USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 2
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elected, had become almost as quiet and orderly as at the North; while, as witnessed in succeeding elections of 1881, and especially that of Virginia, race distinctions largely dis- appeared from the polls, and parties divided on other issues. As additional proof of progress in the same direction may be cited the International Cotton Exposition of 1881, at Atlanta, Georgia, planned and organized during the administration of President Hayes, the direct outgrowth of fraternity in feeling between the South and the North, without precedent in extent, and never before possible. II. Never had the questions con- nected with the National Finances and currency assumed the gravity which they possessed during the first year of the ad- ministration. As the direct result of the extraordinary infla- tion of irredeemable paper, attending and following the war of the rebellion, the country had reached a condition of finan- cial embarrassment unprecedented. The severe panic of 1873 had shown the extent of speculation, and forced the change of policy on the part of the government which took place in the enactment of the resumption act, passed in 1875, to take effect January Ist, 1879. The healthful effects of that law, in checking expansion, and compelling a more conservative policy with reference to approaching resumption, were in 1877 attended by serious financial disturbances throughout the country-prostrating business in every department, depriving labor of former employment, and causing much distress to large classes of useful citizens. Such were the effects of this cause that in some sections occurred popular outbreaks, and even destructive riots. Alarmed at such demonstrations, many well-meaning citizens sought relief in proposed aban- donment of the policy on which the resumption act was based ; while another class would turn such popular agitation to political and personal ends, by making resistance to re- sumption of specie payments a basis of political organization looking to the control of the government; and existing par- ties were more or less affected by antagonism to that object. This state of things, while critical in both its bearings upon the country and the success of the administration, did not swerve the President from his adherence to the policy of re- sumption. In his letter of acceptance of the nomination he had said: "I regard all the laws of the United States relat- ing to the payment of the public indebtedness, the legal- tender notes included, as constituting a pledge and moral obligation of the government, which must in good faith be kept. It is my conviction that the feeling of uncertainty in- separable from an irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuations of value, is one of the great obstacles to a revival of confidence and business, and to a return of prosperity. . That uncertainty can be ended in but one way-the resump- tion of specie payments." In his first annual message to Congress, delivered amid the threatening events of 1877, he said : "I must adhere to my most earnest conviction, that any wavering in purpose or unsteadiness in methods, so far from avoiding or reducing the inconvenience inseparable from the transition from an irredeemable to a redeemable paper cur- rency, would only tend to increased and prolonged disturbance in values, and, unless retrieved, must end in serious disorder, dishonor, and disaster in the financial affairs of the govern- ment and of the people. The permanent quality of the money of the people is sought for, and can only be gained by the resumption of specie payments." This position, so firmly adhered to by the administration, amid every form of oppo- sition and resistance, no doubt contributed much toward the success of the policy which became so complete with the full
resumption of specie payments, that while the advent of President Hayes to office had been attended by a condition of financial depression unequaled in extent or severity, his withdrawal occurred amid a state of prosperity and advance- ment in the various branches of material progress unprece- dented in any country, with a prevalence of popular content unbroken. With such improvement in the general condi- tion, that in the national credit was not less marked. The public debt, of which $729,000,000 bore interest at the rate of six and $708,000,000 at five per cent, was refunded at lower rates of interest, with an annual saving of $15,000,000. In this connection was the question raised as to the redemption of government bonds with silver coin, then of much less market value; which proposition, having much support among the peo- ple, was opposed by the administration, on the ground, (1) that gold having been the only legal standard recognized by the government when most of the bonds in question were issued, it could not in good faith ask its creditors to accept in payment any thing of less value than that coin; and (2) that with a vast public debt, distributed widely at home and abroad, the . government, on even the low basis of policy, could not afford to do any thing calculated to impair its credit, and to advance the rate of the interest which for many years it was to pay.
"The obligation of the public faith," said the President, in dis- cussing this question, "transcends all questions of profit or of public advantage otherwise." The result of the policy thus en- forced is shown in the figures already given of the reduction of the interest account. III. The Reform of the Civil Service constituted one of the most prominent objects of this adminis- tration. The evil sought to be removed consisted of what was known as "the spoils system," based upon the maxim, "To the victors belong the spoils of the vanquished." Referring to this subject in his letter of acceptance, Governor Hayes said: "This system destroys the independence of the sepa- rate departments of the government. 'It tends directly to
extravagance and official incapacity.' It is a temptation to
dishonesty ; it hinders and impairs that careful supervision and strict accountability by which alone faithful and efficient public service can be secured; it obstructs the prompt removal .and sure punishment of the unworthy ; and in every way it de- grades the civil service and the character of the government."
The same letter pledged him, in case of his election, to em- ploy "all constitutional powers vested in the executive" to establish a reform of this evil. In his inaugural address he referred to "the paramount necessity of reform in the civil service"-"a reform that should be thorough, radical, and complete-a return to the principles and practices of the
founders of the government." While recognizing the obliga- tion of the President in his official action to regard " the principles" of the party electing him, he at the same time said that in so doing the President "should strive to be al- ways mindful of the fact, that he serves his party best who serves his country best;" thus asserting the belief that faith- ful and efficient administration of government constitutes better reliance for party success than the most skillful use of official patronage and influence through party machinery and in party discipline. In accordance with such policy was issued executive order of June 22d, 1877, to the effect that "no officer should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns," but should confine his action in that regard to the "expression of his views on public questions, either orally or through the press,"
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while " no assessments for political purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed." In the same direction was the position denying to members of Congress control of ex- ecutive appointments, though recognizing the propriety of their counsel and advice in that behalf. As was to have been expected, the enforcement of a reform so radical, against a practice of fifty years' growth, was met by an opposition not only powerful in itself, but made specially embarrassing by the fact that it came chiefly from members of Congress and active leaders of the republican party, who held that official patronage was not only the legitimate property of the victo- rious party, but should be dispensed by those who for the time being should direct the local machinery of the party. Resistance to the policy of the President was found most em- barrassing in the action of the Senate upon executive nomi- nations made without the approval of members of that body or of the House. For a time this opposition seriously threat- ened the efficiency of the administration ; but under the good results of the policy of reform, soon made manifest, it grad- ually became less marked, and finally almost disappeared. The fruits and justification of the President's efforts in this behalf were shown in different ways, but most clearly in the extraordinary improvement seen in the increased effi- ciency of the service, and notably in the comparative loss from defalcation in the collection and disbursement of the public funds, whereby the average loss under previous ad- ministrations on each $1,000, ranging from eleven dollars and seventy-one cents to thirty-four cents, was reduced under President Hayes to four mills on the $1,000-while during the four years there was collected, of internal revenue alone, and paid into the treasury, $500,000,000, without loss of any kind. Such fidelity in administration is believed to stand without parallel in human government. The case of the New York collectorship, in which General E. A. Merritt was nominated, and confirmed by the Senate, in disregard of what under the "spoils system" was known as the "court- esy of the Senate," constitutes the most signal victory of President Hayes and his policy of reform. That office, of all places under the government, had been subjected most fully to party machine management, and hence was least inviting for a test of reform. The basis on which the work there was undertaken is set forth in the letter of the President to Collector Merritt, dated February 4th, 1879, in which he said : "My desire is that your office shall be conducted on strictly busi- ness principles, and according to the rules which were adopted, on the recommendation of the civil service commission, by the administration of General Grant. In making appoint- ments and removals of subordinates, you should be perfectly independent of mere influence. Neither my recommendation nor that of the Secretary of the Treasury, nor the recom- mendation of any member of Congress, or other influential person, should be specially regarded. Let appointments and removals be made on business principles, and by fixed rules. Let no man be put out merely because he is a friend of the late collector, and no man be put in merely because he is our friend." So signal was the success of the New York office, that those who led the opposition to President Hayes were compelled, two years later, in their controversy with'President Garfield, to concede the wise and efficient conduct of the office. As to the relations of civil service reform and party success, Postmaster James, of New York (Postmaster-general in President Garfield's Cabinet), stated the result of his per- sonal experience thus : "The post-office is a business institu-
tion, and should be run as such. It is my deliberate judgment that I and my subordinates can do more for the party of our choice by giving the people of this city a good and efficient postal service than by controlling primaries or dictating nom- inations." IV. The Nationality of the Government and the Integrity of the Executive Office. Specially prominent in the history of this administration will stand the contest be- tween Congress and the President, in connection with the provision of money for the support of the army. The dif- ference arose from the insertion in such appropriation bill of a proviso, that the troops should not in any case be employed to "keep the peace at the polls," as authorized by existing law ; whereas, the President denied the right of Congress thus to limit the executive in the use to be made of the troops placed under his command by the Constitution. Such lim- itation was also objectionable, in that it was made part of an appropriation bill, with which it had no proper connection. The reason for such association of the two subjects, as freely avowed on the floor of Congress, was that in that way only could such prohibition be secured, inasmuch as it would not, as a separate proposition, receive executive approval and .be- come a law. As claimed in debate by prominent advocates of the measure, it was of the nature of what in English his- tory is known as "redress of grievances," which Parliament extorted from the crown by refusing appropriations. Such attempt to coerce the executive, claimed to be a "constitu- tional means of redress," was bold and determined, being embodied, in one form and another, in no less than five different appropriation bills, each of which was returned by the President without his approval, and accompanied by a statement of reasons for such action. The result was the complete failure of the movement, and the appropriation of money in the usual form. The chief ground on which this action by Congress was based was the claim made, that there was no such thing as a "national election," and that the choice of members of Congress and electors of President was a State, and not national, affair, and for that reason should be directed wholly by State, and never by national, authority. On this assumption was placed the proposition by appropria- tion bills to exclude the United States from all connection with such elections. On the other hand, the President held that such elections were national in their character, and thus specially under the supervision of the national government. On this question, also, was the President justified in the re- sult, and the facts of the nationality of the government and of national elections seemingly established. The questions' involved being substantially those which led to the late re- bellion, the result of the contest may justly be regarded as of much importance. V. The Chinese Question. March Ist, 1879, President Hayes returned to Congress, without his signature, "an act to restrict the immigration of Chinese to the United States," accompanied by a message setting forth his reasons for such action. The only means chosen for the proposed restriction consisted in the provision that not to exceed fifteen Chinese passengers should be brought to this country by any one vessel. This action was induced by a wide-spread apprehension, especially in the Pacific States and territories, that the tide of Chinese immigration was al- ready more than our system of industry and society could take up and assimilate with ease and safety, and that such evil was likely to increase. In this view the President largely shared, as declared in his message, it being to the way and means proposed in the vetoed bill for checking such immi-
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gration that his objection chiefly lay, to wit: That it was in- consistent with existing treaty stipulations between the United States and China, which make special and full provision not only for unlimited mutual immigration, but guarantee on both sides protection equal to that granted in the case of citizens of "the most favored nation." The President objected to the policy of the proposed disregard of an exist- ing international compact, as well as to the mode by which it was proposed to be done. He said: "As the power of modifying an existing treaty, whether by adding or striking out provisions, is a part of the treaty-making power under the Constitution, its exercise is not competent for Congress ; nor would the assent of China to this partial abrogation of the treaty make the action of Congress, in thus procuring an amendment of a treaty, a competent exercise of authority under the Constitution." It was further objected, that, in assailing a part of the treaty inseparable from the rest, the bill assailed the whole treaty, and proposed thereby, in effect, to liberate China from all obligations of the same, and thereby leave the relations of the two countries, and the rights of the people of each, respectively, without treaty regulation or pro- tection of any sort. After setting forth some of the important mutual benefits arising from the relations of the two govern- ments under the existing treaty-made at the urgent solicitation of the United States-the President said : "The abrogation of a treaty by one of the contracting parties is justifiable only upon reasons both of the highest justice and of the highest necessity. To do this without notice, without fixing a day in advance when the act shall take effect, without affording an opportunity to China to be heard, and without the happening of any grave or unforeseen emergency, will be regarded by the enlightened judgment of mankind as the denial of the ob- ligation of the national faith." Such disposition of the Chinese question was so generally satisfactory that it never was revived in that shape, while in a subsequent visit to the Pacific slope the President was at all points received with every manifestation of respect and consideration. It was subsequently ascertained that China was in full accord with such new treaty stipulations as should place emigration from that empire on a basis ac- ceptable to all parties in this country, which have since been provided by negotiation, without harm to any interest from delay, and wholly consistent with the international good faith on which President Hayes had based his action. There were several important matters not embraced in the foregoing, on which the President was called to act, and which may properly be referred to here: 1. The Indian Question, as to which the policy of the administration is indicated by the statement by the President that "many, if not most, of our Indian wars had their origin in broken promises and acts of injustice on our part," and that the slow advancement of the Indians in civilization was because of our treatment of them, which "did not permit it to be faster and more general." The President declared it to be not only the moral duty but the interest of the whites to aid them to obtain the highest degree of civilization they may be able to reach. To this end, he stated that our treatment of the Indians should embrace the following leading ideas : " (1) The Indians should be prepared for citizenship by giving to their young of both sexes that industrial and general education which is required to enable them to be self-supporting and capable of self-protection in a civilized community. (2) Lands should be allotted to the Indians in severalty, inalienable for a certain period. (3) The Indians should have a fair compensation for their lands not
required for individual allotment, the amount to be invested with suitable safeguards for their benefit. (4) With these prerequisites secured, the Indians should be made citizens, and invested with the rights and charged with the responsi- bilities of citizensliip." 2. In a message, March 8th, 1880, on the subject of the Panama canal, the President said: "The policy of this country is a canal under American control. The United States can not consent to the surrender of this control to any European power or to any combination of European powers. If existing treaties between the United States and other nations, or if the rights of sovereignty or property of other nations, stand in the way of this policy-a contingency which is not apprehended-suitable steps should be taken by just and liberal negotiations to promote and es- tablish the American policy on this subject, consistently with the rights of the nations to be affected by it. . . . No other great power would, under similar circumstances, fail to assert a rightful control over a work so closely and vitally affecting its interest and welfare." 3. Outrages committed in Texas by lawless incursions by armed bands from Mexico led the President, 1877, to give orders for the exercise of the "utmost vigilance on the part of our troops for the suppression of these raids and the punishment of the guilty parties, as well as the recapture of property stolen by them ;" and that, if necessary, such bands be pursued into Mexican territory. This action, at the time criticised as liable to give serious offense to Mexico, proved entirely successful, the incursions complained of soon thereafter entirely ceasing. 4. The Mormon Question was referred to in different messages to Congress, in which the utter failure of all previous attempts at the suppression of polygamy was recognized, and addi- tional measures to that end urged. The President said : " The Mormon sectarian organization which upholds polyg- amy has the whole power of making and executing the local legislation of the territory. By its control of the grand and petit juries, it possesses large influence over the administra- tion of justice. ... Polygamy will not be abolished, if the enforcement of the law depends on those who practice and uphold the crime. It can only be suppressed by taking away the political power of the sect which encourages and sustains it. ... I recommend that Congress provide for the govern- ment of Utah by a governor and judges, or commissioners, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate-a government analogous to the provisional government estab- lished for the territory north-west of the Ohio by the ordi- nance of 1787. If, however, it is deemed best to continue the existing form of local government, I recommend that the right to vote, hold office, and sit on juries in the territory of Utah be confined to those who neither practice nor uphold polygamy." 5. On the subject of Education, the President said : " The principle applied by general consent to works of public improvement is in point. That principle is, that wherever a public improvement is of national importance, and local and private enterprise are inadequate to its prose- cution, the general government should undertake it. On this principle I would deal with the question of education by the aid of the national government. Wherever in the United States the local systems of popular education are inadequate, they should be supplemented by the general government, by devoting to the purpose, by suitable legislation and with proper safeguards, the public lands, or, if necessary, appro- priations from the treasury of the United States." In his annual message, of December 6th, 1880, he said : " I respect-
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fully recommend that Congress, by suitable legislation and with proper safeguards, supplement the local educational funds in the several .States where the grave duties and re- sponsibilities of citizenship have been devolved on uneducated people, by devoting to the purpose grants of the public lands, and, if necessary, by appropriations from the treasury of the United States. Whatever government can fairly do to pro- mote free popular education ought to be done. Wherever general education is found, peace, virtue, and social order prevail, and civil and religious liberty are secure." In ac- cordance with this recommendation, Congress passed an act setting apart the proceeds from sales of the public lands as a fund for the promotion of education. During the existence of political parties in the United States, no other President has been as independent of mere partisan control in support- ing the policy of the party that elected him as was President Hayes. At the same time, no one ever did more than he in a single term to strengthen his party. He found it weaker than at any previous period in its history, and left it stronger in the substantial elements of power than it ever was before. He found it divided, and left it united. It is none the less creditable to him, that such result was not reached without dissent as to the course pursued, by a large portion of the active members of the party, who demanded a policy more strictly partisan. This view will be made clearer by the citation of a few facts : In 1872 the republicans carried thirty States, with 296 electoral votes. Two years later (1874) they carried eleven States, representing 101 electoral votes-show- ing a loss of seventeen States, representing 191 electoral votes. At the Presidential election in 1876, that party carried twenty- one States, with 185 electoral votes. In 1878, they carried nineteen States, representing 207 votes-showing a loss of two States, but a gain of 22 votes. In 1880, the republicans car- ried nineteen States, electing General Garfield with 214 elec- toral votes. At the same time, they elected 147 members of Congress, being a majority of the House; while the new Senate (March 4th, 1881) stood at a tie, with a republican Vice-president in the chair. It will be seen, (1) that President Hayes was elected by a majority of one vote, and that only at the close of a long and bitter contest; (2) that he com- menced his administration with his party in a minority of 75 in the House for the first half of his term, and was in a mi- nority of 25 in the same body, and of 10 in the Senate, for the second two years; and (3) that he turned his office over to a republican successor, elected by an undisputed majority of 59 in the electoral colleges, with each branch of Congress in support of the new administration. The improvement in the condition of the country was never more marked in the same length of time than during the administration of Pres- ident Hayes. He found it disturbed by financial and business troubles more serious than ever before, made the more em- barrassing by the state of transition from a currency irre- deemable to a resumption of specie payments, already fixed to take place in the near future, whereby had been caused wide- spread and intense solicitude and apprehension as to the results of the approaching change, which not only seriously affected trade in all branches, but in its attendant popular discontent materially embarrassed the government in the restoration of a sound financial condition. The result, however, was more than the most sanguine had anticipated. The President found the entire country greatly agitated by antagonisms and alarms; its currency debased ; its industries and trade depressed ; and its credit unsettled, and subject to the issue of an existing
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