold. While awaiting their fate they were to a startling +extent regarded as heroes and bore themselves as martyrs to a +noble cause. Six years later, Illinois elected as governor John +P. Altgeld, one of whose first steps was to issue a pardon to the +three who were serving terms of imprisonment and to criticize +sharply the conduct of the trial which had resulted in the +conviction of the anarchists. + +The Chicago outbreak and its result stopped the open spread of +anarchism. Organized labor now withdrew from any sort of +association with it. This cleared the field for a revival of the +Socialist movement as the agency of social and political +reconstruction. So rapidly did it gain in membership and +influence that by 1892 it was able to present itself as an +organized national party appealing to public opinion for +confidence and support, submitting its claims to public +discussion, and stating its case upon reasonable grounds. +Although its membership was small in comparison with that of the +old parties, the disparity was not so great as it seemed, +since the Socialists represented active intelligence while the +other parties represented political inertia. From this time on, +Socialist views spread among college students, artists, and men +of letters, and the academic Socialist became a familiar figure +in American society. + +Probably more significant than the Socialist movement, as an +indication of the popular demand for radical reform in the +government of the country, was the New York campaign of Henry +George in 1886. He was a San Francisco printer and journalist +when he published the work on "Progress and Poverty" which made +him famous. Upon the petition of over thirty thousand citizens, +he became the Labor candidate for mayor of New York City. The +movement in support of George developed so much strength that the +regular parties felt compelled to put forward exceptionally +strong candidates. The Democrats nominated Abram S. Hewitt, a man +of the highest type of character, a fact which was not perhaps so +influential in getting him the nomination as that he was the +son-in-law of Peter Cooper, a philanthropist justly beloved by +the working classes. The Republicans nominated Theodore +Roosevelt, who had already distinguished himself by his energy of +character and zeal for reform. Hewitt was elected, but George +received 68,110 votes out of a total of 219,679, and stood second +in the poll. His supporters contended that he had really been +elected but had been counted out, and this belief turned their +attention to the subject of ballot reform. To the agitation which +Henry George began, may be fairly ascribed the general adoption +of the Australian ballot in the United States. + +The Socialist propaganda carried on in large cities and in +factory towns hardly touched the great mass of the people of the +United States, who belonged to the farm rather than to the +workshop. The great agricultural class, which had more weight at +the polls than any other class of citizens, was much interested +in the redress of particular grievances and very little in any +general reform of the governmental system. It is a class that is +conservative in disposition but distrustful of authority, +impatient of what is theoretical and abstract, and bent upon the +quick practical solution of problems by the nearest and simplest +means. While the Socialists in the towns were interested in labor +questions, the farmers more than any other class were affected by +the defective system of currency supply. The national banking +system had not been devised to meet industrial needs but as a war +measure to provide a market for government bonds, deposits of +which had to be made as the basis of note issues. As holdings of +government bonds were amassed in the East, financial operations +tended to confine themselves to that part of the country, and +banking facilities seemed to be in danger of becoming a sectional +monopoly, and such, indeed, was the case to a marked extent. This +situation inspired among the farmers, especially in the +agricultural West, a hatred of Wall Street and a belief in the +existence of a malign money power which provided an inexhaustible +fund of sectional feeling for demagogic exploitation. + +For lack of proper machinery of credit for carrying on the +process of exchange, there seemed to be an absolute shortage in +the amount of money in circulation, and it was this circumstance +that had given such force to the Greenback Movement. Although +that movement was defeated, its supporters urged that, if the +Government could not supply additional note issues, it should at +least permit an increase in the stock of coined money. This +feeling was so strong that as early as 1877 the House had passed +a bill for the free coinage of silver. For this, the Senate +substituted a measure requiring the purchase and coinage by the +Government of from two to four million dollars' worth of silver +monthly, and this compromise was accepted by the House. As a +result, in February, 1878, it was passed over President Hayes's +veto. + +The operation of this act naturally tended to cause the hoarding +of gold as the cheaper silver was equally a legal tender, and +meanwhile the silver dollars did not tend to pass into +circulation. In 1885, in his first annual message to Congress, +President Cleveland mentioned the fact that, although 215,759,431 +silver dollars had been coined, only about fifty million had +found their way into circulation, and that "every month two +millions of gold in the public Treasury are paid out for two +millions or more of silver dollars to be added to the idle mass +already accumulated." The process was draining the stock of gold +in the Treasury and forcing the country to a silver basis without +really increasing the amount of money in actual circulation or +removing any of the difficulties in the way of obtaining supplies +of currency for business transactions. President Cleveland +recommended the repeal of the Silver Coinage Act, but he had no +plan to offer by which the genuine complaints of the people +against the existing monetary system could be removed. Free +silver thus was allowed to stand before the people as the only +practical proposal for their relief, and upon this issue a +conflict soon began between Congress and the Administration. + +At a convention of the American Bankers' Association in +September, 1885, a New York bank president described the methods +by which the Treasury Department was restricting the operation of +the Silver Coinage Act so as to avoid a displacement of the gold +standard. On February 3, 1886, Chairman Bland of the House +committee on coinage reported a resolution reciting statements +made in that address, and calling upon the Secretary of the +Treasury for a detailed account of his administration of the +Silver Coinage Act. Secretary Manning's reply was a long and +weighty argument against continuing the coinage of silver. He +contended that there was no hope of maintaining a fixed ratio +between gold and silver except by international concert of +action, but "the step is one which no European nation... will +consent to take while the direct or indirect substitution of +European silver for United States gold seems a possibility." +While strong as to what not to do, his reply, like most of the +state papers of this period, was weak as to what to do and how to +do it. The outlook of the Secretary of the Treasury was so narrow +that he was led to remark that "a delusion has spread that the +Government has authority to fix the amount of the people's +currency, and the power, and the duty." The Government certainly +has the power and the duty of providing adequate currency supply +through a sound banking system. The instinct of the people on +that point was sounder than the view of their rulers. + +Secretary Manning's plea had so little effect that the House +promptly voted to suspend the rules in order to make a free +coinage bill the special order of business until it was disposed +of. But the influence of the Administration was strong enough to +defeat the bill when it came to a vote. Though for a time, the +legislative advance of the silver movement was successfully +resisted, the Treasury Department was left in a difficult +situation, and the expedients to which it resorted to guard the +gold supply added to the troubles of the people in the matter of +obtaining currency. The quick way of getting gold from the +Treasury was to present legal tender notes for redemption. To +keep this process in check, legal tender notes were impounded as +they came in, and silver certificates were substituted in +disbursements. But under the law of 1878, silver certificates +could not be issued in denominations of less than ten dollars. A +scarcity of small notes resulted, which oppressed retail trade +until, in August, 1886, Congress authorized the issue of silver +certificates in one and two and five dollar bills. + +A more difficult problem was presented by the Treasury surplus +which, by old regulations savoring more of barbarism than of +civilized polity, had to be kept idle in the Treasury vaults. The +only apparent means by which the Secretary of the Treasury could +return his surplus funds to the channels of trade was by +redeeming government bonds; but as these were the basis of bank +note issues, the effect of any such action was to produce a sharp +contraction in this class of currency. Between 1882 and 1889, +national bank notes declined in amount from $356,060,348 to +$199,779,011. In the same period, the issue of silver +certificates increased from $63,204,780 to $276,619,715, and the +total amount of currency of all sorts nominally increased from +$1,188,752,363 to $1,405,018,000; but of this, $375,947,715 was +in gold coin which was being hoarded, and national bank notes +were almost equally scarce since they were virtually government +bonds in a liquid form. + +As the inefficiency of the monetary system came home to the +people in practical experience, it seemed as if they were being +plagued and inconvenienced in every possible way. The conditions +were just such as would spread disaffection among the farmers, +and their discontent sought an outlet. The growth of political +agitation in the agricultural class, accompanied by a thorough- +going disapproval of existing party leadership, gave rise to +numerous new party movements. Delegates from the Agricultural +Wheel, the Corn-Planters, the Anti-Monopolists, Farmers' +Alliance, and Grangers, attended a convention in February, 1887, +and joined the Knights of Labor and the Greenbackers to form the +United Labor party. In the country, at this time, there were +numerous other labor parties of local origin and composition, +with trade unionists predominating in some places and Socialists +in others. Very early, however, these parties showed a tendency +to division that indicated a clash of incompatible elements. +Single taxers, greenbackers, labor leaders, grangers, and +socialists were agreed only in condemning existing public policy. +When they came to consider the question of what new policy should +be adopted, they immediately manifested irreconcilable +differences. In 1888, rival national conventions were held in +Cincinnati, one designating itself as the Union Labor party, the +other as the United Labor party. One made a schedule of +particular demands; the other insisted on the single tax as the +consummation of their purpose in seeking reform. Both put +presidential tickets in the field, but of the two, the Union +Labor party made by far the better showing at the polls though, +even so, it polled fewer votes than did the National Prohibition +party. Although making no very considerable showing at the polls, +these new movements were very significant as evidences of popular +unrest. The fact that the heaviest vote of the Union Labor party +was polled in the agricultural States of Kansas, Missouri, and +Texas, was a portent of the sweep of the populist movement which +virtually captured the Democratic party organization during +President Cleveland's second term. + +The withdrawal of Blaine from the list of presidential candidates +in 1888 left the Republican Convention at Chicago to choose from +a score of "favorite sons." Even his repeated statement that he +would not accept the nomination did not prevent his enthusiastic +followers from hoping that the convention might be "stampeded." +But on the first ballot, Blaine received only thirty-five votes +while John Sherman led with 229. It was anybody's race until the +eighth ballot, when General Benjamin Harrison, grandson of +"Tippecanoe," suddenly forged ahead and received the nomination. + +The defeat of the Democratic party at the polls in the +presidential election of 1888 was less emphatic than might have +been expected from its sorry record. Indeed, it is quite possible +that an indiscretion in which Lord Sackville-West, the British +Ambassador, was caught may have turned the scale. An adroitly +worded letter was sent to him, purporting to come from Charles +Murchison, a California voter of English birth, asking +confidential advice which might enable the writer "to assure many +of our countrymen that they would do England a service by voting +for Cleveland and against the Republican system of tariff." With +an astonishing lack of astuteness, the British minister fell into +the trap and sent a reply which, while noncommittal on +particulars, exhibited friendly interest in the reelection of +President Cleveland. This correspondence, when published late in +the campaign, caused the Administration to demand his recall. A +spirited statement of the case was laid before the public by +Thomas Francis Bayard, Secretary of State, a few days before the +election, but this was not enough to undo the harm that had been +done, and the Murchison letter takes rank with the Morey letter +attributed to General Garfield as specimens of the value of the +campaign lie as a weapon in American party politics. + +President Cleveland received a slight plurality in the total +popular vote; but by small pluralities Harrison carried the big +States, thus obtaining a heavy majority in the electoral vote. At +the same time, the Republicans obtained nearly as large a +majority in the House as the Democrats had had before. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE REPUBLICAN OPPORTUNITY + +The Republican party had the inestimable advantage in the year +1889 of being able to act. It controlled the Senate which had +become the seat of legislative authority; it controlled the +House; and it had placed its candidate in the presidential chair. +All branches of the Government were now in party accord. The +leaders in both Houses were able men, experienced in the +diplomacy which, far more than argument or conviction, produces +congressional action. Benjamin Harrison himself had been a member +of the ruling group of Senators, and as he was fully imbued with +their ideas as to the proper place of the President he was +careful to avoid interference with legislative procedure. Such +was the party harmony that an extensive program of legislation +was put through without serious difficulty, after obstruction had +been overcome in the House by an amendment of the rules. + +In the House of Representatives, the quorum is a majority of the +whole membership. This rule enabled the minority to stop business +at any time when the majority party was not present in sufficient +strength to maintain the quorum by its own vote. On several +occasions, the Democrats left the House nominally without a +quorum +by the subterfuge of refusing to answer to their names on the +roll call. Speaker Reed determined to end this practice by +counting as present any members actually in the chamber. To the +wrath of the minority, he assumed this authority while a revision +of the rules was pending. The absurdity of the Democratic +position was naively exposed when a member arose with a law book +in his hand and said, "I deny your right, Mr. Speaker, to count +me as present, and I desire to read from the parliamentary law on +the subject." Speaker Reed, with the nasal drawl that was his +habit, replied, "The Chair is making a statement of fact that the +gentleman from Kentucky is present? Does he deny it?" The +rejoinder was so apposite that the House broke into a roar of +laughter, and the Speaker carried his point. + +Undoubtedly, Speaker Reed was violating all precedents. +Facilities of obstruction had been cherished by both parties, and +nothing short of Reed's earnestness and determination could have +effected this salutary reform. The fact has since been disclosed +that he had made up his mind to resign the Speakership and retire +from public life had his party failed to support him. For three +days, the House was a bedlam, but the Speaker bore himself +throughout with unflinching courage and unruffled composure. +Eventually he had his way. New rules were adopted, and the power +to count a quorum was established.* When in later Congresses a +Democratic majority returned to the former practice, Reed gave +them such a dose of their own medicine that for weeks the House +was unable to keep a quorum. Finally, the House was forced to +return to the "Reed rules" which have since then been permanently +retained. As a result of congressional example, they have been +generally adopted by American legislative bodies, with a marked +improvement in their capacity to do business. + +* The rule that "no dilatory motion shall be entertained by the +Speaker" was also adopted at this time. + + +With the facilities of action which they now possessed, the +Republican leaders had no difficulty in getting rid of the +surplus in the Treasury. Indeed, in this particular they could +count on Democratic aid. The main conduit which they used was an +increase of pension expenditures. President Harrison encouraged a +spirit of broad liberality toward veterans of the Civil War. +During the campaign he said that it "was no time to be weighing +the claims of old soldiers with apothecary's scales," and he put +this principle of generous recognition into effect by appointing +as commissioner of pensions a robust partisan known as "Corporal" +Tanner. The report went abroad that on taking office he had +gleefully declared, "God help the surplus," and upon that maxim +he acted with unflinching vigor. It seemed, indeed, as if any +claim could count upon being allowed so long as it purported to +come from an old soldier. But Tanner's ambition was not satisfied +with an indulgent consideration of applications pending during +his time; he reopened old cases, rerated a large number of +pensioners, and increased the amount of their allowance. In some +cases, large sums were granted as arrears due on the basis of the +new rate. A number of officers of the pension bureau were thus +favored, for a man might receive a pension on the score of +disability though still able to hold office and draw its salary +and emoluments. For example, the sum of $4300 in arrears was +declared to be due to a member of the United States Senate, +Charles F. Manderson of Nebraska. Finally, "Corporal" Tanner's +extravagant management became so intolerable to the Secretary of +the Interior that he confronted President Harrison with the +choice of accepting his resignation or dismissing Tanner. Tanner +therefore had to go, and with him his system of reratings. + +A pension bill for dependents, such as Cleveland had vetoed, now +went triumphantly through Congress.* It granted pensions of from +six to twelve dollars a month to all persons who had served for +ninety days in the Civil War and had thereby been incapacitated +for manual labor to such a degree as to be unable to support +themselves. Pensions were also granted to widows, minor children, +and dependent parents. This law brought in an enormous flood of +claims in passing, upon which it was the policy of the Pension +Bureau to practice great indulgence. In one instance, a pension +was granted to a claimant who had enlisted but never really +served in the army as he had deserted soon after entering the +camp. He thereupon had been sentenced to hard labor for one year +and made to forfeit all pay and allowances. After the war, he had +been convicted of horse stealing and sent to the state +penitentiary in Wisconsin. While serving his term, he presented a +pension claim supported by forged testimony to the effect that he +had been wounded in the battle of Franklin. The fraud was +discovered by a special examiner of the pension office, and the +claimant and some of his witnesses were tried for perjury, +convicted, and sent to the state penitentiary at Joliet, +Illinois. After serving his time there, he posed as a neglected +old soldier and succeeded in obtaining letters from sympathetic +Congressmen commending his case to the attention of the pension +office, but without avail until the Act of 1890 was passed. He +then put in a claim which was twice rejected by the pension +office examiners, but each time the decision was overruled, and +in the end he was put upon the pension roll. This case is only +one of many made possible by lax methods of investigating pension +claims. Senator Gallinger of New Hampshire eventually said of the +effect of pension policy, as shaped by his own party with his own +aid: + +"If there was any soldier on the Union side during the Civil War +who was not a good soldier, who has not received a pension, I do +not know who he is. He can always find men of his own type, +equally poor soldiers who would swear that they knew he had been +in a hospital at a certain time, whether he was or not--the +records did not state it, but they knew it was so--and who would +also swear that they knew he had received a shock which affected +his hearing during a certain battle, or that something else had +happened to him; and so all those pension claims, many of which +are worthless, have been allowed by the Government, because they +were 'proved.'" + +* June 27, 1890. + + +The increase in the expenditure for pensions, which rose from +$88,000,000 in 1889 to $159,000,000 in 1893, swept away much of +the surplus in the Treasury. Further inroads were made by the +enactment of the largest river and harbor appropriation bill in +the history of the country up to this time. Moreover, a new +tariff bill was contrived in such a way as to impose protective +duties without producing so much revenue that it would cause +popular complaint about unnecessary taxation. A large source of +revenue was cut off by abolishing the sugar duties and by +substituting a system of bounties to encourage home production. +Upon this bill as a whole, Senator Cullom remarks in his memoirs +that "it was a high protective tariff, dictated by the +manufacturers of the country" who have "insisted upon higher +duties than they really ought to have." The bill was, indeed, +made up wholly with the view of protecting American manufactures +from any foreign competition in the home market. + +As passed by the House, not only did the bill ignore American +commerce with other countries but it left American consumers +exposed to the manipulation of prices on the part of other +countries. Practically all the products of tropical America, +except tobacco, had been placed upon the free list without any +precaution lest the revenue thus surrendered might not be +appropriated by other countries by means of export taxes. Blaine, +who was once more Secretary of State, began a vigorous agitation +in favor of adding reciprocity provisions to the bill. When the +Senate showed a disposition to resent his interference, Blaine +addressed to Senator Frye of Maine a letter which was in effect +an appeal to the people, and which greatly stirred the farmers by +its statement that "there is not a section or a line in the +entire bill that will open the market for another bushel of wheat +or another barrel of pork." The effect was so marked that the +Senate yielded, and the Tariff Bill, as finally enacted, gave the +President power to impose certain duties on sugar, molasses, +coffee, tea, and hides imported from any country imposing on +American goods duties, which, in the opinion of the President, +were "reciprocally unequal and unreasonable." This more equitable +result is to be ascribed wholly to Blaine's energetic and capable +leadership. + +Pending the passage of the Tariff Bill, the Senate had been +wrestling with the trust problem which was making a mockery of a +favorite theory of the Republicans. They had held that tariff +protection benefited the consumer by the stimulus which it gave +to home production and by ensuring a supply of articles on as +cheap terms as American labor could afford. There were, however, +notorious facts showing that certain corporations had taken +advantage of the situation to impose high prices, especially upon +the American consumer. It was a campaign taunt that the tariff +held the people down while the trusts went through their pockets, +and to this charge the Republicans found it difficult to make a +satisfactory reply. + +The existence of such economic injustice was continually urged in +support of popular demands for the control of corporations by the +Government. Though the Republican leaders were much averse to +providing such control, they found inaction so dangerous that on +January 14, 1890, Senator John Sherman reported from the Finance +Committee a vague but peremptory statute to make trade +competition compulsory. This was the origin of the AntiTrust Law +which has since gone by his name, although the law actually +passed was framed by the Senate judiciary committee. The first +section declared that "every contract, combination in the form of +trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or +commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is +hereby declared to be illegal." The law made no attempt to define +the offenses it penalized and created no machinery for enforcing +its provisions, but it gave jurisdiction over alleged violations +to the courts--a favorite congressional mode of getting rid of +troublesome responsibilities. As a result, the courts have been +struggling with the application of the law ever since, without +being able to develop a clear or consistent rule for +discriminating between legal and illegal combinations in trade +and commerce. Even upon the financial question, the Republicans +succeeded in maintaining party harmony, notwithstanding a sharp +conflict between factions. William Windom, the Secretary of the +Treasury, had prepared a bill of the type known as a "straddle." +It offered the advocates of free coinage the right to send to the +mint silver bullion in any quantity and to receive in return the +net market value of the bullion in treasury notes redeemable in +gold or silver coin at the option of the Government. The monthly +purchase of not less than $2,000,000 worth of bullion was, +however, no longer to be required by law. When the advocates of +silver insisted that the provision for bullion purchase was too +vague, a substitute was prepared which definitely required the +Secretary of the Treasury to purchase 4,500,000 ounces of silver +bullion in one month. The bill, as thus amended, was put through +the House under special rule by a strict party vote. But when +the bill reached the Senate, the former party agreement could no +longer be maintained, and the Republican leaders lost control of +the situation. The free silver Republicans combined with most of +the Democrats to substitute a free coinage bill, which passed the +Senate by forty-three yeas to twenty-four nays, all the negative +votes save three coming from the Republican side. + +It took all the influence the party leaders could exert to +prevent a silver stampede in the House when the Senate substitute +bill was brought forward; but by dexterous management, a vote of +non-concurrence was passed and a committee of conference was +appointed. The Republican leaders now found themselves in a +situation in which presidential non-interference ceased to be +desirable, but president Harrison could not be stirred to action. +He would not even state his views. As Senator Sherman remarked in +his "Recollections," "The situation at that time was critical. A +large majority of the Senate favored free silver, and it was +feared that the small majority against it in the other House +might yield and agree to it. The silence of the President on the +matter gave rise to an apprehension that if a free coinage bill +should pass both Houses, he would not feel at liberty to veto +it." + +In this emergency, the Republican leaders appealed to their free +silver party associates to be content with compelling the +Treasury to purchase 4,500,000 ounces of silver per month, which +it was wrongly calculated would cover the entire output of +American mines. The force of party discipline eventually +prevailed, and the Republican party got together on this +compromise. The bill was adopted in both Houses by a strict party +vote, with the Democrats solidly opposed, and was finally enacted +on July 14, 1890. + +Thus by relying upon political tactics, the managers of the +Republican party were able to reconcile conflicting interests, +maintain party harmony, and present a record of achievement which +they hoped to make available in the fall elections. But while +they had placated the party factions, they had done nothing to +satisfy the people as a whole or to redress their grievances. The +slowness of congressional procedure in matters of legislative +reform allowed the amplest opportunity to unscrupulous business +men to engage, in the meantime, in profiteering at the public +expense. They were able to lay in stocks of goods at the old +rates so that an increase of customs rates, for example, became +an enormous tax upon consumers without a corresponding gain to +the Treasury; for the yield was largely intercepted on private +accounts by an advance in prices. The Tariff Bill, which William +McKinley reported on April 16, 1890, became law only on the 1st +of October, so there were over five months during which +profiteers could stock at old rates for sales at the new rates +and thus reap a rich harvest. The public, however, was +infuriated, and popular sentiment was so stirred by the methods +of retail trade that the politicians were both angered and +dismayed. Whenever purchasers complained of an increase of price, +they received the apparently plausible explanation, "Oh, the +McKinley Bill did it." To silence this popular discontent, the +customary arts and cajoleries of the politicians proved for once +quite ineffectual. + +At the next election, the Republicans carried only eighty-eight +seats in the House out of 332--the most crushing defeat they had +yet sustained. By their new lease of power in the House, however, +the Democratic party could not accomplish any legislation, as the +Republicans still controlled the Senate. The Democratic leaders, +therefore, adopted the policy of passing a series of bills +attacking the tariff at what were supposed to be particularly +vulnerable points. These measures, the Republicans derided as +"pop-gun bills," and in the Senate they turned them over to the +committee on finance for burial. Both parties were rent by the +silver issue, but it was noticeable that in the House which was +closest to the people the opposition to the silver movement was +stronger and more effective than in the Senate. + +Notwithstanding the popular revolt against the Republican policy +which was disclosed by the fall elections of 1890, President +Harrison's annual message of December 9, 1891, was marked by +extreme complacency. Great things, he assured the people, were +being accomplished under his administration. The results of the +McKinley Bill "have disappointed the evil prophecies of its +opponents and in large measure realized the hopeful predictions +of its friends." Rarely had the country been so prosperous. The +foreign commerce of the United States had reached the largest +total in the history of the country. The prophecies made by the +antisilver men regarding disasters to result from the Silver +Bullion Purchase Act, had not been realized. The President +remarked "that the increased volume of currency thus supplied for +the use of the people was needed and that beneficial results upon +trade and prices have followed this legislation I think must be +clear to every one." He held that the free coinage of silver +would be disastrous, as it would contract the currency by the +withdrawal of gold, whereas "the business of the world requires +the use of both metals." While "the producers of silver are +entitled to just consideration," it should be remembered that +"bimetallism is the desired end, and the true friends of silver +will be careful not to overrun the goal." In conclusion, the +President expressed his great joy over "many evidences of the +increased unification of the people and of the revived national +spirit. The vista that now opens to us is wider and more glorious +than before. Gratification and amazement struggle for supremacy +as we contemplate the population, wealth, and moral strength of +our country." + +Though the course of events has yet to be fully explained, +President Harrison's dull pomposity may have been the underlying +reason of the aversion which Blaine now began to manifest. +Although on Harrison's side and against Blaine, Senator Cullom +remarks in his memoirs that Harrison had "a very cold, distant +temperament," and that "he was probably the most unsatisfactory +President we ever had in the White House to those who must +necessarily come into personal contact with him." Cullom is of +the opinion that "jealousy was probably at the bottom of their +disaffection," but it appears to be certain that at this time +Blaine had renounced all ambition to be President and +energetically discouraged any movement in favor of his candidacy. +On February 6, 1892, he wrote to the chairman of the Republican +National Committee that he was not a candidate and that his name +would not go before the convention. President Harrison went ahead +with his arrangements for renomination, with no sign of +opposition from Blaine. Then suddenly, on the eve of the +convention, something happened--exactly what has yet to be +discovered--which caused Blaine to resign the office of Secretary +of State. It soon became known that Blaine's name would be +presented, although he had not announced himself as a candidate. +Blaine's health was then broken, and it was impossible that he +could have imagined that his action would defeat Harrison. It +could not have been meant for more than a protest. Harrison was +renominated on the first ballot with Blaine a poor second in the +poll. + +In the Democratic convention, Cleveland, too, was renominated on +the first ballot, in the face of a bitter and outspoken +opposition. The solid vote of his own State, New York, was polled +against him under the unit rule, and went in favor of David B. +Hill. But even with this large block of votes to stand upon, Hill +was able to get only 113 votes in all, while Cleveland received +616. Genuine acceptance of his leadership, however, did not at +all correspond with this vote. Cleveland had come out squarely +against free silver, and at least eight of the Democratic state +conventions--in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, +Nevada, South Carolina, and Texas--came out just as definitely in +favor of free silver. But even delegates who were opposed to +Cleveland, and who listened with glee to excoriating speeches +against him forthwith, voted for him as the candidate of greatest +popular strength. They then solaced their feelings by nominating +a free silver man for Vice-President, who was made the more +acceptable by his opposition to civil service reform. The ticket +thus straddled the main issue; and the platform was similarly +ambiguous. It denounced the Silver Purchase Act as "a cowardly +makeshift" which should be repealed, and it declared in favor of +"the coinage of both gold and silver without discrimination," +with the provision that "the dollar unit of coinage of both +metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value." The +Prohibition party in that year came out for the "free and +unlimited coinage of silver and gold." A more significant sign of +the times was the organization of the "People's party," which +held its first convention and nominated the old Greenback leader, +James B. Weaver of Iowa, on a free silver platform. + +The campaign was accompanied by labor disturbances of unusual +extent and violence. Shortly after the meeting of the national +conventions, a contest began between the powerful Amalgamated +Association of Steel and Iron Workers, the strongest of the +trade-unions, and the Carnegie Company over a new wage scale +introduced in the Homestead mills. The strike began on June 29, +1892, and local authority at once succumbed to the strikers. In +anticipation of this eventuality, the company had arranged to +have three hundred Pinkerton men act as guards. They arrived in +Pittsburgh during the night of the 5th of July and embarked on +barges which were towed up the river to Homestead. As they +approached, the strikers turned out to meet them, and an +engagement ensued in which men were killed or wounded on both +sides and the Pinkerton men were defeated and driven away. For a +short time, the strikers were in complete possession of the town +and of the company's property. They preserved order fairly well +but kept a strict watch that no strike breakers should approach +or attempt to resume work. The government of Pennsylvania was, +for a time, completely superseded in that region by the power of +the Amalgamated Association, until a large force of troops +entered Homestead on the 12th of July and remained in possession +of the place for several months. The contest between the strikers +and the company caused great excitement throughout the country, +and a foreign anarchist from New York attempted to assassinate +Mr. Frick, the managing director of the company. Though this +strike was caused by narrow differences concerning only the most +highly paid classes of workers, it continued for some months and +then ended in the complete defeat of the union. + +On the same day that the militia arrived at Homestead, a more +bloody and destructive conflict occurred in the Coeur d'Alene +district of Idaho, where the workers in the silver mines were on +strike. Nonunion men were imported and put into some of the +mines. The strikers, armed with rifles and dynamite, thereupon +attacked the nonunion men and drove them off, but many lives were +lost in the struggle and much property was destroyed. The +strikers proved too strong for any force which state authority +could muster, but upon the call of the Governor, President +Harrison ordered federal troops to the scene and under martial +law order was soon restored. + +Further evidence of popular unrest was given in August by a +strike of the switchmen in the Buffalo railway yards, which +paralyzed traffic until several thousand state troops were put on +guard. About the same time, there were outbreaks in the Tennessee +coal districts in protest against the employment of convict labor +in the mines. Bands of strikers seized the mines, and in some +places turned loose the convicts and in other places escorted +them back to prison. As a result of this disturbance, during 1892 +state troops were permanently stationed in the mining districts, +and eventually the convicts were put back at labor in the mines. + +Such occurrences infused bitterness into the campaign of 1892 and +strongly affected the election returns. Weaver carried Colorado, +Idaho, Kansas, and Nevada, and he got one electoral vote in +Oregon and in North Dakota; but even if these twenty-two +electoral votes had gone to Harrison, he would still have been +far behind Cleveland, who received 277 electoral votes out of a +total of 444. Harrison ran only about 381,000 behind Cleveland in +the popular vote, but in four States, the Democrats had nominated +no electors and their votes had contributed to the poll of over a +million for Weaver. The Democratic victory was so sweeping that +it gained the Senate as well as the House, and now for the first +time a Democratic President was in accord with both branches of +Congress. It was soon to appear, however, that this party accord +was merely nominal. + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE FREE SILVER REVOLT + +The avenging consequences of the Silver Purchase Act moved so +rapidly that when John Griffin Carlisle took office as Secretary +of the Treasury in 1893, the gold reserve had fallen to +$100,982,410--only $982,410 above the limit indicated by the Act +of 1882--and the public credit was shaken by the fact that it was +an open question whether the government obligation to pay a +dollar was worth so much or only one half so much. The latter +interpretation, indeed, seemed impending. The new Secretary's +first step was to adopt the makeshift expedient of his +predecessors. He appealed to the banks for gold and backed up by +patriotic exhortation from the press, he did obtain almost +twenty-five millions in gold in exchange for notes. But as even +more notes drawing out the gold were presented for redemption, +the Secretary's efforts were no more successful than carrying +water in a sieve. + +Of the notes presented for redemption during March and April, +nearly one-half were treasury notes of 1890, which by law the +Secretary might redeem "in gold or silver coin at his +discretion." The public was now alarmed by a rumor that Secretary +Carlisle, who while in Congress had voted for free silver, would +resort to silver payments on this class of notes, and regarded +his statements as being noncommittal on the point. Popular alarm +was, to some extent, dispelled by a statement from President +Cleveland, on the 23rd of April, declaring flatly and +unmistakably that redemption in gold would be maintained. But the +financial situation throughout the country was such that nothing +could stave off the impending panic. Failures were increasing in +number, some large firms broke under the strain, and the final +stroke came on the 5th of May when the National Cordage Company +went into bankruptcy. As often happens in the history of panics, +the event was trivial in comparison with the consequences. This +company was of a type that is the reproach of American +jurisprudence--the marauding corporation. In the very month in +which it failed, it declared a large cash dividend. Its stock, +which had sold at 147 in January, fell in May to below ten +dollars a share. Though the Philadelphia and Reading Railway +Company, which failed in February, had a capital of $40,000,000 +and a debt of more than $125,000,000, the market did not +break completely under that strain. The National Cordage had a +capital of $20,000,000 and liabilities of only $10,000,000, but +its collapse brought down with it the whole structure of credit. +A general movement of liquidation set in, which throughout the +West was so violent as to threaten general bankruptcy. Nearly all +of the national bank failures were in the West and South, and +still more extensive was the wreck of state banks and private +banks. It had been the practice of country banks, while firmly +maintaining local rates, to keep the bulk of their resources on +deposit with city banks at two per cent. This practice now proved +to be a fatal entanglement to many institutions. There were +instances in which country banks were forced to suspend, though +cash resources were actually on the way to them from depository +centers.* + +* Out of 158 national bank failures during the year, 153 were in +the West and South. In addition there went down 172 state banks, +177 private banks, 47 savings banks, 13 loan and trust companies, +and 6 mortgage companies. + +Even worse than the effect of these numerous failures on the +business situation was the derangement which occurred in the +currency supply. The circulating medium was almost wholly +composed of bank notes, treasury notes, and treasury certificates +issued against gold and silver in the Treasury, coin being little +in use except as fractional currency. Bank notes were essentially +treasury certificates issued upon deposits of government bonds. +In effect, the circulating medium was composed of government +securities reduced to handy bits. Usually, a bank panic tends to +bring note issues into rapid circulation for what they will +fetch, but in this new situation, people preferred to impound the +notes, which they knew to be good whatever happened so long as +the Government held out. Private hoarding became so general that +currency tended to disappear. Between September 30, 1892 and +October 31, 1893, the amount of deposits in the national banks +shrank over $496,000,000. Trade was reduced to making use of the +methods of primitive barter, though the emergency was met to some +extent by the use of checks and clearinghouse certificates. In +many New England manufacturing towns, for example, checks for use +in trade were drawn in denominations from one dollar up to +twenty. In some cases, corporations paid off their employees in +checks drawn on their own treasurers which served as local +currency. In some Southern cities, clearing-house certificates in +small denominations were issued for general circulation--in +Birmingham, Alabama, for sums as small as twenty-five cents. It +is worth noting that a premium was paid as readily for notes as +for gold; indeed, the New York "Financial Chronicle" reported +that the premium on currency was from two to three per cent, +while the premium on gold was only one and one half per cent. +Before the panic had ended, the extraordinary spectacle was +presented of gold coins serving as a medium of trade because +treasury notes and bank notes were still hoarded. These +peculiarities of the situation had a deep effect upon the popular +attitude towards the measures recommended by the Administration. + +While this devastating panic was raging over all the country, +President Cleveland was beset by troubles that were both public +and personal. He was under heavy pressure from the office +seekers. They came singly or in groups and under the escort of +Congressmen, some of whom performed such service several times a +day. The situation became so intolerable that on the 8th of May +President Cleveland issued an executive order setting forth that +"a due regard for public duty, which must be neglected if present +conditions continue, and an observance of the limitations placed +upon human endurance, oblige me to decline, from and after this +date, all personal interviews with those seeking office." + +According to the Washington papers, this sensible decision was +received with a tremendous outburst of indignation. The President +was denounced for shutting his doors upon the people who had +elected him, and he was especially severely criticized for the +closing sentence of his order stating that "applicants for office +will only prejudice their prospects by repeated importunity and +by remaining at Washington to await results." This order was +branded as an arbitrary exercise of power compelling free +American citizens to choose exile or punishment, and was featured +in the newspapers all over the country. The hubbub became +sufficient to extract from Cleveland's private secretary an +explanatory statement pointing out that in the President's day a +regular allotment of time was made for congressional and business +callers other than the office seekers, for whom a personal +interview was of no value since the details of their cases could +not be remembered. "What was said in behalf of one man was driven +out of mind by the remarks of the next man in line," whereas +testimonials sent through the mails went on file and received due +consideration. "So many hours a day having been given up to the +reception of visitors, it has been necessary, in order to keep up +with the current work, for the President to keep at his desk from +early in the morning into the small hours of the next morning. +Now that may do for a week or for a month, but there is a limit +to human physical endurance, and it has about been reached." + +Such were the distracting conditions under which President +Cleveland had to deal with the tremendous difficulties of +national import which beset him. There were allusions in his +inaugural address which showed how keenly he felt the weight of +his many responsibilities, and there is a touch of pathos in his +remark that he took "much comfort in remembering that my +countrymen are just and generous, and in the assurance that they +will not condemn those who by sincere devotion to their service +deserve their forbearance and approval." This hope of Cleveland's +was eventually justified, but not until after his public career +had ended; meanwhile he had to undergo a storm of censure so +blasting that it was more like a volcanic rain of fire and lava +than any ordinary tempest, however violent. + +On the 30th of June, President Cleveland called an extra session +of Congress for the 7th of August "to the end that the people may +be relieved through legislation from present and impending danger +and distress." In recent years, the fact has come to light that +his health was at that time in a condition so precarious that it +would have caused wild excitement had the truth become known, for +only his life stood in the way of a free silver President. On the +same day on which he issued his call for the extra session, +President Cleveland left for New York ostensibly for a yachting +trip, but while the yacht was steaming slowly up the East River, +he was in the hands of surgeons who removed the entire left upper +jaw. On the 5th of July they performed another operation in the +same region for the removal of any tissues which might possibly +have been infected. These operations were so completely +successful that the President was fitted with an artificial jaw +of vulcanized rubber which enabled him to speak without any +impairment of the strength and clearness of his voice.* +Immediately after this severe trial, which he bore with calm +fortitude, Cleveland had to battle with the raging silver +faction, strong in its legislative position through its control +of the Senate. + +* For details, see New York "Times," Sept. 21, 1917. + + +When Congress met, the only legislation which the President had +to propose was the repeal of the Silver Purchase Act, although he +remarked that "tariff reform has lost nothing of its immediate +and permanent importance and must in the near future engage the +attention of Congress." It was a natural inference, therefore, +that the Administration had no financial policy beyond putting a +stop to treasury purchases of silver, and there was a vehement +outcry against an action which seemed to strike against the only +visible source of additional currency. President Cleveland was +even denounced as a tool of Wall Street, and the panic was +declared to be the result of a plot of British and American +bankers against silver. + +Nevertheless, on the 28th of August, the House passed a repeal +bill by a vote of 240 to 110. There was a long and violent +struggle in the Senate, where such representative anomalies +existed that Nevada with a population of 45,761 had the same +voting power as New York with 5,997,853. Hence, at first, it +looked as if the passage of a repeal bill might be impossible. +Finally, the habit of compromise prevailed and a majority +agreement was reached postponing the date of repeal for twelve or +eighteen months during which the treasury stock of silver bullion +was to be turned into coin. Cleveland made it known that he would +not consent to such an arrangement, and the issue was thereafter +narrowed to that of unconditional repeal of the Silver Purchase +Act. The Senators from the silver-mining States carried on an +obstinate filibuster and refused to allow the question to come to +a vote, until their arrogance was gradually toned down by the +discovery that the liberty to dump silver on the Treasury had +become a precarious mining asset. The law provided for the +purchase of 4,500,000 ounces a month, "or, so much thereof as may +be offered at the market price." Secretary Carlisle found that +offers were frequently higher in price than New York and London +quotations, and by rejecting them he made a considerable +reduction in the amount purchased. Moreover, the silver ranks +began to divide on the question of policy. The Democratic silver +Senators wished to enlarge the circulating medium by increasing +the amount of coinage, and they did not feel the same interest in +the mere stacking of bullion in the Treasury that possessed the +mining camp Senators on the Republican side. When these two +elements separated on the question of policy, the representatives +of the mining interests recognized the hopelessness of preventing +a vote upon the proposed repeal of the silver purchase act. On +the 30th of October, the Senate passed the repeal with no +essential difference from the House bill, and the bill became law +on November 1, 1893. + +But although the repeal bill stopped the silver drain upon the +Treasury, it did not relieve the empty condition to which the +Treasury had been reduced. It was manifest that, if the gold +standard was to be maintained, the Treasury stock of gold would +have to be replenished. The Specie Resumption Act of 1875 +authorized the sale of bonds "to prepare and provide for" +redemption of notes in coin, but the only classes of bonds which +it authorized were those at four per cent payable after thirty +years, four and a half per cent payable after fifteen years, and +five per cent payable after ten years from date. For many years, +the Government had been able to borrow at lower rates but had in +vain besought Congress to grant the necessary authority. The +Government now appealed once more to Congress for authority to +issue bonds at a lower rate of interest. Carlisle, the Secretary +of the Treasury, addressed a letter to the Senate committee of +finance, setting forth the great saving that would be thus +effected. Then ensued what must be acknowledged to be a breakdown +in constitutional government. Immediately after a committee +meeting on January 16, 1894, the Chairman, Senator Voorhees, +issued a public statement in which he said that "it would be +trifling with a very grave affair to pretend that new legislation +concerning the issue of bonds can be accomplished at this time, +and in the midst of present elements and parties in public life, +with elaborate, extensive, and practically indefinite debate." +Therefore, he held that "it will be wiser, safer and better for +the financial and business interests of the country to rely upon +existing law." This plainly amounted to a public confession.that +Congress was so organized as to be incapable of providing for the +public welfare. + +Carlisle decided to sell the ten-year class of bonds, +compensating for their high interest rate by exacting such a +premium as would reduce to three per cent the actual yield to +holders. On January 17, 1894, he offered bonds to the amount of +fifty millions, but bids came in so slowly that he found it +necessary to visit New York to make a personal appeal to a number +of leading bankers to exert themselves to prevent the failure of +the sale. As a result of these efforts, the entire issue was sold +at a premium of $8,660,917, and the treasury stock of gold was +brought up to $107,440,802. + +Then followed what is probably the most curious chapter in the +financial history of modern times. Only gold was accepted by the +Treasury in payment of bonds; but gold could be obtained by +offering treasury notes for redemption. The Act of 1878 expressly +provided that, when redeemed, these notes "shall not be retired, +canceled, or destroyed, but they shall be reissued and paid out +again and kept in circulation." The Government, as President +Cleveland pointed out, was "forced to redeem without redemption +and pay without acquittance." These conditions set up against the +Treasury an endless chain by which note redemptions drained out +the gold as fast as bond sales poured it in. In a message to +Congress on January 28, 1895, President Cleveland pointed out +that the Treasury had redeemed more than $300,000,000 of its +notes in gold, and yet these notes were all still outstanding. +Appeals to Congress to remedy the situation proved absolutely +fruitless, and the only choice left to the President was to +continue pumping operations or abandon the gold standard, as the +silver faction in Congress desired. By February 8, 1895, the +stock of gold in the Treasury was down to $41,340,181. The +Administration met this sharp emergency by a contract with a New +York banking syndicate which agreed to deliver 3,500,000 ounces +of standard gold coin, at least one half to be obtained in +Europe. The syndicate was, moreover, to "exert all financial +influence and make all legitimate efforts to protect the Treasury +of the United States against the withdrawals of gold pending the +complete performance of the contract." + +The replenishing of the Treasury by this contract was, however, +only a temporary relief. By January 6, 1896, the gold reserve was +down to $61,251,710. The Treasury now offered $100,000,000 of the +four per cent bonds for sale and put forth special efforts to +make subscription popular. Blanks for bids were displayed in all +post-offices, a circular letter was sent to all national banks, +the movement was featured in the newspapers, and the result was +that 4635 bids were received coming from forty-seven States and +Territories, and amounting to $526,970,000. This great +oversubscription powerfully upheld the public credit and, +thereafter, the position of the Treasury remained secure; but +altogether, $262,000,000 in bonds had been sold to maintain its +solvency. + +Consideration of the management of American foreign relations +during this period does not enter into the scope of this book, +but the fact should be noted that the anxieties of public finance +were aggravated by the menace of war.* In the boundary dispute +between British Guiana and Venezuela, President Cleveland +proposed arbitration, but this was refused by the British +Government. President Cleveland, whose foreign policy was always +vigorous and decisive, then sent a message to Congress on +December 17, 1895, describing the British position as an +infringement of the Monroe Doctrine and recommending that a +commission should be appointed by the United States to conduct an +independent inquiry to determine the boundary line in dispute. He +significantly remarked that "in making these recommendations I am +fully alive to the responsibility incurred and keenly realize all +the consequences that may follow." The possibility of conflict, +thus hinted, was averted when Great Britain agreed to +arbitration, but meanwhile, American securities in great numbers +were thrown upon the market through sales of European account and +added to the financial strain. + +* See "The Path of Empire," by Carl Russell Fish (in "The +Chronicles of America"). + + +The invincible determination which President Cleveland showed in +this memorable struggle to maintain the gold standard will always +remain his securest title to renown, but the admiration due to +his constancy of soul cannot be extended to his handling of the +financial problem. It appears, from his own account, that he was +not well advised as to the extent and nature of his financial +resources. He did not know until February 7, 1895, when Mr. J. P. +Morgan called his attention to the fact, that among the general +powers of the Secretary of the Treasury is the provision that he +"may purchase coin with any of the bonds or notes of the United +States authorized by law, at such rates and upon such terms as he +may deem most advantageous to the public interest." The President +was urged to proceed under this law to buy $100,000,000 in gold +at a fixed price, paying for it in bonds. This advice Cleveland +did not accept at the time, but in later years he said that it +was "a wise suggestion," and that he had "always regretted that +it was not adopted." + +But apart from any particular error in the management of the +Treasury, the general policy of the Administration was much below +the requirements of the situation. The panic came to an end in +the fall of 1893, much as a great conflagration expires through +having reached all the material on which it can feed, but leaving +a scene of desolation behind it. Thirteen commercial houses out +of every thousand doing business had failed. Within two years, +nearly one fourth of the total railway capitalization of the +country had gone into bankruptcy, involving an exposure of +falsified accounts sufficient to shatter public confidence in the +methods of corporations. Industrial stagnation and unemployment +were prevalent throughout the land. Meanwhile, the congressional +situation was plainly such that only a great uprising of public +opinion could break the hold of the silver faction. The standing +committee system, which controls the gateways of legislation, is +made up on a system of party apportionment whose effect is to +give an insurgent faction of the majority the balance of power, +and this opportunity for mischief was unsparingly used by the +silver faction. + +Such a situation could not be successfully encountered save by a +policy aimed distinctly at accomplishing a redress of popular +grievances. But such a policy, President Cleveland failed to +conceive. In his inaugural address, he indicated in a general way +the policy pursued throughout his term when he said, "I shall to +the best of my ability and within my sphere of duty preserve the +Constitution by loyally protecting every grant of Federal power +it contains, by defending all its restraints when attacked by +impatience and restlessness, and by enforcing its limitations and +reservations in favor of the states and the people." This +statement sets forth a low view of governmental function and +practically limits its sphere to the office of the policeman, +whose chief concern is to suppress disorder. Statesmanship should +go deeper and should labor in a constructive way to remove causes +of disorder. + +An examination of President Cleveland's state papers show that +his first concern was always to relieve the Government from its +financial embarrassments; whereas the first concern of the people +was naturally and properly to find relief from their own +embarrassments. In the last analysis, the people were not made +for the convenience of the Government, but the Government was +made for the convenience of the people, and this truth was not +sufficiently recognized in the policy of Cleveland's +administration. His guiding principle was stated, in the annual +message, December 3, 1894, as follows: "The absolute divorcement +of the Government from the business of banking is the ideal +relationship of the Government to the circulation of the currency +of the country." That ideal, however, is unattainable in any +civilized country. The only great state in which it has ever been +actually adopted is China, and the results were not such as to +commend the system. The policy which yields the greatest +practical benefits is that which makes it the duty of the +Government to supervise and regulate the business of banking and +to attend to currency supply; and the currency troubles of the +American people were not removed until eventually their +Government accepted and acted upon this view. + +Not until his message of December 3, 1894, did President +Cleveland make any recommendation going to the root of the +trouble, which was, after all, the need of adequate provision for +the currency supply. In that message, he sketched a plan devised +by Secretary Carlisle, allowing national banks to issue notes up +to seventy-five per cent of their actual capital and providing +also, under certain conditions, for the issue of circulating +notes by state banks without taxation. This plan, he said, +"furnishes a basis for a very great improvement in our present +banking and currency system." But in his subsequent messages, he +kept urging that "the day of sensible and sound financial methods +will not dawn upon us until our Government abandons the banking +business." To effect this aim, he urged that all treasury notes +should be "withdrawn from circulation and canceled," and he +declared that he was "of opinion that we have placed too much +stress upon the danger of contracting the currency." Such +proposals addressed to a people agonized by actual scarcity of +currency were utterly impracticable, nor from any point of view +can they be pronounced to have been sound in the circumstances +then existing. Until the banking system was reformed, there was +real danger of contracting the currency by a withdrawal of +treasury notes. President Cleveland was making a mistake to which +reformers are prone; he was taking the second step before he had +taken the first. The realization on the part of others that his +efforts were misdirected not only made it impossible for him to +obtain any financial legislation but actually fortified the +position of the free silver advocates by allowing them the +advantage of being the only political party with any positive +plans for the redress of popular grievances. Experts became +convinced that statesmen at Washington were as incompetent to +deal with the banking problems as they had been in dealing with +reconstruction problems and that, in like manner, the regulation +of banking had better be abandoned to the States. A leading organ +of the business world pointed out that some of the state systems +of note issue had been better than the system of issuing notes +through national banks which had been substituted in 1862; and it +urged that the gains would exceed all disadvantages if state +banks were again allowed to act as sources of currency supply by +a repeal of the government tax of ten per cent on their +circulation. But nothing came of this suggestion, which was, +indeed, a counsel of despair. It took many years of struggle and +more experiences of financial panic and industrial distress to +produce a genuine reform in the system of currency supply. + +President Cleveland's messages suggest that he made up his mind +to do what he conceived to be his own duty regardless of +consequences, whereas an alert consideration of possible +consequences is an integral part of the duties of statesmanship. +He persevered in his pension vetoes without making any movement +towards a change of system, and the only permanent effect of his +crusade was an alteration of procedure on the part of Congress in +order to evade the veto power. Individual pension bills are still +introduced by the thousand at every session of Congress, but +since President Cleveland's time all those approved have been +included in one omnibus bill, known as a "pork barrel bill," +which thus collects enough votes from all quarters to ensure +passage. + +President Cleveland found another topic for energetic +remonstrance in a system of privilege that had been built up at +the expense of the post-office department. Printed matter in the +form of books was charged eight cents a pound, but in periodical +form only one cent a pound. This discrimination against books has +had marked effect upon the quality of American literature, +lowering its tone and encouraging the publication of many cheap +magazines. President Cleveland gave impressive statistics showing +the loss to the Government in transporting periodical +publications, "including trashy and even harmful literature." +Letter mails weighing 65,337,343 pounds yielded a revenue of +$60,624,464. Periodical publications weighing 348,988,648 pounds +yielded a revenue of $2,996,403. Cleveland's agitation of the +subject under conditions then existing could not, however, have +any practical effect save to affront an influential interest +abundantly able to increase the President's difficulties by abuse +and misrepresentation. + + + +CHAPTER X. LAW AND ORDER UPHELD + +While President Cleveland was struggling with the difficult +situation in the Treasury, popular unrest was increasing in +violence. Certain startling political developments now gave fresh +incitement to the insurgent temper which was spreading among the +masses. The relief measure at the forefront of President +Cleveland's policy was tariff reform, and upon this the +legislative influence of the Administration was concentrated as +soon as the repeal of the Silver Purchase Act had been +accomplished. + +The House leader in tariff legislation at that time was a man of +exceptionally high character and ability. William L. Wilson was +President of the University of West Virginia when he was elected +to Congress in 1882, and he had subsequently retained his seat +more by the personal respect he inspired than through the normal +strength of his party in his district. The ordinary rule of +seniority was by consent set aside to make him chairman of the +Ways and Means Committee. He aimed to produce a measure which +would treat existing interests with some consideration for their +needs. In the opinion of F. W. Taussig, an expert economist, the +bill as passed by the House on February 1, 1894, "was simply a +moderation of the protective duties" with the one exception of +the removal of the duty on wool. Ever since 1887, it had been a +settled Democratic policy to put wool on the free list, in order +to give American manufacturers the same advantage in the way of +raw material which those of every other country enjoyed, even in +quarters where a protective tariff was stiffly applied. + +The scenes that now ensued in the Senate showed that arbitrary +rule may be readily exercised under the forms of popular +government. Senator Matthew S. Quay of Pennsylvania, a genial, +scholarly cynic who sought his ends by any available means and +who disdained hypocritical pretenses, made it known that he was +in a position to block all legislation unless his demands were +conceded. He prepared an everlasting speech, which he proceeded +to deliver by installments in an effort to consume the time of +the Senate until it would become necessary to yield to him in +order to proceed with the consideration of the bill. His method +was to read matter to the Senate until he was tired and then to +have some friend act for him while he rested. According to the +"Washington Star," Senator Gallinger was "his favorite helper in +this, for he has a good round voice that never tires, and he +likes to read aloud." The thousands of pages of material which +Senator Quay had collected for use, and the apparently +inexhaustible stores upon which he was drawing, were the subject +of numerous descriptive articles in the newspapers of the day. +Senator Quay's tactics were so successful, indeed, that he +received numerous congratulatory telegrams from those whose +interests he was championing. They had been defeated at the polls +in their attempt to control legislation, and defeated in the +House of Representatives, but now they were victorious in the +Senate. + +The methods of Senator Quay were tried by other Senators on both +sides, though they were less frank in their avowal. After the +struggle was over, Senator Vest of Missouri, who had been in +charge of the bill, declared: + +"I have not an enemy in the world whom I would place in the +position that I have occupied as a member of the Finance +Committee under the rules of the Senate. I would put no man where +I have been, to be blackmailed and driven in order to pass a bill +that I believe is necessary to the welfare of the country, by +Senators who desired to force amendments upon me against my +better judgment and compel me to decide the question whether I +will take any bill at all or a bill which had been distorted by +their views and objects. Sir, the Senate 'lags superfluous on the +stage' today with the American people, because in an age of +progress, advance, and aggressive reform, we sit here day after +day and week after week, while copies of the census reports, +almanacs, and even novels are read to us, and under our rules +there is no help for the majority except to listen or leave the +chamber." + +The passage of the bill in anything like the form in which it +reached the Senate was plainly impossible without a radical +change in the rules, and on neither side of the chamber was there +any real desire for an amendment of procedure. A number of the +Democratic Senators who believed that it was desirable to keep on +good terms with business interests were, in reality, opposed to +the House bill. Their efforts to control the situation were +favored by the habitual disposition of the Senate, when dealing +with business interests, to decide questions by private +conference and personal agreements, while maintaining a surface +show of party controversy. Hence, Senator Gorman of Maryland was +able to make arrangements for the passage of what became known as +the Gorman Compromise Bill, which radically altered the character +of the original measure by the adoption of 634 amendments. It +passed the Senate on the 3rd of July by a vote of thirty-nine to +thirty-four. + +The next step was the appointment of a committee of conference +between the two Houses, but the members for the House showed an +unusual determination to resist the will of the Senate, and on +the 19th of July, the conferees reported that they had failed to +reach an agreement. When President Cleveland permitted the +publication of a letter which he had written to Chairman Wilson +condemning the Senate bill, the fact was disclosed that the +influence of the Administration had been used to stiffen the +opposition of the House. Senator Gorman and other Democratic +Senators made sharp replies, and the party quarrel became so +bitter that it was soon evident that no sort of tariff bill could +pass the Senate. + +The House leaders now reaped a great advantage from the Reed +rules to the adoption of which they had been so bitterly opposed. +Availing themselves of the effective means of crushing +obstruction provided by the powers of the Rules Committee, in one +day they passed the Tariff Bill as amended by the Senate, which +eventually became law, and then passed separate bills putting on +the free list coal, barbed wire, and sugar. These bills had no +effect other than to put on record the opinion of the House, as +they were of course subsequently held up in the Senate. This +unwonted insubordination on the part of the House excited much +angry comment from dissatisfied Senators. President Cleveland was +accused of unconstitutional interference in the proceedings of +Congress; and the House was blamed for submitting to the Senate +and passing the amended bill without going through the usual form +of conference and adjustment of differences. Senator Sherman of +Ohio remarked that "there are many cases in the bill where +enactment was not intended by the Senate. For instance, +innumerable amendments were put on by Senators on both sides of +the chamber... to give the Committee of Conference a chance to +think of the matter, and they are all adopted, whatever may be +their language or the incongruity with other parts of the bill." + +The bitter feeling, excited by the summary mode of enactment on +the part of the House, was intensified by President Cleveland's +treatment of the measure. While he did not veto it, he would not +sign it but allowed it to become law by expiration of the ten +days in which he could reject it. He set forth his reasons in a +letter on August 27, 1894, to Representative Catchings of +Missouri, in which he sharply commented upon the incidents +accompanying the passage of the bill and in which he declared: + +"I take my place with the rank and file of the Democratic party +who believe in tariff reform, and who know what it is; who refuse +to accept the result embodied in this bill as the close of the +war; who are not blinded to the fact that the livery of +Democratic tariff reform has been stolen and used in the service +of Republican protection; and who have marked the places where +the deadly blight of treason has blasted the counsels of the +brave in their hour of might." + +The letter was written throughout with a fervor rare in President +Cleveland's papers, and it had a scorching effect. Senator Gorman +and some other Democratic Senators lost their seats as soon as +the people had a chance to express their will. + +The circumstances of the tariff struggle greatly increased +popular discontent with the way in which the government of the +country was being conducted at Washington. It became a common +belief that the actual system of government was that the trusts +paid the campaign expenses of the politicians and in return the +politicians allowed the trusts to frame the tariff schedules. +Evidence in support of this view was furnished by testimony taken +in the investigation of the sugar scandal in the summer of 1894. +Charges had been made in the newspapers that some Senators had +speculated in sugar stocks during the time when they were engaged +in legislation affecting the value of those stocks. Some of them +admitted the fact of stock purchases, but denied that their +legislative action had been guided by their investments. In the +course of the investigation, H. O. Havemeyer, the head of the +Sugar Trust, admitted that it was the practice to subsidize party +management. "It is my impression," he said, "that whenever there +is a dominant party, wherever the majority is large, that is the +party that gets the contribution because that is the party which +controls the local matters." He explained that this system was +carried on because the company had large interests which needed +protection, and he declared "every individual and corporation and +firm, trust, or whatever you call it, does these things and we do +them." + +During the tariff struggle, a movement took place which was an +evidence of popular discontent of another sort. At first it +caused great uneasiness, but eventually the manifestation became +more grotesque than alarming. Jacob S. Coxey of Massillon, Ohio, +a smart specimen of the American type of handy business man, +announced that he intended to send a petition to Washington +wearing boots so that it could not be conveniently shelved by +being stuck away in a pigeonhole. He thereupon proceeded to lead +a march of the unemployed, which started from Massillon on March +25, 1894, with about one hundred men in the ranks. These +crusaders Coxey described as the "Army of the Commonweal of +Christ," and their purpose was to proclaim the wants of the +people on the steps of the Capitol on the 1st of May. The leader +of this band called upon the honest working classes to join him, +and he gained recruits as he advanced. Similar movements started +in the Western States. "The United States Industrial Army," +headed by one Frye, started from Los Angeles and at one time +numbered from six to eight hundred men; they reached St. Louis by +swarming on the freight trains of the Southern Pacific road and +thereafter continued on foot. A band under a leader named Kelly +started from San Francisco on the 4th of April and by +commandeering freight trains reached Council Bluffs, Iowa, whence +they marched to Des Moines. There, they went into camp with at +one time as many as twelve hundred men. They eventually obtained +flatboats, on which they floated down the Mississippi and then +pushed up the Ohio to a point in Kentucky whence they proceeded +on foot. Attempts on the part of such bands to seize trains +brought them into conflict with the authorities at some points. +For instance, a detachment of regular troops in Montana captured +a band coming East on a stolen Northern Pacific train, and +militia had to be called out to rescue a train from a band at +Mount Sterling, Ohio. + +Coxey's own army never amounted to more than a few hundred, but +it was more in the public eye. It had a large escort of newspaper +correspondents who gave picturesque accounts of the march to +Washington; and Coxey himself took advantage of this gratuitous +publicity to express his views. Among other measures, he urged +that since good roads and money were both greatly needed by the +country at large, the Government should issue $500,000,000 in +"non-interest bearing bonds" to be used in employing workers in +the improvement of the roads. After an orderly march through +parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, in the course of which +his men received many donations of supplies from places through +which they passed, Coxey and his army arrived at Washington on +the 1st of May and were allowed to parade to the Capitol under +police escort along a designated route. When Coxey left the +ranks, however, to cut across the grass to the Capitol, he was +arrested on the technical charge of trespassing. The army went +into camp, but on the 12th of May the authorities forced the men +to move out of the District. They thereupon took up quarters in +Maryland and shifted about from time to time. Detachments from +the Western bands arrived during June and July, but the total +number encamped about Washington probably never exceeded a +thousand. Difficulties in obtaining supplies and inevitable +collisions with the authorities caused the band gradually to +disperse. Coxey, after his short term in jail, traveled about the +country trying to stir up interest in his aims and to obtain +supplies. The novelty of his movement, however, had worn off, and +results were so poor that on the 26th of July he issued a +statement saying he could do no more and that what was left of +the army would have to shift for itself. In Maryland, the +authorities arrested a number of Coxey's "soldiers" as vagrants. +On the 11th of August, a detachment of Virginia militia drove +across the Potomac the remnants of the Kelly and Frye armies, +which were then taken in charge by the district authorities. They +were eventually supplied by the Government with free +transportation to their homes. + +Of more serious import than these marchings and campings, as +evidence of popular unrest, were the activities of organized +labor which now began to attract public attention. The Knights of +Labor were declining in numbers and influence. The attempt, which +their national officers made in January, 1894, to get out an +injunction to restrain the Secretary of the Treasury from making +bond sales really facilitated Carlisle's effort by obtaining +judicial sanction for the issue. Labor disturbances now followed +in quick succession. In April, there was a strike on the Great +Northern Railroad, which for a long time almost stopped traffic +between St. Paul and Seattle. Local strikes in the mining regions +of West Virginia and Colorado, and in the coke fields of Western +Pennsylvania, were attended by conflicts with the authorities and +some loss of life. A general strike of the bituminous coal miners +of the whole country was ordered by the United Mine Workers on +the 21st of April, and called out numbers variously estimated at +from one hundred and twenty-five thousand to two hundred +thousand; but by the end of July the strike had ended in a total +failure. + +All the disturbances that abounded throughout the country were +overshadowed, however, by a tremendous struggle which centered in +Chicago and which brought about new and most impressive +developments of national authority. In June, 1893, Eugene V. +Debs, the secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive +Firemen, resigned his office and set about organizing a new +general union of railroad employees in antagonism to the +Brotherhoods, which were separate unions of particular classes of +workers. He formed the American Railway Union and succeeded in +instituting 465 local lodges which claimed a membership of one +hundred and fifty thousand. In March, 1894, Pullman Company +employees joined the new union. On the 11th of May, a class of +workers in this company's shops at Pullman, Illinois, struck for +an increase of wages, and on the 21st of June the officers of the +American Railway Union ordered its members to refuse to handle +trains containing Pullman cars unless the demands of the strikers +were granted. Although neither the American Federation of Labor +nor the Brotherhoods endorsed this sympathetic strike, it soon +spread over a vast territory and was accompanied by savage +rioting and bloody conflicts. In the suburbs of Chicago the mobs +burned numerous cars and did much damage to other property. The +losses inflicted on property throughout the country by this +strike have been estimated at $80,000,000. + +The strikers were undoubtedly encouraged in resorting to force by +the sympathetic attitude which Governor Altgeld of Illinois +showed towards the cause of labor. The Knights of Labor and other +organizations of workingmen had passed resolutions complimenting +the Governor on his pardon of the Chicago anarchists, and the +American Railway Union counted unduly upon his support in +obtaining their ends. The situation was such as to cause the +greatest consternation throughout the country, as there was a +widespread though erroneous belief that there was no way in which +national Government could take action to suppress disorder unless +it was called upon by the Legislature, if it happened to be in +session, or by the Governor. But at this critical moment, the +Illinois Legislature was not in session, and Governor Altgeld +refused to call for aid. For a time, it therefore seemed that the +strikers were masters of the situation and that law and order +were powerless before the mob. + +There was an unusual feeling of relief throughout the country +when word came from Washington on the 1st of July that President +Cleveland had called out the regular troops. Governor Altgeld +sent a long telegram protesting against sending federal troops +into Illinois without any request from the authority of the +State. But President Cleveland replied briefly that the troops +were not sent to interfere with state authority but to enforce +the laws of the United States, upon the demand of the Post Office +Department that obstruction to the mails be removed, and upon the +representations of judicial officers of the United States that +processes of federal courts could not be executed through the +ordinary means. In the face of what was regarded as federal +interference, riot for the moment blazed out more fiercely than +ever, but the firm stand taken by the President soon had its +effect. On the 6th of July, Governor Altgeld ordered out the +state militia which soon engaged in some sharp encounters with +the strikers. On the next day, a force of regular troops +dispersed a mob at Hammond, Indiana, with some loss of life. On +the 8th of July, President Cleveland issued a proclamation to the +people of Illinois and of Chicago in particular, notifying them +that those "taking part with a riotous mob in forcibly resisting +and obstructing the execution of the laws of the United States... +cannot be regarded otherwise than as public enemies," and that +"while there will be no hesitation or vacillation in the decisive +treatment of the guilty, this warning is especially intended to +protect and save the innocent." The next day, he issued as +energetic a proclamation against "unlawful obstructions, +combinations and assemblages of persons" in North Dakota, +Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, California, Utah, +and New Mexico. + +At the request of the American Railway Union, delegates from +twenty-five unions connected with the American Federation of +Labor met in Chicago on the 12th of July, and Debs made an ardent +appeal to them to call a general strike of all labor +organizations. But the conference decided that "it would be +unwise and disastrous to the interests of labor to extend the +strike any further than it had already gone" and advised the +strikers to return to work. Thereafter, the strike rapidly +collapsed, although martial law had to be proclaimed and, before +quiet was restored, some sharp conflicts still took place between +federal troops and mobs at Sacramento and other points in +California. On the 3rd of August, the American Railway Union +acknowledged its defeat and called off the strike. Meanwhile, +Debs and other leaders had been under arrest for disobedience to +injunctions issued by the federal courts. Eventually, Debs was +sentenced to jail for six months,* and the others for three +months. The cases were the occasion of much litigation in which +the authority of the courts to intervene in labor disputes by +issuing injunctions was on the whole sustained. The failure and +collapse of the American Railway Union appears to have ended the +career of Debs as a labor organizer, but he has since been active +and prominent as a Socialist party leader. + +* Under Section IV of the Anti-Trust Law of 1890. + + +Public approval of the energy and decision which President +Cleveland displayed in handling the situation was so strong and +general that it momentarily quelled the factional spirit in +Congress. Judge Thomas M. Cooley, then, probably the most eminent +authority on constitutional law, wrote a letter expressing +"unqualified satisfaction with every step" taken by the President +"in vindication of the national authority." Both the Senate end +the House adopted resolutions endorsing the prompt and vigorous +measures of the Administration. The newspapers, too, joined in +the chorus of approval. A newspaper ditty which was widely +circulated and was read by the President with pleasure and +amusement ended a string of verses with the lines: + +The railroad strike played merry hob, +The land was set aflame; +Could Grover order out the troops +To block the striker's game? +One Altgeld yelled excitedly, +"Such tactics I forbid; +You can't trot out those soldiers," yet +That's just what Grover did. + +In after years when people talk +Of present stirring times, +And of the action needful to +Sit down on public crimes, +They'll all of them acknowledge then +(The fact cannot be hid) +That whatever was the best to do +Is just what Grover did. + +This brief period of acclamation was, however, only a gleam of +sunshine through the clouds before the night set in with utter +darkness. Relations between President Cleveland and his party in +the Senate had long been disturbed by his refusal to submit to +the Senate rule that nominations to office should be subject to +the approval of the Senators from the State to which the nominees +belonged. On January 15, 1894, eleven Democrats voted with +Senator David B. Hill to defeat a New York nominee for justice of +the Supreme Court. President Cleveland then nominated another New +York jurist against whom no objection could be urged regarding +reputation or experience; but as this candidate was not Senator +Hill's choice, the nomination was rejected, fourteen Democrats +voting with him against it. President Cleveland now availed +himself of a common Senate practice to discomfit Senator Hill. He +nominated Senator White of Louisiana, who was immediately +confirmed as is the custom of the Senate when one of its own +members is nominated to office. Senator Hill was thus left with +the doubtful credit of having prevented the appointment of a New +Yorker to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court. But this +incident did not seriously affect his control of the Democratic +party organization in New York. His adherents extolled him as a +New York candidate for the Presidency who would restore and +maintain the regular party system without which, it was +contended, no administration could be successful in framing and +carrying out a definite policy. Hill's action, in again +presenting himself as a candidate for Governor in the fall of +1894, is intelligible only in the light of this ambition. He had +already served two terms as Governor and was now only midway in +his senatorial term; but if he again showed that he could carry +New York he would have demonstrated, so it was thought, that he +was the most eligible Democratic candidate for the Presidency. +But he was defeated by a plurality of about 156,000. + +The fall elections of 1894, indeed, made havoc in the Democratic +party. In twenty-four States, the Democrats failed to return a +single member, and in each of six others, only a single district +failed to elect a Republican. The Republican majority in the +House was 140, and the Republican party also gained control of +the Senate. The Democrats who had swept the country two years +before were now completely routed. + +Under the peculiar American system which allows a defeated party +to carry on its work for another session of Congress as if +nothing had happened, the Democratic party remained in actual +possession of Congress for some months but could do nothing to +better its record. The leading occupation of its members now +seemed to be the advocacy of free silver and the denunciation of +President Cleveland. William J. Bryan of Nebraska was then +displaying in the House the oratorical accomplishments and +dauntless energy of character which soon thereafter gained him +the party leadership. With prolific rhetoric, he likened +President Cleveland to a guardian who had squandered the estate +of a confiding ward and to a trainman who opened a switch and +caused a wreck, and he declared that the President in trying to +inoculate the Democratic party with Republican virus had poisoned +its blood. + +Shortly after the last Democratic Congress--the last for many +years--the Supreme Court undid one of the few successful +achievements of this party when it was in power. The Tariff Bill +contained a section imposing a tax of two per cent on incomes in +excess of $4000. A case was framed attacking the +constitutionality of the tax,* the parties on both sides aiming +to defeat the law and framing the issues with that purpose in +view. On April 8, 1895, the Supreme Court rendered a judgment +which showed that the Court was evenly divided on some points. A +rehearing was ordered and a final decision was rendered on the +20th of May. By a vote of five to four it was held that the +income tax was a direct tax, that as such it could be imposed +only by apportionment among the States according to population, +and that as the law made no such provision the tax was therefore +invalid. This reversed the previous position of the Court** that +an income tax was not a direct tax within the meaning of the +Constitution, but that it was an excise. This decision was the +subject of much bitter comment which, however, scarcely exceeded +in severity the expressions used by members of the Supreme Court +who filed dissenting opinions. Justice White was of the opinion +that the effect of this judgment was "to overthrow a long and +consistent line of decisions and to deny to the legislative +department of the Government the possession of a power conceded +to it by universal consensus for one hundred years." Justice +Harlan declared that it struck "at the very foundation of +national authority" and that it gave "to certain kinds of +property a position of favoritism and advantage inconsistent with +the fundamental principles of our social organization." Justice +Brown hoped that "it may not prove the first step towards the +submergence of the liberties of the people in a sordid despotism +of wealth." Justice Jackson said it was "such as no free and +enlightened people can ever possibly sanction or approve." The +comments of law journals were also severe, and on the whole, the +criticism of legal experts was more outspoken than that of the +politicians. + +* Pollock vs. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, 157 U.S. 429. + +** Springer vs. United States, 102 U.S. 586. + + +Public distrust of legislative procedure in the United States is +so great that powers of judicial interference are valued to a +degree not usual in any other country. The Democratic platform of +1896 did not venture to go farther in the way of censure than to +declare that "it is the duty of Congress to use all the +constitutional power which remains after that decision, or which +may come from its reversal by the court as it may hereafter be +constituted, so that the burdens of taxation may be equally and +impartially laid, to the end that wealth may bear its due +proportion of the expenses of the government." Even this +suggestion of possible future interference with the court turned +out to be a heavy party load in the campaign. + +With the elimination of the income tax, the revenues of the +country became insufficient to meet the demands upon the +Treasury, and Carlisle was obliged to report a deficit of +$42,805,223 for 1895. The change of party control in Congress +brought no relief. The House, under the able direction of Speaker +Reed, passed a bill to augment the revenue by increasing customs +duties and also a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury +to sell bonds or issue certificates of indebtedness bearing +interest at three per cent. Both measures, however, were held up +in the Senate, in which the silver faction held the balance of +power.* On February 1, 1896, a free silver substitute for the +House bond bill passed the Senate by a vote of forty-two to +thirty-five, but the minority represented over eight million more +people than the majority. The House refused, by 215 to 90, to +concur in the Senate's amendment, and the whole subject was then +dropped. + +* The distribution of party strength in the Senate was: +Republicans, 43; Democrats, 39; Populists, 6. Republicans made +concessions to the Populists which caused them to refrain from +voting when the question of organisation was pending, and the +Republicans were thus able to elect the officers and rearrange +the committees, which they did in such a way as to put the free +silver men in control of the committee on finance. The bills +passed by the house were referred to this committee, which +thereupon substituted bills providing for free coinage of silver. + + +President Cleveland had to carry on the battle to maintain the +gold standard and to sustain the public credit without any aid +from Congress. The one thing he did accomplish by his efforts, +and it was at that moment the thing of chief importance, was to +put an end to party duplicity on the silver question. On that +point, at least, national party platforms abandoned their +customary practice of trickery and deceit. Compelled to choose +between the support of the commercial centers and that of the +mining camps, the Republican convention came out squarely for the +gold standard and nominated William McKinley for President. +Thirty-four members of the convention, including four United +States Senators and two Representatives, bolted. It was a year of +bolts, the only party convention that escaped being that of the +Socialist Labor party, which ignored the monetary issue save for +a vague declaration that "the United States have the exclusive +right to issue money." The silver men swept the Democratic +convention, which then nominated William Jennings Bryan for +President. Later on, the Gold Democrats held a convention and +nominated John M. Palmer of Illinois. The Populists and the +National Silver party also nominated Bryan for President, but +each made its own separate nomination for Vice-President. Even +the Prohibitionists split on the issue, and a seceding faction +organized the National party and inserted a free silver plank in +their platform. + +In the canvass which followed, calumny and misrepresentation were +for once discarded in favor of genuine discussion. This new +attitude was largely due to organizations for spreading +information quite apart from regular party management. In this +way, many able pamphlets were issued and widely circulated. The +Republicans had ample campaign funds; but though the Democrats +were poorly supplied, this deficiency did not abate the energy of +Bryan's campaign. He traveled over eighteen thousand miles, +speaking at nearly every stopping place to great assemblages. +McKinley, on the contrary, stayed at home, although he delivered +an effective series of speeches to visiting delegations. The +outcome seemed doubtful, but the intense anxiety which was +prevalent was promptly dispelled when the election returns began +to arrive. By going over to free silver, the Democrats wrested +from the Republicans all the mining States, except California, +together with Kansas and Nebraska, but the electoral votes which +they thus secured were a poor compensation for losses elsewhere. +Such old Democratic strongholds as Delaware, Maryland, and West +Virginia gave McKinley substantial majorities, and Kentucky gave +him twelve of her thirteen electoral votes. McKinley's popular +plurality was over six hundred thousand, and he had a majority of +ninety-five in the electoral college. + +The nation approved the position which Cleveland had maintained, +but the Republican party reaped the benefit by going over to that +position while the Democratic party was ruined by forsaking it. +Party experience during the Cleveland era contained many lessons, +but none clearer than that presidential leadership is essential +both to legislative achievement and to party success. + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Among general histories dealing with this period, the leading +authority is D. R. Dewey, "National Problems," 1885-97 (1907) in +"The American Nation"; but suggestive accounts may be found in E. +B. Andrews, "History of the Last Quarter of a Century in the +United States" (1896); in H. T. Peck, "Twenty Years of the +Republic" (1913); and in C. A. Beard, "Contemporary American +History" (1914). + +The following works dealing especially with party management and +congressional procedure will be found serviceable: E. Stanwood, +"History of the Presidency" (1898); M. P. Follett, "The Speaker +of the House of Representatives" (1896); H. J. Ford, "The Rise +and Growth of American Politics" (1898); H. J. Ford, "The Cost of +our National Government" (1910); S. W. McCall, "The Business of +Congress" (1911); D. S. Alexander, "History and Procedure of the +House of Representatives" (1916); C. R. Atkinson, "The Committee +on Rules and the Overthrow of Speaker" Cannon (1911). The debate +of 1885-86 on revision of the rules is contained in the +"Congressional Record," 49th Congress, 1st session, vol. 17, part +I, pp. 39, 71, 87, 102 129, 182, 9,16, 216, 239, 304. + +Of special importance from the light they throw upon the springs +of action are the following works: Grover Cleveland, +"Presidential Problems" (1904); F. E. Goodrich, "The Life and +Public Services of Grover Cleveland" (1884); G. F. Parker, "The +Writings and Speeches of Grover Cleveland" (1890; J. L. Whittle, +"Grover Cleveland" (1896); J. G. Blaine, "Political Discussions +(1887); E. Stanwood, "James Gillespie Blaine" (1905); A. R. +Conkling, "Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling" (1889); John +Sherman, "Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate, and +Cabinet" (1895); G. F. Hoar, "Autobiography of Seventy Years" +(1903); S. M. Cullom, "Fifty Years of Public Service (1911); L. +A. Coolidge, "An Old-fashioned Senator: Orville H. Platt of +Connecticut" (1910); S. W. McCall, "The Life of Thomas Brackett +Reed" (1914); A. E. Stevenson, "Something of Men I Have Known" +(1909). + +For the financial history of the period, see J. L. Laughlin, "The +History of Bimetallism in the United States" (1897); A. D. Noyes, +"Forty Years of American Finance" (1909); Horace White, "Money +and Banking, Illustrated by American History" (1904). + +The history of tariff legislation is recorded by F. W. Taussig, +"The Tariff History of the United States" (1914), and E. +Stanwood, "American Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth +Century" (1903). + +On the trust problem there is much valuable information in W. Z. +Ripley, "Trusts, Pools, and Corporations" (1905); K. Coman, +"Industrial History of the United States" (1905); J. W. Jenks, +"The Trust Problem" (1905). + +The conditions which prompted the creation of the Interstate +Commerce Commission are exhibited in the report of the Senate +Select Committee on Interstate Commerce, "Senate Reports," No. +46, 49th Congress, 1st session. + +Useful special treatises on the railroad problem are E. R. +Johnson, "American Railway Transportation" (1903); B. H. Meyer, +"Railway Legislation in the United States" (1903); and W. Z. +Ripley, "Railway Problems" (1907). + +The history of labor movements may be followed in J. R. Commons, +"History of Labor in the United States" (1918); M. Hillquit, +"History of Socialism in the United States" (1903); "Report of +the Industrial Commission," vol. XVII (1901); and in the Annual +Reports of the United States Commissioner of Labor. Congressional +investigations of particular disturbances produced the House +Reports No. 4174, 49th Congress, 2d session, 1887, on the +Southwestern Railway Strike, and No. 2447, 52d Congress, 2d +session, 1893, on the Homestead Strike. + +On the subject of pensions the most comprehensive study is that +by W. H. Glasson, "History of Military Pension Legislation in the +United States, Columbia University Studies," vol. XII, No. 3 +(1900). Of special interest is the speech by J. H. Gallinger, +"Congressional Record," 65th Congress, 2d session, vol. 56, No. +42, p. 1937. + +Other public documents of special importance are "Senate Report," +No. 606, 53d Congress, concerning the sugar scandal, and "Senate +Documents," No. 187, 54th Congress, 2d session, concerning the +bond sales. "The Congressional Record" is at all times a mine of +information. Valuable historical material is contained in the +"New Princeton Review," vols. I-VI (1886-88), the New York +"Nation," the Political Science Quarterly," and other +contemporary periodicals. + +A vivid picture of political conditions on the personal side is +given in Slason Thompson, "Eugene Field" (1901), vol. I, chap. +10; vol. II, chap. 8. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg etext of The Cleveland Era. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Cleveland Era +by Henry Jones Ford + |