The United States in our own times, 1865-1920

3'

THE UNITED STATES

IN OUR OWN TIMES

1865-1920

THE UNITED STATES
IN OUR OWN TIMES

1865-1920

BY

PAUL L. HAWORTH, PH.D.

AUTHOR OF "THE HAYES-TILDF.N ELECTION," "AMERICA IN FERMENT."
'RECONSTRUCTION AND UNION," "GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER," ETC.
SOMETIME LECTURER IN HISTORY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, AND
ACII.NU PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, INDIANA UNIVERSITY

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN, LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE, MUSEUM STREET, W. C.

Copyright, 1920, by Charles Scribner's Soot
fof the United States of America

Printed by the Scrlbner Press
New York, U. S. A.

PREFACE

IF it be true that an important object of history study is to
enable one to understand the present, then it is clear that the
time has come when greater emphasis than hitherto must be
laid on the period since the Civil War. Fifty-five years — almost
half the period of our existence under the Constitution — have
passed since the close of that conflict, and most of our problems
have little or no direct relation to those that troubled Lincoln
and his predecessors.

This book is designed to meet the needs of students who de-
sire to know our country in our own times. In it I have de-
voted a large share of space to social and industrial questions,
but I have been on my guard against swinging too far in this
direction. After all, the business of government is still of prime
importance to the welfare of the nation, and it is essential
that our citizens should understand our past political history.

Throughout the book I have tried to bear in mind that his-
tory is made by men and not by abstractions. Nor have I
forgotten that generalizations about a subject mean little to a
student until he has some knowledge of what actually took
place.

I am indebted to a number of persons for assistance ren-
dered in the preparation of the volume, but most of all to Pro-
fessor James A. Woodburn, my old preceptor and later colleague,
for reading the proof and making many helpful suggestions.

PAUL L. HA WORTH.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE AFTERMATH OF WAR. i

II. PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 13

III. CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 20

IV. MEXICO, ALASKA, AND THE ELECTION OF 1868 . 39
V. THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 46

VI. FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE LIBERAL REPUBLICAN

MOVEMENT 63

VII. THE END OF AN ERA 74

VIII. THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" .... 100

IX. AN INTERLUDE 125

X. THE CHANGING ORDER 146

XI. THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 164

XII. THE SECOND HARRISON 184

XIII. HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 206

XIV. THE WAR WITH SPAIN 232

XV. "IMPERIALISM" 257

XVI. "Bio BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL . . 278

XVII. ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 317

XVIII. THE NEW WEST .......... 341

XIX. THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 351

vii

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XX. THE "NEW FREEDOM" AND "WATCHFUL WAITING" 380

XXI. AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 422

XXII. CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 454

XXIII. THE PEACE CONFERENCE 481

XXIV. A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 498

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING .... 529

INDEX 545

MAPS

FACING PAGE

THE WEST IN 1876 102

CUBAN AND PORTO RICAN CAMPAIGNS 242

THE PHILIPPINES 260

MEXICO, WEST INDIES, AND CENTRAL AMERICA ... 298

THE WESTERN FRONT IN 1918 456

THE UNITED STATES IN 1920 500

PERCENTAGE OF FOREIGN-BORN WHITES IN THE TOTAL

POPULATION, 1910 504

PERCENTAGE OF NEGROES IN THE TOTAL POPULATION,

5o8

THE UNITED STATES IN OUR
OWN TIMES

CHAPTER I

THE AFTERMATH OF WAR

ON a never-to-be-forgotten April day General Robert E. Lee
bowed to Grant and the inevitable at Appomattox, and his
war-worn veterans in gray scattered, heavy-hearted, to their
Co]la distant homes, after fighting for four years with a

of the valor to which the world pays willing homage.

President Jefferson Davis and a few misguided
irreconcilables sought to continue the struggle on other fields,
but in vain. Before the end of May the last armed force that
had marched beneath the stars and bars had dissolved or sur-
rendered, and Davis himself was a prisoner. The victors par-
ticipated in a memorable grand review in Washington, and
then they too laid down their arms, to take up once more the
prosaic tasks of peace.

The bloodiest civil war in history was over; the work of the
soldier was done; but there still remained for solution by
statesmen three great problems. The first of these was, What

should be the future status of the eleven States
Prhorbfemsreat that had tried to quit the Union? Second, What

should be the status of the individuals who had
taken part in creating and upholding the now defunct Con-
federacy? Third, What should be the status of the more than
4,000,000 ignorant black freedmen, most of whom had hitherto
been mere human chattels who could be bought and sold like
any other property? Even as they greeted with glad acclaim
the glorious news of peace, far-sighted men anxiously considered
how these problems could be solved.

2 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Five days after Appomattox Abraham Lincoln fell by the
bullet of a half-crazed assassin, and after a few hours of un-
consciousness his labored breathing ceased and the Emanci-
pator exchanged immortalities. Shortly afterward,
Becomes in the parlor of the Kirkwood House, Andrew John-
President. gon recejve(j the presidential oath of office from
Chief Justice Chase. "You are President," said the chief
justice solemnly, as Johnson handed back the Bible. "May
God support, guide, and bless you in your arduous duties !"

Andrew Johnson was bora of "poor white" parentage at

Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808. His boyhood was spent in

the densest ignorance, and it was not until he was entering

. manhood that he so much as learned to read. He

Johnson's

Career and became a tailor, and at eighteen crossed the moun-
tains to Greenville in eastern Tennessee, where he
presently married a capable and ambitious woman, who taught
him to write and cipher. Unpromising as was his origin, John-
son possessed a natural genius for politics. He was elected in
turn alderman, mayor, member of the State legislature, federal
representative, and governor of Tennessee, and when his State
seceded he was one of its representatives in the Senate of the
United States. His success in politics was all the more re-
markable because it was extremely unusual in the South for
poor men to be elected to high office; such places were usually
grasped by the rich, slave-owning planters. He had many
conflicts with the men of that class, whom he once character-
ized as a "scrub aristocracy," and he repaid their hostility and
contempt by hatred and by refusing to follow his State into the
Confederacy. By his loyal stand he won high favor in the
North, and in April, 1862, Lincoln appointed him military
governor of Tennessee, a difficult position, which he filled with
marked courage and ability. In 1864 the feeling on the part
of many Republican leaders that it would be desirable to put
a Southern man and former Democrat on the national ticket
resulted in his nomination for the vice-presidency, and in his
election to that office. The circumstances of his remarkable
rise from ignorance and poverty to position and power were

THE AFTERMATH OF WAR 3

highly to his credit, just as they were in the case of Lincoln,
but unfortunately he lacked much of having attained Lincoln's
mental, moral, and intellectual stature. Despite his successes,
he remained uncultured, narrow-minded, obstinate, and it was
whispered that he had a weakness for strong drink.

Many of the radical Republicans had opposed Lincoln's
generous policy toward the South, and some of them regarded
Johnson's accession as "a godsend." On Sunday, the day after

Johnson took the oath, certain radicals, including
Pleased with Senators Chandler of Michigan and Wade of Ohio,

called on the new President. "Johnson, we have
faith in you," cried Wade enthusiastically. "By the gods,
there will be no trouble now in running the government!"
Johnson thanked Wade and responded: "I hold this: robbery
is a crime; rape is a crime; treason is a crime, and crime must
be punished. . . . Treason must be made infamous, and
traitors must be impoverished."

While in this mood Johnson signed a proclamation that
charged Jefferson Davis and other prominent Confederates
with complicity in Lincoln's assassination, while to persons
who talked with him he harped so much upon punishing
"traitors" that even some of the radicals began to fear that
he would be too vindictive, that he would carry out a bloody
proscription of Southern civil and military leaders.

In the days immediately following the surrender of Lee,
Northerners were inclined to feel magnanimous toward the
South, but Booth's dastardly deed roused a bitter desire for

vengeance. Booth himself was presently hunted
Attitude! down and slain; four of the other conspirators,

including a woman, Mrs. Surratt, were convicted
and hanged; while others were sentenced to long terms of
imprisonment, three of them for life. But many people be-
lieved that the wretched assassins were mere tools of Jefferson
Davis and other high Southern leaders, and throughout the
North an insistent demand arose that the "rebel chieftains"
should be hanged. It is now known that Booth had no promi-
nent accomplices, but the contrary view long persisted among

4 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

multitudes of men, and the course of events was influenced
by this belief, mistaken though it was. Even many persons
who scouted the idea that the Southern leaders had stooped
to assassination reflected that the bloody deed was a result of
secession, and they hardened their hearts toward the South.

On the other hand, it was not in human nature for ex-
Confederates soon to display enthusiasm for the Union or for
Union men. They had bowed to stern necessity; they smarted
keenly under the sense of defeat; their loyalty, as
MtkudT. a Northern traveller reported, was simply "dis-
loyalty subdued." Some of them found comfort in
asserting that they had been "overpowered" but not "con-
quered," and for years the vain hope that "the Lost Cause"
might yet triumph in a new outbreak lingered in a few breasts.
Southern men who had lent aid to the Union cause were re-
garded as black-hearted traitors, while "Yankee" soldiers and
civilians were frequently made to feel that their presence was
unwelcome. Women were particularly open in displaying
their hatred and contempt. For example, it was commonly
remarked by Union officers that women passing them on the
street would gather up their skirts as if to avoid touching
what they so much abhorred. An officer stationed in a Vir-
ginia town complained that whenever he went to church and
attempted to enter a pew the ladies seated in it invariably
rose to leave. Such manifestations of Southern hostility were
viewed in the North with resentment, mingled with amuse-
ment, but they were natural under the circumstances and
had a pathetic side. The Southern people had experienced
bitter losses; in the words of Professor Fleming: "They must
have time to bury their dead, and it was long before the sight
of a Federal soldier caused other than bitter feelings of sorrow
and loss."

In general, however, there was less friction between the
garrisons and the people than might have been expected.
Now and then white soldiers foolishly forced " noisy and scorn-
ful unrepentants " to walk under the stars and stripes, or
cut the buttons off Confederate uniforms — often the only

THE AFTERMATH OF WAR 5

clothing their wearers possessed — or occasionally committed

worse excesses; but there were few armed conflicts, and in time

many of the soldiers came to feel a certain sympa-

Troops in thy for the white population, while their presence

came to be regarded by the whites as a guarantee of

peace and order. The presence of colored troops was considered

particularly humiliating by the whites. They were likely to be

insolent, they inoculated the freedmen with ideas of equality,

and in some instances they were guilty of serious crimes.

Several theories had been advanced as to the effect of seces-
sion upon the status of a State, but, as Lincoln wisely said in
his last public speech, made to a crowd of serenaders only three
days before his death, all men would agree that
Reconstruc- such States were "out of their proper practical re-
lation with the Union," and that the sole object of
statesmanship should be again to "get them into that proper
practical relation." Early in the war he had realized the de-
sirability of restoring the semblance of loyal self-government
in the seceded sections, and one result of his policy in this
direction was the erection in Virginia of a Union government
that consented to the setting up of West Virginia as a separate
^commonwealth. In Virginia proper the fragmentary political
organization that remained after West Virginia had been set
apart established itself at Alexandria, under the protection of
Federal cannon. Although this government, which was headed
by Governor Francis H. Pierpont, was frequently snubbed by
Congress and by military commanders, Lincoln recognized it,
being hopeful that it would furnish a nucleus for future loyal
development. In 1862 he appointed military governors in
Tennessee, North Carolina, and Louisiana. An important
duty of these governors was to stimulate loyal sentiment
among the inhabitants, and considerable success resulted from
J.he experiment in Louisiana and Tennessee. After the sur-
render of Vicksburg Lincoln appointed a military governor for
Arkansas, and near the close of the year he issued a general proc-
lamation in which he offered that if 10 per cent of the male
inhabitants in any rebellious State, except Virginia, would

6 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

take an oath of loyalty, and would organize a State govern-
ment, he would recognize it. In Louisiana, Arkansas, and
Tennessee such "10 per cent governments" were actually
formed, and Lincoln carried out his promise regarding them;
but the policy displeased the radicals in Congress, and neither
house would admit members chosen from these States. When
the Confederacy collapsed the net result of Lincoln's reconstruc-
tion policy was, therefore, that Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas,
and Tennessee possessed a semblance of a loyal government, but
none of them had been definitely readmitted into the Union. ,
Infinitely more difficult was the problem of the negroes.
Even the question of whether they should be slaves or freemen
had not yet been settled absolutely, for the Thirteenth Amend-
ment had not been ratified by three-fourths of the
of the'0" States, while the Proclamation of Emancipation
s£tusman'S did not aPPlv to a11 sections of the South, and its
validity remained a matter of some doubt. It
was practically certain that freedom would triumph, but,
granted this, there still remained the complicated questions of
the freedman's political, social, and economic status. And it
could safely be predicted that these questions would continue
to plague the country long after the status of the seceded
States and of ex-Confederates had been fixed and forgotten.

During the war slaves in regions remote from the clash
of arms had usually remained quietly upon the plantations.
Dim notions that the war might bring them freedom pene-
trated the minds of some, and escaped Union pris-

Behavior of , , „ . . . ,

the Slaves oners could generally count upon their assistance,
Wai?8 the Dut *ears °f servile revolts proved groundless. In
after years a celebrated Georgia orator, Henry
Grady, said gratefully: "A thousand torches would have dis-
banded the Southern army, but there was not one." However,
when a Union force entered a district many of the slaves would
flock to it, and when Sherman's victorious columns swept
through Georgia to the sea thousands of blacks, fondly believing
that "the Day of Jubilee" had come, fell in behind their de-
liverers, having, as a South Carolinian later complained, been

THE AFTERMATH OF WAR 7

"seduced from their allegiance" by the prospect of freedom.
On foot, on horses or mules, and in every conceivable vehicle,
from rough ox-carts to sumptuous carriages taken from their
masters' stables, they followed the conquering hosts and often
proved a source of no small embarrassment to their liberators.
"Ise hope de Lord will prosper you Yankees and Mr. Sherman,"
said the spokesman of a large number of these refugees to an
aide-de-camp, "because I links, and we all tinks, dat youse
down here in our interests." Another gray-haired "uncle"
told Sherman "that he had been looking for the 'angel of the
Lord' since he was knee-high," and that he was sure that
Union "success was to be his freedom."

When the Confederacy collapsed some of the freedmen will-
ingly hired themselves to their former masters, but hundreds
of thousands could not rest content until they had tried out
Unrest ^^ freedom. A desire to behold the fascinating

among wonders of the world and fear lest slavery might be

suddenly restored and they be caught by their old
owners stimulated this tendency, and many freedmen changed
their names to disguise their identity or to signify that they
had passed from under the yoke. Multitudes swarmed into
the towns or tramped aimlessly about the country, and, as they
were not accustomed to caring for themselves, thousands died
during the next year. Many negro men seized the opportunity
to desert their families and get new wives, for it was regarded
as a relic of bondage to be tied to an ugly old wife who had
been married in slavery. Revivals and camp-meetings were
held in many places and aroused much religious fervor. One
old negro woman baptized in a river came out screaming:
"Freed from slavery! Freed from sin! Bless God and Gen-
eral Grant ! " To many negroes freedom meant primarily the
chance to escape from work, and they experienced a sad dis-
illusionment when they learned that they must still labor for
a living. To avoid so disagreeable an alternative, many re-
sorted to stealing; it was not considered sinful to take pigs
or chickens from the whites; that was merely "spilin' de 'Gyp-,
shuns."

8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Other freedmen were actuated by more laudable ambitions,
notably to acquire the white man's learning in the schools,
upon which optimistic Northern philanthropists were expending
much money and effort. More than a score of
Eduction, societies, were formed to minister to the freedman's
material wants and to uplift him morally and men-
tally, and large sums were subscribed for this missionary work.
Yankee schoolmasters and schoolma'ams invaded the South,
filled with all the hopeful zeal of crusaders, and were regarded
with a mixture of amused contempt and angry hostility on the
part of most of the white population. As for the blacks, many
had the view that education — best of all, a knowledge of Greek
and Latin — was the sesame that would open all doors to them.
Children and grown-ups alike were seized with the thirst for
knowledge. An officer of the Freedmen 's Bureau reported
that in a school in North Carolina he saw sitting side by side
representatives of four generations: a child six years old, her
mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, the last over
seventy-five years old — all studying their letters and learning
to read the Bible. Little wonder, therefore, that the results
of this educational crusade present an odd mixture of the
ludicrous, the pathetic, and the sublime.

White men complained that the negroes were demoralized
by freedom, that they would not work except under compul-
sion, that they were "lazy and sassy," that they would not
Complaints Display the old deference. One of Ho well Cobb's
about overseers wrote to his employer that the blacks

would remain in their houses for days, feigning
sickness or giving other more trivial excuses. "Tha air," he
declared, " steeling the green corn verry rapped. Som of
them go when tha pleas and wher tha pleas an pay no attention
to your orders or mine. . . . You had as well Sing Sams to
a ded horse as to tri to instruct a fool negrow." Some white
employers resorted to the old methods, such as whipping or
hanging up by the thumbs, while more serious offenses were
now and then committed against freedmen, either by employ-
ers or ordinary ruffians.

From the days when they were imported into America

THE AFTERMATH OF WAR 9

against their will the negro race had labored for their masters
without financial reward, but among both freedmen and many

white men there now developed the idea that some
Acres and recompense should be made for unnumbered years

of forced service. In the course of the war freed-
men in some parts of the South had been established on con-
fiscated estates, and this fact helped to create a belief that the
government would adopt a general policy of seizing the prop-
erty of the masters and dividing it among the emancipated
slaves. In some way the notion got abroad that each negro
family would receive "forty acres and a mule," and for years
the idea persisted in some black districts. In certain quarters
white sharpers reaped a rich harvest by selling to credulous
freedmen the painted stakes, or "pre-emption rights," with
which each must be provided if he expected to obtain his share
on the day of division. The deed sold to one credulous negro
read as follows: "Know all men by these presents, that a
nought is a nought and a figure is a figure; all for the white man
and none for the nigure. And whereas Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so also have I lifted this d — d old
nigger out of four dollars and six bits. Amen I Selah !"

There were Northerners who urged that both justice and
considerations of the freedmen's future demanded that finan-
cial assistance should be given to the emancipated race, but in

the end nothing of consequence was done. In the
for e words of a celebrated leader of the race, namely,

FinandaUy Frederick Douglass, the negro "was turned loose,

naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky."
He was made a freeman, but he was left economically de-
pendent upon his former master.

The fact had an important bearing on the subsequent his-
tory of the South. It meant that generally the negroes must
continue to work for others, instead of settling down upon
Effect their own little plots of ground and leading a lazy,

Labor care-free existence. In consequence the problem

. of obtaining labor has never become so acute in

uie South as in Guiana and certain West India islands, where
the emancipated blacks easily obtained land, and solved the

10 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

question of living by setting out a few banana-trees and cul-
tivating a yam patch. Even to-day the number of negro
farmers who own their land is comparatively small.

To act as a guardian for the freedmen, and to stand as a
buffer between them and the whites, Congress, by act of March
3, 1865, created an institution called the Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. General Oliver
O- Howard, commander of one wing of Sherman's
army, a philanthropist of great zeal, a man who
had won the title of "the Christian Soldier," was made com-
missioner of the bureau. Not all the officials were of so high a
type, for many were lacking in tact, while some proved to be
rascals. There can be no doubt that the bureau did much
work that needed to be done, but by Southern white men it
was generally regarded with hostility. Many ol the bureau
agents ultimately organized their black wards politically, and
swelled the ranks of the "Carpet-Baggers," as Northern men
who entered Southern politics were called.

In weighing the difficulties involved in effecting the transi-
tion from a slave-labor to a free-labor system, it should not be
forgotten that the task was complicated by unfavorable eco-
Economic nomic conditions. The North was actually richer
Condition and more prosperous, despite the war, than it had
been in 1861, and the victorious Northern soldier
returned to a land full of the busy hum of industry. In the
words of Henry Grady, it was far otherwise with "the foot-
sore Confederate soldier, as, buttoning up in his faded gray
jacket the parole which was to bear testimony to his children
of his fidelity and faith, he turned his face southward from
Appomattox, in April, 1865. Think of him as ragged, half-
starved, heavy-hearted, enfeebled by want and wounds; having
fought to exhaustion, he surrenders his gun, wrings the hands
of his comrades in silence, and, lifting his tear-stained and
pallid face for the last time to the graves that dot the old Vir-
ginia hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow and begins the
slow and painful journey. What . . . does he find when,
having followed the battle-stained cross against overwhelm-

THE AFTERMATH OF WAR u

ing odds, dreading death not half so much as surrender, he
reaches the home he left so prosperous and beautiful? He
finds his house in ruins, his farm devastated, his slaves free,
his stock killed, his barn empty, his trade destroyed, his money
worthless; his social system, feudal in its magnificence, swept
away; his people without law or legal status; his comrades
slain, and the burden of others heavy on his shoulders. Crushed
by defeat, his very traditions gone; without money, credit, em-
ployment, material training; and beside all this, confronted
with the gravest problem that ever met human intelligence —
the establishment of a status for the vast body of his liberated
slaves."

"Everything has been mended, and generally in the rudest
style," wrote an observer of Southern conditions. "Window-
glass has given way to thin boards, and these are in use in rail-
coacnes an^ in the cities. Furniture is marred

A Picture

of Southern and broken, and none has been replaced for four

Conditions. TA- i. L j • • A i j

years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and
half the pitchers have tin handles. A complete set of crockery
is never seen, and in very few families is there enough to set a
table. ... A set of forks with whole tines is a curiosity.
Clocks and watches have nearly all stopped. . . . Hair-
brushes and tooth-brushes have worn all out; combs are broken
and are not yet replaced; pins, needles, and thread, and a
thousand such articles, which seem indispensable to house-
keeping, are very scarce. Even in weaving on the looms,
corn-cobs have been substituted for spindles. Few have pocket-
knives. In fact, everything that has heretofore been an article
of sale at the South is wanting now. At the tables of those
who were once esteemed luxurious providers, you will find
neither tea, coffee, sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles,
in some cases, have been replaced by a cup of grease, in which
a piece of cloth is plunged for a wick. The problem which the
South had to solve has been, not how to be comfortable during
the war, but how to live at all."

The Civil War had begun as a revolt to perpetuate slavery
and the right of secession; it had ended in a revolution that

12 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

extinguished both. It had been a bitter battle, and both
belligerents had fought on until one had been overwhelmed by
No Perfect numbers and material resources. After so pro-
Solution tracted a struggle, after so complete an overturn of
old institutions, it was inevitable that even the
wisest statesmanship should not be able immediately to restore
peace and prosperity in the conquered section. And unhap-
pily really wise statesmanship was to prove chiefly conspicuous
through its absence.*

*A list of "Suggestions for Further Reading" is given in the Ap-
pendix.

CHAPTER H

PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION

FOLLOWING the assassination of Lincoln, many prominent
Southerners were seized and thrown into prison, but the only
person who was tried, convicted, and punished was Wirz,
Treatment ^e commander of Andersonville prison, who was
of Southern sent to the gallows by a military tribunal. The
expected trials for treason were indefinitely post-
poned; most of the prisoners were soon released. Jefferson
Davis was kept for about two years at Fortress Monroe,
and for a short time was subjected to the indignity of being
put in irons, but ultimately he was released on bail, and was
never tried; curiously enough two of the men who signed his
bond were old abolitionists, namely, Gerrit Smith and Horace
Greeley.

That events took such a course was largely due to Johnson's
dropping his punitive policy toward the South. The main
influence in effecting this revolution in the President's mind
Chan e in was Pr°bably the cabinet. James G. Elaine, in his
Johnson's Twenty Years of Congress, attributes the change to
Secretary of State Seward; others reject this view.
Though marked for assassination by Booth and his fellow
conspirators and dangerously wounded by one of them,
Seward retained his naturally generous disposition. To him
an enemy who surrendered was an enemy no more. One day
he met an old senatorial associate from Virginia, a man with
whom he had often clashed in ante-bellum days, but Seward's
heart went out to him. "Come and dine with me, Hunter,"
said he to the ex-Confederate. Hunter accepted, and when
he raised his plate at the secretary's hospitable board he found
beneath it a "pardon," duly signed and sealed.

Having decided to follow a liberal course, Johnson virtually

13

14 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

adopted Lincoln's plan of reconstruction; but unfortunately,
in carrying out the details, he lacked the Emancipator's infinite

tact. He soon accorded recognition to the "10-
Vhtuaii per-cent" governments established by Lincoln in
Adopts Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas, and to the
Plan? Pierpont government in Virginia, and on May 29

he proclaimed William W. Holden provisional gov-
ernor of North Carolina and directed him to call a constitu-
tional convention for the purpose of organizing a new civil
government. Holden was a Raleigh newspaper publisher and
politician who had given the Confederate authorities much
trouble, and had in 1864 come near to being elected governor
on a "peace-at-any-price" platform. The President's procla-
mation provided that only loyal persons could participate as
electors or as delegates to the convention; the test of loyalty
established was the taking of an oath prescribed in an amnesty
proclamation issued the same day. Among those excluded
from the benefits of this amnesty proclamation were civil or
diplomatic officers of the Confederacy, military officers above
the rank of colonel, governors of seceded States, and persons
who owned taxable property worth more than twenty thousand
dollars. All other persons might take the oath, which required,
among other conditions, a pledge to support all laws and procla-
mations regarding slavery. Even the excepted persons might
make special application to the President for pardon, and the
proclamation held out the hope that "such clemency will be
liberally extended." Within a few weeks the President took
similar action regarding the six remaining seceded States. The
President let it be known that to secure the restoration of their
States into the Union the conventions must accept the results
of the war. His fundamental conditions were: (i) Repeal of
the ordinance of secession or declaring it null and void. (2)
Acceptance of emancipation. (3) Repudiation of debts con-
tracted in aid of the Confederacy.

As Congress would not meet until December, President
Johnson for several months had a free hand to carry out his
reconstruction plans, and meanwhile the Southern people were

JOHNSON'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 15

given an opportunity to reveal their attitude of mind toward
the new order of things. The situation was one that called
The for wisdom on the part of Southerners; their sec-

Southern tion was, so to speak, on probation, and common
sense dictated that they display a prudent regard for
the prejudices of the conquerors. But human nature is apt to
be perverse, and unfortunately most of the ablest men of the
South, being still under political disabilities, were unable to
participate in the work of the constitutional conventions and
of the legislatures that followed them; it is not strange, there-
fore, that prudence was sometimes forgotten and that things
were done that proved unfortunate for the country and par-
ticularly for the South.

Before the end of the year new constitutions had been com-
pleted by all the States except Texas, which did not finish the
task until some months later. In most respects the conven-
tions showed a reasonable willingness to accept the
Constitu- results of the war and to comply with the wishes
Conventions °^ ^e President. All formally abolished slavery,
though not without protests on the part of some
delegates; and, with the single exception of South Carolina,
all repudiated the State debts contracted in support of the war,
though it required strong pressure from Washington to bring
about this result in some cases. The secession ordinances were
annulled by most of the States, and North Carolina conceded
the illegality of her ordinance by declaring that it "at all times
hath been null and void." The old States-rights view still
flickered feebly in South Carolina and Georgia, however, and
their conventions repealed the ordinances. In the hope of dis-
arming Northern opposition to his reconstruction policy, John-
son suggested that the Mississippi convention should extend
the elective franchise to all freedmen who could read and
write, or who paid taxes on real estate valued at not less than
two hundred and fifty dollars, but the convention ignored the
recommendation.

The more detailed work of economic, social, and political
reorganization was presently taken up by newly elected legis-

16 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

latures. All these legislatures, except that of Mississippi,
ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which was formally pro-
claimed a part of the Constitution December 18, 1865, but,
generally speaking, the legislatures displayed a more inde-
pendent spirit than had the conventions. This was especially
true with regard to the enactment of laws fixing the status of
the freedmen.

Much political controversy has raged over these "Black
Codes," as they were called. The task of framing them was
one of peculiar difficulty, not only because of the complicated
The nature of the problem itself but because of the sus-

picious attitude of the victorious North. Some such

^

legislation seemed necessary, for the old slave
codes or the laws concerning free negroes were not applicable
to the new conditions. The charge has frequently been made
that the Black Codes were passed in a spirit of defiance of the
North, but it would be more exact to say that in enacting them
the Southern legislators did not take Northern prejudices suffi-
ciently into account. Both sections recognized that the blacks
were /ree, but in the North freedom was often interpreted to
mean equality of the blacks with the whites, while in the South
the prevailing idea was that the freedmen must be assigned to
an inferior condition. Even some of the Northern States still
denied equality to the negroes, and this fact was not lost sight
of by these Southern legislators. In part, therefore, the codes
were an honest effort to meet a difficult situation, but it can-
not be denied that at times the old Southern belief that the
negro was divinely created to be servant to the white man
peered through these codes unpleasantly, and furnished proof
that their framers had not yet fully realized that the old order
had passed away.

Among the least liberal codes were those of South Carolina
South anc^ Mississippi, States in which the blacks consid-

Caroiina's erably outnumbered the whites. South Carolina

designated her former slaves as "persons of color";
prohibited them from engaging in any occupation except
" that of husbandry, or that of a servant under contract for

JOHNSON'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 17

labor," except after obtaining a license costing from ten to a
hundred dollars; prohibited servants on plantations from being
"absent from the premises without the permission of the
master"; and gave to masters power to complain of servants
to judicial officers, who were authorized " to inflict, or cause to
be inflicted, on the servant, suitable corporal punishment, or
impose upon him such pecuniary fine as may be thought fit."
The The Mississippi code withheld from the freedmen

Mississippi the right to own or lease land except in incorporated
towns, and provided for "apprenticing" negro
children whose parents were unwilling or unable to support
them, preference being given in such cases to former masters,
who were given power to use "moderate corporal chastisement."
Any negro over eighteen years of age who should be found on
the 2d of January, 1866, or thereafter, without lawful employ-
ment or business was made subject to fine and to imprison-
ment at the discretion of the court, and to being hired out in
case he did not pay such fine.

. In some of the codes the words "servant," "master," and
"mistress," and other slavery terms were constantly used,
while for some offenses freedmen were made subject to heavier
Discrimina- Penalties than was the case with white persons,
tion against In certain States the blacks were prohibited from

Freedmcn. • /- Av j 11

owning firearms or other deadly weapons, or even
from assembling together except under stringent restrictions,
and only Tennessee permitted them to testify in legal cases
between white litigants. Defenders of the codes have asserted
that they were mainly designed to force lazy freedmen to work,
but it is clear that one tendency was to set the negroes apart
as an inferior and, to some extent, still servile class. The fact
that four decades later "peonage" flourished in some Southern
communities and was broken up only through the activity of
federal courts would seem to indicate that under such laws the
freedmen would often have been imposed upon by the un-
scrupulous.

One matter dealt with in the codes was the matter of the
relations between the sexes. Prior to emancipation, marriage

i8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

between slaves, in the civilized sense of the term, was rare;
promiscuity was common. "All freedmen, free negroes, or
mulattoes who do now and have here-before lived
^Relations and cohabited together as husband and wife, shall be
the taken and held in law as legally married, and the
issue shall be taken and held as legitimate for all
purposes," ran the Mississippi code, and the same general rule
was adopted elsewhere. South Carolina provided that in case
a man had two or more reputed wives, or one woman two or
more reputed husbands, he or she was to be permitted to select
one of them and the ceremony of marriage was then to be per-
formed. Intermarriage between the races was forbidden under
heavy penalties, that prescribed by Mississippi being life im-
prisonment.

It need hardly be said that the proceedings of Southern con-
ventions and legislatures were closely scanned by Northern
men. Opposition to the President's reconstruction policy
quickly developed, yet there were many Northerners
Oppose the willing to suspend judgment and to watch what use
Policy511 t^le South would make of her opportunity. John-
son's right-about-face sorely disappointed the radi-
cals, who had welcomed his advent to power with such enthu-
siasm, and such leaders as Benjamin F. Wade, Charles Sumner,
and Thaddeus Stevens did not long disguise their feelings.
In a letter to a friend Sumner accurately forecast what subse-
quently occurred: "Then comes a collision with Congress, and
inseparable confusion and calamity." Under the inspiration
of Stevens and Sumner, Republican conventions in Pennsyl-
vania and Massachusetts opposed the President's policy, but
other conventions indorsed it, while men like Morton of Indiana,
and Andrew of Massachusetts, both great "war governors,"
spoke out in its support.

The course of events proved favorable to the radicals. Every
time that news came up from the South of a tactless or defiant
utterance, of a discriminating law or constitution, of the mis-
treatment or murder of a freedman or white Union man, it
meant increased opposition to Johnson's plan of reconstruc-

JOHNSON'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION 19

tion. Even the praise that Northern Democrats and Demo-
cratic newspapers hastened to shower upon the President
aroused suspicion in multitudes of breasts. Millions
of'opfposition still believed that the assassination of Lincoln had
North ^->een mstigated by Confederate leaders, and the

bloody deed tended to make the North less liberal.
Most of the Black Codes were not formulated until 1866, but
enough had been passed in 1865 to show the drift of such legis-
lation. Upon this and similar matters Northerners were kept
well informed by newspaper correspondents, most of whom
transmitted stories illustrating Southern contempt for the
freedmen and Union men, or describing sporadic instances of
conflicts between the two races. "We tell the men of Missis-
sippi," said the Chicago Tribune (December i, 1865), "that the
men of the North will convert the State of Mississippi into a
frog-pond before they will allow any such laws to disgrace
one foot of soil in which the bones of our soldiers sleep and over
which the flag of freedom waves."

All over the North men were saying that the Southern
States had been in a great hurry to get out of the Union, and
that they could have no valid ground for complaint if the
nation took its time about letting them back in.

CHAPTER m

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL

WHEN the Thirty-ninth Congress met for its firsjt session
(December 4, 1865), a number of persons elected in Southern
States to be senators or representatives appeared to claim their
Re nst seats; but, under the leadership of Thaddeus
tion Stevens, the Republican caucus had agreed upon

a plan that boded ill for such members and for the
realization of the President's reconstruction policy. The clerk
of the House, Edward McPherson, omitted calling the names
of claimants appearing from seceded States, and his action was
sustained. A similar course was taken by the Senate. As
soon as the House had completed its organization, Stevens in-
troduced a resolution for the appointment of a joint com-
mittee of nine representatives and six senators to inquire into
the condition of the States recently in rebellion and "report
whether they or any of them are entitled to be represented in
either house of Congress." The resolution passed both the
House and the Senate, and thus originated the celebrated
"Reconstruction Committee," which was to play so decisive
a part in the coming drama. Stevens became the chairman
of the House committee, and Fessenden of Maine, secretary of
the treasury under Lincoln, headed that appointed by the
Senate.

It was significant that the House acted on the Stevens reso-
lution before expressing a willingness to receive the President's
message, the reading of which was delayed until the next day.

The message reviewed the course of reconstruction,

Johnsons jji • i -i

First and dealt with the subject with such excellent

Congress.10 temper and in so admirable a style that it was a
matter of public wonder that a man who had not
learned to read and write until he was grown could have com-
posed such a state paper. It was not until forty years later

20

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 21

that it was discovered by Professor Dunning that the original
draft of the document was in the handwriting of George Ban-
croft, the celebrated historian, who had been secretary of the
navy under Polk.

It is undeniable that many of the President's opponents
were genuinely anxious to safeguard the rights of the freedmen,
but there was also another motive. The adoption of the
Thirteenth Amendment rendered it certain that in
Fears. ' ^e future five-fifths instead of only three-fifths of
the former slaves would be counted in apportioning
members of Congress and presidential electors, with the result
that the political power of the South would be considerably
strengthened. Republicans began to fear that if the President's
plan were carried out an alliance between ex-Confederates and
Northern Democrats might soon succeed in gaining control
of the federal government. Sumner had already declared this
to be the Southern policy, and that Southerners hoped to win
"by covert guile" what they had lost in "open war."

Color was lent to such charges by the course of events in
the South. That section seemed to be losing some of its spirit
of compliance. Stories of the mistreatment of freedmen and
Union men heaped fuel on the fire of Northern
H Stephens suspicion, as did the fact that many ex-Confederates
lenator were being elected to office. Even Johnson pro-
tested against the proposed choice by the Georgia
Legislature of Alexander H. Stephens as United States senator,
and telegraphed: "There seems in many of the elections some-
thing like defiance, which is all out of place at this time." His
protest was ignored, and presently the man who, less than a
year before, had held the second office hi the Confederacy
appeared at the capital to claim his seat, in the face of the
"iron-clad oath" of 1862, which required all who wished to
qualify for federal office to swear that they had never volun-
tarily given aid or encouragement to enemies of the United
States. "In his astounding effrontery," says James G. Elaine,
who was then a member of the House, "Mr. Stephens even
went so far as to insist on interpreting to those loyal men

22 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

who had been conducting the government of the United States
through all its perils, the Constitution under which they had
been acting." Stephens subsequently became a useful mem-
ber of Congress, and he might have proved so at this time,
but it is not strange that the men who for four bloody years
had borne the burden of saving the Union opposed the speedy
restoration to places of trust of such men as he.

When such feelings were developing in the North it was

inevitable that radicals like Charles Sumner and Thaddeus

Stevens should wield great influence. Sumner had long been

a prominent member of the Senate and a bitter

Theory of opponent of what was known as " the Slave Power,"

Suicide" anc* ^ack *n ^e 'S°'s ^a(^ keen almost beaten to
death by a Southern representative, Preston R.
Brooks. Sumner was a Massachusetts Brahmin, but in theory
he was a doctrinaire believer in human equality, anxious to put
freedmen and former masters upon identically the same politi-
cal and social plane. In his opinion the attempt of Southern
States to secede was illegal, and the result null and void, but he
held that such action was equivalent to "a practical abdication
by the State of all rights under the Constitution." In other
words, he believed that the seceded States had virtually com-
mitted suicide, and he declared that they were now practically
territories under "the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress." In
a resolution introduced in the Senate on the first day of the
session he laid down five conditions that must be accepted by
the people of a seceded State before such State could be re-
stored to its former privileges in the Union. One of these con-
ditions was that there should be "no denial of rights because
of color or race."

Stevens had long represented a Pennsylvania district in the
House of Representatives, and was now a "sharp-

Stevenss r j •!,.,,, 11 /• i

"Conquered faced, grim-looking, lame old man of seventy-three,

Theory06" but ^e st^ possessed an iron will, and in practical

leadership of men he far surpassed Sumner. When

we study his career we are inevitably reminded of Cromwell

or the old Covenanters. Though he had a profound sympathy

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 23

for the oppressed, he was a bitter partisan and a violent hater
of the slaveholding South. He bluntly declared that the
seceded States were conquered provinces, having no constitu-
tional rights the conquerors were bound to respect. Congress,
not the President, was the only power competent to "revive,
recreate, and reinstate these provinces into the family of
States." He disclaimed a desire for "bloody punishments to
any great extent," but he favored stripping "a proud nobility
of their bloated estates; reduce them to a level with plain
republicans; send them forth to labor, and teach their children
to enter the workshops or handle the plough, and you will thus
humble the proud traitor. Teach his posterity to respect labor
and eschew treason." Like Sumner, he advocated suffrage for
the freedmen and wished to give them homesteads carved out
of the plantations of their former masters. "The infernal laws
of slavery," he declared (December 18, 1865), "have prevented
them from acquiring an education, understanding the com-
monest laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary business
of life. We must not leave them to the legislation of their late
masters, but we must provide for them protective laws. ... If
we fail in this great duty now when we have the power, we
shall deserve and receive the execration of history and of all
future ages."

In advocating negro suffrage Stevens and Sumner stood far
in advance of many of their party associates. The general
feeling even in the North was that the freedmen were too ig-
norant to use the ballot intelligently. Men like
Opposition Governors Andrew and Morton at this time de-
clared against negro suffrage, while Lincoln had
never gone beyond suggesting that the franchise
should be conferred upon the "very intelligent" and those
who had "fought gallantly in our ranks." Only six Northern
States permitted black men to vote, and in the fall elections
of 1865 Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Connecticut voted down
negro-suffrage proposals. It was only the course of events,
the growth of a feeling that the franchise was a weapon the
freedman could use in his own defense, a fear that a combina-

24 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

tion of "Southern rebels and Northern copperheads" might
gain control of the government and nullify the results of the
war, that ultimately brought the Republican party to force
through the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

Before adopting his lenient reconstruction policy President
Johnson had sent Major-General Carl Schurz to the South to
report upon conditions in that section. Schurz was a natural-
ized German who had narrowly escaped a Prussian
Report on firing-squad in the Revolution of '48, and who had
Conditions won worW-wide fame by gallantly rescuing his
friend and preceptor, the poet Gottfried Kinkel,
from the Berlin penitentiary. He was an idealist by tempera-
ment, and on his arrival in America had thrown himself ardently
into the battle against slavery. Lincoln appointed him min-
ister to Spain, but Schurz soon found that he preferred the tented
field to diplomacy, so he entered the Union army and rose to
high rank. At Johnson's behest he visited several of the South-
ern States, and at first his reports were well received, but
presently he found that the President had lost interest in his
work. Returning to Washington in October, Schurz repeatedly
requested the President to permit him to make a formal re-
port. In a personal interview Johnson expressed the view that
this was unnecessary, but Schurz persisted that he would do
so and a bitter altercation followed. "I thereupon turned my
back on Andrew Johnson," said Schurz many years later, in
describing the scene to the author, "and I never spoke to him
again." Subsequently he wrote out a detailed account of his
observations and impressions, and the radicals in the Senate,
aware that it contained facts tending to discredit the presiden-
tial reconstruction plan, passed a resolution calling on Johnson
to transmit it.

In the report Schurz conceded that there was no present
danger of another insurrection on a large scale, but he declared
that Southern submission sprang "from necessity and calcula-
tion," that treason did "not appear odious," and that there
was "an utter absence of national feeling." He believed that
Southerners realized that slavery in its old form was doomed,

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 25

but thought they hoped that "some form of serfdom, peonage,

or other form of compulsory labor " might be substituted. He

found much friction growing out of the new eco-

Favors nomic relations between former masters and the

Suffra e freedmen, and reported that many crimes had been

committed against negroes and white Unionists.

For the protection of the freedmen he urged that the right to

vote should be given to them before the seceded States were

readmitted.

Johnson reluctantly complied with the demand for Schurz's
report, and, to counteract it, transmitted a report made by
General Grant, who had recently made a hasty trip through
General ^e South. Grant reported: "I am satisfied that
Grant's the mass of thinking men of the South accept the
present situation of affairs in good faith. . . .
Slavery and the right of a State to secede they regard as having
been settled forever by the highest tribunal, arms, that man can
resort to." He expressed the view, however, that possibly
four years of war had left Southerners "in a condition not to
yield that ready obedience to civil authority the American
people have been in the habit of yielding," and said that
military garrisons were still necessary and that "black and
white mutually require the protection of the general govern-
ment."

Early in February, 1866, Congress passed a bill enlarging the
powers of the Freedmen's Bureau and extending its life for
one year, but Johnson vetoed the measure, declaring that it was
unconstitutional, and naming as "another very grave objec-
tion " the fact that it was passed by a Congress from which the
representatives of eleven States were excluded. This last argu-
ment was one of which the President's supporters were making
much use, and the Democratic New York World habitually
placed "Rump Congress" at the head of its account of con-
gressional proceedings. As many Republican senators and rep-
resentatives still hoped to avert a final break with Johnson,
an attempt to pass the bill over the veto failed.

The President's opponents commanded, however, a majority

26 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

in each house, and, as a reply to the veto, the House of Rep-
resentatives, at the instigation of Stevens, passed (February

20) a concurrent resolution to the effect that no
Votes!!)8 senator or representative from a seceded State
Exclude should be admitted to a seat until Congress had
Senators formally declared that the State from which he
resentatives. came was entitled to representation. Two months

before this the Senate had rejected such a proposi-
tion, but on March 2 it concurred in the resolution. Thus was
definitely asserted the right of Congress to be the final authority
in the matter of reconstruction.

The President's course was warmly praised by some and
attacked by others, but it was noticeable that most of the
epistolary and newspaper commendation came from the South
T , , and from Northern Democrats, and his enemies

Johnson s

Denuncia- were careful to point out this fact to the public.

tory Speech. ^» w t« > !-• ^i-j *.' t i.-

On Washington s birthday a mass meeting of his
supporters assembled at Grover's Theatre, in the capital, and
proceeded to the White House to congratulate their hero.
Hugh McCulloch, the secretary of the treasury, advised his
chief not to make an address, and Johnson said: "I shall thank
them and that's all." But the course of Congress had aroused
his naturally strong combativeness, and the appearance of a
large and friendly crowd "excited his itch for public speaking."
Encouraged by cries of "Give it to them, Andy!" and "Hit
them again ! " he delivered a wild and incoherent harangue, in
the course of which he denounced the Joint Committee on
Reconstruction as "an irresponsible central directory" that
had usurped "all the powers of Congress"; charged Charles
Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, and Wendell Phillips with laboring
to destroy "the fundamental principles of this government";
and even declared that some of his enemies desired to remove
the "'presidential obstacle'" by assassination. The speech
delighted his enemies, who took care to revive stories of his
tendency to inebriety, and it did much to alienate the
country.
A month later Congress passed a Civil Rights bill designed

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 27

to carry the Thirteenth Amendment into effect and to safe-
guard the freedmen against the obnoxious features of the

Black Codes. It made the freedmen citizens of
KUofilkfc! t116 United States, with all civil rights, prohibited

any one from interfering with such rights under
color of a State law, but did not give negroes the right to vote.
The bill had been submitted to Johnson in advance, and many
people supposed that he would sign it, but on March 27 he re-
turned it with his veto. By so doing he alienated many mod-
erate senators and representatives who hitherto had striven to
avoid a breach between the President and Congress, and after
a hard and close contest the veto was overridden. Feeling ran
so high that when the vote was announced in the Senate the
floor and the galleries burst into a tumult of cheering.

It was the first time in the history of the country that an
important measure had been passed over the veto, and it sig-
nified that Congress had seized the helm of state. Johnson's
c . , plan of reconstruction was promptly shelved, and

Plan of Re- a new one, evolved by the Joint Committee on Re-
construction. . 1*1 mi • 11
construction, was substituted. This plan took the

view that the seceded States had forfeited their rights and that
they should not be permitted their old rights in the Union
until the results of the war had been written into the Consti-
tution. The essential features of the new plan were contained
in a Fourteenth Amendment, which was approved by Congress
on June 13, and was submitted to the States for ratification.

This amendment wrote into the Constitution the essential
provisions of the Civil Rights Act in order to place that legisla-
tion beyond danger of repeal by a subsequent Congress. It
The made the negroes citizens of the United States, and

Fourteenth prohibited the States from abridging their privileges
and immunities as such. It did not give them the
franchise, but it made it to the interest of a State to do so by
providing that representatives should be apportioned among
the States according to population, excluding Indians not taxed,
and that if any State denied the right to vote to any of its
male citizens for other reasons than crime its representation in

28 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Congress, and hence in the electoral college, should be propor-
tionately diminished. It provided that any person who had
previously held any office necessitating his taking an oath to
support the Constitution of the United States, and had then
engaged in rebellion, or given aid or oomfort to the enemies of
the nation, should be ineligible for office, either State or federal,
but Congress might, by a two-thirds vote, remove such dis-
ability. It affirmed the validity of the public debt incurred in
conducting the war, and forbade the assumption by State or
nation of any debt "incurred in aid of insurrection or rebel-
lion," or any claim for loss or emancipation of any slave. The
amendment was meant to settle certain issues growing out of
the war, but one clause, forbidding any State to "deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,"
was later used by conservatively inclined courts for very dif-
ferent purposes from those then contemplated.

The Joint Committee also proposed that, when the new
amendment should become a part of the Constitution, the se-
ceded States that had ratified it should be accorded representa-
tion in Congress. A bill to that effect failed to pass,
Readmitted, but ^e principle was soon followed in the case of
Tennessee, whose "Union" legislature disfranchised
many ex-Confederates and ratified the proposed amendment
(July 19, 1866). Five days later Congress voted to restore
Tennessee to "her former proper, practical relations to the
Union."

In the same month Congress passed over the veto a bill ex-
Freedmen's tencuilg the life of the Freedmen's Bureau for two
Bureau years. By this time the breach between Johnson

Extended. . .

and the majority party had become so wide that in
the Senate only three Republicans joined with the Democrats
to sustain the veto.

If the other Southern States had followed the example of
Tennessee and accepted the congressional offer — that is, the
Johnson conditions plus ratification of the Fourteenth Amend-
ment— they would have avoided much future humiliation.
But the quarrel between President and Congress and the advice

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 29

of Northern Democrats led them to hope that they might,
with their Northern allies, regain control of the government.
The Not another Southern State ratified the amendment

Southern at this time; the majorities against it were over-
whelming. In the opinion of the historian Rhodes:
" It was a sad blunder. Compared with the settlement of other
great wars, the plan was magnanimous, for it involved no exe-
cutions, confiscations, or imprisonments. It restored the
ballot to virtually every white man who would take an oath
to support the Constitution, and it did not admit the negro
to the franchise, though it held out a reward to the States to
confer the franchise upon him."

Whether the presidential or the congressional plan should
triumph depended on the outcome of the elections in the autumn
of 1866. In August friends of the President held at Phila-
Political delphia what was officially known as the National
Campaign Union Convention, but which was popularly dubbed
the "Arm-in- Arm Convention," because, as a sign
of the closing of the " bloody chasm " between the sections, the
Northern and Southern delegates dramatically marched into
the hall, or "Wigwam," together. Opposition speakers and
newspapers were soon calling the "Wigwam" a "Noah's Ark"
into which " the animals entered two by two, the elephant and
the kangaroo, of clean beasts and of beasts that are not clean,
and of fowls and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth."
They craftily pointed out that "Rebels" and "Copperheads"
attended, and they charged that such persons were not per-
mitted to voice their true sentiments. Furthermore, as a
counter-demonstration, Southern Unionists and many Northern
men met in Philadelphia on September 3, and, though they
wrangled over the negro-suffrage question, they agreed in de-
nouncing the President's Southern policy. On September 17
soldiers and sailors who favored the President assembled at
Cleveland, but it was noticeable that none of the great Union
generals attended. A week later some thousands of anti-
Johnson soldiers and sailors held a convention in Pittsburgh
and passed resolutions favoring Congress and its policy.

30 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The President's cause was weakened by outrages committed
against freedmen and white Unionists in the South. Out-
breaks of this kind occurred at Memphis and elsewhere, but the
most notable took place in New Orleans (July 30,
Conflicts. 1866). Agitators favoring negro suffrage had ar-
ranged for a meeting of the convention of 1864 for
the purpose of changing the State constitution. The conven-
tion's legal right to do this was doubtful, and the mayor, Mon-
roe, the same bitter secessionist who had held office when
Farragut and Butler captured the city, was determined to
break up the meeting if possible. A procession of negroes
marching to Mechanics' Institute, in which the meeting was
to be held, became involved in a conflict with a white mob.
The affair ended by the mob, the police, and the city firemen
storming the hall and killing 40 or 50 negroes and white radi-
cals, and wounding about 150 more. General Sheridan, who
commanded the district, characterized the affair as "an abso-
lute massacre ... a murder which the mayor and police of
the city perpetrated without the shadow of a necessity."

President Johnson took the view that the riot was due to
the agitation for negro suffrage, and held that the responsibility
rested upon Northern radicals, but his explanation failed to
Appeal of convince the country. The Southern Unionist Con-
Southern vention, which met at Philadelphia some weeks
later, charged that "more than a thousand devoted
Union citizens have been murdered since the surrender of Lee,"
and begged that loyal Southern men should not be left at the
mercy of their enemies. The number of slain was perhaps ex-
aggerated, but such affairs as that at New Orleans went far
toward convincing doubtful Northern voters that the President's
generous policy toward the South was unsafe.

In August and September an invitation to attend the dedica-
tion in Chicago of a monument to Stephen A. Douglas gave
Johnson an opportunity to visit some of the chief cities of the
country and speak in defense of his course. On this "swing
around the circle," as the tour came to be called, he took with
him Seward, Admiral Farragut, and General Grant, in order,

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 31

it was charged, to attract crowds. The trip began auspiciously.
The reception accorded the President in Philadelphia was cor-
dial, while in New York City decorative banners
"Swing" S bore such inscriptions as, "Thrice welcome, Andrew
Srde/'the Johnson, the sword and buckler of the Constitu-
tion, the Union's hope and the people's champion,"
and he was greeted by tens of thousands with real enthusiasm.
But Johnson's injudicious words soon proved his undoing. He
constantly glorified himself, bitterly denounced Congress, and
offended his hearers by references to "Northern traitors" and
"foul whelps of sin." At Cleveland he indulged in an unseemly
wrangle with some of the audience and, in reply to a rebuke,
shouted : "I care not for dignity ! " He also demanded : " Why
don't you hang Thad Stevens and Wendell Phillips?" In St.
Louis, when his egotistical harangue was interrupted by cries
of "New Orleans," he cried out that the riot at that place
could be traced "back to the radical Congress." At Indian-
apolis the audience resented his remarks so much that he was
silenced and driven from the platform. He returned to Wash-
ington much weaker than he had left it. What James Russell
Lowell humorously described as an "advertising tour of a policy
in want of a party" had failed miserably.

In his desperation Johnson removed many of his opponents
from office, and made use of various other doubtful expedients,
but all to no purpose. His opponents gleefully proclaimed that
"Copperheads" and " Copper Johnsons " were sup-
Defeated, porting him with enthusiasm, but that few Union
men were following him into the Democratic party.
Even three members of his cabinet — Postmaster-General Den-
nison, Attorney-General Speed, and Secretary of the Interior
Harlan — resigned rather than break their party ties, while
Secretary of War Stanton openly proclaimed his opposition.
The fall elections of 1866 proved a Waterloo to Johnson's hopes.
The voters gave his opponents a majority of more than two-
thirds in each house of Congress.

In February following the election a meeting of Southerners
in Washington put forward an alternative for the proposed

32

Fourteenth Amendment, which by this time had been rejected
by every seceded State except Tennessee, but their suggestion
Congress passed unheeded. The congressional majority re-
Proceeds to garded the election result as a mandate to reduce

Restrict .111

President's the President to a cipher and adopt a more rig-
orous reconstruction policy. Numerous measures
were passed to harass the President and to restrict his powers.
A "rider" to an army appropriation bill forbade (March 2,
1867) his issuing any military orders except through the general
of the army — that is, Grant — to relieve the general of command,
or to station him anywhere except at the capital, unless with
his own consent or with the approval of the Senate. For a
long time there had been unfounded rumors that the President
contemplated gathering the unrecognized Southern claimants
to seats in Congress and his own congressional supporters into
one body, and recognizing it as the legal legislature of the nation,
and this restriction was partly designed to prevent him from
executing any such coup d'etat.

Another act of the same date, passed, of course, over the
veto, prohibited the President from dismissing civil officers
without the consent of the Senate, but conceded a suspensive
power when the Senate was not in session. In
case the President made use of this suspensive
power he must, when the Senate reconvened, send
in his reasons for acting in a given case, and, if the Senate re-
fused to concur, the suspended official resumed his position.
Violation of this Tenure-of-Office Act laid the President liable
to fine and imprisonment. Opponents of the measure de-
nounced it as unconstitutional, and pointed out that Washing-
ton and every other President since his day had exercised the
power of removal unhampered. The Constitution is silent
upon the subject; it merely stipulates that appointments shall
be "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate."

The Tenure-of-Office Act was largely designed to

Stanton. prevent the dismissal from the cabinet of Edwin

M. Stanton, whose position as secretary of war

was at this juncture a highly important one. Stanton favored

the radical reconstruction plan and opposed that of the

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 33

President, and the radical leaders desired to keep him in the
cabinet as a check on Johnson.

On the same day that the Thirty-ninth Congress laid re-
strictions upon the President's removing power it passed over
his veto (March 2, 1867) the Great Reconstruction Act. Two
Military ^avs ^ater» m obedience to a law enacted for that
Reconstnio purpose, the new Fortieth Congress assembled,
and this body enacted two supplementary recon-
struction measures (March 23, July 19, 1867). The existing
governments in the ten remaining "rebel States" were brushed
aside, and the States were divided into five military districts,
each to be ruled over by a military officer not below the rank
of brigadier-general. Under the oversight of these officers
constitutional conventions might be held, but the delegates to
these conventions must be elected by the male citizens irre-
spective of "race, color, or previous condition," the constitu-
tion must confirm the right of the freedmen to the suffrage, and
the legislature elected thereafter must ratify the Fourteenth
Amendment. In order to enable the negroes and white radicals
to gain political control, the supplementary act of March 23
provided that all applicants for registration must take an oath
that excluded many ex-Confederates. Although he bitterly
opposed the congressional plan, President Johnson did not
venture to disregard these laws, and he assigned Generals
Schofield, Sickles, Pope, Ord, and Sheridan to command the
five districts.

On the day after the passage of the second supplementary
act Congress, disregarding the warnings of members who
thought it unsafe to leave Johnson unwatched, adjourned until
Johnson November. Many of the President's supporters
Suspends had long been urging him to dismiss Stanton from
the cabinet, and Johnson took advantage of the
adjournment to get rid of his obnoxious secretary of war.
On August 5 he wrote Stanton saying that "public considera-
tions of a high character" constrained him to ask for the sec-
retary's resignation. Stanton responded: "I have the honor
to say that public considerations of a high character, which
alone have induced me to continue at the head of this depart-

34 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ment, constrain me not to resign the office of secretary of war
before the next meeting of Congress." Johnson then suspended
Stanton and appointed General Grant, against Grant's desire,
secretary of war ad interim. He also removed Sickles from
command of the district comprising the Carolinas, and Sheridan
from that consisting of Louisiana and Texas, and substituted
Generals Canby and Hancock. The removal of these officers
pleased the Southern whites, but aroused bitter condemnation
in the North, as did also the suspension of Stanton.

For months there had been talk of impeaching Johnson, and
when Congress reassembled a resolution to that effect was in-
troduced in the House, but it was lost by a vote of 108 to 57
Johnson (December 7, 1867). The Senate, however, re-
Dismisses fused to concur in the suspension of Stanton (Jan-
uary 13, 1868), and Grant willingly relinquished the
office to him, thereby angering Johnson, who wished him to
hold on, in order to compel Stanton to resort to litigation that
would result in a judicial opinion as to the constitutionality of
the Tenure-of-Office Act. Johnson bitterly assailed Grant for
his course, and presently brought the whole political conflict
to a crisis by peremptorily dismissing Stanton and designating
(February 21, 1868) a garrulous and convivial old general
named Lorenzo Thomas as secretary of war ad interim. When
Thomas appeared at the department to demand possession,
Stanton firmly refused to yield. An amusing colloquy ensued,
which ended amicably and with Stanton still in possession.

The attempt to remove Stanton aroused great excitement
in Washington and throughout the country. The Senate, by a
large majority, denied the President's power to dismiss Stan-
House ton, and the House, without loss of time, by a vote

Johns!*?68 °* l26 tO 47) resolved (February 24): "That
Andrew Johnson, President of the United States,
be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors in office."
Eleven charges were drawn up against the President. Most of
the articles dealt with Johnson's alleged violation of the Tenure-
of-Office Act. The tenth article, drawn up by the incorrigible
Benjamin F. Butler, charged that the President's denunciatory

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 35

speeches in 1866 constituted "a high misdemeanor in office."
The eleventh article was fathered by Thaddeus Stevens, and
was a sort of omnibus charge cleverly designed to catch votes.
The trial proper began on March 30, with Chief Justice
Chase presiding over "the Senate sitting as a court of impeach-
ment," and with the chamber crowded with members of the

two houses, high dignitaries, and other spectators.
Trial*0 ment Among those who appeared to represent the House

were John A. Logan, George S. Boutwell, Benjamin
F. Butler, and Thaddeus Stevens. The President's counsel
included Benjamin R. Curtis, ex-justice of the Supreme Court,
the brilliant William M. Evarts of New York, and Henry Stan-
bery, who resigned his position as attorney-general in order to
defend his chief. The sittings were not continuous but were
strung out through a period of almost two months. The trial
afforded the lawyers and politicians concerned a splendid op-
portunity to display their skill and eloquence for the admiration
of court and country, but, in the words of Professor Dunning,
"as a revelation to the world of lawlessness and infamy in
Andrew Johnson, it soon became farcical." The President's de-
fenders succeeded in showing that in dismissing Stan ton he had
not intended to start a revolution but had expected to get before
the courts a test case as to the constitutionality of the Tenure-
of-Office Act. Furthermore, evidence was brought in to prove
that certain senators who were now favoring impeachment had
taken the view, when the bill was under consideration, that it
would not safeguard the places of members of the cabinet who
held over from Lincoln's administration, as Stanton had done.
In short, all efforts to prove that Johnson was guilty of "Treason,
Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors," which are
the sole offenses specified in the Constitution for impeachment,
broke down. But partisan bitterness was so aroused against
Johnson that many senators believed that it would be justifiable
to remove the President for political reasons or on grounds of
public policy, and as a precedent they could point to the im-
peachment because of drunken insanity of Judge John Pickering
in the days of Jefferson's presidency.

36 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The public clamor for conviction was prodigious, and the
result was in doubt. The supporters shrewdly managed that
the first vote should be taken on the omnibus article. Seven
, Republican senators — Fessenden of Maine, Hender-
impeach- son of Missouri, Fowler of Tennessee, Van Winkle
of West Virginia, Trumbull of Illinois, Grimes of
Iowa, and Ross of Kansas — joined with the Democrats to save
the President, and the vote stood: "guilty," 35; "not guilty,"
19 — or one less than the necessary two-thirds. It is now known
that at least two other senators — Sprague of Rhode Island and
Willey of West Virginia — stood ready to vote against impeach-
ment had their votes been needed. Later ballots on other
articles proved equally vain, and, amid the helpless rage of the
radicals, the case came to an end.

The failure of impeachment caused great disappointment in
the North, but it is the general verdict of historians that the
outcome was fortunate for the country, that it was well that the
independence of the executive should be preserved.

Secretary Stanton at once resigned from the cabinet and
retired to private life, being subsequently appointed by Grant
a justice of the Supreme Court a few days before his death,
A True *n x^9' To fill the vacancy Johnson nominated
General Schofield, and the Senate accepted him.
The Senate spitefully refused, however, to consent to the re-
turn of Stanbery to the office of attorney-general, but ratified
the nomination of the brilliant and popular Evarts. The new
cabinet members were tactful men who possessed the confidence
of Congress as well as of the President, and they helped to
establish a truce ithat lasted until the end of Johnson's ad-
ministration.

The impeachment controversy did not prevent progress in
carrying out the congressional plan of reconstruction. Under
New the oversight of military commanders elections were

Southern held to choose delegates to constitutional conven-

Constitutions. . . . .

tions, and in these elections negroes participated,
while many white men were unable to take the prescribed oath
and were excluded. Many of the delegates — in Louisiana and

CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL 37

South Carolina a majority — were freedmen fresh from slavery,
and of course not conversant with the framing of fundamental
laws, but the chief part in the conventions was usually taken
by Northern white men who had come South with the army
or the Freedmen's Bureau. The main feature of the constitu-
tions was that they gave to negroes civil and political rights.
In many matters, notably in the provisions for public educa-
tion— in which hitherto the South had been backward — the
conventions freely copied from the institutions of certain North-
ern States. Naturally the origin of such provisions did not
tend to increase the popularity of the constitutions in the eyes
of the white population.

In the winter and spring of 1868 the work of constitution-
making was completed in all the States except Texas, and the
electorates received an opportunity to pass upon the new funda-
mental charters. Opponents of the constitutions at
the'whites. once raised the cry that "Caucasian civilization"
was about to be submerged in "African barbarism."
"Continue over us, if you will do so, your own rule by the
sword," petitioned a convention of Alabama whites to Con-
gress. "Send down among us honorable and upright men of
your own people, of the race to which you and we belong,
and, ungracious, contrary to wise policy and the institutions
of the country, and tyrannous as it will be, no hand will be
raised among us to resist by force their authority. But do not,
we implore you, abdicate your rule over us, by transferring us
to the blighting, brutalizing, and unnatural dominion of an
alien and inferior race, a race which has never exhibited suffi-
cient administrative ability for the good government of even
the tribes into which it is broken up in its native seats; and
which in all ages has itself furnished slaves for all the other
races of the earth."

In six States — Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, Florida, and the
Carolinas — the voters at once ratified the constitutions. That
of Mississippi was rejected by over 7,000 votes. Alabama's
constitution was approved by over half the votes cast, but many
whites, in accordance with a prearranged plan, remained away

38 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

from the polls, with the result that less than half of the regis-
tered voters participated; as Congress had provided that a
R d • • majority must participate to make ratification valid,
of Seven the constitution, in effect, was defeated. In June,
1868, Congress voted that, as soon as the legislatures
of the six States that had accepted their constitutions should
accept the Fourteenth Amendment, they should once more be
considered in full fellowship in the Union. Furthermore, even
Alabama was restored with the rest under the constitution which
had failed of ratification. In Virginia, through the neglect of
Congress to appropriate money for an election, the new con-
stitution was not submitted to the people, so the Old Dominion,
along with Mississippi and Texas, continued under military
rule.

In the States that had been readmitted elections were held
for the selection of State and local officers, and the
Baggers" radical party, composed of negroes led by North-
"Scalawags" ern "Carpet-Baggers" and Southern white "Scala-
Control wa£s>" proved generally successful. The Four-
teenth Amendment was duly ratified by all the
legislatures, and on January 20, 1869, it was formally pro-
claimed a part of the Constitution.

In most of the South society had been turned upside down.
Those who had been the slaves were now the masters. Con-
sideration of the results of this remarkable state of affairs is
reserved for a later chapter.

CHAPTER IV

'MEXICO, ALASKA, AND THE ELECTION OF 1868

FROM his predecessor President Johnson inherited a danger-
ous Mexican problem. In that country, ever since it became
independent, revolution and rapine had been the rule rather
than the exception. Foreigners were frequently
mistreated and even murdered, while both private
and public debts were often repudiated. Late in
1861 Great Britain, France, and Spain agreed to intervene in
the country, being "compelled" to take this course "by the
arbitrary and vexatious conduct" of the Mexican authorities.
The three powers disavowed any intention of acquiring terri-
tory or special advantages, and agreed not "to prejudice the
right of the Mexican nation to choose and to constitute freely
the form of its government." The United States was invited
to participate hi the intervention, but declined.

Vera Cruz was seized by the allies, but Great Britain and
Spain soon withdrew from the enterprise. The French re-
mained in Mexico and continued to push preposterous claims
Schemes of ^or Damages and debts, for Napoleon III, Emperor
Napoleon of France, was full of imperialistic notions of re-
storing French power and influence in the New
World. In secret instructions to his commander in Mexico he
pointed out the desirability of setting limits to the power of
the United States, and emphasized "the duty of marching
upon Mexico, there boldly planting our flag and establishing
perhaps a monarchy, if not incompatible with the national sen-
timent of the country." Ultimately, in fact, the French cap-
tured the City of Mexico and, with the approval of the Clerical
party, set up a throne, upon which they placed as Emperor the
Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, brother of Kaiser Francis
Joseph of Austria. Many of the Mexicans refused to recog-

39

40 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

nize Maximilian's authority and, under the leadership of Benito
Juarez, waged a bitter guerilla warfare against him and his
supporters.

The French course in Mexico was a plain violation of the
Monroe Doctrine, but, with the Confederacy on his hands,
President Lincoln deemed it wise to confine his disapproval
to verbal protests. But the United States was
merely biding its time, and when the Southern

Forces collapse came many Americans thought the inter-

Withdraw. lopers should be driven out by force of arms. In
May, 1865, General Grant sent Sheridan to Texas
to assemble a large force along the Rio Grande, and both
generals did not hesitate to render, more or less openly, assistance
to Juarez. Secretary of State Seward, however, felt confident
that he could solve the difficulty by diplomacy, and he and the
President held advocates of more forceful methods in check.
Through various channels Napoleon III was plainly but politely
informed that he must withdraw his forces. The Emperor
had found his Mexican experiment unpopular and enormously
expensive, and he shrank from a conflict with the victorious
fleets and armies of the United States. In April, 1866, an official
announcement was made in Paris that the French troops in
Mexico would be withdrawn.

In the spring of 1867 the last French troops left Mexico,
and the Clerical party had not the strength to uphold Maxi-
milian's tottering throne. The Emperor was captured, was
Defeat and tr^ anc^ condemned to death, and was shot by a
Death of firing-squad at Queretaro, along with two of his

Maximikan. . ,_. ,

generals. His fate served as a grim warning to
other European princes who might in future think of setting
up kingdoms in America. His queen, Carlota, daughter of
Leopold I, King of the Belgians, had gone to Europe in a vain
quest for assistance, and during a tragic interview with the
Pope her reason fled and she became hopelessly insane. For
half a century the demented princess resided in a palace in
Belgium, and she was still living there when the German army
overflowed that unhappy land.

MEXICO, ALASKA, AND ELECTION OF 1868 41

Relations with Great Britain during these years lacked
much of being entirely cordial. Late in 1865 Irish Fenians
in the United States met in Philadelphia and organized a "Re-
public," with a "President," a "Congress," a
SoveS? "Secretary of War," and so on. Large sums were
raised, ostensibly to further the cause of Irish free-
dom, but much of the money was wasted and only a compara-
tively small part found its way across the Atlantic. One fac-
tion of the order favored fighting England in Canada, and in
1866 repeated efforts were made to invade that country. The
United States authorities exerted themselves to suppress these
filibustering attempts, but millions of Americans did not hesi-
tate to declare their sympathy with the Irish cause.

The truth was that Americans had not forgotten the attitude
of Great Britain during the Civil War, and a strong determi-
nation existed to exact satisfaction for damage done by the
The Alabama and other British vessels sailing under

"Alabama the Confederate flag. Charles Francis Adams, our

Claims." .»' . ,~ ^ <-. T •••

minister at the Court of St. James, insisted upon
reparation, but the British Government persistently refused
to allow American claims. In August, 1868, Reverdy Johnson
succeeded Adams and negotiated what is known as the John-
son-Clarendon Convention, but Americans felt that it failed
to satisfy their just demands and the Senate rejected it by a
vote of 54 to i (April 13, 1869). Sumner, the chairman of the
committee on foreign relations, denounced it unsparingly. He
estimated that Great Britain owed the United States $15,000,-
ooo for direct damages inflicted by the Alabama and other
cruisers, and upward of $2,000,000,000 for indirect damages to
our merchant marine and on account of prolonging the war
by too hasty recognition of Confederate belligerency and by
failure to observe neutrality obligations. In lieu of these vast
sums he suggested that Great Britain should cede us Canada.
The speech gave Sumner a moment of genuine popularity in
America, but in Great Britain it put friends of America in an
awkward position, and seemed to diminish the prospect for a
peaceable settlement of the dispute.

42 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Secretary of State Seward was an ardent expansionist. In
1867 he negotiated a treaty with Denmark for the cession of
the Danish West Indies, only to have it come to naught through
senatorial opposition, but he won a vaster triumph
Purchased. m an unexpected direction. Russia expressed a
willingness to sell to the United States her immense
possessions in northwestern America, and on March 30, 1867,
Seward and the Russian minister, Baron de Stoeckl, signed a
treaty providing for the purchase of the region, the price being
fixed at $7,200,000. Considerable opposition to the treaty de-
veloped, but expansion sentiment was strong, men remembered
that during the Civil War Russia had displayed a friendly spirit,
and some thought that the transaction would spite England,
that through it we would "cage the British lion on the Pacific
coast." Sumner threw his influence into the scale in favor of
the treaty, and it was soon ratified almost unanimously.

Few Americans possessed any definite knowledge regarding
the region thus quickly acquired. Some insisted that it was
nothing but a barren region of rocks and ice, that
Notions° ^e S10111^ was frozen six feet deep throughout the
about the year, that such territory was not worth taking as a
Possessions, .gift. Wits delighted in calling the new possession
"Seward's Folly" and "Johnson's Polar Bear Gar-
den," and suggestions were made that it should be christened
"Walrussia," but Seward fitly named it "Alaska," after its
chief peninsula. Tune was to show that Seward did a splendid
stroke of business for Uncle Sam in buying Alaska, for it was
found to be rich in fish, furs, and minerals.

On May 20, 1868, four days after the vote on the eleventh
impeachment article, the National Union Republican party met
in convention at Chicago. The platform condemned President
Republican Jonns°n in unsparing terms, congratulated the
Convention country on the assured success of congressional re-
construction, denounced "all forms of repudiation
as a national crime," and in rather guarded terms opposed the
so-called "greenback" plan of paying the national debt in de-
preciated paper, a scheme that had many supporters, particu-

MEXICO, ALASKA, AND ELECTION OF 1868 43

larly in the Democratic party. With the subject of negro
suffrage the convention found it expedient to deal very cau-
tiously, for the four Republican States of Ohio, Michigan,
Minnesota, and Kansas had recently refused to give the ballot
to the blacks. The plank on this subject was a model of in-
genuity. It read: "The guarantee by Congress of equal suf-
frage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every
consideration of public safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and
must be maintained; while the question of suffrage in all the
loyal States properly belongs to the people of those States."

Chief Justice Chase and various other men had been consid-
ered for the presidential nomination, but sentiment had crystal-
lized in favor of the victor of Donelson, Vicksburg, and Appo-
mattox, and amid great enthusiasm Ulysses S. Grant
Coffax"1 was named unanimously. For the vice-presidency
the convention put forward Schuyler Colfax of
Indiana, speaker of the House of Representatives. Grant ac-
cepted the honor in a characteristically short letter, which
closed with the words: "Let us have peace." The phrase
caught the popular fancy and was much used during the cam-
paign. It is now graven upon the tomb that rises so imposingly
over the Hudson in the city of New York.

On July 4 the Democratic convention met in Tammany Hall,
in New York City. Among the candidates were President
Johnson, Chief Justice Chase, George H. Pendleton of Ohio,
General Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania, and
Aspirants.'0 Senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana. John-
son had the nominal support of many delegates
from the South, but Democrats generally, though they had ap-
plauded his stand against Congress, preferred some other can-
didate. Chase had hoped to obtain the Republican nomina-
tion, but as that had gone to Grant he was willing to accept
that of the Democracy. Lincoln had long before noted Chase's
"insanity on the subject of the presidency." In reality,
Chase's desire to land the coveted prize was in large degree due
to the ambition of his daughter, Kate Chase Sprague, wife of
the senator from Rhode Island, a beautiful and accomplished

44 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

woman, who had long looked forward to acting as mistress of
the White House.

Pendleton had been McClellan's running mate in 1864. He
lived in cultivated and polite surroundings in Cincinnati, and
was popularly known as "Gentleman George." He made his
„„ campaign for the nomination on what was known

Greenback as the "Ohio idea," which meant the payment of

certain government bonds in greenbacks instead of
coin. As business was bad and taxes heavy, the slogan of "The
same currency for the bondholder and the plough-holder " proved
popular, especially in the West. Those who took this view
urged that the bonds had been paid for in depreciated currency
and that it was only just that they should be redeemed in the
same medium. The letter of the law did not forbid this, though
it provided that the interest should be paid in coin. Opponents
of the greenback scheme held that the spirit of the law was
against such a policy, and that to adopt it would amount to
partial repudiation, and would lower the credit of the United
States in the future. Some people favored repudiating the war
bonds altogether.

The platform adopted by the convention expressed the view
that bonds not expressly made payable in coin should be re-
deemed in "lawful money," or, in other words, greenbacks, and

favored taxing the bonds, which would have been
Platform.10 equivalent to reducing the rate of interest. It

recognized the fact that "the questions of slavery
and secession" had "been settled for all time to come," but it
denounced the reconstruction acts "as usurpations, and uncon-
stitutional, revolutionary and void," and charged Congress
with having "subjected ten States, in time of profound peace,
to military despotism and negro supremacy." All the States
should at once be restored to full rights, amnesty should be
granted to ex-Confederates, and each State should decide the
suffrage question for itself.

The Pendleton forces had dictated the platform, and for
fifteen ballots he led in the balloting, but on the sixteenth bal-
lot he was passed by Hancock. On the fifth day of the con-

MEXICO, ALASKA, AND ELECTION OF 1868 45

vention Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, the presiding
officer, made a speech designed to bring about the nomination
of Chase, but the attempt failed. On the twenty-
ancTBlair. second ballot Ohio gave Seymour himself twenty-
one votes, and started a stampede which ended
by his receiving the vote of every delegate present. For the
vice-presidency the convention nominated General Francis P.
Blair, of Missouri, a soldier who had fought gallantly under
Sherman.

In the campaign the greenback issue played only a minor
part. The main emphasis was laid on the Southern question,
and Republican orators and newspapers harped constantly on
accounts of outrages committed against their politi-
Elected. cal brethren in the South. In the election Grant
carried 26 States and received 214 electoral votes,
while Seymour carried only 8 States, with a total of 80 electoral
votes. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, not being reconstructed,
did not participate in the election. Of the other seceded States
Seymour carried Louisiana and Georgia — it was charged by
gross frauds and terrorism.

The presidential contest was really much closer than the
electoral votes indicated. Grant's plurality of the popular
vote was only a little more than 300,000, and the result in sev-
eral States was very close. When they studied the
Reflections, returns closely Republican leaders realized that if
they were to retain control of the federal government
in the future they must make use of the negro vote to carry
Southern States. When Congress assembled, therefore, the
Republicans carried through Congress a Fifteenth Amendment,
which decreed that the right to vote should not be denied or
abridged "on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude. "y

CHAPTER V

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION

PRESIDENT-ELECT GRANT felt so bitter toward Johnson that
he refused to ride in the same carriage with him on inaugural
day; in consequence, the retiring executive absented himself
from the ceremonies, and, having issued a farewell address, left
the same day for Tennessee, where for several years he lived in
"restless obscurity." In March, 1875, he returned to Wash-
ington as a member of the body that had lacked only one vote
of expelh'ng him from the presidency; but his health was
broken and he did not long enjoy his triumph, dying in the
following July at his daughter's home in Tennessee. Histori-
ans are now almost unanimous in conceding the honesty of his
intentions, and many are inclined to praise his plan of recon-
struction, but his faults of temper proved disastrous in so criti-
cal a period, and his quarrel with Congress made inevitable a
more radical Southern policy than would have been followed
had a more tactful man held the helm.

Johnson's rise from ignorance and poverty, astonishing
though it was, had been less meteoric than that of his successor.
Only eight years before Grant had been working in his father's
Career and store at Galena, Illinois, at a salary of six hundred
Character dollars a year, and had behind him a practically

of Grant. ' . . f . J

unbroken record of failure. Beginning life in the

army, he had fought bravely in Mexico, but had resigned from
the service a few years later. He then tried running his wife's
farm and later dabbled in real estate; in neither pursuit did
he make good. But hidden under an unpromising exterior he
possessed military genius, and the nation's need gave him an
opportunity to display it. In less than three years he was
leading all the armies of the Union, and now he was Chief Ex-
ecutive. But the most splendid part of his career was already

46

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 47

a matter of history, and the years of his presidency tended to
diminish rather than to exalt his fame. Nature had created
him for the camp rather than the council chamber, for the
battle-field rather than the finesse of politics. His notions of
statecraft were apt to be vague, and, through a strange paradox,
though he displayed remarkable skill in selecting military men,
he proved a failure in choosing civil subordinates. Honest
and trustful by nature, he could not detect dishonesty in others.
Designing men who pretended to be his friends frequently
brought him into disrepute, yet even when their rascality was
exposed he too often displayed misguided fidelity and refused
to desert them "under fire."

In his inaugural Grant said: "The office has come to me un-
sought; I commence its duties untrammelled." He virtually
ignored the party leaders in selecting his cabinet, and the ap-
pointments were personal rather than political.
Cabinet F°r secretary of state he nominated Elihu B.
Washburne, an Illinois congressman who had been
so enthusiastic in advancing Grant's military career that he
was said to have "Grant on the brain." But Washburne's ap-
pointment was intended as complimentary only and to give
him prestige for the French mission, to which he was quickly
transferred. In the bloody days of the Red Commune he won
renown for himself and reflected high honor on his country.
To fill the vacancy Grant named ex-Governor Hamilton Fish,
of New York, who proved to be one of the ablest diplomatists
that had ever held the office. Grant's selection for secretary
of the treasury was Alexander T. Stewart, a celebrated mer-
chant prince of New York City. The nomination had hardly
been confirmed before it was discovered that Stewart was in-
eligible because the act creating the Treasury Department had
excluded any one who should "directly or indirectly be con-
cerned or interested in carrying on the business of trade or
commerce." As Congress was unwilling to change the law,
Grant named George S. Boutwell, a Massachusetts congress-
man, for the place. For secretary of the navy Grant nominated
Adolph E. Borie, a rich Philadelphian who was politically so

48 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

obscure that both the Pennsylvania senators professed never
to have heard of him. For secretary of the interior the Presi-
dent named Jacob D. Cox, an able soldier and politician from
Ohio; for attorney-general, E. Rockwood Hoar, a distinguished
Massachusetts jurist; for postmaster-general, John A. J. Cress-
well, of Maryland; and for secretary of war, his old mentor and
chief of staff, General John A. Rawlins. Cabinet changes were
so frequent in the next eight years that the seven portfolios were
occupied by twenty-four men, and only Hamilton Fish con-
tinued in office until the end of Grant's presidency. Rawlins
died in the following September, and his loss was irreparable,
for he had long been a sort oifidus Achates to Grant, and, being
a man of good judgment, had exercised a powerful influence
for good over his chief. Had Rawlins lived, he would probably
have helped Grant to avoid many pitfalls.

Grant early asked to be freed from the restraints of the
Tenure-of-Office Act, and when Congress demurred he brought
that body to terms by threatening to leave Johnson's appointees
Tenure-of- *n oj^ce untu< n^s wishes were complied with. The
Office Act act was radically amended, but it was not finally
repealed until the first administration of Grover
Cleveland, after having long been in what he called a state of
"innocuous desuetude."

Under Grant, as under Johnson, problems of reconstruction
continued to be the most persistent of any that faced the
country, and to this complicated but interesting matter we shall
first turn our attention.

From the outset the Southern whites had viewed with hos-
tility all efforts to raise the freedmen to a plane of equality
with themselves. The view that the negro was divinely cre-
ated to be a servant to the white man had so long
Wh£fm keen a matter of faith in the South that his occupy-
Attitude ing any other position was regarded as an attempt

toward the

New Order, to overturn natural laws. He had been assigned

to a distinct "place" as a menial, but now he was

the nation's ward, and he was being encouraged to assert equal

rights with his former master. Such things were not to be

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 49

borne; the South was determined never to submit to negro
equality or negro rule. But the new order was backed up by
federal bayonets, and open resistance was hopeless. Some
subterranean method must be found. As a result there sprang
into being the secret societies variously known under such names
as the Invisible Empire, or Ku Klux Klan, the Pale Faces, the
White Brotherhood, and the Knights of the White Camelia.

The Ku Klux Klan, the most famous of these organizations,
was first formed in the spring of 1866 at Pulaski, Tennessee.
Its originators were young men, and it is said that their prime
motive was amusement, but the order soon came to
Klui Klan. have a different purpose. Deep mystery was af-
fected, while the weird potency of the name of the
order aroused curiosity and helped the order to spread. In 1868
the various "dens" scattered over the South were said to have
a membership of half a million, but the order was never closely
organized, and no one knew with absolute definiteness how many
persons had joined it. Profound secrecy was exacted from the
members, and an elaborate rescript was drawn up providing
for officers with such high-sounding names as Grand Wizard,
Grand Dragon, Grand Turk, and Grand Cyclops. Any mem-
ber who should betray the order or reveal its secrets was to
suffer death.

Some defenders of the Klan have represented that it sprang
into being as a protest against negro and Carpet-Bag rule, but,
as noted above, its formation considerably antedated the con-
ferring of suffrage on the blacks. In its early his-
the Klan! torv ^ seems to have done occasionally some really
laudable work. In the disturbed period following
the war, thieving and the burning of barns and gin-houses be-
came common, while worse crimes, even murder and rape, were
now and then committed by the blacks. The Klan did some-
thing to restrain such lawlessness, and also scared lazy negroes
into keeping at work. It was only gradually that the "dens"
became instruments of political proscription and private ven-
geance. Ultimately the general objects of the Klan and of the
other similar orders came to be to keep the negro in his "place"

50 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

as an inferior, to intimidate him and keep him from voting,
to restrain his Scalawag and Carpet-Bag leaders, and otherwise
to maintain the supremacy of the white race and the Demo-
cratic party. Its operations varied from warning or punish-
ing rascally negroes who richly deserved such attentions, to
brutally whipping, maiming, or murdering white and black
men whose chief offense was that they were politically active
in the interest of the "Radical" party, as the Southern Repub-
licans were called. Many of the crimes charged against the
Klan were really committed by irresponsible individuals using
its name and regalia as a disguise. The Ku Klux and the
Knights of the White Camelia, an order that was strongest in
the Gulf States, were exceedingly active in the presidential
campaign of 1868, and some of their work did much to convince
wavering Northern voters that the South could not be trusted
to deal justly with the freedmen. Early in the following year
the Ku Klux Klan was disbanded by proclamation of its Grand
Wizard (February 20, 1869), but individual members and dens
continued their operations long afterward.

In their raids the Klansmen took shrewd advantage of the
credulous fears of the superstitious blacks. They usually as-
sumed some awesome disguise and worked only at the most
"witching time of night." "A trick of frequent
perpetration in the country," says a member, "was
for a horseman, spectral and ghostly looking, to
stop before the cabin of some negro needing a wholesome im-
pression and call for a bucket of water. If a dipper or gourd
was brought, it was declined, and a bucket full of water de-
manded. As if consumed by raging thirst the horseman grasped
it and pressed it to his lips. He held it there till every drop of
water was poured into a gum or oiled sack concealed beneath
the Ku Klux robe. Then the empty bucket was returned to
the amazed negro with the remark: 'That's good. It is the
first drink of water I have had since I was killed at Shiloh.'
Then a few words of counsel as to future behavior made an im-
pression not easily forgotten or likely to be disregarded."
Written warnings were often used. These bore rude drawings

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 51

of skulls and crossed bones, pistols and muskets, or coffins, and
the messages were plentifully besprinkled with such terms as
"hollow tomb," "bloody moon," "hobgoblins," "hell-a-
Bulloo," and "Horrible sepulchre." In the early days of the
orders, "a silent host of white-sheeted horsemen parading the
country roads at night was sufficient to reduce the blacks to
good behavior for weeks or months"; but gradually fear of the
mysterious beings wore away, and a time came when more
violent methods had to be used. "Uppish" negroes were
warned, disarmed, whipped, mutilated, or murdered, while
negro schoolhouses in some sections were burned and white
teachers of negro children abused and driven out.

Opposed to the Ku Klux and similar societies stood the
Union or Loyal League, an organization formed in the North
in 1862 and later transplanted in the South as a sort of radical

bureau for organizing the negroes in the interest of
League?0 ^e Republican party. Its leaders were usually

white men, many of them Freedmen's Bureau
agents, and they were frequently to be seen in Washington,
denouncing Johnson's reconstruction plan and indorsing that
of Congress. The conclaves of the league were usually held at
night, with awe-inspiring rites, and at these meetings the
negroes were taught that their interests were opposed to those
of their former masters. The league did much to widen the
rift between the races, and to render it impossible for the whites
to control the blacks politically. A freedman might come to
his former master for advice about every other conceivable
subject, but let politics be broached and he would become "as
silent as a tombstone," for that was a matter concerning which
"Old Massa" could not be trusted. In some cases members of
the league were armed, and drilling would take place. After
the close of a meeting the members would sometimes, in the
words of Professor Fleming, "march along the roads shouting,
firing their guns, making great boasts and threats against per-
sons whom they disliked." Such activities naturally provoked
counter-demonstrations by the Ku Klux, and the ultimate de-
cline of the league was in part due to the work of the Klansmen.

52 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

As already narrated, the process of reconstruction in Texas,

Mississippi, and Virginia was delayed. These States were

ultimately required to ratify not only the Fourteenth but also

the Fifteenth Amendment, and early in 1870 Con-

Completion *

of Recon- gress recognized them as being once more in full
fellowship in the Union. It was significant of the
mighty revolution of a decade that the man who appeared
in the Senate from Mississippi to take the seat vacated by
Jefferson Davis was a quadroon, Reverend Hiram R. Revells.
Georgia had been readmitted some time before, but she had
fallen under congressional disfavor for having expelled negro
members from her legislature. Acting under authority con-
ferred by Congress, General Terry purged her legislature of
twenty-four Democrats who were ineligible under the Four-
teenth Amendment, after which the legislature restored the
negro members to their seats, ratified the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments, and elected two new senators. Georgia
was then again readmitted into the Union.

The Fifteenth Amendment had already received a sufficient
number of ratifications before Georgia acted, and it was pro-
claimed a part of the Constitution on March 30, 1870. Al-
though it was an attempt to carry to a logical con-
Amendment, elusion the doctrines of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, many historians now regard its enactment as
a mistake. Regret has also been expressed that it was not
accompanied by some scheme for national education of the
new voters. Sumner, Grant, and many other leaders favored
the education at national expense of both whites and blacks in
the South, in so far as the States of that section were unable
or unwilling to provide it. In his announcement of the rati-
fication of the amendment President Grant earnestly recom-
mended such a provision, but the plan failed because of con-
stitutional objections and what the late Senator Hoar called
"mistaken notions of economy." Before the war the teach-
ing of negroes to read and write was generally forbidden in
the South, while the percentage of illiteracy among the "poor
whites" was appalling.

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 53

Although the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified by every
former seceded State except Tennessee, the white
Opposition people of the South never really accepted its prin-
Suffrale° ciple. From the outset they determined to exclude
the negro from the suffrage whenever possible, and
with every election there recurred scenes of violence, intimida-
tion, and fraud.

The admission of the negroes to voting privileges by the
reconstruction acts inaugurated a weird contest for political
power that lasted in some States for a decade. On one side,
Character *n ^s contest» stood practically all the freedmen,
of the led by Scalawags and Carpet-Baggers; on the other,

the vast majority of the white people, including
almost all the considerable property-owners. Generally speak-
ing, it was a conflict between black ignorance on the one hand
and white enlightenment on the other, made possible by the fact
that the negroes and their white leaders professed loyalty to
the Union and the results of the war, while the white popula-
tion was out of harmony with the new order of things.

In Virginia the whites were lucky enough at once to take
over the government from the federal military authorities, and
that State escaped the harrowing experience of negro domina-
tion and Carpet-Bag rule. In Tennessee the con-
Escape of flict was largely between white men, for white Union
States" men ^d always been numerous in that State;
furthermore, the radicals as early as 1869 lost con-
trol in that State. Georgia and North Carolina were "re-
deemed" by the conservatives in the following year, but all
the other former Confederate States were forced to remain
for a longer period under the rule of the negroes and their white
allies, the Carpet-Baggers and Scalawags.

It was a strange and sinister alliance which was made pos-
sible by the belief in the North that the freedmen
must be given the ballot for their own protection
and to safeguard the interests of the Union and of
the Republican party. The new voters were wholly without
political experience, and most of them were illiterate and un-

54 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

moral. Some of their white allies were well-meaning men,
but many were mere adventurers who took advantage of the
situation to enrich themselves. The inevitable result was a
lurid carnival of misrule hitherto undreamed of in America.

Large volumes have been written about the experiences of
each of the States under radical rule, but here a few character-
istic facts regarding the course of events in two of the worst
States, South Carolina and Louisiana, must suffice.

In Louisiana wholesale corruption, intimidation of negro
voters, political assassination, riots, revolutions constituted the
normal condition of affairs for a decade. That this carnival
of lawlessness surpassed that in any other State
ComStions. was probably due in part to the character of the
population. The negroes, despite the presence of a
considerable number of educated "persons of color" in New
Orleans, were on the average less intelligent than in most of the
slave States; as late as 1874 it was estimated that only 8,597
out of 87,121 negro voters could read and write. Many of
them lived on immense plantations where civilizing contact
with the white race was slight, while some of them were men
of desperate or criminal character who, by way of punishment,
had been "sold down the river." Self-government based on
such a constituency was foredoomed to failure. Furthermore,
even under white rule Louisiana had not been notable as a
law-abiding State. Antebellum society, particularly in New
Orleans, had been polite and even brilliant, but the custom
of the duello still lingered, and many bloody encounters took
place beneath the moss-hung "duelling oaks" that are still
pointed out to tourists. Now and then this lack of respect
for law revealed itself in political matters, as in the notorious
Plaquemine frauds of 1844, and in the New Orleans riot of
1855, when for a time the city was a battle-ground between
two rival factions, who seized public buildings and barricaded
the streets.

As elsewhere in the South, the white people of Louisiana did
not take kindly either to emancipation or enfranchisement,
but they did not wait to prove the fruits of African rule before

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 55

falling upon the hapless freedmen. In July, 1866, before the
negroes obtained the suffrage, occurred the bloody New Orleans
riot that has already been described. In the sum-
mer and fall of 1868 the Knights of the White Ca-
melia systematically set about terrorizing the new
voters and did the work so thoroughly that a Republican
majority of over 26,000 in the spring election was in November
transformed into a Democratic majority of about 46,000 for
Seymour.

In explaining this remarkable reversal the Republican mem-

bers of a congressional investigating committee stated that

testimony showed that over 2,000 persons had been killed or

wounded in Louisiana within two weeks prior to

the CE the election; "that half the State was overrun by

violence; and that midnight raids, secret murders,
and open riot kept the people in constant terror
until the Republicans surrendered all claim." In the parish of
St. Landry, on the river T£che, the Republicans had a majority,
in the spring, of 678. "In the fall they gave Grant no vote,
not one — while the Democrats cast 4,787, the full vote of the
parish, for Seymour and Blair. Here occurred one of the bloodi-
est riots on record, in which the Ku Klux killed or wounded
over 200 Republicans, hunting and chasing them for two days
and nights through fields and swamps. Thirteen captives
were taken from the jail and shot A pile of 25 dead bodies
was found half-buried in the woods. Having conquered the
Republicans and killed or driven off their leaders, the Ku
Klux captured the masses, marked them with badges of red
flannel, enrolled them in clubs, made them vote the Democratic
ticket, and gave them a certificate of the fact." S. S. Cox, a
Northern Democratic member of Congress, says, in his Three
Decades of Federal Legislation, that this statement was "a good
deal exaggerated, especially as to the number killed," but he
concedes that "the failure of the negroes to vote can be ex-
plained only on the theory that a reign of terror existed."

During the period of Carpet-Bag-negro rule the value of
property in the State greatly declined, the payment of taxes

56 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

fell far in arrears, and the public debt increased many millions
of dollars. The decline in property values was in part due to
Disastrous ^ ravages of war, to the unsettling effects of the
Economic change from a slave-labor to a free-labor system.

Results

and to the disastrous panic of 1873, but in large

measure it was the result of bad government. There were some
legitimate reasons why the State debt should have increased,
among these being the cost of repairing levees that had fallen
into bad condition during the war, but vast amounts were em-
bezzled. Much of the increase in some of the States was due
to the granting of subsidies to new railroads; grave frauds were
often connected with these grants. Bond issues were always
floated below par, for investors lacked faith in Southern bonds,
partly because many States in that section had repudiated their
debts in the '30*3 and '4o's.

In course of time the radicals quarrelled among themselves,
and Governor Warmoth, an unscrupulous Carpet-Bagger who
had amassed a fortune in office, went over to the conservatives.
The election of 1872 was claimed by both parties,
Republicans managed to persuade a com-

Upheid by plaisant federal judge named Durell to issue a

Federal « » * • 'i . . • « 11.11

Bayonets. midnight restraining order, and obtained the
all-important aid of federal troops, with the result
that they were able to install William Pitt Kellogg as governor.
McEnery, the conservative claimant, also took the oath of
office but soon had to abandon attempts to assert his authority,
as this would have brought him into conflict with the federal
government. In September, 1874, however, the White League,
an armed conservative organization, rose against the Kellogg
government, and Kellogg and his supporters were forced to
take refuge in the custom-house. But President Grant inter-
fered, and the radical government was reinstated by federal
bayonets. A congressional investigating committee arranged
a sort of compromise between the opposing parties, but
for two years a state of virtual anarchy existed in parts of
Louisiana.
Probably never in history has a proud people drunk deeper

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 57

from the cup of humiliation than did the white inhabitants
of South Carolina in the period following the conflict begun by

their ordinance of secession and the firing on Fort
Overturn Sumter. After four years of desperate warfare they
Carolina **ad at ^ast ^een ^orcec^ to accept the inevitable,

after Sherman's army swept through the State,
consuming and destroying, and leaving the capital in ruins.
At intervals thereafter for more than a decade Yankee troops
wearing the hated blue were stationed here and there about
the State, and from their camps there floated not infrequently
the strains of a song dealing with a certain John Brown, whose
body lay "a-mouldering in the grave" but whose soul went
"marching on." No such reminders were necessary to bring
home the fact that the old order had passed away. The pyra-
mid of society had been turned upside down. Those who had
been the slaves were become the rulers. In the government,
in the places of the now impoverished aristocracy, stood black
and brown freedmen, led by hated Yankees and equally hated
Scalawags; and from the panels over the door of the capi-
tol at Columbia the marble visages of George McDuffie and
Robert Young Hayne looked down upon the incomings and
outgoings of a strange legislature, three-fourths of whose mem-
bers belonged to the despised race once the victims of the in-
stitution which had formed the "corner-stone" of the fallen
Confederacy.

In 1873 James S. Pike, a Northern observer who recorded
his impressions in a book called The Prostrate State, found 101
negro members in the House of Representatives and only 23

white men; the latter sat "grim and silent," feel-
Legislature." mg themselves "but loose stones, thrown in to

partially obstruct a current they are powerless to
resist." Of the colored legislators the same observer wrote:
"They were of every hue from the light octoroon to the deep
black. . . . Every negro type and physiognomy was here to
be seen from the genteel serving-man to the rough-hewn cus-
tomer from the rice or cotton field. Their dress was as varied
as their countenances. There was the second-hand black

58 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

frock-coat of infirm gentility, glossy and threadbare. There
was the stove-pipe hat of many ironings and departed styles.
There was also to be seen a total disregard of the proprieties
of costume in the coarse and dirty garments of the field; the
stub jackets and slouch hats of soiling labor. In some instances,
rough woolen comforters embraced the neck and hid the ab-
sence of linen. Heavy brogans and short torn trousers it
was impossible to hide. . . . The Speaker is black, the Clerk
is black, the doorkeepers are black, the chairman of the Ways
and Means is black, and the chaplain is coal black. ... At
some of the desks sit colored men whose types it would be hard
to find outside of Congo; whose costume, visage, attitude, and
expression only befit the forecastle of a buccaneer. . . . Seven
years ago these men were raising corn and cotton under the whip
of the overseer. To-day they are raising points of order and
questions of privilege."

A large majority of these legislators could not read or write;
most paid no taxes. The total sum paid by all the members
of the legislature of 1868-72 is said to have been only about
$634 annually. Naturally such a legislature had
of Misrule, little fear of extravagance, and, though some of
the members had good intentions, misgovernment
was certain. As a matter of fact, though the history of South
Carolina in this period was not quite so replete with pitched
battles as was the case in Louisiana, the financial aspects of
negro rule in the Palmetto State were fully as deplorable. In
the six years from 1868-74 the public debt was increased by
about $14,000,000, while there was a great decline in the value
of property.

There were public land-steals, printing steals, railroad-bonus
steals, and financial scandals of various other kinds, but per-
haps the most striking instances of misappropriation of funds
are to be found under the head of legislative ex-
Details, penses. A free bar was established in the State-
house, and thither members of the legislature re-
sorted for expensive cigars, wines, whiskeys, and brandies;
some would even come to the room before breakfast for an
"eye-opener." In refurnishing the State-house $4 looking-

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 59

glasses were replaced by $650 French mirrors, $i chairs by $60
chairs, $5 clocks by $600 ones, 4o-cent spittoons by $60 im-
ported china cuspidors, and in four years over $200,000 was
paid out for furniture, the appraised value of which in 1877
amounted to $17,715. Under the heading of legislative sup-
plies were included such items as champagne, best Westphalia
hams, imported mushrooms, finest plush velvet te'te-a-te'tes,
feather beds, suspenders, ladies' hoods, bonnets, chemises, gold
watches, garters, perfumes, palpitators, and a metallic coffin.
Needless to say, many of these articles did not long remain in
the State-house.

The great mass of the freedmen suffered from this carnival

of misrule along with their white neighbors, but fear that con-

servative victory would mean a return of slavery long kept the

negroes voting for their despoilers, and as they

Radicals outnumbered the whites by about five to three,

alwavs elected the radical candidates for State
office, no matter how incompetent, disreputable, or
dishonest. Some of the whites early resorted to Ku Klux
methods in order to hold the blacks in check, but years passed
before anything was accomplished toward bringing about
better government. Many white people openly professed that
they saw no way of escape, and grew "gloomy, disconsolate,
hopeless."

The first two radical governors were arrant rascals, but
fortunately the third, Daniel H. Chamberlain, elected in 1874,
was of a different type. A native of Massachusetts and a
graduate of Yale, he left the Harvard Law School to
Chamberlain, become an officer in a black regiment, and at the
close of the war he settled in South Carolina as a
cotton-planter. He served for four years as attorney-general
of the State, but it was not until he became governor that he
really made himself felt. Realizing that "the civilization of
the Puritan and the Cavalier, of the Roundhead and the Hu-
genot" was "in peril," he set his face against the corrupt
schemes of his unscrupulous party associates, and with the
aid of the conservatives and of honest members of his own
political faith, he managed to check the carnival of misrule

60 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

that had so long disgraced the State. By so doing he won
high encomiums not only in the North but also among Southern
conservatives. But it was an unequal battle in which he was
engaged, and the historian, as he studies the period, cannot but
realize that, owing to the ignorance of the freedmen, no perma-
nent good government could be obtained in South Carolina or in
any other Southern State until the white people regained control.
In the Southern elections of the period of 1868-70 the Ku
Klux Klan and similar orders played so active a part that Re-
publican national leaders realized that unless more effective
F. methods were evolved for protecting the freedmen

Enforcement in their political rights most or all of the recon-
structed States would soon be wrested from their
party. In an effort to meet the situation, Congress passed a
so-called Enforcement Act (May 30, 1870), which provided
heavy penalties for infringing upon the rights conferred by the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and gave to the federal
courts jurisdiction over cases arising under the act. The act
was notable as involving an extension of federal authority over
a field hitherto left exclusively to the States.

In the elections later in the year the Democrats not only
carried certain Southern States, as already related, but reduced
the Republican majority in the House of Representatives from
Second 9? to 35' This result sPurred on the Republican

Enforcement leaders to carry through a more sweeping measure
whereby a rigorous system of federal supervision
over congressional elections was established. The new act
was intended to be applied not only in the South but in certain
great Northern cities, like New York, where fraudulent prac-
tices had come to be common.

For special application in the South Congress passed what

was commonly called the Ku Klux Act, which conferred greater

powers on the federal judiciary to deal with secret conspiracies

against the negro's rights, and empowered the

Klux Act." President, in certain contingencies, to suspend the

writ of habeas corpus and suppress the Ku Klux

by military force. Under this act President Grant, in October,

1871, declared nine counties in South Carolina to be in a state

THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION 61

of rebellion, and sent thither federal troops who arrested several
hundred persons. More than a hundred persons in South Car-
olina, and more than a thousand in the South as a whole, were
convicted under the act during the next two years. In 1882,
however, the Supreme Court adjudged the Ku Klux Act un-
constitutional.

In April, 1871, Congress created a joint committee to inquire
into Southern conditions, and in particular to investigate the
activities of the Ku Klux. This committee took twelve thick
volumes of testimony, and added another volume
. containing majority and minority interpretations of
the testimony. Beyond question, the investigation
revealed in many Southern communities an appalling state of
violence and disorder and of barbarities committed upon freed-
men by low-class whites. This aspect of the subject was em-
phasized by the Republicans in their report.

Although admitting "deeds of violence which we neither
justify nor excuse," the Democratic minority members of the
investigating committee declared: "We think no man can look
over the testimony taken by this committee with-
in?*" out coming to the conclusion that no people had ever
Minority*10 keen ^ mercilessly robbed and plundered, so wan-
tonly and causelessly humiliated and degraded, so
recklessly exposed to the rapacity and lust of the ignorant and
vicious portions of their own community and of other States,
as the people of the South have been for the last six years.
History, till now, gives no account of a conqueror so cruel as
to place his vanquished foes under the dominion of their former
slaves."

In the matter of ex-Confederates who suffered under political
disabilities commendable magnanimity was displayed during
these years. Amnesty was granted by the President in many in-
dividual cases, and in May, 1872, Congress by a
Individuals! general act relieved all except a few hundred persons.
In 1875 an attempt was made to remove all remain-
ing disabilities, but James G. Elaine seized upon the opportunity
to fire the Northern heart by making a bitter attack on Jefferson
Davis, and the bill failed. In the quarter-century following 1872,

62 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

however, many individual bills were passed, and finally, amid
the good feeling aroused by the Spanish-American War, full
amnesty was granted to the few ex-Confederates who had not
yet received it (June 6, 1898).

The Amnesty Act of 1872 would have been passed earlier had
it not been for the attempts of Northern radicals, especially
Charles Sumner, to enact a measure safeguarding the negro's

civil rights. Many Southern legislatures passed
Act* 0^1875! sucn acts> but it was only in 1875, after Sumner's

death, that a law of this sort was adopted by Con-
gress. This federal act guaranteed equal rights to negroes
in public conveyances, hotels, and places of amusement, and
prohibited excluding them from juries, but did not apply to
churches, schools, or cemeteries. The determination of Southern
whites not to admit of anything approaching social equality
made it difficult to enforce laws of this sort, whether State or
federal. In 1883 the Supreme Court held most of the Civil
Rights Act unconstitutional. After the overthrow of radical
rule in the South, State civil-rights acts were repealed, and
ultimately they were supplanted by "Jim Crow" laws, ex-
pressly forbidding the mingling of whites and blacks in railroad
cars and other specified places.
Despite the Enforcement Acts, the Southern States continued

to slip away from the Republican grasp. In 1873
Gradually Texas, in 1874 Arkansas, and in 1875 Mississippi
Control escaped from Carpet-Bag-negro domination. The

methods employed by the whites in these States
were more or less lawless, being often a compound of bribery,
persuasion, force, and fraud, but they proved effective. By
1876 only Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana remained in
the hands of the radicals.

CHAPTER VI

FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE LIBERAL REPUBLICAN
MOVEMENT

THE greenback craze had played a prominent part in the
campaign of 1868, and in his inaugural Grant hastened to de-
clare for sound money. "To protect the national honor,"

said he, "every dollar of Government indebted-
strengthen ness should be paid in gold unless otherwise stip-
c£dit?>lic uJated m the contract." A measure designed "to

strengthen the public credit" was speedily enacted
(March 18, 1869) which "provided and declared that the faith
of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in
coin or its equivalent" of the United States notes and of all
bonds, except where it was expressly stipulated that they
might be paid in "other currency than gold and silver."

The act also promised the earliest possible redemption of
the notes, but years were to elapse before the resumption of
specie payment. Meanwhile the fluctuation in the price of

greenbacks was productive of much inconvenience
Friday." anc^ speculation. Soon after Grant entered office

two unscrupulous New York financiers, Jay Gould
and James Fisk, Jr., attempted to "corner" gold, and thereby
precipitated the famous financial flurry known as "Black
Friday." In less than three weeks (September 2-22, 1869)
the conspirators managed to force the price of gold from 132
to 140^. On Friday, September 24, 1869, Wall Street became
a maelstrom of wild speculation, surpassing anything ever be-
fore known. Gold leaped to 162, but then came word that
Secretary of the Treasury Boutwell, after consulting with
Grant, had ordered the treasurer in New York City to dump
$4,000,000 in gold on the market. At once the bubble burst.

63

64 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Fisk was temporarily ruined, but Gould, who had been warned,
had quietly been selling gold and came through almost un-
scathed.

The speculation had resulted in great harm to legitimate
business, and the popular uproar was so great that a congres-
sional investigation was held. It resulted in the disclosure of
the fact that the assistant treasurer at New York
and even President Grant's brother-in-law had been
members of the plot. Grant's honor was untouched,
but his brother-in-law's participation in the affair and the fact
that Grant himself had incautiously accepted the hospitality
of Gould and Fisk caused much criticism. Unfortunately it
was not the last time that he allowed himself to be imposed
upon by designing men.

In the February following the Black Friday convulsion a
great furor was aroused in financial circles by the Supreme
Court's deciding, in the case of Hepburn vs. Griswold, that the
The Leal- Legal-Tender Act of 1862 was unconstitutional so
Tender far as concerned debts contracted prior to the pas-
sage of the act. A curious feature of the case was
that the decision was handed down by Chief Justice Chase,
who as secretary of the treasury had been one of the chief
promoters of the act. Justices Davis, Swayne, and Miller
took a dissenting view of the case, and the majority opinion
aroused much opposition throughout the country. On the
same day, however, that the decision was handed down President
Grant filled two vacancies on the Supreme Bench by nominating
Joseph P. Bradley of New Jersey and William Strong of Penn-
sylvania, both of whom sympathized with the minority view.
Two new legal-tender cases presently came before the court,
which, by a vote of five to four, reversed the ruling in the case
of Hepburn vs. Griswold and held the act to be constitutional.
As Grant and many other prominent Republicans were much
disturbed by the original decision, it was charged that the court
was purposely "packed" to secure the reversal, but the charge
has received slight credence among historians.

Early in his administration Grant became eager to annex

FOREIGN RELATIONS 65

the black republic of Santo Domingo, and without consulting
the leaders of his party procured the negotiation of a treaty
to that effect. When the treaty came before the
Att!met°f Senate it was defeated (June 30, 1870), largely
to Annex through the opposition of Sumner, who was chair-
Domingo, man of the committee on foreign relations. Sumner
and Grant quarrelled bitterly, and in revenge Grant
recalled the senator's friend, John Lothrop Motley, the historian,
from the English mission. In organizing the next Congress
(March, 1871) the Republican caucus deposed Sumner from
the chairmanship of the committee on foreign relations, a posi-
tion he had held for a decade. Sumner soon drifted out of the
party he had helped to found.

In 1868 Spanish misgovernment in Cuba provoked a revolt
that occasioned troublesome diplomatic complications during
Grant's presidency. Most Americans warmly sympathized
with the rebels, and in August, 1869, Grant, under
Rebellion. tne influence of Secretary of War Rawlins, signed
a proclamation recognizing Cuban belligerency.
Secretary of State Fish, however, thought that conditions in
the island did not justify the step, and realized, furthermore,
that recognition would be inconsistent with the stand we had
taken toward Great Britain in regard to her attitude toward
the Confederacy. Fish pigeonholed the proclamation, and it
was never issued. In 1873 a Spanish gunboat
Affair!"" captured on the high seas, between Cuba and Ja-
maica, a filibustering steamer called the Virginius,
flying the American flag and bearing arms and men to the
insurgents. The vessel was taken to Santiago, and there
fifty- three of those on board, among them eight American citi-
zens, were summarily shot. The seizure was contrary to inter-
national law. Feeling flamed high in the United States. War
seemed almost inevitable. But Spain ultimately agreed to
surrender the Virginius and to make some other reparation,
while American passion was also somewhat soothed by the dis-
covery that the ship had obtained her registry by fraud and
was not entitled to fly our flag. But the bloody incident and

66 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the cruelties practised by the Spaniards against the rebels were
not forgotten by Americans. For ten years the "Pearl of the
Antilles" was devastated by war, but finally the Spaniards,
partly by force, party by promises of reforms, managed to re-
store their rule.

A yet more burning international question in this period was
that of reparation by Great Britain for failing to enforce strict
neutrality during the Civil War. The rejection of the Johnson-
An lo- Clarendon convention has already been described;

American also Sumner's radical speech setting forth American

wrongs. American sympathy with the Fenian
movement helped to reveal to British statesmen the depth of
feeling existing in the States, while Americans did not hesitate
to say that if Great Britain ever became involved in a war
she might expect privateers fitted out in our ports to pay her
back in her own coin. Furthermore, the United States might
even resort to arms to enforce her claims, and the prospect of
being forced to meet the shock of veterans of the Civil War,
led by such generals as Sheridan and Sherman, was not one to
arouse enthusiasm in Great Britain. The outbreak, in the
summer of 1870, of the Franco-Prussian War, and the course
of that conflict added point to the arguments of British lead-
ers who felt that it would be wise to reach an amicable settle-
ment with their indignant kinsmen beyond seas.

The President's message of December 5, 1870, contained a
paragraph, written by Secretary of State Fish, that conveyed
a plain warning that the United States intended to push its

claims. The passage stated that the British Gov-
Grant's eminent had hitherto failed to admit responsibility
mendation for the acts complained of, and the President, there-
Claims, fore, recommended that Congress ''authorize the

appointment of a commission to take proof of the
amount and ownership of these several claims, on notice to the
representative of her Majesty at Washington, and that authority
be given for the settlement of these claims by the United States,
so that the Government shall have the ownership of the private
claims as well as the responsible control of all the demands

FOREIGN RELATIONS 67

against Great Britain." The menace of this message was not
lost on London.

Fortunately a beginning toward a peaceful settlement had
already been made (July, 1869) at a friendly interview in Wash-
ington between Secretary Fish and Sir John Rose, a member
of the Canadian cabinet and a skilful diplomat.
Washington. ^ a subsequent visit to England Rose used his in-
fluence in favor of an amicable settlement with
such success that in January, 1871, he arrived in Washington
authorized to treat concerning the disputed matters. Sumner,
who was still chairman of the committee on foreign relations,
drew up a memorandum insisting upon the withdrawal of the
British flag from Canada, but Fish favored moderation. Fish,
Rose, and Thornton, the British minister, reached an agree-
ment to submit the Alabama claims and other disputes to a
joint high commission which should meet and formulate a plan
of settlement. On February 27 the high commission, com-
posed of five representatives from each country, began its de-
liberations in Washington, and on May 8 signed the famous
Treaty of Washington, which was speedily ratified by the
Senate. The outcome was due in part to Secretary Fish's
statesmanlike qualities, in part to the friendly spirit displayed
by the Gladstone government. In the negotiation free use
was made of the new Atlantic cable.

The treaty contained a frank expression of "the regret felt
by Her Majesty's Government for the escape, under whatever
circumstances, of the Alabama and other vessels from British
ports and for the depredations committed by those
Treaty °f vessels," and it provided for referring the claims
resulting therefrom to a tribunal composed of five
arbitrators, one appointed by the Queen, one by the President
of the United States, one by the Emperor of Brazil, one by the
King of Italy, and one by the President of Switzerland. The
treaty further provided for referring a dispute regarding North
Atlantic fisheries to a mixed commission, and another regarding
the northwest boundary to arbitration. It may be said here
that the boundary question was ultimately referred to the

68 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

German Emperor, who in 1872 rendered a decision favorable
to the United States. The work of the mixed commission was
greatly prolonged, and it was not until 1877 that a decision
was reached that the United States must pay $5,500,000
damages for illegal fishing in Canadian waters.

The Alabama tribunal met December 15, 1871, in the H6tel
de Ville in the city of Geneva. The American arbitrator was
Charles Francis Adams; the British, Chief Justice Alexander
Cockburn; the Swiss, Jacques Staempfli; the Italian,
Count Schlopis; the Brazilian, Vicomte d'ltajuba.
The insistence of the American agent, Bancroft Davis, upon
enormous "indirect claims" aroused intense opposition in
Great Britain and threatened to wreck the proceedings, but
fortunately, after prolonged negotiations between London and
Washington, the commission, on the initiative of Adams, de-
cided to exclude the "indirect claims" from consideration.
The deliberations were then resumed, and on September 2, 1872,
all the arbitrators except Cockburn, who bitterly dissented,
voted to award $15,500,000 for damages inflicted on American
commerce by the Alabama and certain other cruisers.

The outcome was a glorious triumph of international peace
A Victo anc^ %°°d will? and, in the words of Rhodes, " Geneva,
for staid chamberlain of mighty issues, has never helped

Civilization. ... . , , . „ ,_

to crown a worthier undertaking. Two great na-
tions had found a better method than the sword. Well would
it have been for humanity if their illustrious example had always
been followed in future years by the great powers of the world !
The successful settlement of the Alabama dispute reflected
credit on Grant, but unfortunately he was less successful in
many other matters. Starting out with the assumption that the

presidency was a sort of personal possession given
Grant Falls f. , ' , VT , .

into the him by the people to manage as he thought proper,

Politicians. ne at ^rst virtually ignored the party leaders, but
this independent policy broke down, and presently
he ^ell entirely into the hands of the politicians, with disastrous
results. He displayed lack of taste in choosing some of his
personal associates, accepted presents with "Oriental non-

FOREIGN RELATIONS 69

chalance," and appointed some of the givers to public office,
was guilty of nepotism, made some half-hearted efforts to re-
form the civil service but failed to follow them up, forced Cox
and E. R. Hoar, two able and honest men, from the cabinet,
and in various other ways brought disappointment and dismay
to some of his most high-minded supporters of 1868. In his
conduct of Southern affairs he usually listened to the radical
wing of the party — to such men as Morton, Butler, and Conkling
— and turned a deaf ear to the advice of more liberal-minded
leaders who favored a more generous policy toward the South.
In course of time there developed within the Republican
ranks an anti-Grant movement, the members of which came to
be known as "Liberal Republicans." Missouri was the original
storm centre of the movement, and a prominent
Part was taken in it: by Senator Carl Schurz, who
disliked Grant's radical Southern policy, his attempt
to annex Santo Domingo, and certain other features of the ad-
ministration. In 1870 these Missouri Liberals allied themselves
with the Democrats and managed to elect B. Gratz Brown as
governor over the regular Republican candidate. In January,
1872, a mass convention of the Liberals met in Jefferson City
and issued a call for a national convention to meet in Cincin-
nati for the purpose of nominating candidates for the coming
presidential election. The movement had the powerful support
outside of Missouri of several great Republican newspapers,
and of such individuals as Samuel Bowles, David A. Wells,
William Cullen Bryant, David Davis, Horace Greeley, Jacob
D. Cox, Lyman Trumbull, Edward Atkinson, and Charles
Francis Adams.

When the convention assembled (May i, 1872) Schurz was
made permanent chairman. The platform unsparingly de-
nounced President Grant for having used his power for the
Liberal "promotion of personal ends" and charged that he

Republican had "kept notoriously corrupt and unworthy men

Platform. , J . , , .

in places of power and responsibility, to the detri-
ment of the public interest." It also declared for reform of
the civil service and for a more liberal policy toward the South,

70 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

but as regards reducing the tariff — a subject that had been
much discussed — the views of the delegates were so divergent
that the question was remitted to "the people in their congres-
sional districts and the decision of Congress thereon."

Schurz and most of the saner leaders had expected to bring
about the nomination of Charles Francis Adams, who was then
engaged in the Alabama arbitration. But, as not infrequently
happens in conventions, the delegates got out of
nand, and on the sixth ballot there was a sudden
stampede to Horace Greeley and he was nominated.
For the vice-presidency the convention then selected B. Gratz
Brown of Missouri.

On June 5 the regular Republican convention met in Phila-
delphia. The platform "pointed with pride" to the fact that
during eleven years of supremacy the party had "accepted
with grand courage the solemn duties of the time.
Piatformfn ^ suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emancipated
4,000,000 of slaves, decreed the equal citizenship
of all, and established universal suffrage." Taxes had been
lowered, yet the national debt was being reduced at the rate
of a hundred million dollars a year; menacing foreign difficul-
ties had been "peacefully and honorably composed"; repudia-
tion had been frowned down; prosperity blessed the land.
"This glorious record of the past is the party's best pledge for
the future. We believe the people will not entrust the govern-
ment to any party or combination of men composed chiefly
of those who have resisted every step of this beneficent
progress."

Grant was renominated for the presidency amid scenes of
great enthusiasm. For the vice-presidency the con-
vention then nominated Senator Henry Wilson of
Massachusetts — the "Natick cobbler" — over the
incumbent, Schuyler Colfax.

When the Democratic convention met in Baltimore (July 9)
most of the delegates realized that the only hope of beating
Grant was to form an alliance with the Liberal Republicans.
By large majorities the convention, therefore, accepted the Lib-

FOREIGN RELATIONS 71

eral Republican candidates and platform. A more inconsistent
step was probably never taken by a political party. The Liberal
Democrats Republican platform solemnly declared: "We pledge
indorse ourselves to maintain the Union of these States, eman-
cipation and enfranchisement, and to oppose any re-
opening of the questions settled by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth,
and Fifteenth Amendments." By accepting this pledge the
Democrats turned their backs on their platform of four years be-
fore, and openly confessed defeat on the war and reconstruction
issues. Their indorsement of Greeley was no less remarkable,
for there was no public man in the country who had said more
bitter things about Democrats and the South. For years, in
fact, he had been saying in effect that, while not all
Democrats were horse-thieves, all horse-thieves were Demo-
crats. Little wonder, therefore, that the New York Nation
declared that he appeared to be "'boiled crow' to more of his
fellow citizens than any other candidate for office in this or
any other age" — and thus was the political vocabulary enlarged
by the expression, "to eat crow." One fact that helped South-
erners to accept Greeley was that he had signed Jefferson
Davis's bail-bond. Some Democrats, however, found the dose
too strong and considered the party's action "a cowardly sur-
render of principles for the sake of possible victory." A con-
vention was held at Louisville by Democrats who felt thus,
and Charles O'Conor of New York was put forward for the
presidency, but he declined to accept. In the election about
30,000 voters, nevertheless, voted for him.

Greeley had not only been bitterly anti-Democratic and
anti-Southern, but he did not favor either tariff reform or civil-
service reform — two of the main tenets of many of the Liberal
Absurdities Republicans. His political judgment was notori-
of Greeley's ously bad, while his record, personal characteristics,

Candidacy. . , „ „., ,,.,.,.

and childlike naivete, which is discernible even in
his portraits and statues, lent themselves to ridicule and cari-
cature. To Harper's Weekly Thomas Nast, then at the height
of his fame, contributed numerous striking cartoons that did
much to bring Greeley's characteristics into high relief. One

72 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

cartoon represented the old Abolitionist editor eating with a
wry face from a bowl of uncomfortably hot porridge that was
labelled, "My own words and deeds." Another pictured Gree-
ley at his country home at Chappaqua, sitting well out on a
limb, which he was solemnly sawing off — between himself and
the tree! Ultimately some of the very men who had pro-
moted the Cincinnati movement declared for Grant, while
others gave Greeley only half-hearted support.

Grant's hold on the great mass of the Republican party re-
mained unshaken. To millions his administration had proven
satisfactory, and even those who realized that he had made
some mistakes could not forget the thrills with
Popular. which, in days when patriots despaired of the re-
public, they had heard the news of his victories.
The criticisms uttered by Democrats and Liberal Republicans
received scant consideration from men who had marched where
"Ulysses led the van."

In the campaign Republican orators brought the Southern

issue to the front and made effective use of stories of Ku Klux

outrages and of the cry "Grant beat Davis, Greeley bailed

him." In September Greeley caused Republican

Campaign, managers some uneasiness by making a tour through

the "October States," for his name had long been

a household word in the North and vast crowds assembled to

see and hear him, but the results of the early elections in these

States showed that many people were drawn by curiosity rather

than political sympathy.

When the returns from the November election came in it

was found that Greeley was one of the worst-beaten

Re-elected. men wno ha.d ever been a candidate of a great

party for the presidency. He did not carry a

single Northern State, and only six Southern States, while

Grant received a popular plurality of over three-quarters of a

million and a vast majority of the electoral votes.

The canvass had been a comedy; it was followed by a tragedy.
Chagrin over the result, financial troubles, and the death of
his wife proved more than the old journalist could bear, and

FOREIGN RELATIONS 73

Greeley died within the month (November 29, 1872). In that
tragic hour men forgot his failings, and over his grave honored
him for the good deeds that lived after him.

In this campaign opponents of the use of intoxicating liquors
had met at Columbus, Ohio, and had nominated a ticket and
framed a platform declaring for prohibition, woman's suffrage,
and other reforms. They polled less than 6,000
Of0rn votes in the election, and their voting strength in

Partyblti°n ^ater vears never rose to 300,000, yet in every presi-
dential campaign thereafter they took the field and
made their moral protest against "John Barleycorn." Like
the Liberty and Free Soil parties, the Prohibitionists were
destined never to win as a party, yet their cause ultimately
triumphed.

CHAPTER VII

THE END OF AN ERA

THE Southern States suffered severely from corruption under
Carpet-Bag rule, but they were equalled, if not surpassed, in
this respect by the metropolis of the country under the notori-
ous Tweed Ring. William Marcy Tweed, better
known as "Boss" Tweed, was an accomplished

rascal who won friends by his liberal giving and
coarse joviality, held numerous offices, and built up a band of
political crooks who controlled Tammany Hall and ruthlessly
plundered the city. The ring was greatly aided by the fact
that a large part of the voters were ignorant foreigners, desti-
tute of any standards of civic virtue, nor did the ring hesitate
to use bribery, fraud, and all the other nefarious tricks common
to corrupt politics. The ring included in its membership mayors
and even judges, and in 1868, and again in 1870, Tweed managed
to place one of his creatures, John T. Hoffman, in the governor's
chair at Albany and even groomed him for the Democratic
nomination for the presidency. Estimates of the amount of
money stolen by Tweed and his associates vary from $45,000,000
to $200,000,000.

For years many New Yorkers realized that they were being
robbed, but the ring was so powerful that it long retained con-
trol of the city. Finally the New York Times, which was con-
ducted by two courageous, public-spirited men —
George Jones and Louis J. Jennings — began a cru-
sade against Tweed and his copartners; and Har-
per's Weekly, which worked effectively through the powerful
cartoons of Thomas Nast, presently joined in the hue and cry.
Tweed brazenly asked: "What are you going to do about it?"
But the end of his power was at hand. Some prominent Demo-

74

THE END OF AN ERA 75

crats, among them Samuel J. Tilden and Charles O'Conor,
joined in the battle against the ring. Some of the members fled
to other countries; others were arrested; a few were convicted
and punished. Tweed himself was sentenced (1873) to twelve
years' imprisonment and to pay a heavy fine, but was soon
released on a technicality. He was arrested again, managed
to escape to Spain but was recaptured and brought back, and
finally died in the Ludlow Street jail (April 12, 1878). Thus
ended the Tweed Ring, but unluckily it was not the end of
corruption in New York City politics.

Tweed and his associates were not the only politicians who
preyed upon America in this period, but fortunately a young
country, like a rhinoceros, can thrive and grow fat and lusty

even when fed upon by a multitude of parasites.

Nor had the ravages of a great war sufficed to keep

the United States at a standstill. The census of
1870 showed that in a decade the population had increased
over 7,000,000, or from 31,443,321 to 38,558,371. Only three
States had lost in population, and, curiously enough, two of
these — New Hampshire and Maine — were in the North, while
the decrease of the third — Virginia — was largely due to her
western counties having been set apart as a separate State.
Every year thousands of settlers were pouring into the trans-
Mississippi region, and the centre of population in a decade
had shifted forty-two miles westward, to a point forty-eight
miles east by north of Cincinnati.

It was a period of almost unparalleled business expansion,
especially in the development of transportation facilities.
Cities, counties, States, and the nation lavishly voted loans

and subsidies to encourage the construction of rail-
Constniction. r°ads. The land grants given by Congress to such

enterprises exceeded a hundred million acres. In
the period 1869-72 more than 24,000 miles of new railroad
were built, largely in the West and Northwest, while old lines
were improved. This activity in railroad construction enor-
mously expanded the iron-and-steel industry, and greatly stim-
ulated other lines of business, so that labor was kept busy,

76 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

wages rose, immigration was fostered, and even the South
reaped a rich harvest from the cotton crop.

Frenzied speculation inevitably accompanied such activity,
and "energy outran available means." Although much Euro-
pean capital was invested in the new enterprises, money grad-
ually grew closer, for there had been "an excessive
conversion of circulating capital into fixed capital."
At a moment when investors were still gloating
over their paper profits there came the stunning news of the
failure (September 18, 1873) of the famous firm of Jay Cooke
& Company. This firm had been the chief fiscal agent of the
government in the sale of war bonds; it was at this time promot-
ing the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad; the public
supposed it to be as solid as the eternal hills. The failure pre-
cipitated a great rush to sell stocks, and the following day, in
the New York Stock Exchange, the names of nineteen other
firms that could not meet their contracts were announced.
From coast to coast wild panic spread, and soon business was
more completely paralyzed than at any time since 1837. To
quote Rhodes, the next five years form "a long dismal tale of de-
clining markets, exhaustion of capital, a lowering in value of all
kinds of property including real estate, constant bankruptcies,
close economy in business and grinding frugality in living, idle
mills, furnaces and factories, former profit-earning mills re-
duced to the value of a scrap heap, laborers out of employment,
reductions of wages, strikes and lockouts, the great railroad
riots of 1877, suffering of the unemployed, depression and
despair."

Banks resorted to a new device, namely clearing-house certif-
icates, in the settlement of balances, but these afforded only
partial relief, and, as is usual in panic times, a great demand
Demand developed for more money. President Grant was
for More implored to reissue greenbacks and "save the

Greenbacks. , , . , . ,, . ,

country from bankruptcy and ruin, and he com-
plied to the extent of ordering the purchase of bonds with
$13,000,000 of surplus greenbacks in the treasury, but refused
to trench on the reserve. However, Richardson, BoutwelFs

THE END OF AN ERA 77

successor in the treasury department, reissued $26,000,000 of
greenbacks that had been retired in Johnson's presidency,
and thus brought the total amount in circulation up to
$382,000,000.

When Congress met in December, scores of remedies were
proposed to cure the financial ills of the country, and presently
an "inflation bill" validating Richardson's action, the legality
of which had been questioned, and providing that
BiiTv'etoed t^ie maximum issue of greenbacks should be $400,-
000,000 passed both houses. Many prominent Re-
publican leaders supported the measure, but Grant vetoed it.
Rhodes says that the veto served notice " that we should not
part company with the rest of the world in finance but that
our endeavor would be to return to the recognized standard,"
and he calls it "the most praiseworthy act of Grant's second
administration." Greenbackers, of course, took the view that
the veto helped the creditor class at the expense of the debtor
class.

It was Grant's misfortune to be President in a period when

political morality had fallen to a low ebb. The nation had

recently emerged from the greatest civil war known to history,

and, even under Lincoln, the tremendous increase

Administra-
tive De- in governmental revenues and expenditures had re-
moralization. ,, , . - ... T ,,

suited in a vast amount of peculation. In the
morally unhealthy atmosphere that almost inevitably follows
a resort to arms, it was but natural that the spoils system should
produce its most noxious growth and that numerous scandals
should dishearten lovers of their country. No President, no
matter how capable, could have saved the country from some
of the evil consequences of such a situation, and unfortunately
Grant, though personally honest, possessed no skill in prevent-
ing administrative demoralization and political corruption.

By revelations concerning what were known as the
Scandals. "Sanborn contracts" Secretary of the Treasury

Richardson was so badly discredited that he resigned,
being succeeded by Benjamin H. Bristow, an able and cour-
ageous Kentuckian (June i, 1874). Somewhat earlier our

78 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

minister to Great Britain, General Schenck, brought disgrace
upon himself by association with a dubious mining concern.
But the most famous of the scandals of the day was that con-
nected with the Credit Mobilier.

The Credit Mobilier was a company formed by certain con-
trolling stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad, the history
of which will be given in the next chapter. This inner ring of

"high financiers," as stockholders of the road,
Mobmerdlt awarded to themselves, as members of the Credit

Mobilier, the contract of constructing much of the
road, with the expectation of realizing an immense profit — nor
were they disappointed. Prominent among these selfish finan-
ciers was a certain Massachusetts member of the House of
Representatives named Oakes Ames. The road had received
an immense amount of assistance from Congress, and, fearing
interference from that body, Ames, back in 1867-68, distributed
at a low price among his congressional associates many shares
of extremely valuable Credit Mobilier stock, his object being
to put the shares where, in his own words, they would "do the
most good." Some of the statesmen to whom the shares were
offered were high-minded enough to refuse them, but it is signifi-
cant of the rudimentary state of political morality regarding
such matters that those who accepted included several of the
most prominent men in public life, among them being Schuyler
Colfax, then speaker of the House and soon after elected
Vice-President. For some years the matter remained a secret,
but in the campaign of 1872 certain Democratic newspapers
made charges which resulted in a congressional investigation
that brought to light sensational facts that besmirched Colfax
and others. The expulsion of Oakes Ames and James Brooks
was recommended by the investigating committee, but they
escaped with a formal censure. Both men died, however,
within three months, their deaths being hastened by mortifica-
tion and disgrace. A Senate committee recommended that
Senator Patterson of New Hampshire should be expelled, but,
as his term would expire in five days, no action was taken.
The same Congress that investigated the Credit Mobilier

THE END OF AN ERA 79

scandal passed an act increasing the salaries of the President,
cabinet members, judges of the Supreme Court, and members
of both houses of Congress. For the last-named the
Grab.1' ary measure was made retroactive. Precedents for
such action existed, but this "salary grab," or "back-
pay steal," as it was called, was "like vitriol on the raw wound
of public sentiment"; such an outcry arose that many rep-
resentatives and senators found it inexpedient to retain their
share of the increased pay, while the new Congress that met
in December, 1873, hurriedly repealed all the increases except
those of the President and justices of the Supreme Court.

Political scandals and hard times combined to create a great
revulsion against the party in power. In the summer and fall
of 1874 Republican orators continued to harp upon Southern
"Tidal "outrages," but hundreds of thousands of the Re-

Wave" of publican rank and file refused to hearken to the
old cries and voted for Democratic candidates,
with the result that the Democrats carried even such States
as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. By this political
"Tidal Wave," as it was called, the Republican majority of
two-thirds in the House of Representatives was transformed
into a minority of only a little more than one-third. It was a
rude shock to Republican leaders, who had fallen into the
pleasant belief that the question of dispensing the loaves and
fishes of patronage was settled forever.

The expiring Congress struck a heavy blow at paper money.
Under the leadership of Senator John Sherman of Ohio the
Republican majority carried through a bill that provided (Jan-
uary 14, 1875) for the reduction of the circulation
°f greenbacks to $300,000,000, for an expansion in
the circulation of national-bank notes, and named
January i, 1879, as the day when the government would begin
the redemption of greenbacks in coin. Though the measure
met with bitter opposition from the friends of greenbacks,
who were particularly numerous in the Democratic party,
most historians praise it as eminently wise and honorable.
In 1875, by skilful detective work, Secretary of the Treasury

8o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Bristow and able assistants unearthed startling facts regard-
ing what was known as the "Whiskey Ring." In St. Louis and
._ other cities of the Middle West there had long ex-

" Whiskey isted a secret understanding between distillers and

internal-revenue officers to cheat the government of
revenue duties. The government investigators decided that
Colonel Babcock, the President's private secretary, was a mem-
ber of the ring. When a letter to this effect was shown to
Grant (July 29, 1875) he wrote on the back of it: "Let no guilty
man escape"; and he said: "If Babcock is guilty, there is no
man who wants him so much proven guilty as I do, for it is
the greatest piece of traitorism to me that a man could possibly
practice." But friction between Grant and Bristow, public
talk that Grant himself was connected with the ring, and some
indiscreet remarks uttered in one of the trials by a government
prosecutor, combined to cool the President's prosecuting ardor.
He made a deposition in Babcock's behalf that helped to save
the secretary, but, though the jury's verdict was " not guilty,"
that of the public was "not proven." The friction between
Grant and Bristow presently resulted in the retirement of the
latter from the cabinet (June 20, 1876).

Hardly had the Babcock trial closed when an investigating
committee of the House of Representatives created a new sensa-
tion by recommending that Secretary of War Belknap should

be impeached for malfeasance in office. For some
menTof" years the post-trader at Fort Sill, in the Indian

Territory, had been paying $12,000 a year to a

friend of Belknap's for the privilege of retaining his
lucrative business, and the testimony showed that part of this
money had been turned over to Belknap or his wife. Belknap
hurriedly resigned before the House could take action against
him, and Grant foolishly accepted the resignation "with great
regret." In consequence the guilty secretary escaped punish-
ment, for, though the House impeached him, some senators
took the view that he was no longer subject to the Senate's
jurisdiction, and the vote in that body stood 37 to 29, or seven
less than the required two-thirds.

THE END OF AN ERA 81

There were so many public scandals in these years that one
"Th N di emment historian has characterized the period as
of National "the high water mark of corruption in national
affairs," while another has termed it "the nadir of
national disgrace." By a sad irony of fate the year that wit-
nessed the trial of Babcock and the disgrace of Belknap was
also the hundredth anniversary of the nation's birth.

For five years vast preparations had been making for a Cen-
tennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the city in which indepen-
dence had been declared. The exposition was formally opened
(May 10, 1876) by President Grant in the presence
Exposition. °f a distinguished company, including the Emperor
and Empress of Brazil, and it proved to be the most
remarkable display of its kind seen up to that time in the western
world. Visitors flocked thither from every corner of the coun-
try and also from foreign lands, and the total attendance was
almost 10,000,000. The exposition did much to educate the
people in art and taste, as well as in more material matters.

The year 1876 also proved notable because of a remarkable
electoral contest. In the preliminaries of the campaign the
Republicans shrewdly sought to distract attention from un-
comfortable disclosures of corruption under their
Elaine. Tu^et the leadership in this manoeuvre being taken

by the "magnetic" James G. Elaine of Maine.
Blaine had for eight years been speaker of the House, was
still a member of that body, and was now and for years later
an eager seeker after the presidency, but, like Henry Clay,
with whom he has often been compared, he was repeatedly to
see less brilliant men win the coveted prize and was to die
disappointed in his great ambition. In January, 1876, a bill
to grant amnesty to all persons still under political disabilities
gave Blaine an opportunity to demand the exclusion of Jeffer-
son Davis, to revive the horrors of the war and of Andersonville
prison, to point out that there were sixty-one ex-Confederate
soldiers then members of the House, and to bait these "South-
ern brigadiers" into saying things that rasped Northern sensi-
bilities.

82 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

By his adroit use of these "waving-the-bloody-shirt" tactics,
as this sort of political manoeuvre came to be called, Elaine did
much to fix the issues of the coming campaign, but his own
The personal fortunes were soon disastrously affected

"Mulligan by charges that while speaker he had held im-
proper relations with the affairs of the Little Rock
and Fort Smith Railroad. Having discovered that some letters
written by him to a certain Mulligan were about to be produced
against him, Elaine regained possession of the letters by a
ruse, and later made a dramatic defense in the House, in the
course of which he read from some of the letters. The speech
was a great histrionic effort, and his admirers claimed that it
cleared him of all charges, but his enemies refused to accept
this view.

For a time there was talk of renominating Grant, but a great
uproar was raised about "dynasties," "dictatorships," and
"Caesarism," and the House of Representatives effectively
put an end to the third-term agitation by passing, by a vote
of 233 to 1 8, a resolution declaring that any attempt to depart
from the precedent established by Washington and other
Presidents "would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with
peril to our free institutions."

As the time for the Republican convention drew near it be-
came apparent that Elaine would be the leading candidate.
His availability was, however, lessened by the scandal de-
scribed above, and he also labored under the handi-
Aspirantfn caP °f having, years before, incurred the undying
enmity of a powerful Republican leader, Senator
Conkling of New York, by describing in debate "his grandilo-
quent swell, his majestic, supereminent, overpowering, turkey-
gobbler strut." Conkling himself was a candidate, as were
also Senator Morton of Indiana, Secretary of the Treasury
Bristow, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, and others.
Bristow was regarded with special favor by "reformers," some
of whom met (May 15-16) in New York City, in what was
known as the Fifth Avenue conference, and issued a state-
ment, written by Carl Schurz, in which they declared that they

THE END OF AN ERA 83

would not support any candidate concerning whom there could
be any question as to his being " really the man to carry through
a thorough-going reform in the government." As regards
Hayes, comparatively few, even of his supporters, expected
him to be nominated, and it is said that if the Ohio Republicans
had really hoped to land the coveted prize, they would have
put forward Senator John Sherman.

The Republican convention, which met at Cincinnati on
June 14, adopted a platform that temporized regarding resump-
tion, feebly indorsed civil-service reform, commended Grant's
administration but promised "that the prosecution
and punishment of all who betray official trusts shall
be swift, thorough, and unsparing," declared in
favor of protection and against polygamy, and denounced the
Democratic party as "being the same in character and spirit
as when it sympathized with treason."

Elaine's name was presented to the convention by Colonel
Robert G. Ingersoll, a celebrated orator and agnostic, who
characterized his hero as "a plumed knight" who "marched
^ down the halls of the American Congress and threw

"Plumed his shining lance full and fair against the brazen
forehead of every traitor to his country and every
maligner of his fair reputation." At the conclusion of the
speech-making the tide in Elaine's favor was running so strongly
that if the voting had begun at once he might have been
nominated, but it was found that the lighting equipment of the
building was out of repair and an adjournment was taken to
the next day. It has since been charged that Elaine's enemies
purposely cut off the gas supply in order to procure delay.

When the first ballot was taken next morning Elaine received

285 votes, Morton 125, Bristow 113, Hayes 61, and Hartranft

58, with the rest scattered between minor candidates. On the

sixth ballot Elaine's vote rose to 308, and his sup-

Wheekr.nd porters were jubilant. But Hayes had been gaining

slowly and had 113 votes, and when the names of

Morton and Bristow were withdrawn most of their delegates

flocked to the Ohio man, with the result that on the seventh

84 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ballot he received 384 votes, 5 more than a majority. For the
vice-presidency the convention then nominated William A.
Wheeler, a New York member of the House of Representa-
tives.

The selection of Hayes surprised the country, but he was
acceptable to both wings of the Republican party and was
probably the strongest candidate that could have been named.
Career and ^s a Union soldier he had been four times wounded
Character and had won a brevet major-generalcy. The qual-
ity of the man was shown when, in 1864, while
serving under Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley, he was urged
to come home and campaign for a seat in Congress; he replied
that any one who would leave the army at such a time to ad-
vance his political fortunes "ought to be scalped." He was
elected to Congress, nevertheless, and subsequently was three
times chosen governor of Ohio. In each of his gubernatorial
campaigns he had stood stubbornly for "sound money," and
in his letter accepting the presidential nomination he de-
nounced the spoils system and declared for civil-service reform.
On this subject the platform was weak and evasive, but Hayes's
letter won favor among reformers, and ultimately most of the
Liberal Republican leaders, including Carl Schurz, gave him
their support.

The Democratic national convention met at St. Louis late
in June and adopted a vigorous platform, the key-note of which
was reform. "Reform," it declared, was necessary to save the
Democratic country "from a corrupt centralism which, after
Slogan— inflicting upon ten States the rapacity of carpet-bag
tyrannies, has honeycombed the offices of the
Federal Government itself with incapacity, waste, and fraud,
infected states and municipalities with the contagion of misrule,
and locked fast the prosperity of an industrious people in the
paralysis of 'hard times.'" After enumerating a long list of
public scandals it contended that "the demonstration is com-
plete, that the first step in reform must be the people's choice
of honest men from another party, lest the disease of one
political organization infect the body politic, and lest by making

THE END OF AN ERA 85

no change of men or parties we get no change of measures and
no real reform."

Senator Thurman of Ohio, Senator Bayard of Delaware,

Governor Hendricks of Indiana, and General Han-

Hendricks. coc^ °f Pennsylvania competed for the nomination,

but the logical man to lead a reform campaign was

Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York, and on the second

ballot he was nominated. For second place on the ticket the

convention then selected Hendricks.

From boyhood Tilden had taken an active part in Democratic
politics, and in his teens was a protege of that prince of New
York politicians, Martin Van Buren. In 1855 he was an un-
c . successful candidate for attorney-general on the

Character "soft shell" Democratic ticket, and in 1866 he was

of Tilden. . . _ .

chairman of the Democratic State committee.
Down to 1871 he was chiefly known as a shrewd lawyer who by
his skill in helping financiers to "reorganize" and consolidate
railroads had made himself a millionaire. In 1871 he threw
himself into a vigorous fight against the Tweed Ring, and by
this activity so won public favor that in 1874, though bitterly
opposed by Tammany Hall, he won the Democratic nomina-
tion for governor and was elected by a plurality of over 50,000.
As governor he managed the finances of the State with con-
spicuous ability and added to his record as a reformer by
breaking up a corrupt organization known as the "Canal Ring."
The source of Tilden's political leadership lay chiefly in his
intellect and in his ability as an organizer; personally he was
cold, calculating, exceedingly secretive, and almost totally
lacking in the arts that usually arouse popular enthusiasm.

Tilden secretly managed his own campaign, and effectively
directed the Democratic artillery against the many vulnerable
points in the Republican record. Republicans sought to shift

the issue from "reform" by vigorously "waving the
Campaign. bloody shirt," attacking Tilden's war record, and

charging him with "wrecking" railroads and failing
to make full returns of his income to tax-assessors. In hard-
money centres they also pointed to the ambiguity of the Demo-

86 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

cratic platform on the currency question and to the fact that
Hendricks was openly a friend of fiat money. For Harper's
Weekly Nast drew a striking cartoon along this line, representing
the Democracy as a "double-headed, double-faced Tiger," one
head being that of Tilden, the other that of Hendricks; the
collars round their necks were labelled respectively "Con-
traction" and "Inflation," while the inscription below as-
serted that the beast could "be turned any way to gull the
American people."

The currency question was, in fact, one of the main issues
of the campaign. Radical friends of paper money had met in
May and had organized the Independent National, or Green-
T, back, party and had nominated Peter Cooper of

"Greenback New York for the presidency. This party polled
only 80,000 votes in the election, but these figures
by no means represent the strength of the paper-money tide.
In the congressional election of 1878 the Greenbackers cast a
million votes, but in 1880 their candidate, General James B.
Weaver of Iowa, received only a third of that number. Four
years later the party took the field for the last time under
Benjamin F. Butler, who had left the Democrats in the Civil
War period and now turned his back upon the Republicans.
Butler made a vociferous campaign, but received only 175,000
votes. The party then disappeared from the political arena,
but many of its members later took an active part in the Pop-
ulist movement and carried with them some of their old prin-
ciples.

In the South the Democrats made strong efforts to "re-
deem" South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana — the three States
remaining in Republican hands — and their methods were so
vigorous that stories of intimidation and murder
thTsoufh.m were telegraphed to the North and reacted against
the Democratic cause in that section. In South
Carolina white "rifle clubs," as the Democratic organizations
in that State were known, became so active that in October,
in response to an appeal from Governor Chamberlain, President

THE END OF AN ERA 87

Grant sent more than thirty companies of regulars into the
State to restore the peace.

Preliminary elections in the "October States" proved un-
favorable to the Republicans, and the returns that came in
on the night of the November election ran so strongly Demo-
Tiidcn cratic that next morning almost every Republican

Thought to newspaper in the country conceded a Democratic
victory; even the Republican managers in the Fifth
Avenue Hotel in New York City early deserted their national
headquarters and went to bed in the belief that they were
beaten. But the New York Times took the view that the re-
sult was in doubt, and its news editor, John C. Reid, in the
early morning hurried to the Republican headquarters to point
out to the managers the possibilities of the situation. In the
hotel he fell in with William E. Chandler, a national committee-
man from New Hampshire, and the two obtained from Zacha-
riah Chandler, the national chairman, authority to continue
the contest. Later in the day Zachariah Chandler sent out a
telegram to the effect that "Hayes has 185 electoral votes and
is elected."

Developments presently showed that Tilden would receive
The 184 electoral votes, i less than a majority, that

Outcome Hayes was certainly entitled to 166 electoral votes,
and that the 7 votes of South Carolina, the 8 votes
of Louisiana, the 3 votes of Florida, and i vote in Oregon were
in doubt.

In Oregon the Hayes electors had received a majority of the
popular vote, but one of them was a postmaster, and the Demo-
crats contended that this served to disqualify him and to give
-pjjg a place in the electoral college to the Democratic

Oregon candidate who received the next highest number
of votes. After a prolonged contest two electoral
returns were forwarded to Washington, one of them, the Re-
publican return, giving 3 votes to Hayes, and the other, the
Democratic return, giving 2 votes to Hayes and i to Tilden.

In South Carolina the campaign had been a disorderly one,

88 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

bloody race conflicts had occurred, and many negroes had been

intimidated from voting as they desired, but the returns showed
small majorities for the Hayes electors. The State

CaroUna. returning board certified their election, but the
Democrats claimed a victory, took the contest into

the courts, and ultimately two sets of returns were forwarded

from South Carolina.
In Florida both parties were guilty of illegal campaign

methods, but the State returning board, acting under the eyes

of "visiting statesmen" of both parties from the North, certi-
fied the choice of the Republican electors. As in

In Honda. .

South Carolina, the contest was thrown into the
courts, and ultimately there were three returns — two Demo-
cratic, one Republican — from that State.

In Louisiana the Democrats had a majority of several thou-
sand on the face of the returns, but the State returning board,
all of whom were Republicans and most of whom were negroes
or mulattoes, proceeded to throw out enough polls
Louisiana. *n wnicn the Democratic vote predominated to ob-
tain a majority of over 3,000 for the Hayes electors.
In this, as in the other disputed Southern States, it was the old
story of the kettle and the pot. In the campaign the Democrats
employed every conceivable device, from moral suasion to mur-
der, to accomplish their ends; as for the Republicans, a shrewd
investigator, Benjamin F. Butler, subsequently remarked that
what they "lacked of the lion's skin they eked out with the
fox's tail." In the parish of East Feliciana Democratic "bull-
dozing" tactics were so pronounced that the Republicans, who
two years before had cast 1,688 votes, gave up the contest and
cast only one ballot and that a defective one. In several other
parishes there were almost equally remarkable results. The
returning board not only threw out most of the precincts in
these parishes, but did much less justifiable work in dealing
with returns from other places. As the Louisiana Supreme
Court had held that the decisions of the returning board were
not subject to judicial review, it was impossible for the Demo-
cratic electoral claimants to carry the matter into the courts.

THE END OF AN ERA 89

Nevertheless, they, as well as the Republican electors, met and
voted, and ultimately, as a result of further complication, four
certificates were forwarded to Washington, one of them being
a humorous one signed by "John Smith, bull-dozed Governor
of Louisiana."

The electoral colleges met and voted on the 6th of December;
Congress had assembled two days earlier. Meanwhile the coun-
try resounded with cries of fraud and threats of violence, and
Who shall every rumor, no matter how wild, found ready be-
Count the lief among the credulous. All men realized that the
situation was fraught with peril, all the more so
because of the vagueness of the Constitution on the matter of
counting the electoral votes. Then, as now, the Constitution
merely provided that the returns from the electoral colleges
should be transmitted sealed to the president of the Senate,
and that "the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of
the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certifi-
cates, and the votes shall then be counted." But counted by
whom? Herein lay the crux of the whole controversy. If by
the president of the Senate, then Thomas W. Ferry of Michigan,
president pro tempore — Vice-President Wilson having died in
1875 — would decide between the contesting returns, and, as
Ferry was a partisan Republican, there could be little doubt
that he would declare Hayes elected. Most Republicans con-
tended that to Ferry belonged the counting power; most Demo-
crats were equally positive that no votes could be counted
without the consent of the House of Representatives, in which
they had a majority. It was clear to every one that if the de-
cision was left to the two houses voting separately, a deadlock
would ensue, and one view was that the choice of a President
would then be thrown into the Democratic House, that of the
Vice-President into the Republican Senate. All sorts of the-
ories were propounded and debated, but none found general
acceptance, nor were there any conclusive precedents that
could be invoked.

Much violent talk was heard in Congress and throughout the
country, but Americans had so recently passed through the

90 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

fiery furnace of civil war that a great majority were anxious for
a compromise of some sort. Southern Democrats were less

warlike than some of their Northern compatriots.
Peace or JQ a j)emocratic congressional caucus Benjamin

Hill of Georgia, an ex-Confederate general, referred
cuttingly to a section of his party who were "invincible in peace
and invisible in war," and he asserted that Fernando Wood of
New York and other fiery Northern members of Congress had
"no conception of the conservative influence of a 1 5-inch shell
with the fuse in process of combustion." However, there were
men in each party willing to go to any lengths to win. In a
number of places Tilden and Hendricks "minute men" were
enrolled into companies, and Colonel Henry Watterson declared
in a speech made on "St. Jackson's Day" that he would take
a hundred thousand Kentuckians to Washington to see that
justice was done Tilden. Meanwhile President Grant quietly
but grimly prepared to preserve the peace, for he was determined
not "to have two governments or any South American pro-
nunciamientos."

Fortunately the "fire-eaters" of both parties were pushed
aside, and a joint committee of both houses, after weeks of
wrangling, ultimately presented a plan for a compromise. The
E1 . plan provided for an electoral commission composed
Commission of five representatives, five senators, and five

justices of the Supreme Court, who were to consider
disputed returns concerning which the two houses could not
agree, and their decisions were to stand unless rejected by both
houses voting separately. Neither Hayes nor Tilden favored
the plan, but the country was eager for a peaceful settlement
and the bill passed both houses and was signed by President
Grant (January 29, 1877).

In fulfilment of an understanding that was not incorporated
into the act, the Senate named two Democrats — Bayard of
Delaware and Thurman of Ohio — and three Republicans —
Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, Edmunds of Vermont, and Mor-
ton of Indiana. The House named two Republicans — Hoar of
Massachusetts and Garfield of Ohio — and three Democrats —

THE END OF AN ERA 91

Hunton of Virginia, Abbott of Massachusetts, and Payne of
Ohio. Two Republican justices — Miller and Strong — and two

Democrats — Field and Clifford — were indirectly
jiidge.l£th designated by the act, and it was made their duty

to select a fifth. While the bill was under considera-
tion it was supposed that Justice David Davis of Illinois would
be the fifth judge. Davis had been appointed to the Supreme
Court by Abraham Lincoln, but he now had Democratic lean-
ings and had besides a desire for the presidency. He was an
exceedingly fat man, of size so vast that it was said that he
had to be "surveyed for a pair of trousers." His disincli-
nation to accept the thankless task of casting the deciding
vote fully equalled his dimensions. While the Electoral Bill
was still before Congress the Democratic members of the
Illinois Legislature, with strange fatuity, combined with five
independents and elected Davis to the United States Senate,
to succeed John A. Logan. This gave Davis an excuse to de-
cline an appointment on the electoral commission, and the four
justices ultimately named Justice Joseph P. Bradley, who had
been appointed as a Republican but who was the most ac-
ceptable to the Democrats of any of the remaining judges.

During February the disputed electoral returns from Florida,
Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina were referred to the

commission by Congress, and in every case, on
S^jfn "to every vital question, Justice Bradley voted with the

Republican members, and the commission, by a
strict party vote of 8 to 7, decided that all the disputed elec-
toral votes should be counted for Hayes. The House in each
case voted to reject the award, but the Senate in each case
sustained it, so, under the law, the decision stood.

Democrats savagely attacked the majority of the commis-
sion for their rulings, most of all for refusing to take evidence
The Charge diunde the certificates, and the charge was then
of incon- made, and has frequently been repeated, that some

of the rulings were inconsistent. The truth, how-
ever, is that the majority followed the convenient line of
cleavage between State and federal powers, as laid down in

92 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the constitutional provisions regarding the choice of electors,
and, whatever else may be said as to the commission's decisions,
they were consistent.

Though bitterly disappointed hi the commission's decisions,
most Democratic leaders realized that they were bound to
accept the result, but in the final days of the count irrecon-
T, cilables began a filibuster designed to prevent the

Wormley completion of the count before March 4, when Con-
gress would expire, and Grant's term would come
to an end. Some of the participants were Southerners who
cared comparatively little for Tilden, but thought the occasion
opportune to force the incoming Hayes administration to prom-
ise concessions to the South. In Florida the Democratic
claimants to State office had succeeded in gaining control, but
in Louisiana and South Carolina there existed rival Republican
and Democratic governments, each claiming to be the legal one.
Up to this time the Republican claimants had been upheld by
federal troops, but it was well understood that it this support
were withdrawn the Carpet-Bag-negro governments would
quickly fall. In what were known as the "Wormley Con-
ferences" friends of Hayes, though without express authority
from him, undertook to guarantee that if the Democrats would
permit the count to be completed, the new President would
cease to support the Southern Republican claimants.

Despite this "bargain" some Democrats attempted to con-
tinue the filibuster, but Speaker Samuel J. Randall suppressed
them with an iron hand. After exciting scenes the count was
finally completed at four o'clock in the morning
Completed. °f March 2, and President pro tetnpore Ferry for-
mally announced that Hayes and Wheeler were duly
elected, having received 185 electoral votes to 184 for Tilden
and Hendricks. The greatest contest for an elective office in
the history of popular government had been peacefully con-
cluded.

There were many rumors that Tilden intended to take the
oath of office and assert his rights, but he was in no sense a
revolutionist and contented himself with making verbal pro-

THE END OF AN ERA 93

tests. To the last, however, there was considerable uneasiness,
and, as March 4 happened to fall on Sunday, it was thought
best by President Grant that Hayes should be inducted into
office on the night of the 3d. The oath was secretly adminis-
tered by Chief Justice Waite in the Red Room of the White
House, in the presence of Grant and his son Ulysses. The
formal inauguration ceremonies were held on Monday, March 5.
A delicate task which confronted the new President was that
of adjusting affairs in South Carolina and Louisiana. Al-
though not formally bound by the promises made at the Worm-
Ad' t ^ev Conferences, Hayes seems to have felt himself
in the under obligation to carry them out, and besides he

had come to believe that it was time for federal
interference in the South to end. In April the troops were
ordered to cease supporting the Republican claimants in the
two States, and in both the Carpet-Bag governments speedily
vanished into thin air.

Thus ended the final scene in reconstruction. It had been
a lurid drama but perhaps an inevitable one. A frightful war
had been fought for certain principles that the world now

agrees were just and right. The problem that pre-

sented itself at the close of the conflict was the pres-
tion?QStrUC" ervation of the principles that had triumphed on

the battle-field. One policy — the milder one — of-
fered some promise of achieving the desired result, but whether
or not it would have done so will always be a matter of debate.
Had Lincoln lived, this milder policy might have been adopted,
though this is by no means certain. A harsher policy, one less
magnanimous and more in accord with human passions, as-
sured the result beyond reasonable doubt and seemed to promise
certain benefits to the race which the war had freed. The latter
policy was adopted. It produced many unfortunate results, but
it at least tided the country over the crisis and secured the fruits
of the war. It is easy now to point out the faults of recon-
struction, and it is reasonably certain that military rule until
the rights of the freedmen were fully established would have
been better than negro suffrage, but it is beyond question that

94 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

military rule or any other plan would also have had its failures.
Southerners, with reason, look back to the reconstruction
period as a dark one, and yet, comparatively speaking, the
treatment of the South was not really very harsh. "Imaginary
comparisons with other civilized governments are
Treatment sometimes useful," says the historian Rhodes, in
South ^s connection. "It seems to me certain that in

1865-1867 England or Prussia, under similar circum-
stances, would not so summarily have given the negroes full
political rights. More than likely they would have studied
the question scientifically through experts, and therefore could
not have avoided the conclusion that intelligence and the pos-
session of property must precede the grant of suffrage. Their
solution of the difficulty would therefore have been more in
the interest of civilization. On the other hand, with the ideas
which prevail in those countries concerning rebellion against
an established government, England and Prussia would un-
doubtedly have executed Jefferson Davis and others and con-
fiscated much of the southern land. The good nature and
good sense of the American people preserved them from so stern
a policy, and as a choice of evils (since mistakes it seems were
sure to be made) the imposition of negro suffrage was better
than proscriptions and the creation of an Ireland or a Poland
at our very door."

After the withdrawal of federal armed support, the Repub-
lican party virtually disappeared in the South. Since 1876
not one of the former Confederate States has ever cast its elec-
toral votes for other than a Democratic candidate.
South."0 " Wherever necessary, the negro vote was eliminated
by fraud or force, such methods being excused on
the ground that white supremacy must be preserved. The
negroes soon found that it was unsafe to persist in trying to
assert their political rights, and except in a few districts they
practically ceased voting.

In course of time, however, the whites discovered that the
methods used to eliminate the negro voters were tending to
demoralize the white people themselves, and they sought legal

THE END OF AN ERA ' 95

or quasi-legal methods for accomplishing the desired result.

The problem was a difficult one, for the Fifteenth Amendment

expressly prohibits suffrage discrimination on ac-

AvokUhe ° count of race, color, or previous condition of servi-

Amendment tU^6) En(^ ^ W3>S C^T ^at straignt property

or educational qualifications would deprive many
poor and illiterate white men of the franchise.

In 1890 Mississippi evolved what is known as "the under-
standing clause" plan. A provision was inserted into the con-
stitution to the effect that all persons permitted to register
The "Un- "snall be able to read any section of the Constitu-
derstanding tion of the State; or he shall be able to understand

Clause "

the same when read to him, or to give a reasonable
interpretation thereof." As the registration officers were prac-
tically all white men, it was easy for them, when they deemed
it desirable, to enforce a very high standard in the case of
negroes and to lower the bars for illiterate whites.

Several of the other Southern States presently adopted this
or some other plan for steering between "the Scylla of the
Fifteenth Amendment and the Charybdis of negro domina-
,_ tion." Louisiana, for example, in 1898 adopted

Louisiana educational and property qualifications for voters,

but as loopholes for poor and illiterate whites of
native birth incorporated a "grandfather clause," and for those
of foreign birth a "naturalization clause." No citizen who
was on, or prior to, January i, 1867, a voter, or who was the
son or grandson of such a voter could be deprived of his right
to vote, even though he could not meet the educational or
property qualifications; and similarly no citizen of foreign birth
naturalized prior to January i, 1898, could be excluded from
the polls. All persons desiring to take advantage of either of
these loopholes must, however, register prior to September i,
1898, and neither loophole was available for illiterate poor
whites who came of age after that date. As only a few Northern
States permitted negroes to vote prior to 1867, the number of
colored citizens able to register under the "grandfather clause"
was negligible. The general effect of the new system was to

96 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

reduce the number of registered negro voters from 127,000 in
1896 to 3,300 in 1900; many more than the last number were
eligible to register but felt that it was useless to do so. The
adoption of such restrictions laid States liable to have their
representation in the House of Representatives lowered, as
provided by the Fourteenth Amendment, but Congress, fearful
of reviving sectional antagonisms, never deemed it expedient
to impose the penalty.

The federal courts long evaded passing judgment upon the
constitutionality of the disfranchising provisions,

father"*" ^ut fr*13^' m I9IS> tne Supreme Court decided that
Clauses" the "grandfather clauses" were unconstitutional,
Voida because the device "recreated the very conditions

which the Fifteenth Amendment was intended to
destroy." The practical effect of the decision was, however,
negligible.

With the final restoration of home rule in the South the era
of civil war and reconstruction may be said to have ended.
The old issues long continued to play a part in politics, but
more and more they were relegated into the background by
great social and economic questions, with which we shall deal
in future chapters.

Despite the ravages of war and misgovernment in recon-
struction days, the South recovered its material prosperity
more rapidly than could reasonably have been expected. By

1880 the section was growing a greater cotton crop
South'."^ t^ian ^d ever been "made" under slave labor;

by 1911 the number of bales produced was over
four times the number of 1860. The courage and energy with
which the Southern people set themselves to the task of rehabili-
tation were worthy of unstinted praise. To be sure, there was
some repining, but the mass of the people soon emerged from
the dark shadow of lethargy and despair into the sunshine of
hope for the future. By 1886 Henry Grady of Atlanta could
say to the New England Society in New York City:

We admit that the sun shines as brightly and the moon as
softly as it did "before the war." We have established thrift in

THE END OF AN ERA 97

the city and country. We have fallen in love with work. We
have restored comforts to homes from which culture and elegance
never departed. We have let economy take root and spread among
us as rank as the crab grass which sprung from Sherman's cavalry
camps, until we are ready to lay odds on the Georgia Yankee, as
he manufactures relics of the battlefield in a one-story shanty
and squeezes pure olive oil out of his cotton seed, against any
downeaster that ever swapped nutmegs for flannel sausages in
the valley of Vermont.

By 1880 the South was producing one-eighth of all the coal
mined in the United States; by 1909 more than a sixth. Ala-
bama, Tennessee, and other Southern States contain immense
deposits of iron ore, though the ore is not so rich
as that about Lake Superior. In 1909 Alabama
produced 4,687,000 tons of ore, which was almost
5 per cent of the total mined in the United States, and Bir-
mingham had become a miniature Pittsburg. In the '8o's and
'oo's cotton-mills began to spring up in many parts of the South,
and the textile industry developed with astonishing rapidity.
In 1909 North Carolina and South Carolina stood second and
third respectively in the manufacture of cotton goods, being
surpassed only by Massachusetts. Despite industrial progress,
however, the South remained primarily an agricultural section,
and the value of all products manufactured in all the States
south of Mason and Dixon's line and east of the Rockies was,
in 1909, only 12.7 per cent of the total manufactures of the
whole country. Next to agriculture, lumbering was the most
productive of Southern occupations, though many others, in-
cluding the production of petroleum, especially in Oklahoma,
Texas, and Louisiana, were important. The whole section is
rich in natural resources, and future years will doubtless behold
some marvellous developments in the South.

As in other sections of the country, industrial development
in the South produced some trying problems, one of the most
notable being that of child labor in the cotton-mills. Children
of tender years worked incredible hours in some of the mills,
and, as in some Northern States, selfish influences long balked
efforts to abolish this hideous wrong. Lazy and shiftless par-

98 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ents of the "poor white" class would often put their children

at work and then live off the proceeds. "What all's the use

of me workin' when I got three head of gals in the

Labor. mill?" said such a parent as he leaned over the

bar of a Southern saloon. In recent years progress

has been made toward regulating child labor, but some States

still lag disgracefully behind the procession.

Gradually the old Southern enmities toward the North have
disappeared. Hostility toward "Yankees" in the abstract
still lingers in some circles, however, though usually combined
with surprising friendliness for individual Yankees
Causl^°St m tne concrete. The "Lost Cause" is still roman-
tically cherished by Daughters of the Confederacy
and other organizations, but few Southerners regret that the
nation is united. Even Jefferson Davis, though never really
"reconstructed," closed his book on the rise and fall of the Con-
federacy with the sentiment — "The Union, Esto perpetual"

The final reconciliation took place during the Spanish-
American War. That conflict roused a great wave of patriotic
feeling in the South such as had not been experienced since
Taylor and Scott led their armies into Mexico.
Spanish- For the first time since the sad days of secession
Wa^n111 the nation became a real union of hearts. Volun-
Southem tecrs came forward as freely in the South as in any
other section, and a number of ex-Confederate
officers accepted high command. It is said that in the heat of
conflict one of these officers forgot himself and implored his
men to "give the Yankees hell!" But everybody smiled over
such incidents, and felt no desire to criticise. Says Roosevelt,
in describing the progress of his Rough Riders from San Antonio
to Tampa:

We were travelling through a region where practically all the
older men had served in the Confederate Army, and where the
younger men had all their lives long drunk in the endless tales
told by their elders, at home, and at the crossroad taverns, and in
the court-house squares, about the cavalry of Forrest and Morgan
and the infantry of Jackson and Hood. The blood of the old

THE END OF AN ERA 99

men stirred to the distant breath of battle; the blood of the young
men leaped hot with eager desire to accompany us. ... Every-
where we saw the Stars and Stripes, and everywhere we were told,
half-laughing, by grizzled ex-Confederates that they had never
dreamed in the bygone days of bitterness to greet the old flag as
they now were greeting it, and to send their sons, as they now
were sending them, to fight and die under it.

On the fiftieth anniversary of Gettysburg the survivors of
the hosts who had fought under Meade and Lee assembled on
that famous field and mingled as comrades rather than as en-
emies. At the appropriate hour a handful of gray-haired
Confederate veterans marched slowly up the slope where Pickett
had led his gallant column in the long ago. As they reached
the top of Cemetery Ridge and "High Tide," they were greeted
with cheers and handclasps and embraces by their former foes.
The "bloody chasm" was forever closed.

CHAPTER VIII

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST"

A GENERATION ago every American boy knew of Sitting Bull
and Geronimo and was full of their bloody exploits on the
war-trail. A youth of the present generation, when asked about
living Indians, will name such "chiefs" as Thorpe or Bender,
and will tell you of how they won championships at Olympic
meets or mowed down batsmen in world series. Between the
two attitudes of mind lies a wonderful transformation, not
only In the status of the Indian race but in the whole of the
great West.

Ai_ the., close of the Civil War the population of the region
beyond the Mississippi, excluding the older States of Iowa,
Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and parts of Minnesota and Loui-
A w d rf l s^ana — constituting about two-thirds of the United
Transforma- States proper — was only a rnjlKon and a .half; and
vast areas existed that were peopled only by no-
madic savages who won a livelihood by slaying the swarming
buffaloes. Forty-five years later the wild buffaloes in the
limits of the United States had long since gone the way of the
passenger-pigeon and the great auk; the sons and grandsons of
their breech-clouted pursuers were attending Carlyle or Haskell
and playing football and baseball instead of seeking scalps on
the war-trail; and the region above described contained more
than 13,000,000 people. This marvellous transformation of
the romantic "Wild West" of buffalo herds and "hostiles"
..into a peaceful land of ranches and railroads, of wheat-fields
and fruit farms, of dams and irrigation ditches, of mines and
macadam roads, forms one of the biggest facts in American his-
tory and is worthy of study.

It is hard for Americans of this generation to realize that for

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 101

years after the Civil War most of the Far West continued to be

"Indian country," and that travellers who crossed the Great

Plains and the mountains beyond ran imminent

Dispossessing J

the risk of leaving their bones bleaching in the buffalo-

grass and of having their scalps swing in the smoke
of wigwams — even in times of so-called "peace." InjLhe West,
as formerly in the East, thejiistoiy of how the aborigines were

conquered and HispnsspsspHJgjaJnng gj^ qjjnplim,^ atAty nf

encroachments upon the Indian's lands, of warfare, of treaties
" made to be broken," a story that does little credit to Americans
and their government. However, in the words of Chittenden:
"It was the decree of destiny that the European should displace
the native on his own soil. No earthly power could pre-
vent it."

Even after the tribes accepted the guardianship of the gov-
ernment they were often mistreated by rapacious Indian agents
and contractors. For years an "Indian Ring" preyed upon
the reservation Indians, cheating them in the
Ring."n * amount and quality of the supplies they were sup-
posed to receive. The blankets given them were
likely to be of shoddy, the cattle fed to the wards of the nation
were apt to be leaner than Pharaoh's kine, and many of the
supplies for which the government paid never reached the red
men at all. More than one bloody outbreak was due to dis-
satisfaction and hunger caused by such cheating. As already
related, some of the facts regarding this "ring" came to light
in the impeachment proceedings against Secretary of War
Belknap, but a thorough investigation of the abuses was never
made, partly because certain politicians were anxious to pre-
serve the existing state of affairs.

Furthermore, unscrupulous white men encroached upon the
Indians' lands, stole their horses, slaughtered the game upon
which they depended for food, debauched their squaws, cheated
them in trades, sold them "firewater," and taught them all the
vices of civilization but few of the virtues.

However, the Indians were not altogether blameless in most
of the scores of petty wars that occurred in the quarter-century

102 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

following 1865. Despite attempts to idealize the red men,
their normal existence was a state of warfare. When they
were not fighting the palefaces, they were apt to be making
Character of Bloody forays against other tribes. Indian children
the Western were brought up to regard cruelty as praiseworthy,
and they delighted in helping to torture captives.
The men whom boys took as their models were warriors re-
nowned for ferocity and cunning on the war-trail, for the
ponies they had stolen, for the number of enemies they had
slain. The prime ambition of a youth was to tear a scalp from
the head of an enemy, and to obtain the gory trophy he would
murder a woman or a child as remorselessly as he would a
man. In_j>eace the Plains Indian was polygamous, lazy, A
habitual gambler, and grossly licentious. In war the cruelties
he practised upon his captives were of so shocking a nature
that they cannot be put down in public print. When we
realize that practically every white woman and girl ever cap-
tured by war parties of the Plains tribes was subjected to
nameless outrages, we need not feel surprise that an implacable
feud developed between the two races and that a fixed axiom
in the minds of frontiersmen was that "the only good Indian
is a dead Indian."

It was an inevitable and irrepressible conflict, the kind of
conflict that invariably develops when a stronger civilized
race is brought into contact with a weaker primitive but war-
like people.

Even in those days, however, the red man did not lack friends
and defenders. Eastern idealists and the officials of the In-
dian Bureau usually stood ready to uphold his cause against
the army and the men of the frontier. For a long
Purposes. period the army and the Indian Bureau worked at
cross-purposes in the management of the tribes,
and as a result of divided jurisdiction it not infrequently hap-
pened that soldiers of the one fought hostiles who were fur-
nished with repeating rifles and cartridges by agents of the
other.

At the close of the Civil War the whole Western frontier was

THE WEST

in 1876

Railroads

Reser.vat iou a 1

101 Greenwich 91

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 103

ablaze, and nearly every important tribe from the Canadian

border to the Red River of the South was on the
ofdii86SWarS war-path. In the Indian campaigns of that year

about $40,000,000 was expended, yet very few hos-
tiles were either killed or captured.
The next quarter-century witnessed wars with the Modocs,

Comanches, Nez Perces, Arapahoes, Kiowas, and
Petty* Ware. otner tribes, in the course of which many hundreds

of "contacts" occurred between troops and hos-
tiles, but the tribes that caused the most persistent trouble
were the Apaches of the arid Southwest and the great Sioux
confederacy of the upper Missouri country.

In August, 1862, the Sioux in the region of the upper Missis-
sippi had risen and massacred nearly a thousand white settlers
on the Minnesota frontier, and had caused 50,000 others to

flee in terror to St. Paul and other places of refuge,
" but the hostiles were speedily defeated, many were

captured, and thirty-nine were hanged for murder.
Some of those who escaped joined their wilder brethren, the
Plains Sioux of the Dakota region, and hostile bands kept up a
desultory warfare for years.

One cause of the persistent hostility of the western Sioux
was the opening of a new road from Fort Laramie to the mines
of Montana and Idaho. A few chieftains, mainly from a degen-
The erate band known as the "Laramie Loafers," gave

Bozeman their assent, but the real leaders of the Sioux did not,

and this "Bozeman Road," as it was called, was all
the more distasteful to the aborigines because it led through a
favorite hunting-ground, a charming foot-hill country, where
bears, antelope, elk, buffalo, and other game abounded.

Many travellers along the new road were waylaid and slain,
and in December, 1866, a big band of Sioux, aided by some
The warriors from other tribes, surrounded and massa-

Fetterman cred to the last man a force of eighty-one men under

Captain William J. Fetterman close to Fort Phil
Kearney, near the Bighorn Mountains. A few months later
another detachment of about thirty men, under Major James

io4 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Powell, were attacked not far from the same place by a vast
force of hostiles, but Powell stationed his men behind a breast-
work of bullet-proof wagon-beds made of iron and drove off
the Indians with great slaughter.

In 1868 the warlike Cheyennes swept through western
Kansas like a devastating storm, and in a single month killed
or captured over eighty men, women, and children, while again
The and again they wiped out gangs of workmen em-

Cheyenne ployed in the construction of the new railroad to
the Pacific. The fate of the captured women and
girls was particularly revolting, and the stories of how some of
them were finally rescued exceeds in adventurous interest most
fiction.

General Sheridan, of Winchester fame, personally took the
field against the Cheyennes and other bands, but it was gen-
erally easy for the hostiles to evade the troops, for the Indians
depended mostly upon game for food and were
Victory mounted upon swift ponies that were usually able
Washita *° out-travel the slow-going horses of the troopers,
while, when hard pressed, a band could easily scat-
ter and later meet again at an appointed rendezvous. Sheri-
dan, in fact, found the task of catching his enemy so difficult
that he compared it to "chasing the Alabama." In September
a thousand hostiles under Chief Roman Nose made the mistake
of attacking a band of fifty scouts intrenched on a sandy island
in the Arickaree fork of Republican River, and were beaten
off after a desperate struggle, largely because of the determined
resourcefulness of Colonel George A. Forsyth. Near the end
of the year General George A. Custer, with the Seventh Cavalry,
carried out a winter campaign when the snow was deep and the
Indian ponies were weak from lack of proper food. By good
management he surprised Black Kettle's band of Cheyennes
and Arapahoes in camp along the Washita River, killed more
than a hundred warriors, took many prisoners, almost a thou-
sand ponies, also hundreds of buffalo-robes and bows, arrows,
and other savage paraphernalia. The surviving Cheyennes and
Arapahoes made peace soon after.

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 105

In the previous spring peace had been concluded with the
Kiowas, Apaches, Sioux, and certain other tribes
ofr<i868? by what was known as the Peace Commission. By
these treaties the Indians conceded certain rights
of transit through their country, but reservations were set apart
for their use, and the Bozeman Trail in the Powder River coun-
try was given up by the whites.

Under President Grant a Board of Indian Commissioners
was created, and in general better Indian agents were appointed,
but dishonesty still lurked in the Indian Bureau, and the In-
dians were still often cheated in the matter of sup-
Black 'mils? Pues- Furthermore, encroachments on the In-
dians' lands continued, with much killing of the
game upon which the aborigines largely depended for subsis-
tence. In 1874-76 the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, on
the Sioux reservation, precipitated a great rush of prospectors
to that region and helped to bring on the last great Indian
war.

At that time there were many Indians who refused to re-
main on the reservations, as provided by the treaty of 1868,
but roamed at will over the buffalo country and never visited
the agencies except to see friends or relatives, or
"Hostiles." to trad6 — preferably for guns and ammunition.
These irreconcilables came to be known as the
"hostiles," and they habitually waylaid hunters, trappers, and
other white men who ventured into the region. Every hunt-
ing season other Indians from the reservations would travel to
the camps of the hostiles, partly to kill buffaloes for meat and
robes, and on such occasions these "agency Indians" were
almost as dangerous as their wilder brethren.
The foremost leader of the hostiles was a Sioux of the Hunk-
papa Teton tribe, named Sitting Bull. He was not
Sitting Bull, really a fighting leader, but when bullets were flying
preferred to remain in his tepee making "medi-
cine"; nevertheless, he wielded great influence and had about
sixty lodges of followers upon whom he could always depend.
Early in 1876 the federal government determined to round

io6 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

up these irrecontilables and force them to settle upon the re-
serves. With that end in view three expeditions were prepared
Plan of anc^ sen^ out: General Gibbon with the so-called
Campaign "Montana column," marched from the west;

General Crook, who had won fame fighting the
Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico, moved up from the
south; and General Terry, who was in supreme command,
led a force from the east. It was expected that the hostiles
would be found somewhere in the Yellowstone country.

On June 17 Crook's column attacked the hostiles in the val-
ley of the Rosebud River, but were beaten off. About the
same time a scouting force from Terry's command discovered

the Indian trail leading up the Rosebud, and Terry
MUarch.S ordered Major-General George A. Custer to take

his regiment, the Seventh Cavalry, consisting of
some 600 troopers, follow the trail, and attack the Indians.
Custer had won high distinction under Sheridan in the Shen-
andoah Valley and elsewhere, and subsequently in Indian
warfare; he was a handsome, dashing officer, fond of wearing
the buckskin clothing of the border and his yellow hair long
and in curls; he was bold even to rashness, and was, in fact,
almost the ideal cavalry leader. Custer's little force, travel-
ling mostly at night, in order to conceal their movements, fol-
lowed the trail and by the 2$th of June were in striking dis-
tance of the hostiles, whose camps were pitched in the valley
of the Little Big Horn River. With some Crow scouts Custer
personally reconnoitred the enemy, but the camps were strung
out for several miles along the valley, and, owing to some in-
tervening bluffs, Custer, unfortunately, did not see all of them.
The truth was that many lodges of agency Sioux had jour-
neyed into the buffalo country to join their hostile brethren, so
that, encamped along the river that day, there were from 2,500

to 4,000 warriors — Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes,
theHostifes. etc- — under such chieftains as Sitting Bull, Crazy

Horse, Crow King, and Rain-in-the-Face. Most
of these warriors were armed with breech-loading rifles — many
even with repeaters — being better equipped, in fact, than the

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 107

troops, who carried Springfield carbines that had been origi-
nally muzzle-loaders but converted into breech-loaders; the
extractors of these weapons worked so badly that often, in re-
moving empty shells, it was necessary for the soldiers to use
their knives, which meant, of course, loss of precious time.

According to Captain Godfrey, who survived the campaign
and later wrote an account of it, one of the Crow scouts re-
marked that there were enough hostiles to keep the troops busy
fighting several days, but Custer only smiled and
p£er S said that he thought the task could be finished in
one day. He was then unaware of the magnitude
of the force confronting him, but even had he known the truth
he would doubtless have attacked, though he would hardly
have employed the plan he adopted. This plan was based
upon the knowledge that Indian fighting was "touch and go
warfare," that ordinarily the great problem was to catch the
Indians. He realized that if he attacked as one force the war-
riors would rush to confront him and hold him off until the
squaws and other non-combatants could have time to save
their belongings and drive off the valuable pony herds. There-
fore he divided his regiment into four parts: he ordered one
troop to guard the pack-train, sent Captain Benteen with
three troops to the left and Major Reno with three troops and
some Indian scouts to cross the Little Big Horn and move up
the valley against the Indian camps, while he personally took
five troops and made a detour to the right in order to cut off
the Indians when they fled toward the fastnesses of the Little
Big Horn Mountains.

Reno soon met so many Indians that, after hard fighting, he
gave up the attempt to reach the village and rejoined Ben-
teen's force, suffering heavy losses, particularly in recrossing
the river. Uncertain what to do, the united force
hesitated and thus gave the Indians an opportunity
to concentrate against Custer's five companies.
Practically the whole Indian force, under able war chiefs, sur-
rounded the little band of 200 troopers and slew them to the
last white man; only a half-breed Crow scout named Curly

io8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

managed to escape. Later in the day the Indians attacked
Reno and Benteen's force, but, largely owing to the courage
and skill of Ben teen, the white men managed to hold them off
until the approach of the combined columns of Gibbon and
Terry. Only then did the survivors of the regiment learn that
Custer had met with disaster.

The hostiles gained little by their victory, for during the
following fall and winter they were continually pursued by
fresh forces, and many found it expedient to surrender. Sitting

Bull and some of his followers managed to escape
Subdued. m^° Canada, whence they occasionally sent out

raiding parties over the border, but in 1881 they
were so reduced by hunger that they returned and surrendered.
One result of the war was that the Sioux were forced to cede
the Black Hills country. For almost a decade they resided on
the reservations in reasonable peace and quiet

About 1888 many of the western tribes began to hold "ghost
dances," and their medicine men were constantly prophesying
the coming of a Messiah who would destroy the white men and

bring back the buffalo herds. The delusion gained

such a foothold that a wide-spread outbreak seemed

imminent. The Sioux became especially uneasy,
and it was known that Sitting Bull was once more engaged in
stirring them up. Indian policemen were sent to arrest him,
but some of his followers defended him, and Sitting Bull was
slain (December 15, 1890). A couple of weeks later a consider-
able battle took place at Wounded Knee, but the Sioux suffered
heavily, and this defeat and the energetic action of General
Nelson A. Miles sufficed to bring to an end what proved to be
the last of our many Indian wars.
The submission of the Plains tribes to the inevitable was

due almost as much to the disappearance of the
teethe r buffaloes as to the campaigns of the soldiers. These
the Buffalo ^S^ty, shaggy, lumbering beasts were to these red

men what manna was to the Children of Israel
during their sojourn in the Wilderness — and more, for from
them the Indians obtained not only most of their food, but

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 109

also clothing, bowstrings, harness for ponies and dogs, and
skins for lodges. While the buffaloes were plentiful it was
generally easy for bands on the war-path to evade the slow-
moving soldiers, but when the herds of "Plains cattle" dis-
appeared, the old system of warfare became impossible. Lack
of food was the main factor that forced Sitting Bull and his
band to return from Canada.

When white men first settled on the Atlantic coast, the buf-
faloes ranged over a large part of the United States, Canada,
and Mexico, and only five years before the Revolution, George
Their Ra e Washington and some companions shot five of
and them in one day near the Great Kanawha River,

in what is now West Virginia. By 1830 they had
been driven far beyond the Mississippi, except in the region of
Minnesota, yet as late as the early 'yo's they still numbered
millions. In 1868 General Sheridan and an escort rode for
three days through one vast herd. The same year a train on
the Kansas-Pacific Railroad ran for more than 120 miles
through "an almost unbroken herd," and the next year a train
on the same road was delayed for eight hours by buffaloes
crossing the track ahead of it. Though vast in size and fero-
cious in aspect, buffaloes were really among the least danger-
ous of large wild animals, and the comparative safety with
which they could be hunted, the value of their hides and flesh,
and their intense stupidity all combined to hasten their de-
struction. Their stupidity was so great that when stampeded
they would sometimes plunge by hundreds over cliffs, dash
madly into moving railroad trains, wade into quicksands that
had already swallowed up multitudes of their companions
ahead, or stand foolishly in range of ambushed hunters until
literally hundreds had been shot down. Colonel Richard I.
Dodge, the author of an interesting book on the Plains, records
that he once counted 112 dead buffaloes lying inside a semi-
circle of 200 yards, all of which had been slain by one man
firing from the same spot.

The Indians annually killed hundreds of thousands of the
animals for their meat and hides. Every fall hundreds of Red

no THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

River half-breeds from the Lake Winnipeg region journeyed
into the buffalo country and returned with their creaking

wooden carts (in the manufacture of which not an
Enemies. ounce of iron was used) laden down with hides and

jerked meat. Hunters from the East and from
Europe sought the plains to gratify their desire for slaughter, and
shot buffaloes until their passion was appeased, being usually
content to leave the bodies lying undisturbed, or, at most, to
take the horns and tails for trophies, with perhaps the tongues
and a little of the hump for meat. Not infrequently buffaloes
were shot by passengers firing from the windows of moving
trains, the sole object being mere slaughter. Sometimes, of
course, the killing of buffaloes served a more useful purpose,
as, for example, when William F. Cody, in eighteen months,
killed 4,280 to furnish food for the builders of the Kansas-
Pacific Railroad and thereby won his famous sobriquet of
"Buffalo Bill."

The number of buffaloes was so vast, however, that the
animals would have survived much longer had it not been for
the operations of "skin-hunters" seeking "robes" for Eastern

markets. This destructive industry, which first
Hunters.''1 attained considerable dimensions about 1872, was

rendered practicable by the construction of rail-
roads, which made the buffalo country more easily accessible.
The most approved parties for this business were composed of
four men — one shooter, two skinners, and one cook, who also
stretched hides. Heavy, long-range Sharps or Remington
rifles were generally used, and, if buffaloes were plentiful, the
hunter had little difficulty in keeping the skinners busy; in
fact, he often killed more animals than they were able to take
care of. The herds were constantly harried by these skin-
hunters, and in places the air for miles would be poisoned by
the noxious effluvia from the rotting carcasses. Colonel Dodge
estimates that in the three years 1872-74 fully 3,000,000 buf-
faloes were slain by hide-hunters, and that the total number
killed in those years was probably 5,000,000. Practically all
the meat was wasted, but years afterward bone-pickers went
about the plains and gathered up the skeletons for fertilizer.

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" in

As early as 1870 the original range on the Plains had been
divided, and there was a northern and a southern herd, which
never came together. By the end of another decade the great
herds had been wiped out, but a few small ones
Extinction, remained in the Llano Estacado country in the
south, and Montana in the north. In 1887 there
remained in the whole United States only a few hundred scat-
tered buffaloes, and these were soon exterminated save in
Yellowstone National Park, where a small herd is still pre-
served. In Canada the wild buffaloes lasted longer, and a
few so-called "wood bison" still wander through the remote
wilderness between the lower reaches of the Liard and Peace
Rivers.

In the far Southwest the Apaches, an offshoot from the Atha-
bascan family of the far Canadian northland, indulged in fre-
quent bloody forays against scattered ranchers and prospectors,
and displayed unsurpassed cunning and a pitiless
ferocity that spared neither sex nor age. Although
less numerous than the Sioux, they dwelt in a more
difficult country, full of mountain and desert fastnesses, while,
when hard pressed, they were often able to escape over the
border into Mexico. Thither they were frequently followed by
American forces, while Mexican troops co-operated against the
common foe. Such Indian leaders as Cochise, Victorio, Juh,
and Geronimo won fame in these outbreaks, while on the side
of the white man the most noted names were those of Generals
Crook and Miles. It was not until 1886 that the final out-
break was suppressed. In that year the Chiricahua Apaches,
the most incorrigible of all, with their leader Geronimo, were
deported to Florida and Alabama, where they were subjected
to military imprisonment, being subsequently transferred to
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on the Kiowa reservation. At the last-
mentioned place they engaged in successful farming, and de-
veloped an ability to make money and to save it.

In 1887 Congress passed the so-called Dawes Act, under the
provisions of which many Indian reservations were broken up,
part of the land being allotted to the Indians in severally,
while the remainder was opened to white settlement. Most

ii2 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

of the tribes of the Indian Territory consented to accept the

terms of the act, and ultimately the territory was admitted to

the Union as the State of Oklahoma (1007). A

The Opening v 7 '

of picturesque episode in the transformation occurred

Oklahoma. AM no T. ^i -n-

on April 22, 1889, when more than a million acres
were opened to homesteaders. At noon precisely, at the
call of a bugle, tens of thousands of frantically eager would-
be settlers, on foot, on horseback, in every imaginable vehi-
cle, dashed madly over the border to claim fertile quarter-
sections or* choice town lots. By nightfall, Guthrie, which six
hours before had been only a town site, was thronged with
10,000 people, while Oklahoma City and other places were
thickly populated. Many persons who participated in the
rush soon sold out their holdings and departed, but most re-
mained, and by the end of 1889 Oklahoma, "the Beautiful
Land," which as yet included only a part of the Indian Ter-
ritory, had a population of about 60,000. Subsequently other
reservations were thrown open to settlement, and similar scenes
were enacted. The soil proved highly productive, oil and vari-
ous kinds of minerals were discovered, and the territory and
later the State prospered exceedingly, so that by 1910 Okla-
homa contained 1,657,153 inhabitants.
Tribal relationships were broken up so rapidly that by 1910

there remained in the United States only 71,872

XT V» t

Tribal6' Indians who were not taxed as citizens. Those re-
Indiansin taining their reservations still held, however, an

area twice that of the State of New York, scattered
through twenty-six commonwealths.

In the United States, exclusive of Alaska, the total number
of Indians was 265,683, which, strange as it may seem, was
probably not much less than the number living in the same

limits in the days of John Smith, Powhatan, and
Condition Pocahontas. Included, however, were many per-
Indians SOTts °^ mixe^ blood, for miscegenation with Indians

has excited comparatively little prejudice, and one
President was fond of boasting that he had Indian blood in
his veins. Only a few States, such as California and Arizona,

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 113

where the aborigines are rather lower in the scale than else-
where, forbid intermarriage, and in many places the red race
is rapidly being absorbed by the Caucasians. In some in-
stances the Indians who have turned farmers are thrifty and
prosperous, this being especially true in Oklahoma, where a
considerable number have become rich through the discovery
of oil on their lands. Many, of course, are shiftless and de-
graded, victims often of tuberculosis, "fire- water," and venereal
diseases. In most the primitive love of the woods and waters
persists, but, within the limits of the United States, the really
"wild" Indian is virtually a thing of the past. So far as their
welfare depends upon governmental assistance, they are better
cared for than formerly. Large sums are expended to give
them elementary, secondary, and higher education, and com-
paratively few of the younger generation are unable to read
and write. The glorious scalp-lifting days are gone forever,
but the young men now play baseball and football, and re-
cently helped their white brethren to fight the "Huns."

A more serious obstacle in the way of settlement of the West
than the aboriginal inhabitants was the problem of transporta-
tion. The Pacific coast region could be reached by way of
Transporta- Panama or tne Straits of Magellan, though either
tion of these routes was long, costly, and dangerous,

but the plains and mountain country required an
overland trip. The usual starting-place for such a journey was
some point on the Missouri River, which offered an inlet for
3,000 miles, by steamer, mackinaw boats, or canoes, for fur
traders, missionaries, trappers, prospectors, or other travel-
lers; but it was a treacherous stream, the Indians along
its upper reaches were often hostile, and sixty or sixty-five
days were required to reach the head of navigation even by
steamer.

Passengers for the interior rode on horseback, in stage-coaches,
or in prairie-schooners; some of the mail for a time reached
its destination by the famous "pony express"; while freight
was carried by pack-trains or wagon-trains, drawn by horses,
mules, or slow oxen. It took from forty-five to seventy-four

ii4 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

days for teamsters to go from Fort Leavenworth to Denver, and
freight rates ran as high as twenty-five cents a pound in the
Civil War period, though the average was nearer ten
of Travel. cents. The great companies engaged in the trans-
portation of passengers and mails were Wells Fargo
& Company and the Overland Stage Line, the latter owned
by an aggressive individual named Ben Holladay, who at one
time owned 260 coaches, 6,000 horses and mules, scores of stage
stations, and other equipment. Except in the heart of winter
or when the Indians were too aggressive, a coach set out daily
from Atchison to Placerville, and another from Placerville to
Atchison, and the trip required on the average five days and
four hours of continuous travel. In 1865 the fare to Denver
was $175, to California $500. A telegraph line to San Fran-
cisco was completed as early as 1862, and remained in continuous
operation except when disturbed by storms, Indians, or buffaloes.
Several routes for a railroad to the Pacific coast were sur-
veyed by the federal government in 1853-54, but sectional
rivalries and the outbreak of the Civil War delayed the con-
AP -fi summation of the project, and it was not until
Railroad 1862 that Congress formally authorized the con-
struction of a Pacific railroad. In aid of the ven-
ture the government granted ten alternate sections of land per
mile on each side of the road, and issued bonds to the ultimate
sum of over $55,000,000, these last being secured by a mortgage
on the road. Construction was begun at both ends of the line,
in both Nebraska and California, by companies organized for
that purpose.

At the end of 1865 the Union Pacific builders, working from
Omaha, had finished only forty miles of road, but progress
thereafter was more rapid. Meanwhile the Central Pacific
D'ffi uiti was building eastward from Sacramento through
of Con- the Sierras. At both ends "Hurry ! " was the watch-
word, for each mile constructed meant an added
subsidy in bonds. The Western builders were hampered by
the necessity of bringing the rails immense distances via Panama
or the Horn, and also by lack of labor, but they solved the latter

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 115

difficulty by employing thousands of Chinese. Those moving
toward the sunset were often molested by Indians, but, as
many of the workmen were veterans of the Civil War, the con-
struction gangs were usually able to beat off their savage
assailants.

Finally, on May 10, 1869, "tracks ends" met at Promontory
Point, northwest of Ogden, Utah. When Leland Stanford,
president of the Central Pacific, drove the golden spike fur-
nished by California into the last tie of laurel wood,

Smpleted. men felt that at last East and West were joined.
The occasion was celebrated with noisy demon-
strations throughout the United States. A historian who has
written extensively on the history of travel in America expresses
the view that as the multitudes lifted up their rhythmic shouts
in answer to the bells, "It was as though they were chanting
the last, triumphant words in a long epic of human endeavor.
And if those of future tunes should seek for a day on which the
country at last became a nation, and for an event by virtue
of which its inhabitants became one people, it may be that they
will not select the verdict of some political campaign or battle-
field but choose, instead, the hour when two engines — one from
the East and the other from the West — met at Promontory."

At all events, the completion of a railway to the Pacific, by
solving the problem of transportation, spelled the doom of the
"Wild West" and opened a "new period of national assimila-
A New tion." Before this to reach the Rocky Mountains
Period or the region beyond necessitated arduous and

often dangerous effort; thenceforth the would-be
settler could be whirled thither in a day or two, and, further-
more, he would have a means of sending his products to Eastern
markets.

By 1884 three other transcontinental had been added, while
many branches from all four had been pushed out
^nto regions not traversed by the main lines. The
days of the stage-coach and of the slowly moving
wagons of the freighters were numbered, and the "Frontier"
had vanished.

u6 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

In the occupation by white men of the Far t West east of

California a distinct succession is noticeable: first came the

trapper and Indian trader, next the prospector and miner, next

the cattleman and sheep-herder, and finally the

farmer. The trader sometimes carried his goods

overland by pack-train, but more commonly he made his slow

way up the muddy current of the turbulent Missouri, and

established his post somewhere along its upper course.

From such posts the trapper usually pushed out into the
haunts of the beaver, taking little except traps and his rifle
and ammunition, for he trusted for food almost solely to the
game he could kill. Furs weighed little, and if he
Trapper. went in with horses, he brought out his spoil on
their backs; if afoot, he might build a boat and
descend one of the numerous streams to the great river. Usu-
ally he sold his catch to the traders of the country, but occa-
sionally he might float it down to a better market in St.
Louis.

As gold and silver were discovered, the miner followed the

trapper into the land. He required more supplies than did

the trapper, and to meet his needs trails were opened, and

pack-trains, and later wagon-trains, made their slow

way to his diggings. Still his product, like that of

the trapner, had little weight and bulk in comparison to value,

and the placer miner, in rich ground, could operate without

the railroad. Quartz-mining and stamping-mills were another

matter.

Following the miner and close on the heels of the vanish-
ing buffaloes came the cowboys, with their herds of long-horned
cattle ranging free over the plains and through the valleys.
The cattleman's product could transport itself,
Cowboy. and herds of branded steers were often driven hun-
dreds of miles to the end-of-steel, whence they were
carried by rail to Kansas City or Chicago. A rival of the cat-
tleman was the sheep-herder, and many were the bitter battles
fought by these two for possession of a choice range.
The Western cattle business first attained importance in

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 117

Texas, where a wild variety, descended from those brought
over by the Spaniards, had long thrived on the nutritious na-
tive grasses. Gradually cattle-raising became more
Drive."005 and rnore profitable and spread to the northward.
A day came when some cattlemen annually made
the "Long Drive" from Texas to Dakota, Wyoming, or Mon-
tana; that is, as the summer sun scorched the grass of the
plains they would move their herds slowly northward and thus
keep them on fresh grass. In the fall they would sell the
cattle to stock up ranches that were being established in the
north country or to be killed for beef. Even many of the cat-
tlemen who did not make the Long Drive would move their
herds northward from Texas across the (f Territory" or the
"Panhandle" to some shipping-point on the railroad. Those
were the halcyon days of gambling-dens and dance-halls, of
cowboys who wore fifty-dollar broad-brimmed hats, enormous
spurs, and chaparajos, and "shot up" towns; of "rustlers"
who altered brands and ran off cattle and horses; of terrors to
desperadoes like "Wild Bill" Hickock, marshal of Hayes City.
The prices of horses and cattle often fell so low that ranch-
ing frequently was more picturesque than profitable, but the
grass on the public domain cost nothing, and the mere romance
of the business attracted many men into it, even

Ranching.

Easterners and Englishmen. Among the former
was Theodore Roosevelt, who for several years owned the
"Elkhorn Ranch" on the Little Missouri River in western
Dakota. His narratives of his experiences as a rancher and
big-game hunter vividly describe certain phases of Western
life in that period.

Not far behind the cattleman came the homesteader, with
his prairie-schooner, his draught-horses, oxen, and milch cows,
his pigs, ploughs, and barbed-wire fences. The last soon put

an end to the free ranges, except where the soil
steader°m was to° arid to be cultivated successfully without

irrigation. Cowboys, "longhorns," round-ups, and
romance gave place to prosaic fields of wheat, oats, alfalfa,
and potatoes.

n8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Down to the Civil War settlers on the public domain were
required to pay for their land, though the price was never
large. For many years there was agitation in favor of giving
The the land to actual settlers, but this plan aroused

Homestead much Southern opposition, and it was not until
1862 that Congress passed the celebrated Home-
stead law. Under it any citizen of the United States twenty-
one years of age, or any one of that age who had declared an
intention of acquiring citizenship, might become the owner of
a piece of surveyed land up to 160 acres by residing on it for
five years and paying certain nominal entry-fees. This Home-
stead Law, with its future amplifications, constituted an invita-
tion to all the world to come to America and receive free land.
In the words of a popular song:

"Of all the mighty nations in the East or in the West
This glorious Yankee nation is the greatest and the best;
We have room for all creation and our banner is unfurled,
Here's a general invitation to the people of the world.

Come along, come along, make no delay,
Come from every nation, come from every way;
Our lands are broad enough, don't be alarmed,
For Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm."

Every year tens of thousands at home and abroad accepted
the invitation and received millions of rich acres from the
public domain. The homestead policy not only hastened the
Fr L nd settlement of the West but — and this point deserves
a Safety- emphasis — long served as a sort of safety-valve
whereby men dissatisfied with economic and social
conditions in long-settled districts could escape to a new and
freer environment. From the moment that free land became
practically exhausted industrial and social problems became
more acute.

Let us turn now to some of the details of the development
of specific Western communities. Following the discovery of
gold in California in '48, that region was settled so rapidly that
"Jonah's gourd" ceased to be any longer "the symbol of mir-

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 119

aculous growth," and by the beginning of our period the State

contained half a million people. It was still primarily a land

of gold-miners, but wheat-farming was beginning

California. .

to take on bonanza proportions in some of its
rich valleys, the wine vintage reached 3,500,000 gallons by
1867, lumbering flourished in the incredible forests of immense
trees, and hi the south oranges, lemons, figs, English walnuts,
and similar products were "growing in sub- tropical profusion."
Already California was one of the wonder spots of the world,
and after the completion of the Pacific railroad San Francisco
became the main American gateway to the Orient.

As in the case of California, the first important influx of white
settlement into most of the mountain States resulted from the
discovery of mineral wealth. California had developed a pro-
Pros tors fessi°nal mining class of eager prospectors who were,
and Their says a historian of the West, Professor Paxson, " mo-
bile as quicksilver, restless and adventurous as all
the West, which permeated into the most remote recesses of
the mountains and produced before the Civil War was over,
as the direct result of their search for gold, not only Colorado,
but Nevada and Arizona, Idaho and Montana. Activity was
constant during these years all along the Continental Divide.
New camps were being born overnight, old ones were aban-
doned by magic. Here and there cities rose and remained to
mark success in the search. Abandoned huts and half-worked
diggings were scars covering a fourth of the continent."

Small discoveries of gold in the desolate region of the present
Nevada, then a part of Utah Territory, resulted in 1858 in the
founding of Carson City, but it was not until the spring of
N , 1859 that the finding of incredibly rich silver de-

posits near Gold Hill east of Lake Tahoe produced
a real "stampede" thither. In five years a hundred million
dollars in ore was mined from the sides of the mountains, and
the "Comstock lode" and bonanza towns like Virginia City
were famous the world over. Among those who sought their
fortunes in the new country was a young journalist named
Samuel L. Clemens, who subsequently penned a graphic ac-

120 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

count of those wild days in Roughing It. In 1861 Nevada
was made a separate territory, and in 1864 the exigencies of
Union politics caused Congress to admit the "child of the
Comstock lode" as a State, though the actual population
scarcely justified such a step. No other State has been so
much dependent upon mining as has Nevada, and the census
figures furnish a rough index to the prosperity of the mining
industry: in 1870 the population was 42,491, in 1880 it had
risen to 62,266, in 1890 and 1900 it had declined to 47,355 and
42,335 respectively, and in 1900 it had risen to 61,875. After
yielding more than $300,000,000 in silver and gold bullion the
Comstock lode was finally exhausted, but rich discoveries of
silver, gold, and copper were made elsewhere, and such camps
as Tonopah, Ely, and Goldfield became famous.

In the summer of 1858 rumors reached Missouri that gold
had been discovered in the Pike's Peak region, and soon hun-
dreds of prairie-schooners bearing such legends as "Pike's
Peak or Bust" were pushing westward across the

Colorado.

plains. Groups of delvers in the sands of Cherry

Creek combined and took the name of Denver City — named
in honor of the governor of Kansas Territory — of which the
new gold region then formed a part. Other towns sprang up,
but some were short-lived, for not a few of the "finds" proved
of trifling importance. Many argonauts, "bitter, disgusted,
and poor," returned to the States, and their wagons on the home-
ward way not infrequently bore such mottoes as "Busted, by
Gosh ! " Others persevered and prospered either as miners or
by turning their hands to farming and other occupations.
When Horace Greeley visited the West in 1859, Denver was
still composed of Indian lodges and a couple of hundred log
cabins, with earth floors and mud roofs, but by 1864 it contained
4,000 inhabitants, and a choice corner lot had been sold for
$12,000. The placer diggings soon became exhausted, but
rich gold and silver quartz veins were discovered in many
places and furnished a more solid basis for prosperity. In 1861
Colorado was formally organized as a separate territory, and
in 1876 it was admitted to the Union, being popularly known
as " the Centennial State."

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 121

About 1 86 1 gold was found in the sands of Grasshopper
Creek in what is now Montana. Bannack City sprang up
"with mining-camp rapidity," and soon a couple of thousand
prospectors were gathered along a crooked street
Idaho, and that ran down the narrow gulch. In 1863 a rich
strike was made in Alder Gulch between the Beaver-
head and Madison Rivers, and Virginia City, at first named
Varina in honor of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, came into being, and
by 1864 had a population of perhaps 10,000. As early as 1860
gold was discovered in the Clearwater country of what is nov/
Idaho, but the real history of this State may be said to begin
with the finding of gold in the Boise Basin two years later.
In 1863 Idaho, which included the present Montana and most
of Wyoming, was organized as a territory, but Montana was
set apart in 1864, and Wyoming, which for a time had been
reattached to Dakota, in 1868, the same year that the Union
Pacific reached Cheyenne. The building of the Northern
Pacific, completed in 1883, and the discovery of vast copper
deposits at Butte greatly aided the development of Mon-
tana.

Of the mining camps Professor Paxson has said, in his The
Last American Frontier, that they developed a type of life un-
like any other that America had known. Their picturesque
features misled thoughtless people into regarding them as ro-
mantic, but at best the dark places were only "accentuated
by the tinsel of gambling and adventure." He continues:

A single street meandering along a valley, with one-story huts
flanking it in irregular rows, was the typical mining camp. The
saloon and the general store, sometimes combined, were its represen-
tative institutions. Deep ruts along the streets bore wit-
Camp. imng ness to t^ie heavy wheels of the freighters, while horses
loosely tied to all available posts . . . revealed the reg-
ular means of locomotion. . . . Few decent beings habitually lived
in the towns. The resident population expected to live off the
miners, either in way of trade, or worse. The bar, the gambling
house, the dance-hall have been made too common in description to
need further account. In the reaction against loneliness, the ex-
tremes of drunkenness, debauchery and murder were only too fre-
quent in these places of amusement.

i22 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

In 1875-76 rumors of gold in the Black Hills caused a rush
thither, despite the danger of being scalped by the Sioux own-
ers, but the diggings presently petered out, and Dakota was to
owe its main development to the discovery that its
prairies would grow wheat. In the '8o's native
Americans and hardy immigrants from the Scandi-
navian countries and Germany braved the northern blizzards,
and the rapidity with which the tough sod was broken and
prairie-dog villages gave place to sod huts and waving fields of
grain was one of the wonders of the age.

An important factor in the development of the Dakotas,
Montana, and the Pacific Northwest was the completion in
1883 of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which had reached Bis-
marck, on the Missouri, just as the panic of 1873
Northern brought ruin to its promoters, Jay Cooke and Corn-
Railroad pany. In 1879 the road was revived under the
presidency of Frederick Billings, but its completion
was largely due to the activities of Henry Villard, a German
journalist and financier who was a son-in-law of William Lloyd
Garrison. The outcome of the venture proved financially dis-
astrous to Villard personally, but the road immensely benefited
the whole Northwest.

Railroads made the plains more easily accessible, but it is
beyond question that settlement of the prairies would have been
much slower if it had not been for the development of the
labor-saving device known as McCormick's reaper.
McCormick's Cvrus H. McCormick took up, when scarcely more
Reaper on than a boy, the development of an idea that had
of the West, ruined his father. His first patent for a machine
to cut grain was granted in 1834, but it was not
until 1840 that the device was placed on the market. He
established a factory in Chicago about 1846, perfected self-
rakes, mowing-machines, and finally the self-binder, and lived
till the whir of his invention was "heard around the world."
By using McCormick's devices one man could do the work of
many men, and W. H. Seward once expressed the view that
owing to them " the line of civilization moves westward thirty
miles a year."

THE PASSING OF THE "WILD WEST" 123

The passing of the frontier and the Wild West was bewilder-
ing in its rapidity. As Whittier wrote:

"Behind the scared squaw's birch canoe,

The steamer smokes and raves;
And city lots are staked for sale
Above old Indian graves.

I hear the tread of pioneers

Of nations yet to be:
The first low wash of waves where soon

Shall roll a human sea.

The rudiments of Empire here

Are plastic yet and warm;
The chaos of a mighty world

Is rounding into form ! "

"The West has changed," wrote one who beheld the trans-
formation. "The old days are gone. The house dog sits on
the hill where yesterday the coyote sang. The fences are short
and small, and within them grow green things instead of gray.
There are many smokes rising over the prairie, but they are
wide and black instead of thin and blue."

The disappearance of the Wild West meant progress in civili-
zation, yet many people viewed its passing with regret. It is
not meet that all the land should be tamed and parcelled out
The into farms and town lots. For the sake of pos-

National terity lovers of nature in its primeval forms sought
to preserve unspoiled some of the choicest bits of
the Western wonderland. In 1872 Congress set apart 3,344
square miles of northwestern Wyoming as the Yellowstone
National Park, and this area was subsequently doubled. The
spouting geysers and other natural wonders of the region had
first been discovered by John Colter, one of Lewis and Clark's
men, who had remained in the mountains to trap beaver; but
seventy years elapsed before a skeptical world was convinced
of their existence. The park was also made a sanctuary for
wild animals; and buffaloes, elk, black and grizzly bears, big-
horn sheep, and other animals roam there in large numbers.
Many other parks have since been created, among them the

i24 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

General Grant and Sequoia Parks, partly designed to preserve
the world's largest living trees; Yosemite and Grand Canyon
Parks; Mesa Verde, with its cliff-dwellings; and Mount Las-
sen Park, with its volcano. In the grandeur and variety of
their natural wonders the national parks far surpass the scen-
ery of Switzerland, but it is only recently that the mass of
Americans have come to realize their attractions.

)

CHAPTER IX

AN INTERLUDE

PRESIDENT HAYES was an able, honest man who earnestly
sought to live up to the maxim, announced in his inaugural
address, that "he serves his party best who serves his country
best." He gathered round him an unusually capa-
ble grouP of advisers, including William M. Evarts
as secretary of state, John Sherman as secretary of
the treasury, and Carl Schurz as secretary of the interior. In
the hope of helping to close the chasm that still yawned be-
tween the sections, he called to the head of the Post Office
Department David M. Key, of Tennessee, an ex-Confederate
soldier. He had even considered asking General Joseph E.
Johnston to become secretary of war, but gave up the idea
when he discovered that the step would arouse wide-spread op-
position. " Great God ! governor, I hope you are not thinking
of doing anything of that kind ! " exclaimed one horrified Re-
publican to whom he mentioned the possibility.

The President's wife, Lucy Webb Hayes, exercised an influ-
ence on the course of events fully equal to that of a cabinet
member. She was a high-minded, energetic, charming woman,
A who, like Abigail Adams, was a model of the domestic

Prohibitionist virtues. She did much to restore a wholesome
simplicity in the White House, and, being a strong
prohibitionist, she banished intoxicating liquors from the Presi-
dent's table. The innovation was bitterly attacked in some
quarters and warmly defended in others. On one occasion the
witty Evarts was asked how a certain state dinner had gone off,
and he replied: "Excellently, the water flowed like cham-
pagne!" In course of time, however, it was whispered that
the White House chef had taken compassion on thirsty souls
and had evolved for their benefit a dessert composed of an

125

126 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

orange skin filled with a "delicious frozen punch, a chief ingredi-
ent of which was strong old Santa Cruz rum." Thenceforth
this dessert was very popular among the knowing, who called
it "the Life-Saving Station"; and there was much quiet merri-
ment at the expense of the good hostess, who, it was presumed,
was ignorant of the matter. From President Hayes's diary,
however, we learn: "The joke of the Roman punch oranges
was not on us, but on the drinking people. My orders were
to flavor them rather strongly with the same flavor that is
found in Jamaica rum. This took ! There was not a drop of
spirits in them ! "

Under President Hayes much was done to improve admin-
istrative efficiency and to weed out dishonesty, and he made an
earnest effort to introduce civil service reform. Back in 1871
Congress, under pressure of public opinion, had
S ' authorized the President to prescribe rules for the

Reform entrance of men into the civil service and to name a
body of men to aid him in the work. Grant ap-
pointed a commission of seven members, headed by George
William Curtis, an eminent editor and reformer. But practical
politicians sneered at the "Chinese system," which deprived
them of their patronage, and Congress in 1873 failed to make
any further appropriation for the work, with the result that
the commission, though it still had a nominal existence, could
accomplish virtually nothing. Hayes repeateoUy urged upon
Congress the desirability of the reform, but did not succeed in
prodding that body into action.

In 1877 an investigation into the affairs of the New York
custom-house resulted in the disclosure of mismanagement and
undue political activity on the part of many of the officials,
who formed part of the "machine" of Senator
Roscoe Conkling, the proud Republican boss of the
State. Hayes removed Chester A. Arthur, collector
of the port, and A. B. Cornell, the naval officer, and thereby
precipitated a bitter controversy with Conkling and other
senators over the patronage question. A majority of the
Senate at first sustained Conkling but later accepted the Presi-

AN INTERLUDE 127

dent's nominees. In New York, however, the "Stalwarts,"
as one wing of the Republican party was coming to be known,
nominated Cornell for governor, and elected him, in spite of
considerable defection known as "Young Scratchers."

Temporarily the efforts of Hayes in behalf of civil service
seemed almost barren of results, but what he did served to
keep the subject agitated. Meanwhile other reformers were
at work helping to educate the public as to the need of the
reform. In 1877 a civil service reform association was organ-
ized in New York and quickly spread to other States. Four
years later a national civil service reform league was formed.
Thus the seeds were being sown; the harvest was not far in
the future.

The President's attitude toward the civil service and his

withdrawal of the troops from the support of Southern Carpet-

Bag governments aroused bitter hostility among many Repub-

licans, while Democrats criticised him even more

Attitu*f 1C vigorously than is the usual custom on the part of

^e °PPositi°n' Favorite Democratic names for

him were "the de facto President," "Old Eight to
Seven," "The Usurper," and "The Boss Thief," while their
newspapers never lost an opportunity to refer to the "Great
Steal." To a crowd of admirers assembled in front of his house
at 1 5 Gramercy Park, in New York City, Tilden declared that
he had been cheated out of the presidency by a "political
crime," which the American people would not condone "under
any pretext or for any purpose."

In order to gather political ammunition, the House of Rep-
resentatives, which was controlled by the Democrats, created
(May 17, 1878) what was known as the "Potter Committee"

to investigate once more the elections in Louisiana
Committee. an^ Florida. The Democratic members of this

committee labored with zeal and took much testi-
mony discreditable to their opponents, being greatly aided by
several Southern Republicans who were disgruntled because
they felt that they had not been properly rewarded by the
Hayes administration. Long lists were also made of Repub-

128 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

licans connected with the Southern elections who had since
been given lucrative federal offices, and an attempt was made
to show that the appointments had been made as rewards for
corrupt services. One member of the committee, Benjamin F.
Butler, who was now an independent, said of the appointments
that the most charitable construction was that "post hoc is
not always propter hoc"

The jubilant Democrats broadcasted the Potter Committee
revelations over the country, and confidently looked forward
to a bountiful political harvest, but an unexpected turn to the
investigation suddenly dampened their hopes and
Despatches, revived the spirits of their depressed opponents.
It so happened that the New York Tribune, a Re-
publican paper, had in its possession several hundred cipher
despatches that had been transmitted by Democratic leaders
during the exciting days of the disputed election. By using
methods more suggestive of Poe's Gold Bug than of an event in
real life, two ingenious members of the Tribune staff managed to
discover the "keys" to all except a few messages. The trans-
lations of some revealed the fact that Democratic agents had
attempted to purchase Southern electors and returning boards,
the sums named being enormous; and the sensation created by
publication of the despatches was all the greater because many
of them were transmitted from or to Tilden's residence, being
addressed to or signed by his nephew, Colonel W. T. Pelton.
Republican pressure forced the Potter Committee to investi-
gate the cipher despatches. Some of the Democrats concerned
admitted their own complicity, but all did their best to shield
Tilden. Tilden himself denied having taken any part in the
corrupt negotiations, and testified that when the negotiations
came to his attention he ordered that they be discontinued.
Most historians are inclined to acquit him of blame in the
matter. The general effect of the cipher-despatch disclosures
was, however, to blanket the other revelations made by the
Potter Committee, and to render ineffective the Democratic
cry of "fraud."

Throughout the Hayes administration the Democrats con-

AN INTERLUDE 129

trolled the House of Representatives, and during the last two
years of it they controlled the Senate also. One of their main
efforts was directed toward repealing the federal
Struggle jaws designed to protect the political rights of the
Federal Southern negroes. By refusing to appropriate
Laws.00 money for the army the House finally forced the
Senate and the President to accept a bill (June 18,
1878) prohibiting the use of troops at the polls. Subsequently
Hayes vetoed eight measures aimed at the remaining "force
bills." The "force" legislation that survived became almost
a dead letter, and some of it was declared unconstitutional in
1882. Most of what remained was repealed by a Democratic
Congress in 1894.

The currency question continued to excite much contro-
versy during this administration. The country had not yet
fully recovered from the effects of the panic of 1873, and the
The debtor class, to which many Western and Southern

Currency farmers belonged, inclined to oppose the resump-
tion of specie payments and to favor a further in-
flation of the currency. In their opinion it was a hardship
that they should be compelled to pay their debts in dearer
dollars than those they had borrowed. With this view we
ought not to quarrel, though we can hardly sympathize with
the desire of many to pay in cheaper dollars than those they
had obtained. Honest creditors, on the other hand, thought
that they ought to be paid in dollars that were at least no
cheaper than those they had loaned, while the grasping were
eager for contraction, which would obviously be to their in-
terest.

In the elections of 1878 the "Greenback" party, which had
had a ticket in the field in 1876, cast a million votes, while
inflationist sentiment ran strongly even in the two older parties.
During 1877 and 1878 persistent efforts were made
Carrkcfout! to repeal the Resumption Act of 1875, or to post-
pone its execution, but all came to naught except
that a provision for the retirement of the greenback circmlation
in excess of $300,000,000 was repealed. In preparation for

130 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the appointed day Secretary of the Treasury Sherman was
careful to gather by December, 1878, a gold reserve of $142,-
000,000, which was about two-fifths of the amount of out-
standing notes. In consequence resumption was effected
without creating a financial ripple. The report from the New
York subtreasury for January 2 (the ist, the date fixed by the
act, having fallen on Sunday) showed only $135,000 of notes
, had been presented for coin, while $400,000 of gold had been
turned in for notes ! Gold and greenbacks had at last been put
upon a par, and, as Sherman had predicted, when the public
found they could have either gold or notes, they preferred the
notes.

Resumption was a great triumph of sound finance, and the
credit for bringing it about belongs first of all to Sherman,
the author of the act, and the man who put it into execution.
In this and in other matters, notably in refunding bonds at a
lower rate of interest, he showed himself one of the greatest of
our public financiers.

Owing largely to the development of rich silver mines in the
Western States and Mexico the world's production of the white
metal had for some years been increasing more rapidly than

As a result the relative value of the

Silver De

monetized two metals was changing in favor of gold. In 1860

the ratio had been 15 to i, in 1873 it was 16 to i,
and by 1877 it was 17 to i. In 1867 an international confer-
ence that met in Paris recommended the adoption of the single
gold standard, and most great nations gravitated in that direc-
tion. In 1873 Congress in codifying the coinage laws omitted
from the standard list the silver dollar, which had been little
used for nearly forty years, and this "demonetization of silver,"
which attracted little attention at the time, was subsequently
denounced as "the Crime of 1873."

The decreasing value of silver served to make that metal
attractive to advocates of cheap money, and under Hayes a
strong demand arose for the restoration of bimetallism. In
1877-78 debtors and the silver-producing barons of the West
rallied enthusiastically in favor of a bill introduced by Richard

AN INTERLUDE 131

P. Bland, a Democratic Representative from Missouri, to re-
store silver to "its ancient legal equality with gold as a debt-
paying money." Thenceforth any owner of silver
bullion was to have the right to bring it to the
mint and have it coined at the ratio of 15.62 to i.
The bill passed the House, but the Senate, on motion of Sen-
ator Allison of Iowa, struck out the "free and unlimited"
feature, and provided instead that the secretary of the treasury
must purchase monthly not less than $2,000,000 nor more than
$4,000,000 worth of silver bullion and coin it into money.
Finding that they could not pass the original measure, the
radical advocates of silver, on the theory that half a loaf is
better than no bread, consented to accept the Bland-Allison
bill, as it was called, and the measure became a law over the
President's veto (February 28, 1878).

During the next eleven years (February 28, 1878 to November
i, 1889) $286,930,633.64 worth of silver bullion was purchased
under the act and coined into 343,638,001 standard dollars,
but it was found difficult to keep them in circulation, and they
persisted in drifting back into the vaults of the treasury in
payment of government dues and taxes. On November i,
1889, less than a fifth were in circulation.

The Hayes administration was marked by unrest in many
other matters. A description of the great railroad strike of
1877 will be given in the next chapter. Another manifestation

of discontent was the "Sand-lot" movement, or
Kearaeyism. . . . .....

Kearneyism. The originator of this agitation was

an Irishman named Dennis Kearney, who was the prime mover
in founding (September 12, 1877) the " Workingman's Party
of California," an organization that demanded abolition of
land and moneyed monopolies, also shorter hours for labor, but
laid most stress on excluding the Chinese.

In the early years following the discovery of gold these
almond-eyed Celestials had been welcomed on the West Coast,
for they willingly did cooking, laundering, and other work
that white men disliked. In 1868 the Burlingame Treaty
formally recognized their right to enter the United States, and

i32 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the census taken two years later showed that they numbered
56,000, all but 467 of whom were west of the Rockies. Already,

however, white laborers were beginning to feel their
Question!6*' competition, for the Chinese were frugal and hard-

working, willing to work for wages on which a
white man would starve. Furthermore, their customs were
outlandish, their habits repellent, and they gathered in filthy,
congested districts where strange and abominable vices were
practised. In 1871 a mob in Los Angeles shot or hanged more
than a score of Chinese; similar brutal scenes became com-
mon over the West. Attacks upon Chinese quarters formed,
in fact, a reasonably safe sort of diversion, for the dwellers in
such places rarely made any effective resistance, and their gov-
ernment at home was too weak to exact satisfaction for out-
rages against its citizens abroad.

Kearney's party brought the hostility to the Celestials to a
head. Kearney, imitating Cato, habitually ended all of his
speeches — which were usually made on the vacant "sand lots"

of San Francisco — with the slogan, "The Chinese
Crusade.3 must go!" In 1879, in alliance with the Grangers,

the new party controlled the State constitutional
convention and inserted into the new fundamental law clauses
aimed at the Chinese, but these and some State laws having
the same object were set aside by the federal Supreme Court.
For years the East gave scant attention to the Chinese ques-
tion, but when Celestials began to appear in that section,
Eastern workingmen, fearing their "cheap labor," made corn-

mon cause ^th ^eir Western brethren. Interested

Chinese

Exclusion capitalists and disinterested philanthropists vainly

strove to quiet the agitation; Western mobs con-
tinued to maltreat and murder the "heathen Chinee." In
1879 Congress passed a bill restricting the immigration of the
Chinese, but Hayes vetoed the measure on the ground that it
was in conflict with the Burlingame Treaty. Next year, how-
ever, the United States persuaded China to modify that treaty,
and in 1882 legislation excluding Chinese coolies for ten years
was enacted. In 1892 the drastic Geary law extended the period

AN INTERLUDE 133

for another decade, despite the protests of China. Later
legislation continued the prohibition, and in recent years the
number of Chinese in the United States has tended to diminish
rather than increase. In 1910 there were only 71,531. Only
students and certain other designated classes are now permitted
to come into the country at all.

Historians are inclined to agree that Hayes ruled firmly and
patriotically in a confused and critical period, but he never
managed to achieve much popularity. In his letter of accept-
ance he had declared that if elected he would not be a can-
didate for a second term, and the "Stalwart" faction of his
party were determined to hold "Granny Hayes," as many of
them called him, to his word.

Among the candidates for the Republican nomination in
1880 were Secretary Sherman of Ohio, Senator Elaine of Maine,
and Senator Edmunds of Vermont, but the name that at-
The Grant tracted most attention was that of General Grant,
Third-Term whom certain Stalwart leaders, notably Conkling
of New York, Don Cameron of Pennsylvania, and
Logan of Illinois, were bringing forward for a third term. On
his retirement in 1877 Grant had made a tour around the world,
in the course of which he had been received with high honors
that were very flattering to the American people. Many Re-
publicans believed that his added experience would enable him
to avoid the blunders of his previous tenure of office, while, to
combat the arguments against a third term, it was urged that
the precedent applied only to a third consecutive term. His
candidacy was greeted with warm approval and equally warm
opposition.

The Republican convention, which met at Chicago on June
2, 1880, praised the record of the Republican party and the
administration of President Hayes and denounced the Demo-
cratic party's "supreme and insatiable lust of office
and patronage" and the methods taken by it to
secure a "solid South." The platform, as reported,
omitted any reference to civil service reform, but a Massa-
chusetts delegate proposed a "plank" demanding that "Con-

i34 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

gress shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper prac-
tical tests, shall admit to the public service." Thereupon a
delegate from Texas, Flanagan by name, won nation-wide no-
toriety by springing to his feet and proclaiming the old slogan,
"To the victors belong the spoils." "What are we up here
for?" he demanded, mystified. Probably a majority of the
delegates sympathized with Flanagan's view, but they felt it
unsafe to go on record to that effect, so the amendment was
adopted.

Conkling presented Grant's name in a striking speech which
began:

"And when asked what State he hails from, our sole reply shall be,
He hails from Appomattox and its famous apple tree."

The speech of James A. Garfield in Sherman's behalf was also
a splendid effort, and it was to have unexpected results. On
the first ballot Grant led with 304 votes, Elaine was a close

second with 284, Sherman had 93, and Edmunds
Arthu!dand 34> with the rest scattering. Grant's "phalanx,"

as his delegates were called, stuck to him to the
end, but his vote never rose above 313, which was 65 short of
a majority. Sherman's vote rose to 120 on the thirtieth ballot,
but he could get no more, while Elaine's number never exceeded
285. On the second ballot one delegate had voted for Gar-
field, and on several succeeding ballots he received i or 2 votes;
on the thirty-fourth ballot Wisconsin gave him 16 votes, making
him a total of 17. To show his loyalty to Sherman, Garfield
sprang to his feet to make a protest, but Senator George F. Hoar,
the permanent chairman, who tells us in his Autobiography that
he secretly hoped that the deadlock would be broken in the way
that actually happened, ruled Garfield out of order and com-
manded him to sit down. On the next ballot Garfield received
50, and on the next a mad rush to him ensued, with the result
that he received 399 votes and the nomination. As a sop to
Conkling and the disappointed Stalwarts, the convention then
named for the vice-presidency Chester A. Arthur, the man

AN INTERLUDE 135

whom Hayes had removed from the collectorship of the port
of New York.

James A. Garfield, who was thus unexpectedly nominated,
was born at Orange, in the Western Reserve of Ohio, in 1831.
His parents were poor, and as a boy he drove mules on the tow-
Gar6 id' Pat^ °^ ^ Ohio Canal, but he managed to obtain
Career and a college education. When the Civil War came,
he was president of a small institution known as
Hiram College, but he entered the army and rose to the rank of
a major-general, being later elected to the House of Represen-
tatives, where he served several terms. At the time he was
nominated he had been elected by the Ohio Legislature to the
Senate, but had not yet taken his seat. The story of his rise
from poverty and obscurity made a strong popular appeal.

Many people supposed that the Democrats would renominate
Tilden and under his leadership seek to "right the wrong" of
1876. But he was far from popular with most of the leaders,
and many believed that the cipher-despatch dis-
Nominate closures weakened his availability. When Tilden
wr°te a somewhat equivocal letter in which he ex-
patiated upon his bad health and seemed to depre-
cate proposals to nominate him, most Democrats chose to
interpret the missive as a definite declination, and in the con-
vention, which met at Cincinnati (June 22), he received only a
few votes. On the first ballot nearly a score of other candidates
received more or less support, among them being Thomas F.
Bayard of Delaware, Henry B. Payne of Ohio, Allen G. Thur-
man of Ohio, and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, but General
Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania led, and on the second
ballot he was nominated. The man thus selected was a veteran
of both the Mexican and Civil Wars, and had greatly distin-
guished himself at Gettysburg and Spottsylvania. His fine
appearance and soldierly bearing had won him the nickname
of "the Superb." Although he had fought against the South,
he had won favor in that section by showing, as a district com-
mander, that he did not sympathize with the Congressional
plan of reconstruction. As his associate on the ticket, the con-

136 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

vention selected William H. English of Indiana, a former mem-
ber of Congress in the days of the Kansas controversy.

In the campaign the Democratic orators harped constantly
on the "fraud of 1876," an issue which their platform declared
"dwarfs every other" and "imposes a more sacred duty upon
T, the people of the Union than ever addressed the

Campaign conscience of a nation of freemen." Republicans
retorted with details of the cipher-despatch disclo-
sures and with stories of the methods used by their antagonists
to suppress the negro vote and maintain the "solid South."
The tariff, the currency, and Garfield's alleged connection with
the Credit Mobilier scandal also received attention. In the
last week of the canvass the Democrats also gave wide pub-
licity to a forged document known as the "Morey letter," in
which Garfield was represented as deprecating the agitation
against "Chinese cheap labor." The letter was chiefly designed
for effect on the Pacific coast, and probably won Hancock five
of the six electoral votes of California. On their side, the Re-
publicans caught up a phrase of Hancock's in which he char-
acterized the tariff as "a local issue," and they tried to convince
voters that such a statement revealed his abysmal ignorance
of public, questions. The fact is that in this period of transi-
tion the contest was little more than a struggle for office. Old
issues were dead or dying, and neither party championed any
great cause.

The October election in Maine proved discouraging to the
Republicans, but they redoubled their efforts thereafter, and
even the silent Grant took the stump in behalf of the ticket.
A Hancock carried the "solid South," but in the North

Republican and West he won only New Jersey, Nevada, and
five of the six electoral votes of California — in all,
155 electoral votes. Garfield carried the same number of
States but received 214 electoral votes and the presidency.
The Republicans regained control of the House of Represen-
tatives, while the Senate would stand 37 Democrats, 37 Re-
publicans, with the balamce of power resting in the hands of the
Vice-President and two independents.

AN INTERLUDE 137

The victory was speedily followed by a quarrel between the
victors. Garfield at first sought to conciliate Senator Conk-
ling of New York, but soon incurred his hostility by naming
James G. Elaine, one of Conkling's bitterest enemies,
Garfield- as secretary of state, and by nominating W. H.
Feud!"18 Robertson for collector of the port of New York, a
position which carried great weight in politics, as
the collector had over a thousand subordinates who were ex-
pected to be political workers, according to the spoils system,
upon which Conkling was largely dependent for his power.
Robertson had repeatedly defied the Stalwart boss, and at the
Chicago convention had supported Elaine instead of Grant.
Conkling believed that in Robertson's appointment "he saw
the fine Italian hand of Elaine." In his insane determination
to make the President "bite the dust," Conkling made public
a letter written by Garfield to stimulate the collection of cam-
paign contributions from government employees. The dis-
closure brought discredit upon the President, but it did not
enable Conkling to persuade the Senate to reject Robert-
son. He therefore petulantly resigned his seatjin the Senate,
and his example was followed by his colleague, Thomas C.
Platt, who thereby won the nickname of "Me Too." The two
expected and demanded a re-election as a vindication, but, to
the delight and amusement of the country, the New York
Legislature elected two other men, E. G. Lapham and Warner
Miller. Conkling never again held public office, but Platt, a
younger man, subsequently regained his power, and, as "the
Easy Boss," was long a familiar figure in both State and na-
tional politics.

During the campaign Garfield had written to J. A. Hubbell,
chairman of the Republican congressional committee, another
letter of the same tenor as that which Conkling made public.
^etter ^ mto ^e hands of Second Assistant

The "Star"

Route Postmaster-General Brady. Brady and confed-

Frauds. , , . .

crates had long been involved in corrupt practices
in connection with the "star" mail routes, and when James,
the new postmaster-general, began an investigation of these

138 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

frauds, Brady tried to frighten the President into stopping it.
Failing, he published the Hubbell letter, and thus added to the
scandal already created by the letter that Conkling had made
public. Several prominent men were involved in the frauds,
but the prosecution was hampered by all sorts of obstacles, and
only one of the offenders, and he a minor one, was finally brought
to justice.

Great crowds of office-seekers dogged Garfield's footsteps
and crowded his waiting-room. Of course, many were disap-
pointed. Among these was a half-crazed creature named
Charles J. Guiteau, who had been at various times
Assassinated, preacher, editor, "reformer," and politician. Per-
sonal resentment and an insane notion that the
death of Garfield would help to close the yawning chasm in
the Republican party determined Guiteau to kill the President.
On July 2, 1881, Garfield and Secretary of State Elaine were
walking on the platform of a railway station in Washington,
waiting to take a train in order to attend commencement at
Garfield's alma mater, Williams College, when Guiteau drew
near and fired two bullets into the President's back. For eleven
weeks the wounded man lingered between life and death, while
optimistic and pessimistic bulletins alternately cheered and
depressed his sympathetic countrymen. At last, after a brave
fight for life, he died (September 19, 1881) at Elberon on the
Jersey coast, whither he had been taken in the vain hope that
the ocean breezes would benefit him. His murderer was
brought to trial, and, despite a plea of insanity made in his
behalf, he was convicted and hanged (June 30, 1882).

During Garfield's long illness the country remained virtually

without a President, and various theories were proposed as to

what should be done to meet the situation, but fortunately no

vital questions pressed for a decision. On the day

pSdent. following his death Vice-President Arthur took the

presidential oath in his New York home, and a

few days later the ceremony was repeated in Washington.

''Men may die," said the new President on the latter occasion,

"but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken."

AN INTERLUDE 139

Arthur's past record seemed to justify the prevailing impres-
sion that he was merely a second-rate politician. Further-
more, as he was a member of the Stalwart faction, which many
people held responsible for the tragedy, he incurred a part of the
odium. Little wonder, therefore, that millions deplored the
fact that this "pot-house politician," as some newspapers
called him, must take the place of Garfield, who was already
idealized as a martyr. Fortunately Arthur was an abler and
better man than most people supposed, and the tremendous
responsibility placed upon his shoulders served to bring out
the best that was in him, with the result that as President he
displayed unexpected firmness and sagacity.

Arthur presently reorganized the cabinet, and only Secre-
tary of War Lincoln, a son of the martyred President, remained
in office for any length of time. Before the end of the year
Elaine was succeeded by Frederick T. Freling-
Reorganized. huysen of New Jersey, and the "Man from Maine"
retired temporarily from politics, busying himself
with the production of his well-known Twenty Years of Congress,
the first volume of which was published in 1884. Otherwise
the new President permitted most of Garfield's appointees to
remain in office, and some of them repaid his generosity with
ingratitude. The expectant Stalwarts won no special consid-
eration from him, and some of them, including Conkling, soon
drifted into hostility to his administration.

The murder of Garfield by a disappointed office-seeker di-
rected the attention of the country in a dramatic way to the
evils of the spoils system, and thus the tragedy had one good
The result. Although once a spoilsman, President

Pendleton Arthur discouraged the assessment of federal offi-
cials for political purposes, and in 1881 and again
in 1882 he urged upon Congress the desirability of civil service
reform legislation. Public pressure proved so strong that
early in 1883 the Pendleton bill, which had really been drawn
by Dorman B. Eaton, a leading reformer, was enacted into
law. The measure forbade the assessment of federal employees
and provided for the appointment of a Civil Service Commis-

i4o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

sion of three persons, who were to conduct examinations for
persons wishing to enter what was known as the "classified
service " of the government. The law did not require the ap-
pointment of those who passed with the highest grades, and
some political manipulation remained possible; nevertheless,
a great step forward had been taken. Arthur made Eaton
chairman of the commission, with John M. Gregory and Leroy
D. Thoman as associates. He also placed 13,780 offices in the
classified service.

Spoils politicians long continued to sneer at "snivel service,"
as they dubbed the reform, and to call its supporters "goody-
goodies" and " holier- than-thous," but their ridicule and hos-
tility alike proved unavailing.

Another subject that was attracting considerable attention
in these years was that of polygamy in Utah and adjoining
territories. Since their migration across the Great Plains to
The the Salt Lake Basin in the '40*3 the Mormons had

Edmunds prospered exceedingly, and some of them, as their
money multiplied, had made corresponding in-
creases in the number of their wives. This state of affairs had
been frequently denounced in party platforms, and that of the
Republican party in 1880 had declared "that, slavery having
perished in the States, its twin barbarity, polygamy, must die
in the Territories." In 1882 Congress enacted the so-called
"Edmunds Law," which prohibited under heavy penalties the
practice of polygamy in the Territories. Under this law many
polygamists were disfranchised, and several hundred were sen-
tenced to imprisonment.

This administration was also notable for beginning the crea-
tion of a new American navy. At the close of the Civil War
the American navy had been one of the strongest in the world,
but practically no new vessels had since been con-
structed, and ships that; were considered powerful
then were now antiquated, obsolete hulks that were
fit for little except the junk heap. In March, 1883, Congress
authorized the construction of three steel protected cruisers
and a despatch-boat, and these vessels, which were named the

AN INTERLUDE 141

Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Dolphin respectively, were begun
before Arthur retired from office. None of them was a vessel
of great power, but they formed the beginning of a navy that
was to render notable services to America and to humanity.

A subject with which Congress grappled less successfully
was the tariff. There had been some tariff tinkering in the
early 'yo's, but the duties in force were practically the exceed-
ingly high ones levied in the Civil War, the primary
Question. purpose of which was revenue rather than protec-
tion. There was some popular complaint over the
operation of these duties, and they had been attacked by cer-
tain theoretical political economists, but the tariff had not yet
become a political issue of prime importance, and the main
cause for the attempted revision was that the high duties were
rilling the treasury to overflowing, thereby withdrawing money
from circulation and increasing the temptation to extravagant
expenditure. Thus the surplus in 1881 amounted to $101,000,-
ooo and in 1882 to $145,000,000.

In May, 1882, Congress created a commission to study the
matter, and this body, after an extended investigation, recom-
mended reductions of at least 20 per cent. But Republican
advocates of protection joined with certain similarly
minded Democrats, notably ex-Speaker Randall,
who came from the great manufacturing State of
Pennsylvania, and after much debate, in which the spectre of
the competition of European "pauper labor" was made to do
yeoman service, Congress in 1883 passed a new tariff act which
provided for reductions so slight that most were scarcely per-
ceptible, while some schedules were actually raised. In the
words of the Nation, " the kaleidoscope has been turned a hair's
breadth, and the colors transposed a little, but the component
parts are the same."

The Republicans lost control of the House of Representa-
tives in the election of 1882, but in local contests of the next
year the pendulum swung back in their direction, hence both
parties approached the greater contest of 1884 with some degree
of hope. President Arthur desired to be the Republican stand-

i42 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ard-bearer in that campaign, and if it had not been for the
popularity of Elaine, he would probably have been nominated.
The "Man from Maine" realized that he lacked
the confidence of the reform element of his party
and nesitated to make the race, for he feared that
he could not be elected if nominated. He was
determined, however, to defeat Arthur, and, in casting about
for another candidate, hit upon General Sherman. But "Old
Tecumseh" had noted the bitter political experiences of his
friend Grant, and he wrote: "I would account myself a fool,
a madman, an ass, to embark anew, at sixty-five years of age,
in a career that may at any moment become tempest-tossed."
Ultimately Elaine entered the race, as did also Arthur, George
F. Edmunds of Vermont, John Sherman of Ohio, and John A.
Logan of Illinois.

The convention that assembled at Chicago (June 3) con-
tained a number of delegates who were to be notable figures
in the future. William McKinley and Marcus A. Hanna sat
with the delegation from Ohio, Benjamin Harrison
with that from Indiana, Henry Cabot Lodge with
that from Massachusetts, and Theodore Roosevelt
with that from New York. Andrew D. White, George Wil-
liam Curtis, Roosevelt, Lodge, and others strenuously endeav-
ored to defeat Elaine, but failed. The "Man from Maine's"
followers neglected no device that might stampede the conven-
tion to him, and, among other things, passed a helmet and
plume about the hall. On the first ballot he led the field with
334# votes, with Arthur trailing next with 278; on each suc-
ceeding ballot Elaine's strength increased, and on the fourth
he received 541 votes and the nomination. The convention
then nominated Logan of Illinois for the vice-presidency.

Between Elaine and the reformers there was a bitter feud.
Of them he had written: "They are noisy, but not numerous;
Pharisaical, but not practical; ambitious, but not wise; pre-
tentious, but not powerful." The reformers had an even worse
opinion of Elaine, for they believed that he had prostituted
official position for pecuniary gain. Conferences of reformers

AN INTERLUDE 143

held some months before had issued warnings aimed at his
aspirations, and his nomination produced a schism in the party.

Some of the reform element, including White, Lodge,
Mugwumps. and Roosevelt, ultimately gave him grudging sup-

port, but many others, among them Henry Ward
Beecher, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, George William Cur-
tis, and Carl Schurz, refused to do so. Several prominent Re-
publican newspapers, including the New York Evening Post and
Times, the Boston Herald and Advertiser, and the Springfield
Republican, took a like stand. A conference of reformers held
in New York City (June 16) declared that Elaine and Logan
represented "political methods and principles to which we are
unalterably opposed. . . . We look with solicitude to the
coming nominations by the Democratic party; they have the
proper men; we hope they will put them before the people."
Thus originated the political group known as the "Mugwumps,"
a name coined a few years before by the Indianapolis Sentinel
but now applied by the New York Sun.

Hendricks, Thurman, Bayard, Randall, Tilden, and others
were suggested for the Democratic nomination, but the man
whom the Mugwumps expected to be named was Grover Cleve-
Cleveland ^an(* °* ^ew York, an<^ ^ey were not disappointed.

and When the Democratic convention met in Chicago

Hendricks. ,T , _,. _, . . . . . , _

(July 8), Cleveland received a majority on the first
ballot and on the second the necessary two-thirds and the
nomination. For his associate on the ticket the convention
named Hendricks of Indiana, Tilden's running mate in 1876.

Cleveland was a newcomer in the national lists. He had
never even seen the city of Washington, and did not see it
until he went thither to be inaugurated President of the United

States. He was the son of a Presbyterian clergy-
Career!11 man and was born in 1837 at Caldwell, New Jersey,

but when he was four years old the family moved
to Fayetteville, New York. In his teens he "clerked" for a
time in a general store; later he taught in an institution for the
blind. When still in his teens he set out for the West, but
settled instead at Buffalo, worked in a law office, and was ad-

144 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

mitted to the bar. In 1863 he was assistant district attorney
for the county, and from 1870 to 1873 ne served as sheriff. In
1 88 1 a combination of Democrats and Independents elected
him mayor of Buffalo. By making efficiency rather than
politics the key-note of his administration he won such favora-
ble notice that in 1882 he was nominated by the Democrats
for governor of New York, and, partly owing to factional strife
among the Republicans, he was elected by the unprecedented
plurality of over 190,000. As governor he displayed the same
hard-headed honesty and independence he had shown as mayor,
and incurred the bitter hostility of Tammany Hall. He was
not brilliant; he was a persistent plodder. His education had
been limited; his outlook at this time was somewhat narrow.
In his speeches and writings he was inclined to use ponderous,
polysyllabic words — to make "the little fishes talk like whales."
Brusque of manner and blunt of speech, primitive in his tastes,
few Presidents have been more courageous or more stubborn,
but with the latter quality went an energy and power which
more tactful politicians were forced to recognize.
In the campaign much oratory was spilled on the subjects
of the tariff and the "solid South," but there was

A Mud-
Slinging no overshadowing issue, and the contest soon de-
generated into one of personalities. Right-thinking
people were nauseated by the tactics of both sides, and one
editor fitly characterized the campaign as "worthy the stair-
ways of a tenement-house."

Both parties realized the importance of the great State of
New York and concentrated their efforts in that pivotal com-
monwealth. Elaine's managers realized that he would suffer
^ in this State from the antagonism of the Mug-

Alliterative wumps and the hatred of Conkling, who was feed-
ing fat his ancient grudge. But the Plumed Knight
was popular with the Irish, for his mother was of that race,
his sister was the superior of a Catholic convent, and he had
championed the cause of Ireland; it was hoped, therefore, that
he would gain enough Irish votes to more than make up for
Republican defections. On the other hand, Cleveland, as gov-

AN INTERLUDE 145

ernor, had offended the Catholics, the labor vote, and Tam-
many Hall. However, the loyalty of Tammany was won
through the personal intercession of Hendricks, while the Irish
Catholics were alienated from Elaine by the rash words of one
of his own supporters. On the zgth of October Elaine received
in the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City a large delegation
of Protestant clergymen. Their spokesman, Doctor Samuel
D. Burchard, in the course of his address, characterized the
Democracy as "the party of Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion."
Elaine failed to notice, or at least to rebuke, the alliterative
allusion, and the same evening he was dined by many of the
richest men of New York, including Jay Gould and other un-
popular magnates. The Democratic managers saw their op-
portunity, and gave wide publicity to Elaine's "Millionaire
Dinner" and to Burchard's unfortunate utterance, and, it was
believed, managed to turn enough votes to decide the result.

Outside of New York, Cleveland carried three Northern
States — Indiana, Connecticut, and New Jersey — and the "solid
South," with a total of 183 electoral votes, while Elaine carried
A the rest of the Northern States, with a total of 182

Democratic electoral votes. The result hinged upon New York,

Victory

and the contest in that State was so close that for
days the outcome was uncertain. Meanwhile there was ex-
citement throughout the country and many rumors and threats.
At last the official count showed that Cleveland had carried
the State by the narrow margin of 1,149 votes.

For the first time since 1856 the Democrats had won the
presidency. Like Webster and Clay, the Plumed Knight was
never to be President. Magnetic and popular though he was,
the prize he coveted lay beyond his reach.

CHAPTER X

THE CHANGING ORDER

FOR almost a decade after the Civil War a state of lawless-
ness reigned in the Schuylkill and Shamokin mining districts
of Pennsylvania. The disorders were the work of a mysterious
Th secret order called the "Molly Maguires," whose

"Molly n members levied blackmail, mobbed and murdered
mine bosses and "scabs," and in places were even
in collusion with the police and county officials. They were
so numerous and well organized that for years they were able
to defy the law almost with impunity, but their secrets were
finally ferreted out. Many of the Mollies were hanged, many
others received long terms in prison, and the gang was broken
up.

Far more wide-spread but of much shorter duration was the
famous railroad strike of 1877. In July, 1877, the Baltimore
& Ohio Railroad lowered the wages of its employees for the
R ., , fourth time in seven years, and thus precipitated
Strike of the greatest strike the country had yet known.
The strike began at Martinsburg, West Virginia
(July 16, 1877), and spread rapidly to other States and other
lines. Transportation and industry were speedily paralyzed.
Bloody clashes between the strikers and the police and militia
took place at Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and other towns; at Pitts-
burgh the mob completely controlled the city, pillaged property
at will, and destroyed 100 locomotives and 2,000 cars. In
many instances the police and even the militia proved power-
less to preserve the peace; in a dozen States a situation devel-
oped resembling civil war; to many frightened people it seemed
as if the very bases of the Republic were suddenly crumbling;
excited journalists compared conditions with those in France
' under the Red Commune. In some places determined citizens

146

THE CHANGING ORDER 147

formed committees of safety and organized special forces to
save the country from anarchy, while the governors of several
States called on the President for federal troops, and in most
instances he complied. Owing to the hard times, many rail-
roads were in the hands of federal receivers, and in several
cases federal judges enjoined the strikers from interfering with
the operation of such roads. In Missouri and Indiana the
Democratic governors, for political reasons, refused to call on
the President for troops, but troops were sent to those States
on the demand of United States marshals. Though con-
temptuous of local and State forces, the strikers were overawed
by the display of national power, and within two weeks the
strike was at an end.

Labor troubles such as these were symptomatic of a great
transformation in the life of the people of the United States.
Americans had long been almost wholly an agricultural people,
The with an abundance of fertile, unoccupied land to

Changing serve as a solvent for economic discontent. But in
recent decades the nation had made great strides
toward a new order of things. As the land filled with inhabi-
tants, as new industries sprang up, the nation drifted away
from the simplicity of an agricultural age, and its problems
grew more and more complex. Day by day the struggle for
existence became more and more like the bitter, grinding
struggle that prevailed among the congested populations of
Europe. Food, clothing, and shelter were increasingly difficult
to obtain, and men found themselves more and more dependent
on others for the mere opportunity to earn a living.

A century before there had begun, first in England, a new
economic movement which in its influence on the lives and
thoughts of mankind was to prove immeasurably more impor-
tant than any political revolution in history. Hith-
erto manufacturing had been done almost wholly

by hand, laboriously and slowly, but by inventing
labor-saving machinery, such as the spinning-jenny, the power-
loom, and the steam-engine, man began to free himself from
the limitations of his own puny strength and to harness the

148 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

powers of nature to work for him. The transformation appeared
first in textile industries, but gradually machinery came to be
used more and more in other manufacturing; inventions mul-
tiplied until they became the greatest wonder of the world;
electricity, as well as steam, was set to work; and a day came
when man did little save direct the gigantic powers that his
genius had enslaved.

One result of this Industrial Revolution* — even the name of

which, strangely enough, is not to be found in some of our

school histories — is that the quantity of goods that man can

create and enjoy has been vastly increased. A few

Results of men with a cotton-gin can clean as much cotton

as could a thousand using the old hand methods;

a few hundred men and women with power-looms
can weave more cotton cloth than the whole of the old cotton-
weaving world put together; one modern printing-press can
print more columns of reading matter in a few hours than all
the American hand-presses in 1775 could print in a week. In
fact, in many industries man's efficiency has been multiplied
a hundred fold, a thousand fold, even ten thousand fold. Fur-
thermore, the introduction and development of steam and elec-
tric transportation methods has enabled him to reach out to
the ends of the earth for raw materials and to send the finished
products where he will. The standard of living has been raised
far higher among civilized peoples; even day-laborers now en-
joy comforts and luxuries undreamed of by the wealthy before
the great transformation.

In certain other respects the results have not been so roseate.
A comparatively few people have managed to reap an undue
share of the rich harvest. The standard of living has been
Doubtful raised for most classes, but the uplift has not been
and Evil equal along the whole line, as Henry George pointed

out in his widely read Progress and Poverty, pub-
lished in 1879. Furthermore, the new order brought with it
profound changes in the organization of industry and of society

*This account of the Industrial Revolution is adapted from the
author's America in Ferment, pp. 157-162.

THE CHANGING ORDER 149

in general. Great factories and factory cities, trusts and com-
bines, child labor, and various other doubtful or evil features
of contemporary life are all results of the great revolution.

In past ages industries were managed on comparatively
simple lines. Under the old guild system, for example, John
Treat, apprentice to Abner Dikeham, the weaver of woollens,
worked in his employer's little shop alongside Dike-
Relations of ^iam mmself> three or four other apprentices, and
Employer perhaps as many grown-up journeymen. His per-
Employee sonal relations with Dikeman were close; they not
System." om<y worked together in the same shop but they
lived together in the same house; and if old Dike-
ham happened to have a pretty daughter Faith who suited
John's fancy, the apprentice might dare to hope that he could
win her. At all events, he became a journeyman when he
grew up, could work for wages for whom he pleased, and if he
proved to be a man of business ability, might become a master
weaver himself, with his own shop, apprentices, journeymen,
and pretty daughter. The guild system, to be sure, had
broken down in many trades long before the Industrial Revolu-
tion began, but in most industries, however organized, the rela-
tions between employee and employer were still likely to be
fairly close, and the passage from one class to the other was
still comparatively easy.

The Industrial Revolution changed all that. Manufacturing
came to be done in great factories, and the cost of machinery,
tools, and buildings mounted so high that the transition from
worker to employer became much more difficult,
frornw'orker In the old days the cost of looms and other equip-
DiffioUt°yer ment f or woollen weaving did not exceed the amount
of a few months or years of a journeyman's wages;
to-day the cost of such plants exceeds the combined wages of
many men for whole lifetimes, and what is true of the woollen
industry is true of many others. John Treat, the American de-
scendant of mediaeval John and Faith, if he begins as a laborer
in a factory, has to reconcile himself to the probability that he
will always remain a laborer. "Born an employee, die an

iSo THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

employee" has become the general rule in a great number of
industries, and the rule is all the more maddening because it is
out of harmony with our ideal of freedom for the individual —
an ideal that was being realized in some respects in the very
period when the Industrial Revolution was developing. Occa-
sionally, to be sure, a ^workman does make the passage to the
employer class, but where one succeeds a hundred or a thousand
fail. Realizing that the chances are so much against them,
workers have acquired a class consciousness that did not exist
before, and in many places and many industries have organ-
ized themselves into unions to protect their interests.

Furthermore, the employer himself has undergone a great
transformation. Instead of one man owning a mill or factory,
it came to be common for partnerships to be formed, and the
The Growth Partnersnip *& turn of ten gave way before another
of Cor- idea. In the evolution of industrial society there
developed a system of combination called a cor-
poration, having the activities of individuals and infinitely
greater power but without an individual's conscience or respon-
sibility. A day came when corporations expanded or united
until sometimes one great company would control not merely
one factory or group of factories but practically a whole indus-
try, with power to fix prices, to ruin competitors, and to dictate
to the workmen in the industry. Employers even in different
industries would organize to advance and protect their interests
and more especially to enable them to resist the demands of
their workers.

The gulf between worker and employer thus became com-
plete. In the old days both belonged to the craft guild and
viewed matters either as workers or former workers, as employ-
ers or prospective employers. To-day each has
Between ^s organization — to fight the other. It is a rar2
Employee thing for the modern John Treat to labor along-
Employer. side his employer, much less to woo and wed his
daughter. If the employer is a corporation, the
employer has no daughter. Even if he is an individual, he is
often a man of vast interests which he commits to the care of

THE CHANGING ORDER 151

others, so that John Treat may not in his whole lifetime so
much as set eyes on him. Under such conditions there can be
little community of interest or understanding. Instead there
is often lack of sympathy, and, too often, downright hos-
tility.

The Industrial Revolution came much later in the United
States than in England. It is generally considered to have
begun in 1790 when Samuel Slater brought over from England
industrial to ^no<^e Island plans of textile machinery and set
Revolution up a small factory, but it was not until the period
of the War of 1812 that manufacturing in the modern
sense began to be common in the United States. It was later
stimulated by protective duties, and grew with ever-increasing
rapidity as the Civil War drew near, jumping from $1,000,000,-
ooo in 1850 to $1,900,000,000 in 1860. The Civil War gave
manufacturing a great impetus, and thereafter the United States
experienced an industrial development unequalled in history.

This vast growth was due in part to the expansion of old
industries, in part to the creation of some that were entirely
new. As a type of the former let us take the making of iron
Iron and anc* stee^ ^n colonial times this industry — partly
steel because of hostile British legislation — had attained

only small dimensions. Even in 1791, when Alex-
ander Hamilton made his famous report on American manu-
factures, the annual production amounted to only a few millions.
There were furnaces for smelting ore in almost every State,
but they were small, the industry was decentralized, and the
making of nails was still "an occasional family manufacture."
In 1810 the total value of the product was only $14,400,000,
but the War of 1812, by cutting off imports from abroad, gave
the industry a considerable impetus. It still remained, however,
The a widely scattered industry, for, owing to the abun-

Charcoal dance of wood, American furnaces generally con-
tinued to use charcoal long after their British com-
petitors had come almost entirely to coal. Charcoal-made
iron, to be sure, was unsurpassed in quality, but the use of char-
coal as a fuel tended to dispersion; wherever iron ore was

152 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

covered there small furnaces, using charcoal made from the
adjoining forest, were likely to spring up.

In time anthracite coal came to be largely used in smelting
the ore, and about 1849 a ton of anthracite iron rather than a
ton of charcoal iron became the standard in market quota-
The tions. With the growing importance of the new

Anthracite fuel the tendency was for the main production of
iron to centre in the anthracite region, that is, on
the highlands between the Delaware, Schuylkill, and Susque-
hanna Rivers. Many of the charcoal furnaces continued, how-
ever, to operate prosperously, for charcoal iron was — and still
is — best for certain purposes, while the chief fabricators of iron
were still the blacksmiths, "whose resounding shops stood at
the crossroads in almost every township in the United States,"
and, owing to high costs of transportation, local furnaces could
often profitably supply the smiths of their locality. As late as
1883 there were still two dozen forges of the old primitive
Catalan type in western North Carolina, and another dozen
across the border in Tennessee. The bar iron produced at
these forges served as a legal tender in some places, and the
producers brought it to the little country stores and exchanged
it for coffee, sugar, and calico.

The reign of anthracite iron proved short; it was dethroned
in turn by bituminous iron, that is, iron made with coke. This
method had long been in use in England, and it was successfully
employed in a few places in the United States in
Period° C th6 late '3°'s> but the anthracite region possessed
certain transportation advantages and anthracite
long remained low in price; it was not until railroads had revolu-
tionized transportation and anthracite had risen that coke-
made iron eclipsed its old rival, the date when the new aspirant
triumphed being 1875. From 1880 onward coke-made iron had
a twenty-fold increase in less than as many years. Again the
centre of iron production shifted, crawling over the mountains
into the drainage basin of the upper Ohio, and Connellsville
coke and Pittsburgh became famous in the world of iron and
steel.

THE CHANGING ORDER 153

Shortly after the crowning of coke iron there came a great
change in the source of ore supply. Hitherto the main de-
pendence had been comparatively low-grade local ores, from

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, but vast
Mines about deposits of much richer ore existed about Lake
Superior Superior, and these became increasingly important.

The Lake Superior ore was brought by cheap water
transportation to the lower lakes, and thence transshipped to
Pittsburgh and other centres, the total price of transportation
per ton being lower than that at which the poorer ores could
be delivered. A day came when much of the ore moving down
the Lakes was met at the water's edge by coal coming up from
the mines, and vast smelters arose at Lake ports that became
world-famous.

By 1880 the American iron industry had attained large
dimensions, but Great Britain was making almost 8,000,000
tons to our 4,000,000. In the coming years, however, America

was to outstrip her old rival. The age of steel —
ofsted6 thanks to Bessemer and many other inventors —

was already supplanting that of iron; and the
American iron and steel industry of the '8o's, vast and wonder-
ful though it seemed, was but a pigmy compared with the giant
of to-day.

Meanwhile in the world of industry the individual propri-
etor was giving place to partnerships, and these in turn to cor-
porations. In some industries restless and ambitious men could

not rest content with a share but were seeking to

Concentra- .

tionboth grasp control of the whole. In iron and steel,
caiiyand production was becoming more concentrated geo-
Companfes graphically: fewer plants than in the days of George
Washington, but vastly greater production; some
great companies, but no one great company, virtually controlling
the whole industry. That development did not come in iron
and steel until after the dawn of the twentieth century.

It came considerably earlier in the petroleum industry, a new
business that scarcely antedates the Civil War.

In the Old World petroleum was known even to the ancients,

i54 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

but it was in America that the possibilities of the product were
first developed to an important extent. The Indians and the
„ . early French explorers and missionaries in north-

Petroleum as western New York sometimes found the oil rising in

a Medicine. , , . . . ..

springs of water, and one missionary descnbes a
"fountain of bitumen" which he saw rising from Lake Ontario
in 1627. As early as 1791 some enterprising spirit began to col-
lect petroleum from the springs along Oil Creek in Pennsylvania,
and to sell this "Seneca Oil" as a wonderful natural remedy for
rheumatism and other ills, though seemingly without much
success. In the next few decades oil was found in many places,
particularly in digging wells to obtain brine for salt, but though
several attempts were made to use the oil as an illuminant, the
crude product created such intolerable smoke and odor that
the experimenters gave up defeated. At that tune tallow
candles and whale oil formed the main dependence for lighting
purposes, but the supply of both was limited and prices high,
and it was inevitable that new experiments should be made.
Toward the middle of the century a Pittsburgh druggist named
Samuel Kier began vigorously to promote petroleum as a medi-
cine, but though he raised the sales to as much as three barrels
a day, the supply of "Kier's Oil" far exceeded the demand,
and Kier turned his attention to the illuminating possibilities
of the product. About 1852 he thought of trying
liluminant. ^e distilling methods that were being used in ob-
taining oils from coal and shale, and he succeeded
in producing an oil that, though not wholly satisfactory, was
much better than the crude product. However, improved
methods were soon evolved, together with better lamps for
burning it, and a great demand was soon created for this
"kerosene" as it was presently called, the name being that
already used for the oil obtained from coal and shales.

For a time the petroleum was skimmed off springs or taken
from shallow pits or dug wells, but the supply thus obtained was
inadequate. Presently a company formed in New Haven
decided to drill a well, and sent a railway conductor named
Edwin L. Drake out to Oil Creek to oversee the work. Drake

THE CHANGING ORDER 155

met with many difficulties, but he was a man of ingenuity, and
in 1859 he managed to reach a depth of sixty-nine feet, when on
returning to work one morning the workmen found
^e we^ almost full of oil. A great boom at
once developed, with the usual accompaniment of
wild speculation. In two years the valley of Oil Creek was
transformed into a wilderness of derricks, rude engine-houses,
and board shanties; farmers owning land in the valley suddenly
found themselves immensely rich.

All the early wells were shallow, and the oil had to be got
out by pumping, but in 1861 some enterprising spirits drilled
four or five hundred feet down to what is now known as the
"third sand." Then "without warning the drill-
mS to°ls were hurled high above the derrick, fol-
lowed by a stream of oil gushing out with such
force that it could not be controlled for several days." For
months this well produced several hundred barrels a day; other
new gushers yielded as much as 4,000 barrels a day, which was
as much as one of the earlier wells would produce in a year.
Production soon outstripped demand, and the price dropped as
low as ten cents a barrel, whereas earlier it had been as high
as a dollar a gallon.

The market, however, constantly expanded, and soon the
industry revived. New discoveries were made in other locali-
ties; new waves of speculation followed, even wilder than the
first; and the world was filled with the tales of
Speculation, sudden wealth and the spectacular extravagances of
an eccentric individual called "Coal Oil Johnny."
In the middle '6o's fully a thousand companies, with stocks
nominally aggregating over $600,000,000, were formed, and
their glowing prospectuses led humorists to satirize them. One
pamphlet of the day represented itself to be the prospectus of
"The Munchausen, Philosopher's Stone, and Gull Creek Grand
Consolidated Oil Company." The capital stock of this com-
pany was $4,000,000,000, the working capital $37.50, and divi-
dends were guaranteed semi-daily except Sunday. The com-
pany controlled four tracts of land. On the one after which

156 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the concern was named a shaft 16,000,000 feet in depth had
been sunk, "yielding cooking butter, XXX ale, turtle soup and
bounty money, besides other things too numerous to mention."
The "Ananias and Sapphira Tract" was small, containing only
65,000,000 acres; the "Moonshine Tract" was heavily wooded;
the "China and Hades Tract" was known to be "especially
rich hi tea ! "

Again the bubble burst; again there came a revival. Grad-
ually both producing and refining were placed on a more solid
basis, though from that day to this, with the discovery of every
new oil-field, the old story of a lucky strike, a stampede thither,
sudden wealth to the fortunate ones, wild speculation, and
finally the inevitable bursting of the bubble was almost
certain to be repeated.
Improved distilling methods were evolved, and a better,

safer kerosene was put upon the market, while
Products. dozens of by-products were developed, such as

benzine, naphtha, gasoline, vaseline, paraffin, and
lubricating oils. And the immensity of the whole business
surpassed the wildest dreams of its early promoters.

The later history of the oil business is inextricably inter-
woven with the biography of an individual — John D. Rocke-
feller. This modern Croesus was born at Richford, New York,

in 1839, but in 1853 the family moved to Cleveland,
Rockefeller. Ohio. The Rockefellers of that period were poor,

and in after years, when he was the richest man in
the world, "John D." was fond of telling admiring Baptist
Sunday-school classes how he made his first dollars — and set
them to work. When still in his teens he became a partner in
a commission business, but in 1862, with his partner and an
English mechanic named Samuel Andrews, he engaged in the
new business of refining oil. The partners prospered, and about
1867 the new firm of "Rockefeller, Andrews, & Flagler" took
over a group of refineries in which the various members of the
new partnership — which included William Rockefeller, brother
to John — were interested.
In 1870 the Rockefellers and their associates took an epoch-

THE CHANGING ORDER 157

making step. They transformed their partnership into a cor-
poration, with a capital of $1,000,000, and took the soon-to-be-
Th famous name of the "Standard Oil Company of

standard Oil Ohio." At that time there were probably 250 other
refineries scattered from Ohio to the Atlantic coast,
with a total daily capacity of perhaps 16,000 barrels, and the
Standard, with a daily capacity of 600 barrels, was merely one
of the largest. The new company entered upon an aggressive
campaign, and won startling successes, largely because of
legitimate business efficiency, foresight, better refining methods,
pipe-lines, and utilization of by-products, but partly because
of ruthless warfare upon its competitors.

In 1872 the two Rockefellers and eleven others formed what
was known as the South Improvement Company and managed
to obtain a secret contract with the oil-carrying roads to trans-
port oil at about half the price paid by other refin-
ers- Tne signers of this contract on the part of the
railroads included Jay Gould and William H. Van-
derbilt. The existence of the agreement became generally
known, and it had to be given up, but the Standard succeeded,
nevertheless, in obtaining secret rebates, which gave it an
immense advantage over less fortunate competitors. Further-
more, the Standard managed to gain control of the great pipe-
lines, which were rapidly supplanting other means of trans-
porting oil, and thus put the oil producers practically at their
mercy. Many independent oil refiners were soon driven to
the hard alternative of going out of business altogether or of
selling out at a low price to the Standard Oil Company. The
business of whole neighborhoods was paralyzed, and many men
were ruined. Public opinion was aroused, congressional in-
vestigations were made, but the rebates were continued, as the
railroads were not under any effective public control, and their
managers and magnates often profited by the arrangement.
By 1877 the great octopus controlled 95 per cent of all the oil
refined in the United States, and could raise or lower prices
at will.

In 1882 the Standard Oil Company was, for various reasons,

158 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

transformed into the Standard Oil Trust. The stockholders
The in the thirty-nine companies composing the new

standard organization assigned their stock to the two Rocke-

Oil Trust. . ° , . . .

fellers and seven other trustees, giving them perma-
nent power of attorney and receiving back "trust certificates,"
upon which the profits of the combination were divided.
The "trust" idea soon became highly popular among finan-
ciers in other lines of industry, and the example of
Imitated *he Standard was widely imitated. A number of
firms or corporations engaged in the same business
would unite under a trust agreement for the purpose of regulat-
ing the supply and price of the commodity which they pro-
duced; such "trusts," as they were called, would conduct ruth-
less warfare against competitors, and would seek to obtain a
monopoly of the industry in which they engaged. Thus were
created the great business leviathans that bestrode the financial
world and seemed to threaten even the liberties of the Republic.
But of this more will be said hereafter.

These decades also beheld rapid strides in the consolidation
of railroads. In the early years of railroad construction most
of the lines were short, and were built with little relation to
T, ., , other lines. A traveller from New York to St.

Railroad

Consolida- Louis or Chicago in the Civil War period, or earlier,
had to make repeated changes from one road to
another, the terminals of which were often miles apart, had to
buy a ticket for each road, would likely waste hours waiting for
trains, and otherwise was subjected to vexations and delays
little known to-day. The economic disadvantages to the rail-
roads themselves of such a state of affairs were enormous;
presently far-sighted managers began consolidating the unre-
lated short roads into great trunk lines. Thus in 1868 Cornelius
Vanderbilt, president of the Hudson River Railroad, united it
with the New York Central, thereby forming one continuous
line from New York City to Buffalo. Five years later he
leased the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and thereby
reached Chicago. About the same time the Pennsylvania and
the Baltimore & Ohio also established through lines to the

THE CHANGING ORDER 159

metropolis of the Middle West, and the former also reached
St. Louis.

Consolidation enabled the railroads to furnish better service,
both freight and passenger, at smaller cost, but the process of
consolidation was frequently preceded or accompanied by the
financial "wrecking" of roads, the "squeezing out"

hensible of minority stockholders, stock-watering, and other
reprehensible practices. Furthermore, though many
of the roads had received large land or money subsidies, their
managers usually forgot to be grateful for such favors and dis-
played a grasping determination "to charge all the traffic
would bear." High freight and passenger rates, and stories
of the millions that railway lords were piling up, combined to
create great hostility among the people; and the men chiefly
engaged in the management of railroads — Jay Gould, the Van-
derbilts, Thomas A. Scott, John W. Garrett, and others — were
indiscriminately condemned as a band of financial pirates.

An element hard hit by this unscrupulous mismanagement
of the railroads entirely in the interest of a class rapidly grow-
ing rich were the farmers of the West. They formed an or-
ganization that took the name of the "Patrons of
Husbandry" but that was more popularly known
as the "Grangers." This society was founded at
Washington in 1867, but did not attain much importance until
the panic of 1873, when it developed with astonishing rapidity
and soon had a membership of a million and a half, mainly in
the Middle West and Northwest. Men, women, and children
came to the lodges, or "granges," and while the men talked
politics and farming the children played and the women gos-
siped and prepared a picnic supper. The Grangers had many
grievances. One of their main objects was to promote direct
dealing between producer and consumer, thus eliminating the
middleman, but they also directed their attention to
Laws. ranger securing better and cheaper transportation. Largely
through their influence several Northwestern States
enacted the so-called "Granger laws" creating railway com-
missions with extensive supervisory powers, establishing in some

160 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

cases maximum rates, and forbidding discrimination in rates
between shippers.

The railroads denounced these acts as confiscatory and at-
tacked their constitutionality, but the Federal Supreme Court,
in the "Granger Cases," held (1877) that States possessed the
Th power to regulate rates, provided the rates were

"Granger not made so low as to amount to confiscation of

Cases "

property. In 1886, however, the same court, in
the case of the Wabash Railway vs. Illinois, denied to the States
the power to adopt regulations affecting interstate commerce.
The influence of the Grangers had already declined, and the
railroads managed to obtain the repeal of most of the obnoxious
laws. But the principle that railroads are quasi-public in
character and subject to regulation had been definitely estab-
lished, and the fact was not forgotten.

For the time being, however, railroads were left virtually
uncontrolled. Rebates to favored shippers, differential rates
between towns, and extortionate rates for passengers or freight
formed almost the accepted order of things. To
prevent ruinous competition between roads, resort
was had to "pooling" arrangements whereby rates
were kept high and business and profits were divided between
the contracting roads.

The prevailing moral tone in both business and politics was
deplorably low. The giving of free passes to public officers,
editors, and even to their families and friends formed a
flagrant abuse; all who could rode "deadhead, and
Tone in0ra expected to have their hats chalked." Even judges
Politics3 and w^° na<^ to fry rau<road cases, and members of the
legislatures who were asked by farmers and ship-
pers to pass restraining acts, rode on free passes. A quid pro
quo was expected for such favors, and too often was received.
The transportation companies and allied interests had little
difficulty in electing their creatures to Congress and to State
legislatures, and in bribing legislators, administrative officers,
and even judges on the bench. A detailed history of the sub-
terranean activities of these interests would make a revolting
story little to the credit of the country or to human nature.

THE CHANGING ORDER 161

Early in the century workers began to form organizations,
but the movement did not become pronounced until the sixth
and seventh decades. With the rise of the factory system, the

growth of great business enterprises, and the decline
Unions °^ ^e °^ personal relations between employees

and employer, the individual worker, realizing his
own insignificance and impotence when standing alone, began
to feel the need of uniting with his fellow workers hi defense
of their common interests. Trades-unions began to spring up
like mushrooms, the rift between capital and labor opened wider
and wider, and by the '8o's strikes had come to be regarded as
part of the routine of industrial life. Higher wages and shorter
hours formed the unceasing cry of the workers, and every
victory won meant a new demand. Open warfare prevailed;
there were truces but never real peace. To the employer's
"blacklist," designed to prevent labor agitators from obtain-
ing employment elsewhere, the unions retorted with the "boy-
cott," designed to keep the products of hostile establishments
from finding a sale. When unchecked, the unions often proved
as tyrannical as the employers, for human nature is about the
same beneath jeans as beneath broadcloth.

At Philadelphia in 1869 a number of garment-cutters, led by
Uriah S. Stephens, formed the Noble Order of Knights of Labor.
This organization soon disbanded, but on its ruins Stephens

managed to build (1873) a much broader union
ofLaborf ^ designed to embrace all branches of honorable toil

instead of merely workers in the same trade. For
a decade the organization was secret and had an elaborate
ritual, but the excesses of the "Molly Maguires," who had
brought discredit upon all organized labor, resulted in the
policy of secrecy being abandoned. Starting with only twenty-
eight members, the union rapidly increased in numbers, partic-
ularly under the leadership of General Master Workman Terence
V. Powderly; in 1885 and 1886 its membership sprang from
1 1 1, coo to 730,000. At a general assembly held at Reading
in 1878 the Knights pointed out the alarming development
in power and aggressiveness of money and corporations, and
declared that the tendency, unless checked, would "inevitably

162 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

lead to the hopeless degradation of the people." They pro-
claimed their purpose to be "to make industrial and moral
worth, not wealth, the true standard of individual and national
greatness." They further declared that workers ought to have
the right to enjoy the wealth they create, and they advocated
the referendum for making laws, the creation of labor bureaus,
the passage of laws safeguarding the health and safety of work-
ers, and shorter working hours, that workingmen might have
leisure for intellectual, moral, and social development. The
characteristic motto of the Knights was, "An injury to one is
the concern of all."

Although labor in these years was rapidly becoming con-
scious of its grievances and special interests, the condition of
American workers happily lacked much of being so serious as
American m Europe. The natural resources of America were
Workers as yet comparatively untouched, and the expendi-
ture of a given amount of labor would in most in-
dustries produce a much greater return than abroad; in conse-
quence the workers received higher wages, both nominally and
really, than did their brethren in Europe. Furthermore, not-
withstanding an ever-increasing number of immigrants, the
demand for labor, except in hard times, was always greater
than the supply, and workers were nearly always sure of em-
ployment at competitive prices. Republicans often attributed
this state of affairs to the protective tariff, but in large measure
they were claiming credit due to a bountiful Providence for
having so richly endowed America with natural resources.

In some fields of endeavor the lack of labor rendered neces-
sary entirely different aims from those in Europe. Back in
1791 George Washington had realized the effects upon agricul-

The Aim of ture °^ ^s snortage m workers, and had written to
American Arthur Young, a scientific English farmer of the day:
"The aim of the farmers in this country (if they
can be called farmers) is, not to make the most they can from
the land, which is or has been cheap, but the most of the labour,
which is dear; the consequence of which has been, much ground
has been scratched over and none cultivated or improved as it

THE CHANGING ORDER 163

ought to have been: whereas a farmer in England, where land
is dear, and labour cheap, finds it his interest to improve and
cultivate highly, that he may reap large crops from a small
quantity of ground." Extensive rather than intensive cultiva-
tion still continues the general rule in the United States, and it
must continue so until the land is more thickly settled. The
consequence is that an acre in France, England, or Holland is
made to return much more than an acre in America, but one
farmer in America, using all the latest farm machinery, will
reap a far greater return from the expenditure of his own toil
than would one man in the countries mentioned.

In farming, manufacturing, and almost every line of effort
shortage of workers has necessitated a resort to
Machinery, machinery, with the consequent result that inven-
tion has been greatly stimulated, and America has
led the world in evolving labor-saving devices.

By the middle of the '8o's some of the main features of our
present-day problems were taking form. Great industries were
developing with incredible swiftness, population was moving into
urban centres, the simplicity of an agricultural age was passing.
A gulf had opened between labor and capital, and consolidation
was becoming the order of the day both in the labor world and
the industrial world. New maladies called for new remedies,
but the tendencies of the time were little understood, and, as
we shall see, there was much dim groping after panaceas.

CHAPTER XI

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY

ON March 4, 1885, a vast crowd assembled before the east
front of the Capitol to behold the installation of the first Demo-
cratic President since Buchanan. Southerners formed a larger
part of the throng than long had been customary
of'cieveiami on suc^ occasions, and conspicuous in the crowd
were, in the words of Professor Peck, "not a few
gaunt figures of an old-time quaintness, intense and fanatical
partisans from remote localities, displaying with a sort of pride
the long white beards which, years before, they had vowed
never to shave until a Democratic President should be inau-
gurated." When the "Man of Destiny" from Buffalo took the
oath of office from Chief Justice Waite, the assembled clans
acclaimed him with joyous shouts, exulting in the thought that
after weary years of waiting they had passed out of the Wilder-
ness into the Promised Land.

Many Democrats had prophesied that when their party came
into power and the public books were "opened" great defalca-
tions would be found, but no such discoveries were made.
Equally mistaken were predictions by pessimistic Republicans
that hard times or even a restoration of slavery would follow
the return of the Democracy to office.

The new President did not hesitate to give the South ade-
quate representation in his cabinet. From the farther South
he named Senator Augustus H. Garland of Arkansas as attor-
ney-general, and Senator Lucius Q. C. Lamar of
Cabinet* Mississippi as secretary of the interior. Garland
had sat in the Confederate Congress, and Lamar,
a highly talented scholar, had drafted the ordinance of seces-
sion in his State, but both had accepted the results of the war

164

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 165

in good faith. From a border State, namely Delaware, Cleve-
land selected as secretary of state Senator Thomas F. Bayard,
a capable statesman whose family had taken a prominent part
in public affairs for five generations. From the other extreme
sectionally came Secretary of War William C. Endicott of
Massachusetts, "a very Brahmin of the Brahmins," being de-
scended from Governor John Endecott of Puritan memory;
also Postmaster-General William F. Vilas of Wisconsin, who
had served in the Union army, reaching the rank of colonel.
Secretary of the Navy William C. Whitney and Secretary of the
Treasury Daniel Manning were likewise from the North; both
were New Yorkers, Manning being an Albany banker who had
been recommended by Tilden, while Whitney was a man of
wealth who had managed the New York campaign.

Cleveland's sudden rise to prominence helped to create an
almost unprecedented interest in his personal affairs, and this
interest was heightened by the fact that he was only forty-
Public seven years old, the youngest man, except Grant,
interest in who had ever been elected to the presidency, and
was still a bachelor. For a time the White House
was presided over by his sister, Miss Rose Cleveland, a woman
of intellectual attainments who published at this time a volume
entitled George Eliot's Poetry and Other Studies. Presently the
rumor spread that the President was about to marry his ward,
Miss Frances Folsom, daughter of his deceased law partner.
Miss Folsom was a girl of twenty-one who had only recently
graduated from college; her youth and beauty combined with
the august position of her intended husband to raise public
interest to a high pitch. The wedding ceremony was per-
formed (June 2, 1886) in the Blue Room of the White House,
being the first time that a President had been wedded in that
mansion. For weeks the newspapers were filled with descrip-
tions of the event and of the honeymoon. The young mistress
of the White House proved to be cultured, sensible, domestic
in her tastes, and the marriage served to throw an element of
romance about the President.

Before attaining the happiness just described President

i66 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Cleveland, like all new incumbents of his office, was called upon
to satisfy with five loaves and two small fishes the desperate
hunger of an unprecedented horde of office-seekers.
Seekers." Both before and after election he had repeatedly
pledged himself to the principles of civil service
reform. "Merit and competency shall be recognized instead of
party subserviency," he had announced in his inaugural address,
but, in a letter to George William Curtis (December 25, 1884),
he had also given warning that "offensive partisans and un-
scrupulous manipulators of local party management" had
"forfeited all just claim to recognition."

Democratic politicians, who almost unanimously wished to
make a "clean sweep" of the hundred and twenty thousand
offices, smiled knowingly when they read Cleveland's pro-
nouncements on this subject; they did not conceal
Disappointed. tne^r disgust when they discovered that he took
his pledges seriously. Even prominent leaders like
Tilden and Hendricks found him obdurate to their pleas in be-
half of friends. It was reported that some weeks after the
inauguration the Vice-President, an ardent spoilsman, came
away from an interview at the White House shaking his head
sadly and saying: "I hoped that Mr. Cleveland would put the
Democratic party in power in fact as well as in name, but he
does not intend to do it." To a Democratic senator who com-
plained because the President did not "move more expedi-
tiously in advancing the principles of Democracy," Cleveland
flashed back: "Ah, I suppose you mean that I should appoint
two horse- thieves a day instead of one." Such a Mugwump
attitude deeply disappointed politicians who had hoped to see
the President put in practice "the good old Democratic doc-
trines" of Andrew Jackson. Their dissatisfaction is sufficiently
indicated by a story that a North Carolina senator told of an
old farmer who left a small estate to his two sons. Settlement
of the estate was so long delayed by the probate court that in
disgust the elder son burst out: "Durned if I ain't almost sorry
the old man died ! "
On the other hand, Cleveland made so many removals that

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 167

the extreme advocates of civil service reform, men who wished
" the millennium right away," were almost equally disappointed.
Cleveland Constant party pressure caused the President to
Relaxes relax somewhat, and at the end of four years com-
paratively few Republicans remained in office out-
side the classified service. Some of the President's subordinates
were especially zealous "in advancing the principles of Democ-
racy" and interpreted the phrase "offensive partisanship"
very liberally. The first assistant postmaster-general, Adlai
E. Stevenson, displayed such activity in decapitating post-
masters that "Adlai's axe" became famous. One of the argu-
ments most used in defending such acts was that practically
all office-holders were Republicans and that the principle of
"equalization" must now be put in force.

The personnel of the Civil Service Commission degenerated,
and two of the members were little better than political hacks.
Such a body could accomplish little aggressive work. On the
other hand, despite frequent lapses in practice, Cleveland con-
tinued to protest his allegiance to the reform principle, took a
stand against the assessment of office-holders and against their
activity in politics, and toward the end of his term increased
the classified service from 15,573 to 27*830 places.

The fact that some fragments of the Tenure-of-Office Act
still remained on the statute book afforded the Republican
majority in the Senate an excuse for harassing the President on
the subject of suspensions and removals. Early
thensenate.th *n JS86 the Senate, by calling on the attorney-general
for all papers connected with the suspension of the
district attorney for Alabama, drew from Cleveland a special
message in which he complained because after "nearly twenty
years of almost innocuous desuetude" the remnant of the
Tenure-of-Office Act was brought out to embarrass the execu-
tive. He argued that he possessed the constitutional powers of
suspension and removal, and declared that the documents re-
quested were "purely unofficial and private; not infrequently
confidential, and having reference to the performance of a duty
exclusively mine." After protracted political skirmishing the

i68 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Republican senators discovered that they could not gain the
partisan advantages they had hoped for, so they consented
to the repeal (March 3, 1887) of the Tenure-of -Office Act; full
powers in matters of removal were thus restored to the executive.

Throughout Cleveland's first presidency the Senate con-
tinued to be Republican and the House Democratic. Partisan
measures were, therefore, impossible, but a number of important
laws were passed.

One such act regulated the presidential succession. Hitherto

the line of succession had been the President, the Vice-Presi-

dent, and the President pro tempore of the Senate. On Novem-

t. , ber 25, i88<. before the Senate had elected a Presi-

Presidential J7 J7

Succession dent pro tempore, Vice-President Hendricks died.

Had Cleveland died or resigned before the meeting
of Congress, there would have been no one to take his place.
To meet such a possible situation in the future, an act was
passed providing (January 18, 1886) that the line of succession
should be the Vice-President, the Secretaries of State, Treasury,
and War, the Attorney-General, the Postmaster-General, the
Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Interior.

Another weakness that had long been recognized was the
lack of definite rules for determining and counting the electoral
votes. Beginning with 1800 repeated efforts had vainly been

made to remove the defect. Even the dangerous
CountrAct. crkis following the election of 1876 had not brought

Congress to agree on a remedy. Finally in 1887 an
act was passed that in the main followed the lines laid down in
the decisions rendered by the electoral commission. Contests
regarding the choice of electors were to be left to State authori-
ties, and their decision must be accepted by Congress as final.
In case of a conflict of tribunals that return was to be counted
which the two houses, voting separately, concurred in receiving.
No return was to be rejected except by the vote of both houses.
In case of a conflict between the two, that return was to be
counted that was certified by the State executive. Unfortu-
nately even this law left possible loopholes for future disputes,
though none as yet has arisen.

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 169

The same Congress that passed the two laws above described
also attempted an infinitely more difficult task, namely, to re-
move some of the evils that had crept into the transportation
system of the country. The transportation situa-
tion at tm's time was exceedingly chaotic. There
had just been a period of tremendous railroad ex-
pansion, and in the five years 1879-1884 the total mileage of
the country had increased almost one-half. In many instances
the roads had been built in advance of local needs, and time
was required to provide adequate traffic to make them profit-
able. Furthermore, many of the companies were organized
on a grossly inflated basis, and capitalization, in bonds and
stocks, often greatly exceeded the actual money invested. In
fact, many, if not most, promoters and builders were far more
interested in stock manipulations than in legitimate construc-
tion or operation. It was notorious that much of the money
that was supposed to go into construction and equipment was
diverted through channels of "high finance" into the pockets
of "controlling" stockholders. Lack of business, cut- throat
competition, and reckless or dishonest financiering brought
many roads to a sorry plight, and in the period 1876-1894
nearly six hundred roads, having a total mileage of 60,000,
were sold under foreclosure. But it did not escape the public
notice that though the roads became bankrupt, their builders,
by some trick of financial legerdemain, generally became rich.
Competition for traffic frequently ran to such lengths that
the rates charged were too low to meet the cost of the service
rendered. Shippers temporarily profited by such rate wars,
but in the end such contests usually reacted dis-
CompeUtion. astrously not only on the roads but also on business
generally. Keen-sighted men realized that some
means should be found of making rates low enough to be rea-
sonable to shippers and high enough to be profitable to the
roads. But hostility to railroads often ran so strong that
a large section of the public failed to realize that common
interests required that the roads should be prosperous.

As a means of preserving themselves from this disastrous

170 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

competition the railroads, as mentioned in the last chapter,
evolved agreements called "pools," whereby they agreed to

charge certain passenger and freight rates and to
PoolT.ay divide traffic or earnings upon fixed percentages.

Unfortunately the railway managers often failed to
be content with reasonable returns and combined to exact
extortionate rates. Shippers, aware of the outrageous finan-
cial manipulations of the roads, asked, with reason, why they
should be forced to pay dividends on "watered" stock.
Even worse evils than excessive rates were discriminations

in rates between different places and different ship-

Pers- Discrimination between shippers was the
Stoppers"1 worst evil of all. Secret special bargains were made

with favored shippers, who were charged less than
the published rates. As we have already seen, these secret
rates aided the Standard Oil Company and other growing
monopolies to crush out competition.

The story of the "Granger laws" and of the practical failure
of State regulation of railroads has already been told. Many
reformers realized that the problem demanded federal rather

than State legislation. As early as 1873 attempis
Demands for were made to secure the passage of an interstate
Regulation commerce act, but in vain. Three years later

Representative Hopkins of Pennsylvania introduced
a resolution providing for an investigation of railroad abuses,
but the matter was referred to the committee on commerce,
some of whose members had no desire to ascertain the facts.
The investigation was never completed. Even the testimony
that had been taken disappeared, and there seems reason to
believe that it was stolen.

A decade later, after other abortive attempts, the public
clamor became so insistent that Congress enacted the famous
Interstate Commerce Law (February 4, 1887). The law pro-
Int rstat hibited discrimination between persons, higher rates
Commerce for a short haul than for a long haul over the same

line, forbade pooling, and required the carriers to
make public their schedules and to file them with a newly
created body called the Interstate Commerce Commission.

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 171

This commission was to consist of five members appointed by
the President, and to it were given powers to make investiga-
tions, collect statistics, and to prosecute offenders against the
act.

President Cleveland appointed able commissioners, headed
by Judge Thomas M. Cooley, a distinguished Michigan jurist,
who had gained much helpful experience as a receiver of bank-
rupt railways. The commission labored diligently,
Failure but unfortunately the powers conferred upon it

Commission were not drastic enough. Rebates to favored ship-
pers were continued, pools survived in the shape of
traffic associations and informal " gentlemen's agreements,"
and other old evils persisted or new ones sprang up. Further-
more, many of the commission's acts were reversed by the
courts, which interpreted its powers very strictly, thereby aid-
ing railway and corporation managers, who in evading the act
displayed truly Machiavellian ingenuity. .

Many managers were, in fact, so wanting in honor that they
would not live up to the terms of the agreements with each
other, and secret violations of such agreements in order to in-
crease traffic precipitated ruinous rate wars. The only really
satisfactory method, therefore, of escaping from the evils of com-
petition was consolidation of competing lines, and for this and
other reasons consolidation proceeded apace. By 1895 half the
mileage of the country was operated by about forty companies.

The passage of the Interstate Commerce Act was largely
due to the impression made on Congress by manifestations of
public discontent. It was a period of great social and Indus-
unrest- Socialism and even anarchism had

Social and

industrial gained a foothold in America. Ignorant agitators

and men of education such as Henry George, whose
celebrated "single-tax" book, Progress and Poverty, has already
been referred to, and Edward Bellamy, whose widely read Uto-
pian romance, Looking Backward, appeared in 1888, were pointing
out inequalities in the existing order and were preaching changes
that seemed to threaten the very bases of society. Workers
were more thoroughly organized than ever before, and the
"walking delegate," who stirred up discontent and called strikes,

172 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

had become a prominent, often a sinister, factor in industrial
life. The Knights of Labor continued to play a prominent
part in labor affairs, and, as already related, the years 1885-86
witnessed a tremendous increase in their membership.

In 1886 the labor world seethed with discontent, and there
were twice as many strikes as in any previous year. One of the
most serious of these occurred on the Gould railways of the
Southwestern Southwest. It was precipitated by the dismissal
Railroad for cause of a mechanic in the shops of the Texas
and Pacific Railroad at Fort Worth, Texas. The
man was a prominent Knight of Labor, and his fellow mechanics
demanded his reinstatement. When the demand was refused,
they struck (March 6, 1886), and, owing partly to other griev-
ances, the strike soon spread to the whole Gould system, so
that about 6,000 miles of road were tied up. Master Workman
Powderly, head of the Knights, strove to keep the strikers
within legal bounds and sought to settle the quarrel, but violent
men held sway in some places, particularly in St. Louis, where
an ignorant and ruffianly district leader named Martin Irons in-
flamed the mob to desperate deeds. Both in the St. Louis
neighborhood and elsewhere trains were held up by force,
railroad and other property was pillaged or destroyed, and a
number of persons were slain. For seven weeks the strike con-
tinued and then collapsed completely.

Still more serious was a strike growing out of the demand of
D , . labor for an eight-hour day. May i, 1886, was the
an Eight- date set by the workers for the new system to go
into effect. But most employers refused to accept
the plan, and strikes resulted in many places. The most seri-
ous of these occurred in Chicago, where 50,000 or 60,000 men
and women were soon involved.

At this time there existed in Chicago a small but very active

and violent group of anarchists, nearly all of whom

Anarchistsg° were °f foreign origin, chiefly German. In the strike

these agitators saw an opportunity to spread their

doctrines and to stir up trouble. Their organs, the Alarm

and the Arbeiter-Zeitung, contained highly incendiary articles

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 173

counselling violence and praising the "sublime" virtues of
dynamite bombs.

On May 3 a collision between the strikers and the police
took place at the works of the McCormick Reaper Company,
and several of the strikers were wounded. The next evening
a great mass meeting assembled in Haymarket
Square to protest against this "atrocious attack of
the police in shooting our fellow workmen." A. B.
Parsons, August Spies, Sam Fielden, and other anarchists
spoke; Fielden became so violent in his language that the cap-
tain of a battalion of policemen who had just marched into
the square ordered the crowd to disperse and arrested Fielden.
Some one in the crowd fired a pistol, and almost immediately
a gleaming object hurtled through the air and fell among the
police, exploding with terrific force and killing or mortally
wounding eight of the guardians of the law and injuring over
sixty more.

This dastardly deed shocked the entire country, and a wide-
spread demand arose that drastic steps should be taken against
the men guilty of raising the red flag on American soil. Many
^ of the "Reds" were arrested, and their trial proved

Anarchists to be one of the most famous in our history. Eight

Punished. .,....*.

were convicted of having instigated the attack on
the police; seven were sentenced to death; and one — Oscar
Neebe — to imprisonment for fifteen years. One of the con-
demned— Louis Lingg — cheated the gallows by committing
suicide; four — Parsons, Fischer, Engle, and Spies — were
hanged; while the sentences of two — Fielden and Schwab —
were commuted to imprisonment for life. Eight years later a
radically inclined Illinois governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned
the three who remained in prison.

Industrial arbitration and various other plans for the peace-
ful adjustment of labor disputes were brought for-
ArbuSration. wafd, but the action of Congress was confined to
the passage of an act providing for the settlement
by arbitration of disputes between railroads and their employ-
ees. Resort to the plan was not made compulsory, however,

174 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

and the practical results proved small. A number of States
also passed arbitration laws of varying merit.

The failure of most of the strikes supported by the Knights
of Labor in this period tended to discredit that order in the
eyes of workingmen, while the sympathy of the general public
Am ' was anenated by the scenes of violence and by the

Federation order's passing resolutions asking mercy for the
condemned anarchists. The influence of the Knights
began to wane, while that of a new organization, the American
Federation of Labor, increased. This new order was first
formed in 1881, but did not take the name just given until 1886.
Unlike the Knights of Labor, it consisted of an alliance of sepa-
rate trades-unions, and, as the autonomous principle was better
suited to the needs of the labor situation, the Federation throve
at the expense of its rival and ultimately became the most
powerful body of its kind in the world.

A subject concerning which there was much partisan wran-
gling during this administration was that of pensions to veterans
of the Civil War. A very liberal policy had prevailed in this
matter, and by 1885 the pensioners numbered
345,125, annually receiving $65,171,937. Great
laxity prevailed in the Pension Office, yet many
claims were rejected by it, and a custom had arisen of disap-
pointed claimants persuading members of Congress to present
their claims in special pension bills. Many such claims were
meritorious, but thousands of these private pension bills were
presented, so that often they received little careful scrutiny
even in committee; hundreds were sometimes passed in a single
session of the House or Senate. Under such circumstances,
"influence" or "pull" frequently proved the determining fac-
tor rather than truth or merit, while throughout the country
there seemed to exist a sort of public conspiracy to aid even the
undeserving to get on the pension pay-roll, and it was notorious
that physicians and other individuals often swore falsely in
affidavits made in behalf of applicants. In consequence, men
who had never heard the whistle of a Confederate bullet, men
who had been dishonorably discharged, even deserters and ma-

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 175

lingerers who had shot off their own fingers or hands in order
to be discharged from military service, had managed to get
their names placed on the pension-roll. This unfortunate state
of affairs was largely due to politicians playing for votes, and
to the unscrupulous activities of a great body of pension claim
agents, who preyed both upon the veterans and the public
treasury. Even the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans'
association, the original objects of which were highly praise-
worthy, sometimes exercised an influence that laid it open to
the charge that it had come to be "an instrument for the pro-
curing of pensions."

With his usual hard-headedness, President Cleveland studied
the pension question and reached the conclusion that a reform
was needed. He subjected all private pension bills that came

to him to a careful scrutiny and vetoed 228 such

bills out of a total of 1,871. Some of the claims
Pension Bills ^us denied were not only fraudulent in character

but had a humorous side. One applicant's dis-
ability was due to the fact that long after the war he had
broken his leg while gathering dandelions in a ditch. A widow
of a veteran asked a pension because her husband had been
accidentally killed by a neighbor who was trying to shoot an
owl. Another widow's husband had been captured by the
Confederates and had fought during the remainder of the war
in their ranks. " We are dealing with pensions, not with gratui-
ties," wrote the President in vetoing one such bill, and he in-
sisted again and again that the pension roll ought to be kept a
roll of honor, not of fraud.

Pension attorneys and Republicans alert for partisan advan-
Dependent ^^ raised a great outcry over these pension
Pension Bill vetoes, which many alleged were due to Cleveland's

"Rebel sympathies." The prejudice thus created
was much increased when the President vetoed (February n,
1887) a bill to grant twelve dollars a month to veterans of twelve
months' service who were dependent for support upon their
daily toil or upon others.
Soon after vetoing the dependent pension bill Cleveland

176 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

made the mistake of authorizing Adjutant-General Drum to
return to Southern States certain captured Confederate flags
that were in the possession of the government.
The President doubtless intended the step in the
spirit of Charles Sumner's bill of years before, to
the effect that "the names of battles with fellow-citizens shall
not be continued in the Army Register, or placed on the regi-
mental colors of the United States." But the "Rebel Flag
Order" created a great furor throughout the North. Hundreds
of Grand Army posts denounced the plan; the "Rebel Sympa-
thizer" was deluged with threats of personal violence. It was
pointed out that since the flags were the property of the nation
they could not be disposed of without the consent of Congress.
In the end Cleveland had to take the humiliating step of issuing
(June 16, 1887) an executive order admitting his lack of power
and annulling action taken by the adjutant-general. He also
deemed it expedient to withdraw his acceptance of an invitation
to attend the annual encampment of the Grand Army of the
Republic, which was held that year in St. Louis. It is signifi-
cant that eighteen years later a Republican Congress and
President returned the flags without exciting a ripple of protest.

In his annual messages of 1885 and 1886 President Cleve-
land urged upon Congress the desirability of reducing what he
regarded as excessive tariff duties. But the Senate, being Re-
publican, was hostile to such a policy, while even in the House
enough protectionist Democrats combined with the Repub-
licans to prevent tariff tinkering.

Not to be turned aside, Cleveland, in December, 1887,
against the advice of some of his counsellors, departed from all
precedents and devoted the whole of his annual message to
Tariff arguing the need of revenue reform. He pointed

Message out that every year the treasury receipts exceeded
expenditures by many millions, that the vaults
were becoming congested with money, that the surplus thus
created was an incitement to extravagance, that the with-
drawal of so much money from circulation was disturbing to
business. He asserted that the high duties enabled certain
interests to exact excessive profits at the expense of consumers,

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 177

including both laboring men and farmers. However, he depre-
cated the "bandying" of such epithets as "protection" and
"free trade"; said that the entire withdrawal of duties should
not be contemplated; and summed all up in the much-quoted
phrase: "It is a condition which confronts us — not a theory."
Few presidential messages ever created such a sensation.
Republicans gleefully asserted that Cleveland had made the
issue for the campaign of 1888, and declared that American

industries were threatened with destruction by free
Criticism"1 trade. From Paris, where he was sojourning,

Elaine sent home a scathing criticism of the message,
and on his return to America contrasted the poverty of the
British worker with the comparative affluence of the American
wage-earner, and attributed the difference to the beneficent
effects of protection. Congressman William McKinley of Ohio
charged that the assault was "inspired by our foreign rivals."
"Let England take care of herself," said he, "let France look
after her interests, let Germany take care of her own people,
but in God's name let Americans look after America."

The message dismayed many Democrats, but the party
managed to close its ranks and carry through the House (July
21, 1888) the so-called Mills bill, which reduced duties about

7 per cent. Republicans and independents did not
Biue ' fail to point out that the measure dealt gently with

certain industries that flourished in Democratic
States but more rigorously with those in Republican States.
The bill received scant consideration in the Republican Senate.
That body reported (October 3, 1888) a tariff measure of its
own, after which Congress adjourned, leaving the tariff contro-
versy before the voters.

The Democratic national convention had met in St. Louis
on the 5th of June. President Cleveland had antagonized
many of the politicians of his party, but he was renominated
Cleveland ^v acclamati°n- For his running mate the conven-
and tion selected ex-Senator Allen G. Thurman of Ohio,

a picturesque "Old Roman" whose habit of carry-
ing and flourishing a red bandanna handkerchief received much
public attention and gave a touch of color to the campaign.

178 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The platform praised the Democratic record, declared its sym-
pathy with the efforts of Ireland to obtain home rule, but de-
voted most attention to the tariff. By the existing duties, it
asserted, "the cry of American labor for a better share in the
rewards of industry is stifled with false pretences, enterprise is
fettered and bound down to home markets," while the price of
nearly everything farmers must buy "is increased by the fa-
voritism of an unequal system of tax legislation." Much was
made of the theory that lower duties would cheapen the cost of
the necessaries of life.

It had been expected by most Republicans that Elaine would
again be their nominee, but early in 1888, while still abroad,
he wrote that he would not be a candidate. Ultimately many
aspirants sought the honor of leading the Republican
Aspirant^ Party> among them Senator Sherman, Senator Ben-
jamin Harrison and Judge Walter Q. Gresham of
Indiana, Senator W. B. Allison of Iowa, Senator Chauncey M.
Depew of New York, and ex-Governor Russell A. Alger of Mich-
igan. Of all the candidates Sherman was decidedly the best
known, but, though one of the ablest men of his day, he some-
how failed to arouse enthusiasm among the people. Gresham
had an honorable record as a soldier and had won a large pop-
ular following by his attitude as a judge, having shown in his
decisions that he realized the evils of monopoly and corruption;
he was satisfactory to Mugwumps but he was unpopular with
politicians, and his candidacy was weakened by his inability
to secure support in his own State, all of whose delegates de-
clared for Harrison.

The platform adopted by the Republican convention, which
met in Chicago on the igth of June, imitated the reference of
their rivals to Irish home rule, charged that the Cleveland admin-
istration and the Democratic majority in the House
Platform!"1 °f Representatives owed their existence to the un-
lawful suppression of the negro vote in the South,
and denounced the Democratic attitude on the tariff question
and other matters. It declared that Republicans stood "un-
compromisingly in favor of the American system of pro-

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 179

tection. ... Its abandonment has always been followed
by disaster to all interests, except the usurer and the sheriff."
Another plank ran: "The Republican party is in favor of
the use of both gold and silver as money, and condemns the
policy of the Democratic administration in its efforts to
demonetize silver." In the light of after events this statement
possesses a peculiar interest.

On the first ballot Sherman received 229 votes, Gresham in,
Depew 99, Alger 84, Harrison 80, with the rest trailing. For
five more ballots Sherman held the lead, but his strength never
exceeded 249, and in his Recollections he later attrib-
n and uted h** defeat to the purchase by friends of Alger

of Southern delegates pledged to his support. At
one juncture an appeal that he should consent to be a candidate
was cabled to Elaine, who was visiting Andrew Carnegie in
Scotland; but Carnegie flashed back: "Too late, Elaine im-
movable. Take Harrison and Phelps." The despatch had
some weight, as did also the course taken by Boss Platt of New
York, who offered his influence, on conditions, to Gresham and
probably to others, but finally threw it to Harrison. On the
seventh ballot Harrison forged into the lead, and on the eighth
he was nominated. For second place, the convention ignored
Carnegie and Elaine's recommendation and nominated Levi P.
Morton, a New York banker who had been a member of Con-
gress and minister to France.

The Republican candidate for first place was a grandson of
the log-cabin and hard-cider President, and a great-grandson
of Governor Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of
Independence. His followers strove to revive some
°f ti16 enthusiasm of 1840 and held many great
rallies and torchlight processions, while trembling
old men of Whig antecedents brought out and wore with great
pride badges that had been used forty-eight years before when
the welkin had been made to ring for "Tippecanoe and Tyler
too!" The Democrats ridiculed "Grandfather's Hat" and
declared that it was much too big for "Little Ben," the descend-
ant who now wished to wear it. In reality, however, Harri-

i8o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

son was no mean candidate, and though he was not tall nor
specially imposing, owing to the fact that both his neck and his
legs were almost abnormally short, he possessed a learning and
intellectual acumen equalled by few. As, a lawyer he sur-
passed his opponent, but he was not so forceful a personality.
He had commanded a regiment in a splendid charge at Resaca
and had attained the rank of brigadier-general, facts that his
supporters constantly contrasted with the fact that Cleveland
had hired a substitute. In 1876 he was the Republican can-
didate for governor of Indiana but was defeated, and he had
recently completed a term in the United States Senate. Dur-
ing the campaign he made scores of short speeches to delegations
visiting his home in Indianapolis, and these speeches proved to
be so apt and pithy that even his friends were agreeably sur-
prised.

In honorable contrast with the campaign of 1884, personali-
ties played little part in the contest. The main battle raged
around the tariff question. Societies were formed to defend
The Tariff protection or to promote tariff reform; thousands
the Chief of orators discussed the great issue upon the stump;
voters were deluged with "literature" as never be-
fore. Democratic managers collected all the money they could
from office-holders; Republican managers held up the spectre
of free trade and persuaded nervous manufacturers and other
business men to subscribe as never before. Workingmen were
warned that they were in imminent peril of being reduced to
the level of the "pauper labor" of Europe; many of them shiv-
ered at the thought and voted the protectionist ticket. Much
was made of the assertion that the proposal to lower duties
was inspired abroad, and it was charged that the British free-
trade Cobden Club was contributing to the Democratic cam-
paign fund.

By a clever coup the Republicans managed to give color
to such stories. Two months before the election Sir Lionel
Sackville-West, the British minister at Washington, received a
letter dated at Pomona, California, and signed "Charles F.
Murchison." The writer represented himself to be a natural-

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 181

ized Englishman. He spoke of Cleveland's Canadian policy
and free-trade proclivities and of Harrison's high-tariff and
The "American" principles, and asked his lordship, "pri-

" Murchison vately and confidentially," for an opinion as to which
man, if elected, would be most friendly to British
interests. Sackville-West, who was a very dull Briton, re-
sponded in language favorable to the aspirations of Cleveland.
In reality the letter had been written by a man named Osgoodby,
and it came at once into the hands of the Republican managers.
They held it until near the end of October, and then published
it in the newspapers and in millions of handbills. It filled the
Democratic managers with dismay. In their panic they im-
plored the President to do something to save the Irish vote.
Cleveland had a cable sent to the British Foreign Office asking
for the too trustful minister's recall; Lord Salisbury demurred,
whereupon Sir Lionel was handed his passports. But the dam-
age was done; the dish was broken and could not be mended.
The main contests centred in New York and Indiana. Both
parties threw into these pivotal States all the money upon
which they could lay their hands, and neither side was too
scrupulous as to methods. Harrison carried his

Indiana and ,, . , ., , 0

New York own State by the narrow margin of 2,248 votes.
Stat2Wtal In New York Governor David B. Hill, the "Sage

of Wolfert's Roost," an able but exceedingly self-
ish politician, was a candidate for re-election on the Demo-
cratic ticket. Neither Hill nor Tammany Hall liked Cleveland.
Hill was fond of beginning his speeches with the emphatic asser-
tion, "I am a Democrat," but his chief concern was that his
machine should continue to control the State of New York.
It was charged that some of his followers entered into agree-
ments to cast their votes for Harrison in return for Republican
votes for Hill. Hill was re-elected by 18,000 votes, while

Cleveland lost the State by 13,000. Cleveland car-
iiertedn ried the " s°u'd South ' ' but only two Northern States,

Connecticut and New Jersey, with a total of 168
electoral votes. Harrison carried all the other Northern
States and received 233 electoral votes. Cleveland's popular

182 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

vote exceeded Harrison's by 100,000, but Republicans declared
that in view of the wholesale suppression of the negro vote in
the South, this meant little.

A great scandal was caused by the publication of a letter sent
out by the National Republican Committee to party workers
in Indiana. The letter bore the name of W. W. Dudley, treas-
urer of the committee, and it contained the follow-

I he Blocks

of Five" ing significant instruction: "Divide the floaters
into blocks of five and put a trusted man with the
necessary funds in charge of these five, and make him respon-
sible that none get away, and that all vote our ticket."
"Floaters," of course, were purchasable voters, and Democrats
charged that the letter furnished evidence of a purpose to bribe
the Indiana electorate on a large scale.

The truth is that in this period political morality stood at
a very low ebb in both parties. Bribery of voters took place
in nearly every precinct in the country. Even some Republicans
Political anc* some Democrats demanded pay for voting
Corruption their own tickets, and in case their demands were
ignored would remain away from the polls or per-
haps, in revenge, vote for the opposing candidates. As voting
was done openly, a party worker could place a ballot in a bribed
man's hand, march him to the voting place, and watch him
deposit it; or else some bystander or member of the election
board could report whether or not the voter had given "value
received." Laws against corruption were weak ; in some States
only the receiver of a bribe could be punished. Defective
or non-existent registration laws opened a wide door to whole-
sale "repeating" and other evils, particularly in cities, where
many of the voters were strangers to each other. The author
once knew personally a Civil War veteran who admitted that
when home on a furlough he voted forty-nine times for Lincoln
and Johnson — once for each absent member of his company.
Almost any party worker who grew confidential could tell
many stories illustrating the corruption that pervaded elections.
Some of the men who managed the "dirty work" regretted that
such a state of affairs existed, but they considered it a neces-

THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY 183

sary evil because the other party resorted to such practices.
Most men despaired of being able to improve such conditions
and agreed with Senator Ingalls of Kansas when he flippantly
exclaimed: "The purification of politics is an iridescent dream;
the Decalogue and the Golden Rule have no place in a political
campaign."

Prior to the election of 1888 Massachusetts had adopted
the secret or "Australian" voting system, and before the next
presidential election more than thirty other States imitated her
example. The new system did much to eliminate
Australian bribery and other election evils, but it proved less
System successful than reformers had hoped. Ingenious
and unscrupulous party workers often devised ways
of finding out whether a "floater" had fulfilled his bargain,
while unfortunately it is a trait of human nature that a man
may be dishonorable enough to accept a bribe and "honorable"
enough to abide by the terms of the corrupt bargain. With the
secret ballot, more stringent laws against bribery, the adoption
of registration requirements, and the growth of a healthier
public sentiment, however, corruption in elections gradually
became less prevalent in most parts of the nation.

CHAPTER XII

THE SECOND HARRISON

REPUBLICANS rejoiced exceedingly over the result of the elec-
tion of 1888 and fondly believed that the most dangerous an-
tagonist who had faced them for many years was disposed of
forever. On the night before the inauguration a
crowd of gleeful victors gathered near the White
House and warbled discordantly a ditty that had
been exceedingly popular during the campaign:

"Down in the cornfield hear that mournful sound,
All the Democrats are weeping — Grover's in the cold, cold ground."

As for Cleveland, he took the result of the contest philosophi-
cally, good-naturedly held an umbrella over the bared head of
his successful rival as he took the oath of office in a dashing
rain, and then retired to private life and the practice of law in
the city of New York. Subsequent events were to show that
he was not buried so deep politically as his enemies supposed.
Almost of necessity the new President named Elaine as
secretary of state, a post the Plumed Knight had held under
Garfield and one that suited his tastes. Of the other cabinet
appointees, the best-known was Postmaster-General
Cabinet* John Wanamaker, the celebrated Philadelphia mer-
chant prince. To the recently created Department
of Agriculture Harrison called ex-Governor Jeremiah M. Rusk of
Wisconsin, a soldier and farmer; and "Uncle Jerry," as he was
familiarly called, proved well fitted for the task of organizing
the new department. Thomas C. Platt of New York claimed
that Harrison's managers at Chicago promised that he should
be secretary of the treasury, but Harrison had not been a party
to the bargain and named William Windom of Minnesota,
formerly a member of Garfield's cabinet, instead. Platt, how-

184

THE SECOND HARRISON 185

ever, was given a large share in the disposal of patronage, but
ultimately drifted into opposition to the President.

In his inaugural address Harrison promised that he would
"fully and without evasion" enforce the civil service law, but
hastened to add that "honorable party service will certainly
Harrison and not ^e esteemed by me a disqualification for public
Civil Service office." He kept his pledge regarding the classified

list, but outside that list there was a rather clean
sweep, and the guillotine of First Assistant Postmaster-General
Clarkson became as famous as "Adlai's axe." In a year the
new "headsman" decapitated 30,000 office-holders. In his
dealings with favor-seekers Harrison, in self-defense, adopted
a cold and repellent demeanor. According to Senator Hoar,
"Elaine would refuse a request in a way that would seem like
doing a favor. Harrison would grant a request in a way which
seemed as if he were denying it." With members of his family
and a few chosen friends the President was genial and warm-
hearted, but politicians and the general public thought him
very reserved and dignified, and it was popularly said that
" Harrison sweats ice- water."

Harrison's course regarding appointments disappointed some
civil service reformers, but it should be said to his credit that
he extended the classified list and strengthened the civil service

commission by appointing to it men of force and
Roosevelt zeal. One such appointee was Theodore Roosevelt.
Lif^fo thT This young man, then thirty years of age, had served
Civil Service ^wo terms in the New York legislature soon after

Commission.

graduating from Harvard, had been the Republican
candidate for mayor of New York City in 1886, had run a
cattle ranch in Dakota, and had shot grizzlies and other big
game in the Far West. Roosevelt threw himself into the work
with characteristic vigor and aggressiveness. In speeches in
various places he explained to the people the needs of the re-
form, exploded the myths by which politicians had sought
to discredit the commission, and put the spoilsmen on the de-
fensive. "No longer was there an air of apology; blow was
given for blow." In a report concerning the political assess-

186 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ment of office-holders he charged that much of the money thus
obtained was retained by " the jackals who have collected it."
When Clarkson published an attack on the commission, Roose-
velt properly characterized it as a "loose diatribe equally com-
pounded of rambling declamation and misstatement." Har-
rison thought that Roosevelt wanted to go too fast with the
reform, but ultimately he dismissed Clarkson and broke with
other spoilsmen.

During the first two years of Harrison's administration the
Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and were able
to put through party measures. Their majority in the House,
however, was small, and the minority frequently
ancfthe ' sought *to block proceedings by determined filibus-
Ruies" tering; never before had there been so boisterous a
session. The Speaker at this time was Thomas B.
Reed of Maine, a big man physically and mentally, gifted with
keen wit and the ability to utter striking and incisive phrases,
one who was not afraid to take the bull by the horns. Reed
repressed the Democratic efforts at obstruction so ruthlessly
that he was nicknamed "Czar" Reed and for a time was the
most talked of man in the country. The stringent rules adopted
by the House were called the "Reed Rules." It is beyond
question that Reed often used his power in a partisan manner,
but it was an anomaly that a minority should be able to block
business indefinitely, and even the Democrats recognized this
fact when they came into power. Thenceforth in the House
it was possible for a majority to expedite business, but in the
Senate, owing to the absence of closure of debate, it remained
possible down to our war with Germany for a few recalcitrants
to hold up a measure indefinitely.

The great fight of the session came over a determined effort
on the part of the Republicans to pass legislation to protect
Southern negroes in their right to vote. The Demo-
Biif." ' crats raised the spectre of black rule, and a move-
ment was even begun in the South to boycott North-
ern products if the " Force Bill," as it was called, became a law.
After bitter and protracted debates the bill passed the House,

THE SECOND HARRISON 187

but in the Senate it was defeated by a coalition of Democrats
and Silver Republicans (January, 1891).

Among the measures passed by this Congress were an act
for the admission of Idaho and Wyoming — the Dakotas, Wash-
ington, and Montana had been admitted near the close of the
previous session — an anti-lottery law, aimed at the

New States.

notonous Louisiana Lottery Company, an original
package" law, which regulated interstate shipment of liquors,
a law forfeiting land grants made to railways that had failed
to fulfil the terms of their contracts, and a dependent pension
act, under the operation of which the annual expense of pensions
leaped in four years from $89,000,000 to $157,000,000. This
Congress also passed a silver act, an anti-trust act, and a tariff
act, and these measures require more detailed considera-
tion.

During Cleveland's administration the silver-coinage question
had attracted increasing attention. Silver dollars were re-
garded as a cumbrous nuisance in the East, and flowed back

to the treasury in such streams that the vaults
Question" were choked with white metal coined under the

Bland-Allison Act of 1878. In 1886 provision was
made for the issue of silver certificates in denominations of one,
two, and five dollars, but throughout Cleveland's term at-
tempts to increase silver coinage failed, and by 1887 the relative
value of silver and gold had declined to 22.10 to i. Meanwhile
the prices of corn, wheat, cotton, and other farm products fell
to low levels, and many people attributed the decline to an
insufficient supply of money. Such persons pointed out that
the world's output of gold was decreasing, that the circulation
of national-bank notes was contracting, that meanwhile the
volume of business done was rapidly increasing. Silver-miners,
debtors, the generally discontented, and many others, led by
such men as Representative Bland of Missouri and Senator
Stewart of Nevada, were insistently urging free coinage, and
toward the end of 1889 the demand for a greater use of the white
metal had become acute.
As we have seen, the Republican platform in 1888 contained

i88 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

a declaration favorable to silver and a denunciation of Demo-

crats for their alleged effort to demonetize that metal. Unlike

Cleveland, Harrison found it expedient to display

Silver- a friendly attitude toward silver, and Windom, his

secretary of the treasury, in December, 1889, pre-
sented to Congress a report favoring an increase in
the use of silver. After a protracted struggle Congress in 1890
repealed the Bland-Allison Act and enacted in its stead that the
secretary of the treasury should every month purchase four and
a half million ounces of silver bullion and issue in payment
therefor, at the old ratio of 16 to i, legal tender notes redeema-
ble on demand in "gold or silver coin at his discretion." The
act satisfied neither the partisans of free silver nor those who
favored the single gold standard, but was a compromise result-
ing from the anxiety of Republican leaders to prevent a split
in their party. Senator Sherman had a good deal to do with
the details of the act, and it received his name, but he did not
really believe in it and supported it merely to prevent worse
from befalling. Some friends of silver accepted the bill on the
half-a-loaf theory, but the radicals denounced it unsparingly.
Bland characterized the measure as a " masterpiece of duplicity
and double-dealing." Agitation for free coinage continued.
Meanwhile the value of silver declined; by 1893 the market
ratio between silver and gold bullion had fallen to 26.49 to I-

The famous Sherman Anti-Trust Act (July 2, 1890) resulted
from the tendency to concentration of industry described in a
previous chapter. Besides the Standard Oil Company, com-
TheSavi s binations had been formed in the cordage, meat,
of Com- cottonseed, sugar, whiskey, and other industries.
Centralization of business management, avoidance
of duplication in many things, large-scale production, utiliza-
tion of waste products, and other advantages often enabled the
great organizations to effect many economies, but the trusts
displayed little tendency to permit the public to share in the
benefits resulting from increased efficiency; instead they were
more likely, having stamped out competition, to raise the price
of articles they controlled. Some prominent men insisted that

THE SECOND HARRISON 189

trusts were only a temporary phenomenon, that presently they
would fall of their own weight, that they were only dangerous
to their own stockholders. Even so keen a man as Speaker
s ker Reed insisted that, aside from articles controlled
Reed on by patents, there were no monopolies and never
could be; "there is no power on earth that can
raise the price of any necessity of life above a just price and
keep it there." But thousands of business men who had felt
the heavy hand of monopoly, and millions of consumers who
were paying monopoly prices, did not accept this optimistic
view. A congressional investigation (1888-89) had brought to
light some startling facts regarding the operations of the Stand-
ard Oil Trust, the meat trust, and the sugar trust, and in his
first annual message President Harrison asked for legislation on
the subject.

The measure finally adopted was passed by a non-partisan
vote, though some sleek senators of both parties affected to
doubt its constitutionality. Its most important clause pro-
The Sherman vided tnat "every contract, combination in form
Anti-Trust 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." Few
sentences have ever been so variously interpreted or have caused
so much controversy. The penalties for violation of the act
were fine or imprisonment, or both.

Some persons contended then, and the number thinking thus
is greater now, that the act did not approach the problem from
the right view-point. In their opinion the trusts were a natural
Should the development, a manifestation of a tendency toward
Trusts be combination and closer social co-operation discerni-
ble the world over, and one of the logical outgrowths
of the Industrial Revolution. To enact legislation to break
them up would be to try to turn the clock backward; the proper
remedy was to control them in such a way as to give society in
general some of the benefits resulting from the savings and
efficiency of combination.
The act did not solve the trust problem, nor did it break

igo THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

up the trusts. When called on to interpret it the courts dis-
played, in the opinion of many, greater tenderness for private
interests than for the public welfare. Of eight
Evaded!18 cases under the law during Harrison's administra-
tion the courts decided adversely to the government's
contention in seven, and not a single person was actually tried
on the facts. The trusts "changed their clothes" by substi-
tuting in place of the trust agreement such devices as "com-
munities of interest" and "holding companies" chartered in
complaisant States like New Jersey. The Standard Oil Trust,
for example, in 1892 dropped the trust agreement and resorted
to a "community of interest" between nine controlling stock-
holders, of whom John D. Rockefeller was one; seven years
later the device of a holding company was adopted.

The Republicans interpreted the result of the election of
1888 as a mandate to revise the tariff. When the new Con-
gress met, the committee on ways and means, headed by
McKinle William McKinley of Ohio, took over a bill that
Tariff Bill, had been reported to the Senate in the previous
session and made it the basis of a measure the avowed
object of which was to perfect the system of protection. For
many months this McKinley Bill was debated, amended, and
fought over, and not until October i, 1890, was it finally enacted
into law.

Some articles that did not come into competition with home
productions — or very little — were placed on the free list. The
most important of these was raw sugar, which had been the most
remunerative item of the old tariff. For the sake
thCeAct° °f Louisiana producers a bounty of two cents a
pound was promised, while the bill also provided
that on sugar imported from countries paying a bounty a
duty of one-tenth of a cent a pound must be paid. On certain
other articles, such as woollen cloths, dress-goods, carpets, and
tin-plate, duties so high as to be almost prohibitive were im-
posed. The net result of all these changes was, of course, to re-
duce revenues and solve the problem of the surplus. To con-
ciliate farmers, some of whom were beginning to doubt the

THE SECOND HARRISON 191

blessings of protection, exceedingly high duties were imposed on
potatoes, barley, wheat, eggs, and other farm products. In
those days shipping such products as these into the United
States was like "sending coal to Newcastle," hence the practical
benefits which the agricultural population derived from such
protection were little more than nominal, but the duties helped
Republican politicians to keep the bucolic population satisfied.
Some Republicans, among them Secretary Elaine, who had
never been accused of being a free-trader, thought the bill
amounted to "protection run mad," but its framers defended

Theories ^ on ^e t^ieory ^at ^S^1 duties and high prices
of its are a distinct advantage to a country. Prior to

the meeting of Congress McKinley had said: "I
do not prize the word cheap. It is not a word of comfort;
it is not a word of cheer; it is not a word of inspiration ! It is
the badge of poverty; it is the signal of distress. . . . Cheap
merchandise means cheap men and cheap men mean a cheap
country; and that is not the kind of government our fathers
followed, and it is not the kind their sons mean to follow."

While the bill was still before Congress Blaine wrote to
Senator Frye (July n, 1890): "There is not a section or line
in the entire bill that will open the market for another bushel

of wheat or another barrel of pork. ' ' He was anxious
Reciprocity- to ^ave "reciprocity" features incorporated into

the measure, for the sake of increasing American
foreign trade, particularly with South American countries.
He was shrewd enough to see that, with wise management, a
vast commerce could be built up with the states to the south
of us. During his previous incumbency as secretary of state,
he had tried to arrange for a Pan-American Congress, and in
October, 1889, such a congress, composed of delegates from
nineteen nations, at last actually convened at Washington.
Better trade relations was one of the main topics considered
by the congress, and Blaine was anxious to take advantage
of the opportunities thus opened. The high priests of protec-
tion opposed the reciprocity plan, but the feature was finally
incorporated, though not in the form Blaine desired. Instead

i92 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

of offering, as he proposed, to lower the protective bars to
countries offering concessions to American goods, the Aldrich
reciprocity amendment authorized the President to raise still
higher bars against countries that refused such concessions.

Elaine expressed a belief that the McKinley type of protec-
tion would "protect the Republican Party into a speedy re-
tirement." Events justified his prediction. Even before the

McKinley bill was passed prices rose in anticipation;
Causes° after it became a law they soared far beyond what
PricesSed tne mcrease m duties justified, for profiteers seized

upon the act as an excuse for extortion. Millions
of people speedily felt the pinch of the increased cost of living,
while, on the other hand, wages rose little or not at all. Further-
more, the Democrats made much of the lavish expenditures by
the government, and filled the air with denunciations of "the
Billion-Dollar Congress." To such arguments Speaker Reed
retorted, "Yes, but this is a billion-dollar country."

Republican explanations were in vain. In the congressional
election of 1890, which took place a month after the passage of
the McKinley Act, the Democrats swept the country. Two
p .. . . hundred and thirty-five Democrats and only 88
Reaction, Republicans were elected to the House, while in the

Senate the Republican majority was reduced from
14 to 6. There had been no such political "tidal wave" since
1874. Even McKinley himself was beaten, though chiefly be-
cause a Democratic legislature had gerrymandered his district.
In this election a new party, which ultimately became known
as the "People's Party" or "Populists," played a striking part.
Its membership was chiefly composed of former Greenbackers

and Grangers, and of members of a new and widely
Populists. extended organization called the Farmers' Alliance.

In some places it received aid from the Knights of
Labor. It was chiefly active in the West and South; Kansas,
"the mother of radical movements," was the cyclone centre.
Hard times prevailed in both sections; the prices of cotton,
corn, wheat, and other agricultural products were low; mort-
gages were more common than bank-accounts. The new party

THE SECOND HARRISON 193

demanded the free coinage of silver and supported other radi-
cal proposals. It denounced both the old parties as corrupt
political oligarchies whose leaders were owned by the rich.
Democrats and Republicans affected to laugh at its activities,
but it elected two senators and nine representatives, and by
its subsequent aggressiveness gave sleepless nights to leaders
of both the old parties.

With the Democrats in control of the House of Representa-
tives, very little except routine legislation was enacted by the
new Fifty-Second Congress. Much of the time was wasted in
partisan wrangling for political advantage in the coming presi-
dential campaign.

When Elaine became secretary of state, the United States
was in the midst of a controversy concerning our rights in the
Samoan Islands. The earliest navigators in the South Seas
had found these tropical islands and their pictur-
Quesfian°an esclue people irresistibly attractive, and at the time
of which we speak the celebrated romanticist Robert
Louis Stevenson was spending the last years of his life there.
The German Empire was entering upon that grandiose policy
of world domination that was to prove so disastrous to herself
and to humanity, and her leaders, having entered late into the
struggle for colonies, coveted for commercial and strategic
reasons this rich but still independent archipelago. But Great
Britain and the United States also had interests in Samoa,
and back in 1878 we had concluded an agreement whereby we
obtained the fine harbor of Pago-Pago for a coaling station.
With rival chieftains contending for supremacy, and with Ger-
many intriguing for possession, the situation in Samoa was
fraught with explosive possibilities.

In April, 1886, the arrogant German consul, Herr Stiibel,
raised the German flag over Apia, the capital, and proclaimed
that thenceforth only Germany should rule in that
Pretensions, portion of the islands. The American consul,
Greenebaum, retorted by proclaiming a protector-
ate over the whole archipelago. Both Germany and the United
States disavowed the acts of their consuls, and a conference of

i94 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the three powers was held (1887) in Washington over Samoan
affairs. The conference agreed that the native government
was incompetent but disagreed as to what form of government
should be substituted. The status quo was temporarily main-
tained, but German intrigues for possession continued.

In 1888, taking as a pretext a drunken brawl between some
German sailors and a few Samoans, the Germans landed marines
in Apia, deposed and deported King Malietoa, who was friendly
G T to the Americans and the British, and set up a
tervention creature of their own named Tamasese. The Amer-
ican consul, Harold M. Sewall of Maine, vigorously
protested against this high-handed course and received typically
German answers. Many Samoans refused to recognize the
authority of the German puppet, and, taking to the bush, con-
ducted a guerilla warfare against the Teutons, receiving more
or less aid and comfort from the American and British residents.
Opportunely there arrived in Samoan waters the American gun-
boat Adams, under Commander Richard Leary, whose Irish
name, as Stevenson remarks in his account of these stirring
times, was diagnostic. Leary set himself energetically to thwart-
ing the German plans, and once ran his ship directly between
the German corvette A dler and a Samoan position at Apia that
the Germans were about to bombard. Somewhat later, when
the Adams had gone to Hawaii with despatches, German marines
attempted to surprise a force of Samoans but fell (December
1 8, 1888) into an ambush and were driven back to the beach
after losing fifty men. Furious over this defeat, the Germans
began bombarding indiscriminately, endangering American
property and killing Samoan women and children. Their
armed boats also seized an American flag in the harbor of Apia;
the hated bunting was trampled on and torn to shreds. The
American vice-consul sent word of these happenings home, and
added: "Admiral with squadron necessary immediately."

The American people did not want Samoa, but news of these
insults aroused their wrath. The Cleveland government hurried
war-ships to the island, and early in March, 1889, the Trenton,
Vandalia, and Nipsic, under Admiral Kimberly, lay at anchor

THE SECOND HARRISON 195

in the harbor of Apia, confronting an equal number of German
ships, the Adler, Eber, and Olga, while Great Britain was rep-
resented by the cruiser Calliope. A conflict seemed
likely, and four days after Harrison's inauguration
a rumor was circulated in Germany that the
Nipsic had fired on the Olga; a little later a cablegram from
Kiel, transmitting a report that was supposed to have come
by way of Australia, repeated the rumor and added that the
American vessel had been sunk by a German torpedo. American
anger flamed high; the fighting spirit was aroused; our govern-
ment even made tentative preparations for war. But pres-
ently the truth regarding events in Samoa arrived, and it was
found that there had only been a terrific battle of the elements.
A tropical hurricane had swept over the archipelago, and of
all the war-ships at Apia only the Calliope escaped.

The disaster helped to slacken the warlike tension, and
Chancellor Bismarck proposed that a conference should be
held to settle the Samoan question. When the conference
B .. met in Berlin (April 29, 1889), Bismarck sought to

Conference, secure recognition of Germany's political predomi-
nance in Samoa and adopted his usual arrogant,
domineering tone toward the American representatives. The
Americans cabled home that the Chancellor was very irritable,
but Blaine, in no wise daunted, flashed back: "The extent of
the Chancellor's irritability is not the measure of American
right." The British representatives united with the Americans
in opposing the German pretensions, and ultimately Germany
receded from her advanced position and agreed to the restora-
tion of King Malietoa and to the establishment of a protectorate
in which all three powers should participate. Ten
Divided. vears later Great Britain withdrew entirely from
Samoan affairs, the United States received Tutuila,
with its valuable harbor of Pago-Pago, and a few smaller islands,
while Germany was allowed the rest.

At home the Samoan quarrel served to direct public atten-
tion to the urgent need of a greater navy; some new vessels
had been added under the Cleveland administration, and now

196 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

under Harrison many ships, including several battleships, were
authorized. Abroad our bold stand against German aggres-
R its f siveness attracted wide-spread and favorable com-
theSamoan ment, particularly in England and France. For
the first time the United States departed from its
traditional international policy and insisted on participating
in affairs outside America. For the first time the Republic of
the West collided with the ambitions of the grasping, ruthless
House of Hohenzollern. There were to be other clashes, nota-
bly in Manila harbor in 1898, and regarding Venezuela in 1902,
and finally an armed conflict.

Early in 1891 a revolt broke out in Chile against the authority
of President Balmaceda, who was accused of attempting to set
up a dictatorship. The United States refused to accord bellig-
erent rights to the Congressionalists, as the rebels
were called, and this party attributed the refusal to
the influence of the American minister, Patrick
Egan, whom they accused of undue friendship for Balmaceda.
In May a Congressionalist merchant vessel called the Itata was
seized at San Diego, California, for attempting to carry muni-
tions of war to the rebels contrary to our neutrality laws. The
crew overpowered the United States officials and sailed south-
ward, escaping the cruiser Charleston, which was sent in pursuit.
The fugitive vessel reached Iquique safely but was finally sur-
rendered on demand to a United States squadron under Rear-
Admiral McCann. The hard feeling created among the Con-
gressionalists by this episode was increased when their forces
triumphed and some of the Balmacedists were accorded a safe
refuge in the American legation at Santiago. While feeling was
still bitter a party of sailors on shore leave from the American
cruiser Baltimore were set upon in the streets of Valparaiso by
a mob of Chileans aided by policemen, and two were killed and
nearly a score more were wounded. The United States at once
demanded an explanation, but the new government procrasti-
nated. In his annual message of December, 1891, President
Harrison discussed the matter, whereupon Sefior Matta, Chilean
minister of foreign affairs, cabled to Chilean representatives

THE SECOND HARRISON 197

throughout the world declaring that the statements on which
the President's discussion were based were " erroneous or delib-
erately incorrect " and " that there is no exactness or sincerity
in what is said in Washington." The Chilean explanation,
which reached Washington soon after, proved unsatisfactory.
The United States made preparations for war and presented
(January 21, 1892) an ultimatum demanding of Chile that the
Matta despatch should be withdrawn and an apology offered
for it, that the refugees in the legation at Valparaiso should be
given safe-conduct out of the country, and that an indemnity
should be paid to the injured sailors of the Baltimore or their
heirs. Chile found it expedient to comply.

In March, 1891, a number of Italians accused of having
assassinated the chief of police of New Orleans were lynched
by a mob, which broke into the city prison to accomplish that
purpose. Italy at once demanded that the mob
should be punished and that an indemnity should
be paid. Secretary Elaine stated in reply that he re-
gretted the affair, but he pointed out that under our federal sys-
tem criminal proceedings against the mob lay within the sphere
of the local Louisiana authorities, that the national government
had no power in the matter. He urged upon Governor Nicholls,
however, that the mob should be brought to justice, but this
was a difficult thing to do, for the public believed that the dead
Italians were members of a secret blackmailing organization
known as the Mafia, and the lynching was generally approved.
After further diplomatic exchanges Italy withdrew her minister,
Baron Fava, from Washington, and the United States recalled
Minister Porter from Rome. The judicial proceedings against
the mob came to nothing, but Congress, not as a matter of right
but as an expression of the regret felt by the United States,
voted $25,000 to the families of the murdered Italians, while
President Harrison in a message referred to the matter in tact-
ful words that soothed Italian pride. In April, 1892, Minister
Porter and Baron Fava returned to their respective posts and
normal diplomatic relations were resumed.
The episode is chiefly important because it revealed a defect

i98 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

in our governmental system that has more than once involved
us in difficulties with foreign states and might some day cause
us to be involved in war. It is clear that the federal
De?ectger°US government, which has charge of diplomatic rela-
tions, ought also to possess the power to safeguard
foreigners sojourning in the United States and to punish per-
sons injuring them. We shall see later how the same lack of
authority complicated relations with Japan under Presidents
Roosevelt and Wilson.

The Harrison administration inherited from its predecessor
a troublesome dispute with Great Britain over fur-seals. These
interesting animals, the pelts of which are extremely valuable,
Th F were then, and are still, in the habit in the spring

Seal and summer of landing on the Pribyloff Islands

near the centre of Bering Sea in order to rear their
young. Leaving their "pups" upon the beach, the grown-up
seals swim far out to sea in search of food; and later in the year
young and old alike take to the water and rove hundreds of
miles southward far out of sight of land. In 1870 the United
States Government gave, for a consideration, a concession to
the Alaskan Commercial Company to kill every year on the
Pribyloffs a certain number of "bachelor seals," as the males
are called. Attracted by the great value of the fur, other seal-
ers, especially Americans, Canadians, and Russians, pursued
the animals in the open sea, killing males and females indis-
criminately, causing many of the helpless "pups" on shore to
die of starvation, and even threatening the total extinction of
the species. These hunters contended that they had a per-
fect right to carry on such operations in the open sea outside
the three-mile limit to which international law says a nation's
sovereignty extends.

In 1881, however, the United States set up the claim that
the whole of Bering Sea belonged to the United States and that
it, therefore, had the right to regulate or prohibit sealing therein.
Five years later three vessels of British register engaged in
sealing operations in the forbidden waters were seized and
condemned. Further seizures were made in 1887, and a federal

THE SECOND HARRISON 199

district court in the condemnation proceedings held that the
rights transferred by Russia in 1867 included control of Bering
Sea as a mare clausum, or closed sea.

Vigorous protests were made against such seizures, and in
1887-88 Secretary Manning conducted negotiations with Great
Britain, Russia, Japan, and other nations in the hope of reach-
Th "Cl sed *n& an mternational agreement whereby the fur
Sea" Con- seals would be protected against extermination.
The negotiations failed because of the objections of
Canada. In March, 1889, Congress officially sanctioned the
doctrine of mare clausum, and during the following season eight
more vessels were seized. Great Britain vigorously protested,
and a long argument ensued between Secretary Blaine and Lord
Salisbury, the British Premier and Foreign Minister. Blaine
not only advanced the doctrine of a closed sea and argued that
the seals should be saved from destruction, but he even con-
tended that the United States had a property right in the seals,
wherever they might go, just as if they were domestic animals.
Salisbury denied the force of such arguments, and insisted that
there must be no more seizures. At one time the controversy
reached the danger-point, for Canadians felt bitter about the
confiscated vessels, while there were Americans who enjoyed
the hazardous game of "twisting the lion's tail."

Finally the two nations, with their usual good sense, agreed
(February 29, 1892) to submit the dispute to arbitration. The
tribunal met in Paris in the following year. The United States
was represented by eminent counsel, but interna-
ArWbfated. tional law was against them. The arbitrators re-
jected the doctrine of mare clausum, accepted the
British contention that the seals were fer& nature and not, as
the Americans contended, practically domestic animals, and
awarded damages to owners whose vessels had been seized
outside the three-mile limit. The tribunal also recommended
a set of regulations for the future protection of the fur-seals,
and this desirable object was ultimately accomplished by inter-
national agreement.

The only other important diplomatic complication of Harri-

200 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

son's administration resulted from a revolution in Hawaii.
These beautiful islands, the gems of the central Pacific, were
The first visited more than a century before by the cele-

Hawaiian brated navigator Captain Cook, and the native
inhabitants displayed such little sense of apprecia-
tion for his efforts that they killed and ate their discoverer.
But many missionaries and other white settlers, largely Ameri-
cans, had since settled in Hawaii and had wrought a great
transformation. A prosperous sugar-planting industry had
been built up, and the islands were much visited by travellers,
both because of their natural charm and because they formed
a half-way house on the way to the Orient. The native Kanakas
had dropped their cannibal practices and had adopted many
civilized institutions, including a liberal constitution.

In 1891 King Kalakaua, a royal wastrel, died and was suc-

ceeded by his sister, Queen Liliuokalani, a woman of education

and charm but a stickler for the divine right of rulers. In

January, 1893, exasperated by the restraints inl-

and0 l posed upon her by the old constitution, she tried to

an<^ substitute another, more favorable
to royal prerogatives. This attempted coup d'etat
precipitated a revolution, which resulted in the deposition of the
Queen and the substitution of a provisional government, headed
by Sanford B. Dole, who was judge of the supreme court. Dole
was of American descent, and many of the other revolutionists
were of foreign antecedents, though natives also participated.
No blood was shed, but there was much excitement in Hono-
lulu, and the provisional government asked the American min-
ister, John L. Stevens, for help in maintaining order. At that
time there was no cable to the islands, so Stevens, without
waiting for instructions from Washington, landed marines from
the cruiser Boston, formally recognized the new republic, raised
the American flag over the government building, and proclaimed
Hawaii under the protection of the United States. For half a
century there had been more or less desire in the United States
to annex the islands; Stevens himself was eager for such a
consummation; and he was probably aware that his superiors

THE SECOND HARRISON 201

at Washington had similar views. "The Hawaiian pear is
now fully ripe," he wrote to his government, "and this is the
golden hour for the United States to pluck it."

A Hawaiian commission hastened to Washington to ask for
annexation. They found both President Harrison and John
W. Foster, who had succeeded Elaine as secretary of state, in a
receptive mood. The protectorate proclaimed by
Stevens was disavowed, but a treaty of annexation

Negotiated was speedily negotiated and signed (February 15,
Ratified. 1893). Those who favored the treaty urged the
great commercial and strategic value of the islands,
and pointed to the danger that they might be seized by some
other power. Opponents of annexation declared that the
American minister had taken too active a part in the over-
throw of the Queen, and asserted that the provisional govern-
ment represented the foreign rather than the native population.
Many senators felt that the acquisition of territory outside
America was too momentous a step to be taken hastily, and for
this and other reasons action on the treaty was delayed until
after the Harrison administration came to an end.

The circumstances which had brought about that adminis-
tration's defeat remain to be told. As President, Harrison
displayed integrity and ability, but he never succeeded in be-
coming the real master of his party. He antag-
Unpopiilar. onized some of the great Republican chieftains,
notably Quay of Pennsylvania and Platt of New
York, while he failed to arouse much enthusiasm among the
rank and file. Ex-President Hayes humorously records in his
diary that one observer explained Harrison's lack of popularity
on the ground that "he is a deacon in the Presbyterian Church.
They are never liked by the people. They are stiff, cold, dis-
tant. They are the elect of God— by faith, not works, to be
saved."

Enemies of the President persistently besought Elaine once
more to enter the presidential lists. But political usage estopped
a member of the cabinet from seeking a nomination against his
chief, and Elaine long rejected all overtures. The two men,

202 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

however, had never been really cordial; political differences had

multiplied; a feud had developed between their wives; while

' Elaine had become a brooding invalid. Only three

Resigns. days before the meeting of the national convention

he yielded to the pleadings of his wife and others,
and in a curt note, containing no explanations, resigned from
the cabinet (June 4, 1892).

It was too late. The Harrison delegates, a large proportion
of whom were federal office-holders, controlled the organiza-
tion of the convention and renominated Harrison on the first

ballot, giving him 535 votes, 82 more than a majority.

Blaine and William McKinley each received 182

votes. For second place on the ticket the con-
vention nominated Whitelaw Reid, editor of the New York
Tribune. Sick and disillusioned, the Plumed Knight retired
to his home in Maine, where he died early in the following
year.

When Grover Cleveland retired from office in 1889, he stepped
into a lucrative law practice in New York City, but he made
it his custom to spend a generous portion of his time at " Grey

Gables," on the Massachusetts coast, where he
Stand on S entertained his friends and indulged his fondness

Questions *or ^sh^g- His enemies hoped that his political
career was ended, nor did he seemingly make much
effort to disappoint them. He continued, however, to take an
interest in public questions, and when his opinion on such
matters was sought, he was accustomed to give plain, straight-
forward answers. His party was becoming more and more
divided upon the currency question, but, instead of temporizing
and trying to win favor with both factions, Cleveland (Feb-
ruary 10, 1891) boldly voiced his uncompromising hostility to
" the dangerous and reckless experiment of free, unlimited, and
independent silver coinage." Instead of ending his political
prospects, as many observers predicted, this statement ulti-
mately helped him, while the fact that he was the main ex-
ponent of tariff reform created a wide-spread demand for his
renomination.
The opposition to Cleveland rallied around David B. Hill,

THE SECOND HARRISON 203

who was now a United States senator. In February, 1892,
long before the usual time, Hill made use of his control of the
Cleveland Democratic machine in New York to hold a packed
and or "snap" convention, which named delegates fa-

Stevenson. , , . . T. . . ,

vorable to him. But this sharp practice by one
whose alleged treachery in 1888 had not been forgotten proved
a boomerang. Friends of Cleveland held an "anti-snap" con-
vention and sent a contesting delegation. Elsewhere the Cleve-
land tide set in so strongly that when the national convention
assembled in Chicago (June 21) he was renominated on the first
ballot. As a concession to the free-silver and spoils elements,
Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, the former "headsman," was
named for the vice-presidency.

The platform denounced the McKinley Act as "the culmi-
nating atrocity of class legislation," and declared that since the
act went into effect there had been ten reductions of wages to

one increase. The "constitutional power to impose
Tarilfstand. anc^ collect tariff duties except for the purposes of

revenue only" was boldly denied. In his letter of
acceptance, however, Cleveland did not take so radical a stand,
but stated that no exterminating war would be waged against
any American interest and that the Democracy merely con-
templated "a fair and careful distribution of necessary tariff
burdens rather than the precipitation of free trade."

A formal organization of the People's Party, or Populists,
had been effected in 1891, and on the 2d of July a national con-
vention assembled at Omaha. General James B. Weaver, a

former Greenback chieftain, was nominated for
Nominate President, and James G. Field of Virginia was named
Rdd!" and for Vice-President. The platform denounced both

the old parties as the tools of capitalists, and de-
clared " they propose to drown the outcries of a plundered people
with the uproar of a sham battle over the tariff." The general
state of the country was portrayed in the following pessimistic
passage :

We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral
and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the legis-
lature, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench.

204 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The people are demoralized; most of the States have been compelled
to isolate the voters at the polling-places to prevent universal in-
timidation or bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or
muzzled; public opinion silenced; business prostrated; our homes
covered with mortgages; labor impoverished; and the land con-
centrating in the hands of the capitalists. The urban workmen are
denied the right of organization for self -protection; imported
pauperized labor beats down their wages; a hireling standing army,
unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down, and
they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions. The
fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal
fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and
the possessors of these, in turn, despise the republic and endanger
liberty. From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice
we breed the two great classes of tramps and millionaires.

Among the remedies proposed were the free and unlimited
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to i, direct election of senators,
the initiative and referendum, shorter hours for labor, the
establishment of postal savings-banks, a graduated
Remedies. income tax, and the governmental ownership and
operation of railroads, telegraphs, and telephones.
Such proposals excited much ridicule in conservative circles,
but as the historian reads this Populistic platform he is forced
to reflect upon how much it reflected actual conditions and fore-
shadowed the future.

When Cleveland retired from office four years before, exul-
tant Republicans had gleefully sung:

" Grover ! Grover 5
All is over!'*

Now confident Democrats were constantly chanting:

" Grover ! Grover !
Four more years of Grover.
In he comes,
Out they go,
Then we'll be in clover!*'

The course of events helped to make good this hopeful pre-
diction. There was much economic discontent, and Demo-
crats pointed out that, despite roseate protectionist promises,
many protected industries were cutting the wages of employees.

THE SECOND HARRISON 205

In June such a reduction made by the Carnegie Steel Company

provoked a strike at Homestead, Pennsylvania; in

of Events5* bloody clashes between the strikers and Pinkerton

Democrats, detectives hired by the company nearly a score of

persons were killed and many more were wounded.

This and other events reacted against the party in power.

Most veteran political observers predicted that the election
would be close; it proved to be unexpectedly decisive. Cleve-
land carried the Solid South and New York, Indiana, Cali-
fornia, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, West
Rejected. Virginia, and Wisconsin, and received 5 electoral
votes from Michigan and i each from North
Dakota and Ohio, his total electoral vote being 277. Harrison
received only 145 electoral votes, Weaver 22. The divided vote
in Michigan was due to the fact that a Democratic legislature
had temporarily established the old method of choosing electors
by congressional districts. In five States— Colorado, Idaho, Kan-
sas, North Dakota, and Wyoming — the Democrats had nomi-
nated no electors, but voted for the Populist candidates, their
idea being that if the electoral result should be close and these
States should be carried by the Populists, the election might be
thrown into the House of Representatives, which was controlled
by the Democrats. Weaver, in fact, won three of these States —
Kansas, Colorado, and Idaho. He also carried Nevada and
received one electoral vote in Oregon and North Dakota; in
these three States there had been partial fusion with the Demo-
crats. Of the popular vote Cleveland received 5,556,543,
Harrison 5,175,582, Weaver 1,040,886. For the first time
since 1859 the Democrats would control the presidency and both
houses of Congress.

The Democrats rejoiced exceedingly over the result, but if
they could have foreseen what the future had in store they
would not have felt so much elated over their triumph.

CHAPTER XIII

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER

FOR some years vast preparations had been making for
holding in Chicago an exposition in honor of the quadricen-
tenary of the discovery of America by Columbus. The enter-
prise was pushed with customary Western energy
Exposition. an^ with a taste that surprised the skeptical East.
Almost every nation in the world was represented,
and about $35,000,000 was expended in gathering the exhibits
and transforming a tangled stretch of swamp and sandy plain
along Lake Michigan into "a shimmering dream of loveliness
under the magic touch of landscape gardener and architect and
artist." Between May i, 1893, when the exposition was opened
by President Cleveland, and the last of October, when it was
closed, there were 21,477,213 paid admissions. The Duke of
Veragua, a lineal descendant of the discoverer, attended as
an official guest; likewise the Spanish Infanta Eulalia. Full-
sized reproductions of the caravels Santa Maria, Pinta, and
Nina were brought from the port from which Columbus sailed
to the lake shore, where there was also exhibited a model of
a Viking ship. Another exhibit that recalled events of the
past and paid honor to the immortal dead was a reproduction
of the convent of La Rabida, so intimately connected with the
career of Columbus. There were also a monster Ferris Wheel,
a Babel-like Midway Plaisance, and a multitude of other won-
ders. But the real importance of the celebration lay in the
fact that the exposition broadened the outlook of millions of
Americans whose lives had been narrow and colorless, and
opened their eyes to the power of beauty in art and nature.

American pride in the marvellous achievements of four cen-
turies was marred by hard times, and, even as multitudes were

206

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 207

journeying to and from the magic "White City" beside Lake
Michigan, the financial affairs of the nation were falling into a
confusion that brought ruin and misery to millions.

A drop of $50,000,000 in customs duties under the McKin-
ley Act and the expenditures authorized by the "Billion Dollar
Congress" had transformed a troublesome surplus into a much
more trying deficit. The financial stringency proved
Situation*0 * all the more embarrassing because of a peculiar situa-
Got/Reserve tion relating to the currency. At the end of Har-
rison's presidency there were outstanding $346,000,-
ooo of greenbacks, and, in addition, since the passage of the
Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, there had been annually
added $54,000,000 of "coin certificates." The greenbacks were,
of course, redeemable in gold. The Sherman Silver Purchase
Act had provided that the secretary of the treasury should re-
deem the "coin certificates" "in gold or silver coin at his dis-
cretion, it being the established policy of the United States to
maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the
present legal ratio or such other ratio as may be provided by
law." Under both Harrison and Cleveland the secretaries of
the treasury chose to redeem the certificates in gold — a policy
that was bitterly criticised by the friends of silver. Usage had
established a rule that the treasury must keep on hand a gold
reserve of not less than $100,000,000. During 1891 and 1892
there was an insistent demand for gold to be sent abroad to
meet unfavorable trade balances (a condition partly due to
prohibitive schedules under the McKinley Act), and there was
a net loss of over $90,000,000, much of which was drawn from
the treasury. A circumstance that made the situation all the
more serious was that the coin certificates, even when redeemed,
must be reissued again and again, and thus they formed a sort
of "endless chain" for the depletion of the gold reserve. Even
before Harrison's retirement the reserve fell so low that the
Treasury Department was forced to borrow $6,000,000 of gold
on call, and resort to other temporary expedients in order to
avoid the necessity of issuing bonds. Preparations for such an
issue were actually made.

2o8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The government's financial difficulties were partly due to
unwise legislation, but the country was caught in a business

depression that was world-wide. Hard times were
inevitable6* probably inevitable, even had the Republicans re-

mained in power, but the Democratic victory, fore-
shadowing tariff revision and perhaps changes in the monetary
system, served to deepen the dark cloud of doubt and appre-
hension.

It is a commonplace of financial history that hard times fol-
low flush times as the trough of the sea follows the crest of the
wave. In the United States periods of great depression have
The come about every twenty years. There were such

Periodicity depressions in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, and

1913-14, while smaller flumes have usually taken
place between each pair of these dates. Why this periodicity
of panics should occur at such regular intervals has never been
satisfactorily explained, but the fact is undeniable. By some
it is contended that under our present currency laws panics are
impossible, but only time will show whether or not their view
is correct.

Even before Cleveland's inauguration securities fluctuated
violently, bankers grew conservative regarding loans, money
rates rose, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad went into

bankruptcy (February 20, 1893), and a sharp stock

Pan^c shook the exchanges. As spring passed and

and then summer came on conditions gradually grew worse.
Collapse! The Erie Railroad and a great trust called the Na-
tional Cordage Company followed the Reading into
bankruptcy, banks began to resort to clearing-house certificates,
the mints of India were closed (June 26) to the private coinage of
silver, thereby still further depressing the value of that metal,
many Western silver mines closed, people began to hoard gold,
prices of agricultural products, already excessively low, con-
tinued to decline, and a chain of nearly fifty Western banks
that had been founded by a certain Zimri Dwiggins went down
in one grand crash. During the year hundreds of banks failed,
and the total liabilities of mercantile failures amounted to

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 209

$347,000,000; railway construction almost ceased, and 22,500
miles passed into the hands of receivers; the production of
iron, the best barometer of business conditions, fell off almost
a fourth; debtors found it increasingly difficult to meet their
obligations; property often had to be sacrificed at low prices;
and ruin came to many thousands of honest, toiling people.

All sorts of remedies, sensible and otherwise, were proposed
to meet the emergency, and an almost universal demand arose
that the President should call an extra session of Congress. He
complied and summoned it (June 30) to meet on
Silver1-*11 the yth of August. In his opinion one of the main
Repealed Act causes °f ^e panic was the Sherman Silver Purchase
Act, and in a special message he demanded its un-
conditional repeal. The friends of silver fought repeal to the
bitter end. They declared that what the country needed was
not less but more money. It was only through the aid of many
"gold" Republicans and by vigorous use of patronage that
Cleveland obtained his wish (October 30). In the Senate 26
Republicans voted for repeal, and only 22 Democrats. A
chasm was opening in the Democracy that did not close for
years.

The situation hi which the Democracy found itself proved
all the more serious because as an executive Cleveland had at
least one great fault: he lacked tact in dealing with lesser Demo-
Cleveland's crat^c chieftains. He was patriotic, he was con-
Defects as scientious, he was courageous, but he did not know

a Leader.

how to lead. As ours is a government by parties,

unity of party action is essential to successful administration,
but this unity Cleveland was often unable to secure. Having
once decided that a given course was the right one, he was in-
clined to be intolerant of those who differed with him, for co-
ercion came to him more naturally than conciliation. This
trait in his character was more pronounced in his second ad-
ministration than his first, and even before the quarrel over
silver he had alienated many Democratic leaders by his impa-
tience at their advice regarding appointments. However, even
had his skill as a political leader been far greater than it was, he

2io THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

would hardly have proved equal to piloting his party past the
rocks that rose in its course.

New differences speedily developed over an attempt to revise
the tariff, the great task to which the party stood pledged.
Soon after the opening of the regular session William L. Wilson
of West Virginia, chairman of the Committee on
Ta'riffBUl. Ways and Means, reported (December 19) to the
House a bill upon which that committee had been
working since August. The bill did not entirely fulfil the plat-
form pledge of a tariff for revenue only, but it provided in many
cases for substituting ad valorem for specific duties, reduced the
almost prohibitory duties of the McKinley Act on such articles
as silks, cottons, woollens, and glass, and placed lumber, coal,
iron ore, wool, and other raw materials that form the basis of
production on the free list. It was estimated that the customs
receipts would be reduced about $50,000,000 annually, so a
slight increase was made in the internal-revenue taxes on dis-
tilled spirits, and a tax of 2 per cent was levied on incomes of
over $4,000.

The bill failed to command united Democratic support. It
was again the old story of the London fishmonger who favored
"free trade in everything but herring." Seventeen Democrats
Senate voted against the bill in the House, but it passed

Amends that body by 204 to 140. In the Senate the Demo-
crats had a majority of only three over the Repub-
licans and Populists combined, and this narrow margin enabled
Democratic malcontents to work their will with the measure.
The senators from Louisiana disliked the sugar schedule; the
senators from Maryland, West Virginia, and Alabama wished
to retain protection for iron ore and coal; others, like Hill of
New York, wished to eliminate the income-tax provision.
Under the leadership of Brice of Ohio and Gorman of Mary-
land— both protectionists — the Democratic insurgents, with
Republican aid, made over six hundred changes in the measure,
and so mangled it that it was almost unrecognizable. Coal,
iron ore, and sugar were taken off the free list ; specific duties in
place of ad valorem were restored on some imports; and the

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 211

rates on many articles were raised. It was charged that the
sugar trust secured favorable changes by corrupt means, and
one senator, Quay of Pennsylvania, openly admitted that he
had purchased sugar stock for a rise. Cleveland denounced

the Senate bill as involving "party perfidy and
Perfidy and party dishonor." The House at first refused to
Dishonor " accept it, but in the end Gorman and his associates

triumphed (August, 1894). The President let the
bill become a law without his signature, but he wrote to a rep-
resentative concerning it: "The livery of Democratic tariff
reform has been stolen and worn in the service of Republican
protection."

The contempt with which the act was regarded by the public
was presently increased when early in 1895 the Supreme Court,
by the narrow margin of 5 to 4, held that the income-tax

feature was unconstitutional. The ground taken

Income Tax . iL . A, Al_

Adjudged by the majority was that the income tax was a

UonainStitU" direct tex' and that it: had not been apportioned
according to population, as the Constitution re-
quired with regard to such taxes. As the court fifteen years
before had unanimously upheld an income tax levied during
the Civil War, the new decision aroused much criticism. The
decision cut off a large source of revenue and greatly added to
the financial difficulties of the government.

These difficulties had already caused grave embarrassment.
The repeal of the Sherman Silver Act had brought little or no
relief either to the country or the government. Many people
contended, of course, that its repeal made matters
issued to worse. By the middle of January, 1894, the gold
Maintain reserve fell to $7o,ooo,ooo, a "feeble prop" with

the Gold . . , - . .

Reserve. which to support $500,000,000 in paper, most of
which was in circulation. In desperation Secretary
of the Treasury Carlisle offered to sell for gold $50,000,000 of
5 per cent bonds, redeemable in ten years. The proposal
aroused strenuous opposition from the friends of silver, and the
Knights of Labor even applied for a judicial order to restrain
the secretary from making the issue. As the premium de-

212 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

manded was 17 per cent, bids came in slowly; it was only by
going to New York and making a personal appeal to bankers
that Carlisle finally placed the loan. The net proceeds realized
amounted to $58,661,000, but the treasury "was chasing a
phantom," for subscribers to the bonds presented $24,000,000
in notes and drew from the treasury gold with which to pay
their subscriptions. There seemed to be no way of stopping
^ the operations of the " endless chain," whose buckets

"Endless were automatically dipping into the treasury. Con-
gress wrangled continually over what should be
done and could agree on no sensible remedy, while business
conditions had become so bad that people were constantly
drawing gold from the treasury and hoarding it. By August
7 the reserve had fallen to $52,189,000.

A second issue of $50,000,000 in bonds in November
again afforded only temporary relief. The "endless chain"
continued in operation, and in a single month $45,000,000 in
gold was drawn from the treasury. In a special
Dffficulties. message Cleveland proposed (January 28, 1895)
that fifty-year gold bonds should be issued in suffi-
cient quantity to provide for the redemption and cancellation
of all the legal-tender notes, but Congress continued to quarrel
about the respective merits of gold and silver and did nothing.
The reserve speedily dropped to $41,000,000, and Cleveland
found it expedient to call to the White House J. Pierpont
Morgan, the most astute and influential of New York financiers.
„« ,, . The upshot of this famous conference was that the

The Bargain

with j. p. banking-houses of Morgan, Belmont, and Roths-
child agreed to sell the government three and a
half million ounces of gold ($65,118,000), taking in exchange
thirty-year 3^ per cent bonds at 104^". The lenders also agreed
to use their influence to protect the treasury against the with-
drawal of gold. Silver men of all parties went wild when they
heard that Cleveland had made such a bargain with the " Gold
Bugs of Wall Street." In the House William Jennings Bryan,
a fluent and rising young member from Nebraska, declared
that the President had attempted to inoculate the Democratic

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 213

party "with Republican virus, and blood poisoning has set in."
The fact that Morgan and his associates soon sold the bonds
at a big advance over the price paid, helped to fan the flame of
criticism. But Cleveland never ceased to believe that he did
right in the matter, and it is beyond question that his critics
failed to give due weight to the provision whereby the bond
syndicate undertook to protect the treasury against the with-
drawal of gold.

It was not until January, 1896, that the reserve again ran so
low as to necessitate a new issue of bonds. The amount was
fixed at $100,000,000, the rate at 4 per cent, and, as a conces-
Popular s^on to P°Pu^ar criticism, the loan was thrown open
Loan of to public subscription. The whole issue was sold

at prices averaging about 7 per cent higher than
that paid by Morgan and his associates for the previous loan.
In some circles this was interpreted as proving Cleveland's
mistake in dealing with Morgan.

Again the "endless chain" was set in motion; the reserve
once more fell below the hundred-million mark. But the mo-
mentous political campaign of 1896 was being fought, and many

bankers and other moneyed men feared that a new
Mennunite ^ssue °f bonds might react in favor of Bryan and
to Protect his free-silver associates. These business men,

the Reserve, . . . .

1896. therefore, co-operated to protect the treasury, and

in a single week more than $25,000,000 in gold was
paid in for paper legal-tenders. The result of the election as-
sured the maintenance of the gold standard, gold came out of
its hiding-places, and thereafter an adequate gold reserve was
easily maintained.

The financial troubles of the government were only one

phase of the prevailing hard times. The year 1894 surpassed

any other in the history of the United States in the number of

workers out of employment. Many plans were

Army'.'3 proposed to meet the needs of the hour, but the

most startling was that brought forward by an

agitator named J. S. Coxey, of Ohio. Coxey announced that

he would lead an army of the unemployed to the capital to ask

2i4 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

I

Congress to pass a good-roads law and a non-interest-bearing
bond law, and thereby furnish work for the needy and expand
the monetary system. The "army," consisting of about 100
men, "escorted by forty-three reporters," started from Massil-
lon, Ohio, on March 24 and depended for food mainly on contri-
butions along the way. In Europe certain newspapers gravely
likened the movement of Coxey's nondescript force to the
march of the mob from Paris to the palace at Versailles, but
at home the press treated the whole affair as a huge joke, and
the public were daily regaled with burlesque descriptions of
"General" Coxey and his subordinates and of their doings.
On the last day of April the army, then numbering about 300,
reached Washington, and on May day they marched to the
Capitol in the presence of thousands of curious spectators.
When Coxey and two of his lieutenants walked on the Capitol
lawn, they were arrested for trespassing on the grass, and for
this offense and for displaying a banner without a permit they
were imprisoned for twenty days. By the time they were re-
leased their picturesque followers were scattered to the four
winds.

In certain Far Western States other leaders, notably Kelly
and Frye, imitated Coxey, and led ragged bands of "Industrials"
or " Commonwealers " toward the East. Many of the men who
participated in these marches had been stranded in the West
and took advantage of the opportunity to get back home;
others were mere tramps; some were criminals. These armies
proved less law-abiding than that under Coxey: in some cases
they seized railway trains; now and again they engaged in violent
encounters with the police. But, like Coxey's force, none of
these armies ever became large; and they were important only
as being symptomatic of hard times and the prevailing unrest.

Eleven days after Coxey's band reached Washington a strike
began at the plant of the Pullman Palace Car Corn-
strike" man Pany> near Chicago, as a result of a reduction in
wages. Many of the strikers belonged to the Ameri-
can Railway Union, an organization with a membership of
more than 100,000 and headed by Eugene V. Debs, a shrewd

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 215

and determined yet kindly labor leader who was later several
times the Socialist candidate for President. Opposed to this
union stood the Railway Managers' Association, representing
more than twoscore railway corporations. The members of
the railway union refused to handle Pullman cars; the Man-
agers' Association held that contracts with the Pullman
Company must be carried out; and thus labor and capital
stood aligned against each other for one of the most titanic
struggles the country had seen. The strike quickly spread into
twenty-seven States and Territories, involving roads all the
way from Cincinnati to San Francisco, but the main storm
centre was Chicago. In that city mobs, composed in part of
strikers, in part of hoodlums and professional criminals, who
were all the more numerous because of the exposition of the
previous year, stopped trains and gathered in freight-yards and
looted and burned hundreds of cars. The police and the other
local peace officers were utterly unable to control the situation,
but Governor Altgeld of Illinois sympathized with the strikers
and delayed calling out the militia.

The strike might have succeeded had not the strikers made
the serious mistake of stopping trains carrying the United
States mail. On the 2d of July Federal Judge Woods, by re-
quest of the United States district attorney, issued
a "blanket" injunction forbidding Debs and his
associates and "all other persons whomsoever"
from interfering with the transportation of the mail or obstruct-
ing interstate commerce. The mobs jeered at the writ when it
was read to them, but the President, against the protest of
Governor Altgeld, backed it up, sending troops under General
Miles to the scenes of disturbance. Rioting, pillage, and de-
struction continued for some days, but the vigorous use of the
Debs and troops restored order. On July 10 Debs and three
Associates associates were arrested on a charge of having been
guilty of conspiracy contrary to the terms of the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act. They were speedily released on
bail, but were soon arrested again (July 17) charged with con-
tempt of court in having disobeyed Judge Woods's injunction.

2i6 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The strike collapsed. In December Debs was sentenced to six
months in jail for contempt of court; his associates received
three months each.

The part taken by the courts in the whole affair provoked a

great outcry, even outside labor circles. Injunctions had never

before been used in this way, and the fact that in the case of

Debs and his associates the judge was also the

Agitation accuser, and that the defendants had not the right

Injunctions °^ tr*a^ ^v Jurv> was declared to violate the spirit
and practice of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence. The
Supreme Court, however, unanimously upheld the sentences
and refused a writ of habeas corpus. " Government by injunc-
tion" was frequently resorted to in subsequent strikes, and thus
a new grievance was added to those of which labor complained.
It was not until the first administration of Wilson that the in-
junction powers of federal judges in the matter of strikes were
circumscribed.

Hard times, labor troubles, the currency controversy, and
Democratic discontent with Cleveland's leadership combined
to produce in the autumn of 1894 a political overturn compara-
Political kle with that of four years before. In the Northern
Reaction States the Democrats carried hardly a dozen con-
gressional districts, and their total membership in
the House was reduced to 104, as against 248 Republicans. The
Republicans were jubilant, and boasted that in 1896 they could
"nominate a rag-baby or a yellow dog and elect it."

Before describing the events of that notable election we must
turn for a few moments to two diplomatic questions.

For secretary of state Cleveland named Walter Q. Gresham,
a prominent candidate for the Republican presidential nomina-
tion in 1888 but a recent convert to Democracy. The appoint-
s ment displeased many Democrats, who thought

of State that the place should have gone to a man older
in the faith, while Republicans considered Gresham
a renegade and regretted that he had been rewarded. Further-
more, though a man of intellectual ability, Judge Gresh-
am had never made any special study of international law,

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 217

while his personal manners were regarded as too informal by
punctilious representatives of foreign powers. His attitude on
certain diplomatic questions inherited from the previous ad-
ministration was colored by dislike for his old rival and personal
enemy, Benjamin Harrison.

At a conference between Gresham and Cleveland prior to the
inauguration Gresham urged a reversal of policy toward the
Hawaiian Government, and the two reached an agreement on
Hawaiian *ke matter- The treaty of annexation was speedily
Policy withdrawn (March 9) from the Senate "for the

Reversed. . „ . - , ,

purpose of re-examination. A few days later
Cleveland sent a special representative, one James H. Blount
of Georgia, to Hawaii to investigate existing conditions and how
the revolution had been brought about. His authority was
made "paramount." On the day after his arrival in Honolulu
Blount ordered the American flag to be lowered from the gov-
ernment building and sent the marines on shore back to the
Boston. Later Blount made an elaborate report (July 17, 1893)
in which he pictured the revolution as due to & conspiracy
managed by aliens, chiefly Americans, and countenanced by
Minister Stevens, whose support had overawed the Queen and
her supporters.

Secretary Gresham and President Cleveland decided that a
wrong had been done and that it must be righted by putting
Liliuokalani back in power. Albert S. Willis, the new minis-
Attem tto *er to Hawaii, was directed to secure from the
Restore the Queen a promise of amnesty for the revolutionists,
after which he was to notify the provisional govern-
ment to relinquish its power. But the vindictive Queen de-
clared that she meant to behead the ringleaders and confiscate
their estates, and some time elapsed before she could be per-
suaded to drop her plans for vengeance. Furthermore, Presi-
dent Dole, having a force of well-drilled troops, politely but
firmly declined to comply with the Cleveland-Gresham pro-
gramme.

Meanwhile the administration's Hawaiian policy had pro-t
voked a great popular outcry. Many critics declared that in

218 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

sending Blount to the islands without obtaining the Senate's

ratification of his appointment Cleveland had exceeded his

powers; a few even demanded that the President

istration's should be impeached. The idea of making war on

Unpopular ^e w^te revolutionists and overthrowing their re-
public in order to restore a bloodthirsty and — report
said — immoral Polynesian Queen to her throne failed to arouse
enthusiasm in the United States. Aware that the executive
department could go no farther alone, Cleveland submitted
the Hawaiian problem to Congress. The House condemned
(February 7, 1894) the course of Minister Stevens, but neither
that body nor the Senate would authorize the use of force
against the Dole government, and Cleveland's policy was
strongly criticised even by members of his own party. Ulti-
mately the Senate voted (May 31, 1894) unanimously that
Hawaii should manage its own governmental affairs and that
the United States should not interfere. This outcome was very
humiliating both to Cleveland and to Secretary Gresham.

Annexationist sentiment both in the islands and the United
States persisted, and when the war with Spain broke out the
Hawaiian authorities permitted American war-ships to use
Hawaii Honolulu practically as a naval base. The war

Annexed made the desirability of the islands more than ever
manifest, and annexation was accomplished (June
15 to July 7, 1898) by joint resolution, as in the case of Texas.
The United States thus obtained far out in the Pacific a pos-
session having considerable natural resources and immense
strategic and commercial value. Two years later Hawaii was
formally organized as a Territory (April 30, 1900), and the
Hawaiians were admitted to citizenship.

Another diplomatic complication with a much greater power
threatened for a time to have more serious consequences. For
v . more than fifty years Great Britain and Venezuela
Boundary had differed regarding the boundary between the
latter and British Guiana. The disputed region
was long thinly inhabited, some of it, in fact, hardly explored,
but in course of time gold was discovered there, and thus a

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 219

different aspect was given to the quarrel. After finding that
the territory might have great value Great Britain even ex-
tended her claims by thousands of square miles, and many of
her subjects settled in the disputed tract. More than once
Venezuela appealed to the United States, as " the oldest of the
republics of the new continent," to prevent British aggressions
on the soil of a sister American state; but our government long
continued to limit its activities to tenders of our good offices
and to proposals that the dispute should be arbitrated. Great
Britain, however, persistently refused arbitration, and in 1887
the controversy became so acute that diplomatic relations be-
tween the disputants were broken off.

In his second administration President Cleveland came to
believe that Great Britain was unduly aggressive toward a
smaller and weaker power, and was threatening the Monroe

Doctrine. Political conditions in Great Britain and

international conditions throughout the world doubt-
Attitude. ^ess ^^ something to do with forming this opinion.

Most of the European powers — Great Britain in-
cluded— were engaged in a mad scramble for colonial possessions.
The British Government was controlled by the Conservatives,
notoriously more grasping and imperialistic than the Liberals;
and the premier was Lord Salisbury, a cynical Briton inclined
to believe that in international affairs might made right.

President Cleveland referred to the dispute in his annual
messages of 1893 and 1894. The idea of arbitration was again
and again suggested to Great Britain, and early in 1895 Congress

passed a joint resolution to the effect that the quarrel
Britain ought to be settled in that manner. Lord Salis-
Arbitration ^urv soon a^ter instructed the British minister in

Washington to say that his government was willing
to arbitrate regarding part of the territory but that it "could
not consent to any departure from the Schomburgk line."
This was a line surveyed by the British many years before, and
it had been characterized by Lord Aberdeen, then foreign min-
ister, "as merely a preliminary measure open to further dis-
cussion."

220 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Such an answer severely tried the patience of the American
Government. In the opinion of the President, Great Britain
was trying to extend her sovereignty over territory belonging
to an independent American state, and he held the view that
this constituted a clear violation of the Monroe Doctrine, which
declared that the American continents were not to be considered
subject to future colonization by any European power.

In July, 1895, Richard Olney, who had become secretary of
state after the death of Gresham in May, transmitted a long
despatch asserting the application of the Monroe Doctrine to
the Venezuelan controversy and once more suggest-
Despatch. mg arbitration as a solution of the question. The
United States, he bluntly declared, is "entitled to
resent and resist any sequestration of Venezuelan soil by Great
Britain." Even then Lord Salisbury failed to realize the seri-
ousness of the situation, perhaps because he had often before
seen American secretaries of state vigorously "twist the lion's
tail" yet prove to be amenable in the end. He took his time
about answering Olney's note, and finally (Novem-
ber 26) replied cavalierly to the effect that the
Monroe Doctrine was not a part of international
law, that Great Britain and Venezuela only were concerned in
the dispute, that his government was willing to arbitrate con-
cerning part of the territory but must hold fast to the Schom-
burgk line.

Believing that only extraordinary methods would bring
the British Government to reason, President Cleveland made
a bold decision. He startled both nations by sending (De-
cieveiand's cember 17, 1895) to Congress a special message
Bold asking that body to authorize the appointment of

Message. . * , . ,

a special commission to determine the true boundary,
and saying that it would be the "duty of the United States to
resist by every means in its power, as a wilful aggression upon
its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of
any lands or the exercise of governmental jurisdiction over
any territory which after investigation we have determined of
right belongs to Venezuela." He added the following signifi-

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 221

cant words: "In making these recommendations I am fully
alive to the responsibility incurred, and keenly realize all the
consequences that may follow." The message precipitated a
panic on the stock exchanges and was severely criticised by
"occasional dissidents," but it met with favor among the peo-
ple generally, and Congress speedily empowered the President
to appoint the commission. The persons named were all men
of eminence, without any tendency to jingoism, and they pres-
ently set about their work in a tactful manner.

Meanwhile British public opinion made itself heard in un-
mistakable fashion. It is true that the American army num-
bered only 25,000 men, that we had not a single completed
Attitude of first-class battleship, that there was hardly a modern
the British gun mounted on the Atlantic coast; yet Great

Britain, partly for selfish, partly for humanitarian
reasons, had no desire to go to war with us. Furthermore, on
December 29 Doctor Jameson and his band began their sensa-
tional raid into the Transvaal, and the Kaiser soon transmitted
his celebrated cablegram to President Kriiger. These spec-
tacular events threw the Venezuelan dispute into the back-
ground, and gave the British other topics for talk and reflec-
tion.

Manifestations in both countries of a desire to settle the
dispute amicably encouraged the American Government once
more to suggest the desirability of arbitration. Salisbury, in

chastened mood, informed Bayard, the American
Arbitrated!6 minister in London, that he had empowered Sir

Julian Pauncefote, British Minister at Washington,
" to discuss the question either with the representative of Vene-
zuela or with the Government of the United States acting as
the friend of Venezuela." He thus conceded the whole Ameri-
can contention. A general arbitration treaty was signed at
Washington in January, 1897, by Pauncefote and Secretary
Olney, and though the Senate refused to ratify this agreement,
it subsequently accepted (February 2, 1897) another providing
for the arbitration of the Venezuelan dispute. The decision
of the tribunal to which the controversy was referred proved

222 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

(October 3, 1899) to be favorable in the main to Great Britain
but awarded to Venezuela some territory east of the Schom-
burgk line.

The outcome of the whole matter was a notable example of
the triumph of reason in international affairs and also deserves
careful study because of its bearing on the Monroe Doctrine.
According to the London Times, Great Britain ad-
Significance mitted " that in respect of South American Republics
Controversy ^e United States may not only intervene in dis-
putes, but may entirely supersede the original dis-
putant and assume exclusive control of the negotiations." In
insisting on the application of the Monroe Doctrine the United
States had, in effect, proclaimed her hegemony in the New World,
and Great Britain had conceded it. Grasping European powers,
including Germany, which had territorial aspirations in Brazil
and elsewhere, were made to understand that the Monroe
Doctrine meant, "You must not seize American soil," and that
violation of the doctrine spelled war with the United States.

Business conditions improved somewhat during 1895, yet
tens of millions continued to feel the pinch of hard times. In
cities many men still sought work in vain and were de-
pendent upon charity for the wherewithal to sustain them-
selves and their families. Western farmers and their wives
and children worked long hours, yet could not sell their wheat
and corn, their hogs and cattle, for enough to meet expenses
and pay the interest on the mortgage. In both town and
country disappointment and misery bred despair, discontent,
and a demand for a change.

Most Republicans cast the blame on the Democratic tariff,
but throughout the country and especially in the West there
was an increasing number of persons who proclaimed the view
that the country's troubles were due to "the crime
Movement, against silver." Coin's Financial School, a plausi-
ble propagandist book written by a man named
Harvey, was sold by hundreds of thousands, and was studied
as devoutly as if it were a new dispensation from Sinai. The
demand for the free coinage of the white metal became a craze,

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 223

an obsession, in the minds of multitudes. In the words of
William Allen White:

It was a fanaticism like the Crusades. Indeed, the delusion
that was working on the people took the form of religious frenzy.
Sacred hymns were torn from their pious tunes to give place to
words which deified the cause and made gold — and all its symbols,
capital, wealth, plutocracy — diabolical. At night from ten thou-
sand little white schoolhouse windows, lights twinkled back vain
hope to the stars. . . . They sang their barbaric songs in un-
rhythmic jargon, with something of the mad faith that inspired
martyrs going to the stake. Far into the night the voices rose, —
women's and children's voices, the voices of old men, of youths
and of maidens, rose on the ebbing prairie breezes, as the crusaders
of the revolution rode home, praising the people's will as though
it were God's will and cursing wealth for its inequity.

As the campaign of 1896 drew near it became clear that the
money question would be one of the main issues. The Pop-
ulists were already enthusiastically committed to free silver,

Free-Silver an(^ ^Otn ^e °^ PartieS contained a large free-
Advocates in silver wing. The Republican party was less in-
fected with free-silver doctrines than the Democracy,
yet in Congress many Republican senators and representatives
had joined Democratic and Populist colleagues in supporting
various schemes for securing free coinage in the United States
or forcing the world to bimetallism. In the Republican State
conventions held in 1896 ten openly came out for free silver,
about half opposed free coinage, some straddled the issue or
evaded it, and only a few declared uncompromisingly for the
gold standard. In all parties men felt so strongly upon the
issue that they were unwilling to keep silent upon it for the
sake of party solidarity. Even the Prohibitionist national
convention, held in Pittsburgh near the end of May, split into
two factions over the silver question, and these factions framed
two platforms, and nominated two tickets. Their action was
ominous.

Among the men put forward for the Republican nomination
were Levi P. Morton of New York, William B. Allison of Iowa,
and Matthew S. Quay of Pennsylvania, but the leading candi-

'224 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

dates were Reed of Maine and McKinley of Ohio. Reed had
many enthusiastic friends, who were attracted by his record as
speaker and by his forceful personality and great
Candidacy, intellectual gifts, but he lacked an efficient organ-
ization to promote his candidacy. McKinley was
peculiarly acceptable to the "old soldiers," a powerful factor,
for he had fought in the Civil War and had attained the rank
of brevet major. He had been a member of the House of Rep-
resentatives almost continuously from 1877 to 1891, and his
name had become practically synonymous with extremely high
protection. Defeated for re-election in 1890, as a result of the
reaction against his tariff bill and of the gerrymandering of his
district by a Democratic legislature, he had speedily been
elected governor of Ohio and later was re-elected. In 1888
and again in 1892 he had been seriously considered
Candidacy! by many Republicans for the presidential nomina-
tion. He was now an avowed candidate. Cal-
culating and rather cold, yet suave and courteous, he had few
personal enemies; and fortunately for him the panic of 1893
had done much to rehabilitate his political reputation, which
had been temporarily tarnished by popular disapproval of his
tariff measure. Public opinion had veered regarding the
tariff, and it was now possible to arouse enthusiasm for "Bill
McKinley and the McKinley Bill."

McKinley was fortunate in having as his manager one of the
most forceful personalities that had yet come to the front in
American public life. This was Marcus Alonzo Hanna, a
Cleveland business man, who had made a fortune
Hanna. m coal anc^ iron an(^ ^e Lake carrying trade, and
had entered politics partly because he enjoyed it
as a game, partly because he owned street railway and other
franchises and found politics a helpful adjunct in such business.
Hanna did not seek office for himself; he wanted to be a War-
wick— to make a President. He first took up Sherman and
strove ardently to secure his nomination in 1888 but failed.
Later he turned to McKinley. It was largely through his
efforts that the "High Priest of Protection" became governor.

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 225

And when McKinley, through indorsing a friend's paper, be-
came involved in financial difficulties to the extent of more
than $100,000, Hanna, with a little help from others, rescued
him from bankruptcy and political oblivion. Hanna knew the
power of money in influencing elections; he was perhaps in-
clined to underestimate the value of sober appeals to the sense
and conscience of the people. Personally he was a blunt,
coarse-fibred man, yet one who possessed many likable traits.
For McKinley he entertained a sincere admiration and a de-
voted friendship.

Hanna set about the task of nominating McKinley with vast
energy and skill. He furnished ample money for the work,
and spent it lavishly, particularly in the South. The combina-
Hanna's ^on °^ Hanna's management with McKinley's
Campaign popularity proved irresistible. When the Repub-
lican convention met at St. Louis in June, "the
Advance Agent of Prosperity" was overwhelmingly nominated
on the first ballot, receiving 66 1# votes to 84^ for Reed, his
nearest competitor. Garret A. Hobart, a wealthy New Jersey
lawyer and business man, was named for the vice-presidency.

The real struggle in the convention took place over the cur-
rency question. McKinley's record regarding silver was by
no means a consistent one, and for this and other reasons he
and Hanna had paraded the tariff as the important
suverissu issue- But in the convention Senator Teller of
in the Colorado and other friends of silver were insistent

Convention, in their demands, while, on the other hand, Eastern
business men were clamoring that the platform must
declare for the gold standard. Hanna shrewdly kept his own
views and those of McKinley secret, yet he cannily managed
that the platform as reported should declare against " the free
coinage of silver, except by international agreement with the
leading commercial nations of the world, which we pledge our-
selves to promote."

Senator Teller moved to substitute a plank favoring free
coinage, and he supported his amendment in a speech in which
he referred with much feeling to the fact that he had been a

226 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Republican since the formation of the party and now he feared

that he must sever the old ties. The audience listened to his

plea in sympathetic silence, but his substitute was

of Free*™ voted down by 818 to 105, after which the platform

Delegates was adopted by 812 to no. Teller then rose and

dramatically left the hall. He was followed by

thirty-three other delegates, including two members of the

House of Representatives and three other senators.

Other planks of the platform declared for American control
of Hawaii, for a firm policy with regard to the revolt in Cuba,
for a stronger navy, and for a restoration of "the policy of pro-
tection" to home industries. The "calamitous consequences"
of Democratic rule were pictured with heavy strokes, and the
Cleveland administration was charged with responsibility for
"a record of unparalleled incapacity, dishonor, and disaster."

The Democratic convention met in Chicago on the yth of
July. The silver men immediately took control and elected
their candidate for temporary chairman. The platform, as
reported, did not commend the administration of
Men Control President Cleveland, neither did it expressly at-
Convention ^^ **> ^ut ^ denounced "the issue of interest-
bearing bonds of the United States in time of peace
and . . . the trafficking with bond syndicates," condemned
"arbitrary interference by federal authorities in local affairs,"
and characterized "government by injunction" as "a new and
highly dangerous form of oppression by which federal judges
become at once legislators, judges, and executioners." It con-
tained other bids for the support of labor and iterated the doc-
trine of 1892 regarding a tariff for revenue. But by far its most
important pronouncement was that upon the currency question.
The demonetizing act of 1873 was appropriately denounced;
monometallism was declared to be a British policy that had
"locked fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paral-
ysis of hard times"; and an unqualified demand was made for
" the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold at the
present legal ratio of sixteen to one without waiting for the aid
or consent of any other nation."

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 227

A minority report from the committee on resolutions pro-
posed an amendment commending the Cleveland administra-
tion and another opposing free coinage. A bitter debate fol-
lowed. Senator "Pitchfork" Tillman of South
Debate.' Carolina in passionate words assailed Cleveland as
"a tool of Wall Street." The main conservative
argument was made by David B. Hill, who began by saying,
"I am a Democrat, but I am not a revolutionist." But the
one memorable speech, one of the most memorable in American
history, was that delivered by a young man of thirty-six from
Nebraska — William Jennings Bryan.

Bryan was then a comparatively unknown man whose ex-
perience in public position was limited to two terms in the
federal House of Representatives. He had come to the con-
William vention at the head of a contesting silver delegation
Jennings from Nebraska and had been seated. In his col-
lege days and afterward he had cultivated the art
of oratory, and he had brought to the convention a carefully
prepared speech, which he had committed to memory. At an
opportune moment, when the assemblage had been wrought up
to a pitch of madness by the " gold " arguments of Hill and others,
he stepped upon the platform to plead the cause of silver.

All who heard him that day are unanimous in agreeing that
it was a notable performance. His presence was pleasing and
magnetic; his marvellous mellow voice penetrated easily to
every corner of the great hall; his first sentences
caught the attention of the throng and held that
attention to the final, overpowering end. It was
not presumptuous, he asserted, for him to speak, for this was
not a mere measuring of abilities, not a contest between per-
sons. "The humblest citizen in the land, when clad in the
armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error.
I come to speak to you in defence of a cause as holy as the
cause of liberty — the cause of humanity."

He told how the advocates of silver, with a zeal approaching
that which inspired the crusaders who followed Peter the Her-
mit, had marched on from victory to victory until now they

228 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

" were assembled not to discuss, not to debate, but to enter up
the judgment of the plain people. . . . When you [turning
The Plain to tne &°^ delegates] come before us and tell us
People's that we shall disturb your business interests, we re-
ply that you have disturbed our business interests
by your action. We say to you that you have made too lim-
ited in its application the definition of a business man." The
wage-earner, the country lawyer, the crossroads merchant,
"the miners who go a thousand feet into the earth or climb
two thousand feet upon the cliffs, and bring forth from their
hiding-places the precious metals" — all these are "as much
business men as the few financial magnates who, in a back room,
corner the money of the world. . . .

" It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors.
Our war is not a war of conquest. We are fighting in the de-
fense of our homes, our families, and posterity. We have peti-
tioned, and our petitions have been scorned. We have en-
treated, and our entreaties have been disregarded. We have
begged, and they have mocked when our calamity came. We
beg no longer; we entreat no more. We defy them!"

With each sentence the vast crowd had grown more and
. more enthusiastic. After each passionate passage

Oratorical there came thunderclaps of applause from 20,000
throats. When the young orator flung out the
sentence, "'We defy them!' the leaderless Democracy of the
West was leaderless no more. In that very moment, and in
that burst of wild applause, it was acclaiming its new chief."*
He closed by proclaiming: "We care not upon what lines the
battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good but we can-
not have it until other nations help us, we reply that, instead
of having a gold standard because England has, we
Peroration. ^all restore bimetallism and then let England have
bimetallism because the United States have. If
they dare to come out and in the open defend the gold standard
as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost. Having
behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world,
* Peck, Twenty Years of the Republic, page 500.

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 229

the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will an-
swer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them:
'You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown
of thorns — you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of
gold!'"

Few speeches have had such important results. The pro-
posed amendments to the platform were voted down over-
whelmingly, and the thoughts of the delegates were turned
toward the young orator as the proper person to

Iead t*16 new crusade- Next day "Silver Dick"
Bland, the "Father of Free Silver," and all the
other candidates were cast aside, and on the fifth ballot William
Jennings Bryan was nominated for the presidency.

For the vice-presidency the convention named Arthur Sewall
of Maine. The selection was a rather remarkable one, for
Sewall was president of a ship-building firm and of a national
Sewall for bank, was a protectionist, and lived in a State so

the Vice- "impregnable in its Republicanism" that the Dem-
Presidency. .. , ... , ,

ocrats could have little hope of carrying it. How-
ever, Sewall possessed "the saving grace of recent conversion
to free silver."

Among conservative Democrats, most of whom resided in
the East, the nomination of Bryan was received with dismay.
"Are you still a Democrat?" a friend inquired of David B.
Hill upon his return to New York. "Yes, I am a
Democrats Democrat still," replied the senator — then added
Nominate after a significant pause, "very still" Early in
Buckner. September a considerable number of gold Demo-
crats held a convention in Indianapolis, assumed
the name of "National Democratic Party," and nominated
General John M. Palmer of Illinois for the presidency and
General Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky, one-time commander
at Fort Donelson, for the vice-presidency. Many other gold
Democrats openly announced that they would support McKin-
ley, while a yet greater number secretly gave him their ballots.
On the other hand, the National Silver party declared for
Bryan and Sewall, and the Populists for Bryan but named

230 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Thomas E. Watson of Georgia for the vice-presidency in place
of Sewall.

The Republicans sought to make the tariff the leading issue,

but the money question soon dwarfed all others. Republican

orators sang the praises of gold, and dwelt with unction upon

the contention that they stood for "an honest

Question dollar." Democrats retorted that a contracted

currency, such as the "Gold Bugs" desired, was as
dishonest as an inflated currency and also bore most

heavily upon debtors, who were least able to bear it. One of

their campaign ditties ran:

"You may say what you will of the fifty cent dollar,
But I tell you it beats none at all, all holler."

Few campaigns have been so animated. Bryan swept through
many States, travelling over 18,000 miles and speaking to
probably 5,000,000 people. McKinley remained at his home
in Canton and greeted enthusiastic delegations
Campaign, from all over the Union. His managers, in partic-
ular "Mark" Hanna, hoisted on high the "full
dinner pail" to catch the labor vote, and, by picturing the
dangers of free silver and free trade, succeeded in collecting
from manufacturers and others the largest campaign fund ever
gathered. Bryan and his lieutenants also raised a considera-
ble fund, and they managed to arouse wild enthusiasm in the
West. But they were handicapped by the burden of hard
times under Democratic rule, and a majority of the voters took
the view that the country would be more prosperous under
the Republicans. In the election Bryan carried all the States
south of Mason and Dixon's Line, except Delaware, Maryland,
West Virginia, and Kentucky, and many of the Western States,
with a total of 176 electoral votes; but McKinley
w°n the New England States, the Middle States,
and all the Middle Western States, with some of
the Border and Western States, and received 271 electoral
votes and a popular plurality of more than 600,000. , "The Boy

HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER 231

Orator of the Platte" had failed to convince the country of the
virtue of his panacea.

The election thus closed had been far more than a mere
struggle over a metallic standard. For the first time on a
large scale since Andrew Jackson's day, there had been some-
thing approaching a class alignment. The promi-
Significance nence given the money question had served to ob-
Contest scure more serious ills from which the country was
suffering. By striving to establish a doubtful eco-
nomic principle the free-silver advocates unwittingly postponed
many much-needed reforms. In the words of Theodore Roose-
velt, in his Autobiography:

The fear of Mr. Bryan threw almost all the leading men of all
classes into the arms of whoever opposed him. . . . Good and
high-minded men of conservative temperament in their panic
played into the hands of the ultra-reactionaries of business and
politics. The alliance between the two kinds of privilege, political
and financial, was closely cemented; and wherever there was any
attempt to break it up, the cry was at once raised that this merely
represented another phase of the assault on national honesty and
individual and mercantile integrity. As so often happens, the ex-
cesses and threats of an unwise and extreme radicalism had resulted
in immensely strengthening the position of the beneficiaries of
reaction.

CHAPTER XIV

THE WAR WITH SPAIN

AMID more than usual pomp and display William McKinley
was duly inaugurated on March 4, 1897. For secretary of state
he named Senator John Sherman of Ohio. Sherman was now
an old man, whose once keen mind was beginning
ancnHanna. to snow the ravages of age. It was generally be-
lieved that he was "kicked up stairs" in order to
make a place in the Senate for "Mark" Hanna, McKinley 's
efficient political mentor and manager. At all events, Hanna
was soon appointed by the governor of Ohio to fill the vacancy
thus created, and the following year, after an exceedingly close
and *bitter fight, he was elected by the legislature. Judged in
the light of after events, the other important cabinet appoint-
ments were those of General Russell A. Alger of Michigan as
secretary of war, and of John D. Long of Massachusetts as
secretary of the navy. Theodore Roosevelt, who for some time
had been a police commissioner of New York City, became
assistant secretary of the navy.

Under the administration just beginning, "business" sat en-
throned in the government. This is not to say that President
McKinley and his advisers were without other ideals or aspira-

A "Business tions or ^at ^^ ^a(^ not tne interests of their
Admhiistra- country at heart. But their training and surround-
ings had been such that to make business prosperous
seemed to them the prime object of statesmanship; they ex-
pected all other blessings to follow naturally in the wake of
prosperity. It was the man of affairs, the hard-headed, prac-
tical money-maker, whose counsels were welcomed at the
White House in these years; the theorist, the idealist, received
scant consideration.

The main conflict of the campaign had been over the cur-

232

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 233

rency question, but legislation on the subject was long delayed.
It was not until March 14, 1900, that President McKinley
^jj signed the measure known as the Gold Standard Act.

Standard That act made the dollar containing 25.8 grains of
gold, nine-tenths fine, the standard of value, and
provided that the secretary of the treasury must maintain all
forms of money issued or coined at a parity with that standard.
For that purpose he was authorized to set aside $150,000,000
in gold coin and bullion as a redemption fund, and if at any
time this fund should fall below $100,000,000 and he should
be unable to replenish it in the usual manner he could sell bonds
and restore the fund to $150,000,000. The act did not affect
the legal-tender quality of silver dollars, but it provided for the
retirement of the treasury notes issued under the act of 1890
as rapidly as the silver bullion on hand should be coined and
silver certificates issued in amounts equal to the notes so re-
tired. The act in no sense met the views of advocates of silver.
But business conditions were prosperous; increased production
of gold, particularly in the Yukon region and South Africa,
had greatly enlarged the world's stock of the yellow metal,
thereby lessening the stringency in the medium of exchange,
and the Gold Standard Act consequently excited little popular
protest.

There was no such delay in regard to the tariff. One of
McKinley's first important official acts was to call Congress in
extra session on March 15. Even before the inauguration it
The Din le ^"^ been arranged among Republican members of
Tariff Act, the House that Thomas B. Reed should be re-
elected Speaker, and Reed had indicated that he
would appoint Nelson Dingley of Maine and certain others as
the majority members of the Committee on Ways and Means.
In advance of their actual appointment Dingley and his asso-
ciates began work on a new tariff bill. As a result of this fore-
handed work the bill was reported to the House and passed by
that body in less than two weeks after Congress assembled.
The Senate considered the measure more leisurely and adopted
several hundred amendments. The bill passed the Senate on

234 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

July 7, went to a conference committee, the report of the con-
ference committee was accepted by both houses, and the Dingley
Act became a law by the President's signature on July 24.

The new act was drawn primarily in the interests of pro-
ducers rather than consumers, and in it many of the big con-
tributors to the Republican campaign fund reaped their reward.
In some respects it resembled the McKinley Act,
but the average rate of duties was somewhat lower,
and, as a deficit not a surplus was now the problem
of the Treasury, it contained some duties levied solely to pro-
duce a revenue. Defenders of the act made much of its reci-
procity feature. The President was empowered to enter into
certain limited reciprocity agreements with foreign powers
and to proclaim them without the action of the Senate. He
might also negotiate more formal treaties providing
Feature01 y for a reduction of not more than 20 per cent of the
Delusion Dingley rates or for placing natural articles not
produced hi the United States on the free list. In
the next two years seven formal reciprocity treaties were
negotiated, but protectionist sentiment was so strong in the
Senate that not one was ratified.

Business conditions had improved even before Cleveland
retired from office, and prosperity blossomed in wonderful
luxuriance under McKinley. As the main explanation, pro-
tectionists triumphantly pointed to the Dingley
Prosperity. Act. For some years arguments favoring free trade
or a tariff for revenue only fell upon stony ground.
To a majority of voters it seemed that experience proved that
Republican spell-binders were right in proclaiming that free
trade meant "free soup houses," while protection assured a
"full dinner pail."

For a long period internal economic questions had chiefly
absorbed American attention. America had led an
Stage. er almost hermitlike existence, caring little for events
beyond her borders. At intervals diplomatic dis-
putes with other powers had flared up for a moment, only to
die down like a fire that has little on which to feed. But the

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 235

period of isolation was drawing to a close. Events were under
way that were to force the United States out upon the broader
stage of world affairs.

Following the Ten Years' War in Cuba, a short account of

which was given in an earlier chapter, many of the insurgents

had taken refuge in the United States; but they and other

patriots who remained upon the island never ceased

Question10 to P^an a renewal of the struggle for liberty when

times should be more propitious. Continuance of

the old selfish Spanish policy of exploitation, and failure to

carry out reforms promised at the end of the previous revolt

made the patriots all the more determined that some day

Cuba must be free.

In February, 1895, a leader named Jose Marti landed in
eastern Cuba and began a revolt that soon swept westward
past the outskirts of Havana and into the province of Pinar
del Rio. A republic was proclaimed, and Thomas
Revolt '' Estrada Palma, who for years had been a school-
teacher in the State of New York, became provi-
sional President. To suppress the insurrection Spain sent a
large army to Cuba. Unable to meet these better armed and
trained soldiers in the open field, the insurrectos, led by such
partisan chieftains as Maximo Gomez, Antonio Maceo, and
Calixto Garcia, resorted to guerilla warfare, cutting off a de-
tachment here, capturing a town there, then vanishing into the
jungle. Under Governor-General Martinez Campos the Span-
iards conducted the war in accordance with civilized usages,
but these methods failed, Campos was recalled, and in Feb-
We ler's ruary, 1896, he was succeeded by General Valeriano
Harsh Wevler, whose ferocity and ruthless methods won

Policy.

for him the name of "the Butcher." Weyler car-
ried out a policy of reconcentration, whereby the peasants in
many districts were forced to assemble in the fortified towns
in order that they might not give any assistance to the insur-
rectionists. Lack of food and poor sanitation caused suffering
and death among these unfortunate reconcentrados, and the
policy excited the indignation of the world.

236 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

From the outset the great mass of the people of the United
States heartily sympathized with the rebels and wished them
success, but for a long period our government preserved a strict
The United neutrality. Cubans in the United States and Ameri-
states can sympathizers frequently managed, nevertheless.

Neutral. y . '

to evade our neutrality regulations and send arms
and supplies to the insurgents; while a considerable number of
adventurous Americans secretly made their way to the island
and enlisted in the Cuban cause.

One of these soldiers of fortune was Winchester Dana Osgood,
another was Frederick Funston. Osgood was the son of an
American army officer and had won fame as a football player
at Cornell and Pennsylvania. He became chief of
Funston artillery in General Garcia's army, and was shot
through the brain while sighting a cannon in the
siege of a small town called Guaimaro. He was succeeded by
Funston, an Ohioan by birth but long a resident of Kansas,
who had been a student at Kansas University and subsequently
had travelled in Alaskan wilds for the Department of Agricul-
ture. Funston reached Cuba on the famous filibustering vessel
Dauntless, commanded by picturesque "Dynamite" O'Brien.
Unlike Osgood, he survived the Cuban War, performed notable
exploits in the Philippines, rose to high command in the Ameri-
can army, and left a book describing in vivid language his ad-
ventures in two hemispheres.

Early in 1896 American sentiment in favor of putting a stop
to the conflict became so strong that both houses of Congress,
by large majorities, passed a concurrent resolution favoring
the recognition of Cuban belligerent rights and
Attitude!1'3 offering our good offices to Spain for the recogni-
tion of Cuban independence. But President Cleve-
land held that he was not bound by this resolution and
refused to act in accordance with it. Secretary Olney did,
however, offer to mediate between Spain and the insurgents for
the restoration of peace on the basis of a larger autonomy, but
Spain turned the tender aside. In his last annual message
President Cleveland took the view that the time had not come
to recognize either the belligerency of the insurgents or their

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 237

independence. But he added that a time might come when
our obligations to the sovereignty of Spain might be super-
seded by our higher obligations to humanity.

The Republican platform of 1896 took strong ground with
regard to the Cuban question, but neither President McKinley
nor his mentor, Hanna, wanted war. The President managed
. to secure the release of certain American citizens
Anxious for who were held by the Spaniards for alleged par-
ticipation in the revolt, and he also secured from
Congress an appropriation to be used in feeding the starving
reconcentrados. On June 27, 1897, Secretary Sherman trans-
mitted through Hannis Taylor, the American minister at Ma-
drid, a despatch protesting against the policy of General Weyler,
particularly his reconcentration order. The Spanish Govern-
ment adopted procrastinating tactics, but finally replied (Au-
gust 4) to the effect that the situation in Cuba was not so dark
as pictured. It sought to justify Weyler's measures by com-
paring them with those of Hunter and Sheridan in the Shenan-
doah Valley, and complained of the activities of the Cuban
Junta in New York City and of the assistance rendered the
rebels by American citizens.

On September 13, 1897, General Stewart L. Woodford, who

had succeeded Taylor at Madrid, once more tendered the good

offices of the United States to end the war, and intimated that

American patience was approaching an end. A

Concedes few days later the existing Spanish ministry re-
Autonomy. , , , , , 0 _
signed, and a new one was formed under Senor

Sagasta. The brutal Weyler was soon superseded, and a de-
cree was published granting autonomy to Cuba. In his annual
message (December 6, 1897) President McKinley expressed the
view that the new policy should be given a fair trial.

But autonomy pleased neither the rebels nor the Cuban
loyalists. The latter indulged in riotous outbreaks (January
The Mai J^' ^98) at Havana by way of protest, and were so
Sent to denunciatory of Americans that Consul-General Fitz-
hugh Lee, nephew of the famous Confederate leader,
advised his government that it might become necessary to
send war-ships to Havana to protect our interests. The second-

238 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

class battleship Maine was actually ordered to Havana, while,
to preserve the appearance of amity, it was arranged that the
Spanish cruiser Vizcaya should visit New York.

A few days after the Maine dropped anchor in Havana har-
bor the New York Journal, a Hearst paper that had long been
advocating intervention, published a letter written by Senor

Dupuy de Lome, Spanish minister at Washington,
Letter.me iQ which he characterized President McKinley as

"weak and a caterer to the rabble ... a cheap
politician who wishes to leave a door open to himself and to
stand well with the jingoes of his party." The letter had been
obtained surreptitiously, but Senor de Lome admitted its gen-
uineness. His recall was demanded, but the Spanish Govern-
ment accepted his resignation before the demand arrived.

Excitement over this episode had not yet subsided when the
world was startled with the news that on the night of February
15 the Maine had been blown up in Havana harbor, causing

the death of 260 of her officers and crew. Captain
Blcfwn up*.' Sigsbee of the ill-fated ship cabled home, asking the

public to suspend judgment until the facts could
be ascertained, but most Americans jumped to the conclusion
that the loss was due to treachery. A Spanish court of in-
quiry reported that the explosion was an internal one; an Ameri-
can court held (March 2) that first there had been an external
explosion which had set off two of the forward magazines.
When the shattered hulk was raised from the muddy harbor
bottom, more than a decade later, the American experts again
held that the American contention was sustained. The real
facts concerning the affair remain unknown to this day, but
historians acquit the Spanish Government of complicity. The
deed may have been the work of hot-headed subordinates.
Throughout the United States the vengeful cry resounded:

" Remember the Maine! " Yet President McKinley
UUknatum. st^ ne^ back, partly because he wanted time to

put the country on a war basis, partly because he
hoped that delay might bring some peaceful solution. But
further negotiations proved fruitless, and finally, on March

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 239

29, Minister Woodford presented the following statement:
"The President instructs me to say that we do not want Cuba.
He also instructs me to say, with equal clearness, that we do
wish immediate peace in Cuba. He suggests an armistice, last-
ing until October i, negotiations in the meantime being had
looking to peace between Spain and the insurgents, through
the friendly offices of the President of the United States."

Spain made various counter-proposals, but the President
deemed them insufficient. An attempt on the part of Ger-
many, Austria-Hungary, and France to intervene in Spain's
behalf was balked by the friendly attitude of Great
stateYmted Britain and by McKinley's own diplomatic deft-
Determines ness. On April ii the President sent to Congress
Cuba. a special message favoring forcible intervention to

put a stop to the conflict. Eight days later, on
the anniversary of Concord and Lexington, Congress adopted
by great majorities resolutions declaring "that the people of
the island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and inde-
pendent," demanding that Spain withdraw from the island,
and directing and empowering the President to use our forces
to carry the resolutions into effect. In a "self-denying ordi-
nance" that followed, Congress disclaimed any intention of
exercising "sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island
except for the pacification thereof," and pledged the United
States, as soon as this object was accomplished, "to leave the
government and control of the island to its people." Rupture
of diplomatic relations and formal warfare speedily followed.
In American eyes the conflict thus begun was a crusade for
humanity.

On March 8 Congress had appropriated $50,000,000 as an
emergency fund for national defense, and three weeks later had
added $39,000,000 more for the navy. Much of this money
was spent abroad for guns and ships before the outbreak of
hostilities.

In the War Department Secretary Alger and the bureaucrats
under him had been slow to awake to the crisis. Our military
status on April i, 1898, may be summarized as follows: a reg-

24o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ular army of 28,183 officers and men; a larger force of ill-trained
State militia, who could not be taken into the federal service
Milita without their consent; 53,508 Krag-Jorgensen rifles

Unprepared- and 14,895 Krag-Jorgensen carbines, both good
weapons for that day; a large number of anti-
quated 45-calibre Springfields, using black powder, whose
smoke would betray to the enemy the position of troops using
these weapons; a scanty supply of smokeless-powder cartridges;
considerable coast-defense artillery but few field-guns, and all
of these using black powder; great dearth of clothing, tents,
and other necessary equipment. Congress authorized the
President to call for more than 200,000 volunteers, and about
182,000, many of them militiamen, were actually enlisted.
Among these volunteers were many former Union and Con-
federate officers, among the latter being Fitzhugh Lee and
"Fighting Joe" Wheeler, the celebrated cavalry leader.

According to her army lists, Spain had at this time under
arms 492,000 men, of whom 10,000 were in Porto Rico, 51,000
in the Philippines, and 278,000 in Cuba. But many of these
men were poorly trained and equipped; others had
Army.Pamsh been forced into the service against their will and
their hearts were not in the work. Spain had not
in her whole army a force to match the American regular army,
which, though small, was composed of well-drilled, straight-
shooting men, commanded by officers most of whom were West-
Pointers and many of whom had seen service in the great civil
conflict or in the wild warfare against the Indians of the West.

Ships rather than armies were to prove the main factor in
deciding the war. The new American navy, though a pygmy
beside that of Great Britain, contained some formidable ves-

TheNew se^S) manne(^ by officers and men filled with the
American traditions of a service that had produced a Paul
Jones, a Decatur, a Macdonough, a Perry, two
Porters, and a Farragut. The main fighting strength was con-
centrated in four first-class battleships: the Iowa, of 11,340
tons, with a primary battery of four 1 2-inch rifles, and the
Oregon, Massachusetts, and Indiana, of 10,288 tons, and armed

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 241

with four i3-inch rifles. Besides these vessels there were a
second-class battleship, the Texas, numerous cruisers of various
classes, gunboats, torpedo-boats, and nearly a score of anti-
quated monitors, most of which last were available only for
coast defense.

At the head of the Navy Department stood a capable man,
John D. Long, and he had an even more capable assistant —
Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt had foreseen that war was

inevitable and had energetically prepared for it.

He had written the .best history of the naval war

of 1812 then extant, and he possessed a keen knowl-
edge of naval requirements. In the words of Admiral Dewey:
"He was impatient of red tape, and had a singular understand-
ing both of the importance of preparedness for war and of strik-
ing quick blows in rapid succession once war was begun."
Knowing that it is "only the hits that count," he had kept the
gunners busy at target practice, had managed that Commodore
George Dewey should be put in command of the Asiatic squad-
ron, and otherwise had prepared the navy for the test of war.
The whole service was permeated with a keen professional
spirit, and the department could command the advice of many
able officers, among them Captain Alfred T. Mahan, the great
authority on the influence of sea power in history.

Some European writers assumed that the Spanish fleets
would sweep the American ships from the seas, but in reality
the Spanish navy was much the weaker, both in material and
w , . morale. Spain had only one first-class battleship,
the Spanish the Pelayo, but she was smaller than the American

ships of the same class, was thirteen years old, and
was in a bad state of repair. The main Spanish strength lay
in a number of armored cruisers, and one of these, the Cris-
tdbal Colon, would have been a really formidable antagonist
had she not lacked her heavy guns. Spain also had many
lighter vessels, notably seven destroyers, a valuable type, of
which the United States had none. In general, the Spanish
ships were poorly equipped and poorly manned. Rear-Admiral
Cervera probably did not exaggerate when, two months before

242 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the war began, he wrote to the minister of marine that the
Spanish naVy was only one-third as strong as that of the United
States and that he thought it improper to cherish "illusions
which may bring about terrible disappointments." Most
Americans supposed that Spanish sea power was much more
formidable than it really was, and fear of bombardment caused
uneasiness in Atlantic coast cities.

The first blow was not long delayed. The American Asiatic
squadron had been concentrated at Hong Kong in readiness to
strike at Spanish power in the Philippine Islands. It was com-
posed of the 5,87o-ton protected cruiser Olympia,
Ordered three smaller cruisers, two gunboats, a revenue
Philippines vessel> a collier, and a supply ship, and was com-
manded by Commodore George Dewey, an officer
who had fought under Farragut. Forced to leave Hong Kong
by the British proclamation of neutrality, the fleet rendez-
voused at Mirs Bay, on the coast of China, and there (April 25)
Dewey received the following cablegram from Washington:
"War has commenced between the United States and Spain.
Proceed at once to the Philippine Islands. Commence opera-
tions, particularly against the Spanish fleet. You must cap-
ture vessels or destroy. Use utmost endeavors."

The fleet waited until the next day (April 26) for the arrival
of Williams, the American consul at Manila. Then, in the after-
noon, the ships weighed anchor and steamed across the South
China Sea on their fateful errand.

The Spanish fleet at Manila, commanded by Rear-Admiral
Montojo, was decidedly inferior to Dewey's force, nor did the
Spaniards display any skill in making use of their shore de-
fenses. On the last night of April the American
ships passed through the broad entrance of Manila
Bay, exchanging a few harmless shots with the bat-
teries, and in the early morning of May Day came in sight of
Montojo's vessels lying off Cavite arsenal. Within a few hours
the Spanish fleet had been annihilated, while the Americans
lost not a single ship and had only eight men slightly wounded.
•The victory put Manila completely at Dewey's mercy, but, as

L Tropic o« CMC*

--

„ CARIBBEAN

CUBAN AN!} PORTO RICAN
CAMPAIGNS

SCALE OF MILES

Lotigivuile West

from 70 Greenwich

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 243

he had no troops with which to garrison the city, he decided
not to take it until the arrival of troops from the United States.
Nearer home the American naval forces at the beginning of
the war were distributed as follows: the North Atlantic Fleet,
commanded by Rear-Admiral William T. Sampson and com-
posed of the battleships Indiana, Iowa, the armored
The North cruiser New York, some sea-going monitors, and

Atlantic

Fleet. many other vessels, lay at Key West, or in the

vicinity, in readiness to blockade Cuba. A Northern
Patrol Squadron, under Commodore J. A. Howell, was guarding
the coast from eastern Maine to the Delaware capes. A Flying
Squadron, under Commodore Winfield S. Schley,
Squadron^ an(^ composed of the battleship Massachusetts, the
second-class battleship Texas, and the cruisers
Brooklyn and New Orleans, was at Hampton Roads in readiness
to go wherever needed. The battleship Oregon, Captain
Charles E. Clark, was making a i4,ooo-mile voy-
aSe fr°m the Pacific coast round South America to
the coast of Florida. Much anxiety existed for her
safety, but on May 26 she reached Jupiter Inlet on the coast
of Florida in splendid condition, ready for any duty.

Immediately after the declaration of war Sampson's fleet
proceeded to blockade the Cuban coast from Cardenas to Bahia
Honda. Sampson wished to attack the defenses of Havana,
and it is now known that such a bombardment
BbCckadbean might have succeeded, but the Washington gov-
ernment, fearing further European complications,
especially with Germany, ordered him to conserve his ships.
For some days his activities were confined to capturing an oc-
casional prize and to exchanging a few long-distance shots
with the batteries at Cardenas. Then the important news
came that the main Spanish fleet, under Rear-Admiral Cervera,
had sailed from the Cape de Verde Islands, presumably for
West Indian waters.

An interesting game of hide-and-seek followed. Thinking
that Cervera might call for coal at San Juan, Porto Rico, Samp-
son sailed thither, towing the slow monitors, but on his arrival

244 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

off that port (May 12) he did not find the prey he sought; so,
after subjecting the defenses to a short bombardment, he
Seeking turned back toward Havana. On the previous day
Cervera'a Cervera's squadron, which had been much hampered
by defective machinery, arrived off Martinique, and
thence proceeded to Curajoa, where it stopped (May 14) for
coal. News that the Spaniards were off Martinique reached
Washington on the night of the i2th and resulted in Commo-
dore Schley, with the Brooklyn, Texas, and Massachusetts, being
sent to Charleston and then to Key West. There his squadron
was strengthened and was sent to Cienfuegos, a port on the
south coast of Cuba, connected by rail with Havana and
thought to be the most likely destination of Cervera. In
reality, however, Cervera took refuge in the bottle-
Takes1* shaped harbor of Santiago, and days passed before
Refuge in the Americans finally succeeded in locating him.
of Santiago. Here he was safe from immediate danger, for the
narrow entrance to the harbor was strongly de-
fended by batteries and mines. He was also in telegraphic
communication with Havana, but there was no communication
by railway, and neither troops nor supplies could be sent to
his aid. His fleet now consisted of four armored cruisers — the
Infanta Maria Teresa, the Cristdbal Colon, the Vizcaya, and the
Almirante Oquendo — and two destroyers — the Furor and Pluton.
A third destroyer, the Terror, because of disabled boilers, had
put hi at Fort de France and later sailed to San Juan.

On May 28 Schley's squadron established a close blockade
of the harbor. Three days later Sampson arrived and took
command of the blockading fleet, which now consisted of the
greater part of the American navy. The shore bat-
Erpioit.8 teries were subjected to occasional long-range bom-
bardments, and on the early morning of June 3
Naval Constructor Richmond Pearson Hobson and seven vol-
unteers attempted to block egress from the harbor by sinking
an old collier, the Merrimac, across the channel. The vessel
drifted too far in before sinking, and the attempt to "cork the
bottle" failed, but the effort was a gallant one, and Hobson and

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 245

his comrades, all of whom were captured, won enthusiastic ap-
plause from a world-wide audience.

Our military authorities had not intended to land any con-
siderable force in Cuba until after the tropical summer, with its
deadly fevers, had passed, but the plight of Cervera's fleet
A L nd offered a tempting opportunity to strike a decisive
Force Sent blow. In the middle of June a force of 17,000 men
sailed on about thirty transports from Tampa,
Florida, bound for Santiago. Much confusion attended the
embarkation; some of the supplies furnished were bad; the
clothing of the soldiers was better suited to the snows of Wy-
oming than to the sultry climate of the West Indies; the com-
mander, Major-General William R. Shafter, was so stout and
so badly afflicted with the gout that he could not mount his
horse; but, so far as underofficers and men were concerned, no
better force was ever assembled under the American flag. It
was composed entirely of regular troops, with the exception of
the Second Massachusetts Regiment, the Seventy-First New
York, and eight dismounted companies of the First Volunteer
Cavalry.

This last force was composed of Western cowboys, ranch-
men, big-game hunters, and Indians, with a few Eastern foot-
ball players and other adventurous spirits. It was commanded
by Colonel Leonard Wood, an army surgeon who
Riders°U< ha.d seen active service against the Apaches. Its
chief creator was its lieutenant-colonel, Theodore
Roosevelt, who resigned his post in the Navy Department to
organize it. He was offered the colonelcy, but insisted that the
first place should be given to his more experienced friend,
Wood. Altogether the regiment was a picturesque assemblage,
and Americans watched eagerly to see how "Roosevelt's Rough
Riders" — or "Teddy's Toughs," as they were sometimes called
at first — would behave in battle.

On June 22, under the guns of the fleet, the army began dis-
embarking at Daiquiri, to the eastward of Santiago, and by
nightfall, despite inadequate landing facilities, about 6,000 men
were ashore. Next day General Lawton seized Siboney, eight

246 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

miles nearer Santiago, and the rest of the army landed there.
On the 24th an advance detachment, commanded by Briga-
dier-General S. M. B. Young, and including
the Rough Riders, struck a Spanish force at La
Gudsima and chased it pellmell toward Santiago. The next
week was devoted to concentrating the army at Sevilla, to bring-
ing up food and munitions, and to getting in touch with a
ragged army of insurgents under General Garcia. Officers and
men alike suffered from rain and heat, poor rations, and inade-
quate shelter, while fever began its deadly ravages. During
much of the time General Shaf ter was too ill to leave his head-
quarters. Though a really capable officer, his great size and
other bodily infirmities rendered him unfit to conduct a cam-
paign in such a country.

At the end of June, despite Shafter's illness, it was decided
to make a general attack. Major-General Wheeler's division
of dismounted cavalry, which included the Rough Riders, and
Kent's division of infantry, were to move toward the Spanish
defenses on and about the low elevation known as San Juan
Hill, while 6,000 men, under Major-General H. W. Lawton,
were to carry the fortifications at El Caney and take position
on Wheeler's right. Both forces had a few light field-guns, all
firing black powder, the smoke of which betrayed their posi-
tion to enemy sharpshooters.

Lawton attacked on the early morning of July i, but the
Spanish troops at El Caney, protected by barbed wire, trenches,
and block-houses, held out stoutly, and it was late in the after-
noon before their resistance was overcome. Mean-
JEi'caney! while the movement against San Juan had gone
forward in a haphazard manner. An observation-
balloon raised above the ford of the San Juan River drew the
enemy's fire thither, causing heavy losses to the troops crossing
the stream; lack of any general authority caused doubt and
hesitation; and for a time the troops lay inactive under a gall-
ing fire. Finally some fighting subordinates, namely, Brigadier-
General Hawkins, a gallant white-haired veteran of the Civil
War, and Colonel Roosevelt, who was now head of his regiment,

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 247

Wood having been promoted, led spirited charges that swept
the Spaniards out of their defenses. In this work, and in hold-
ing the positions thus taken, a battery of Catling
guns, under Lieutenant John H. Parker, rendered
effective service. Even after the San Juan positions
were captured, the Spaniards kept up so hot a fire from works
nearer Santiago that some officers in the rear wanted to retire;
but the men and officers at the front protested, and " Fighting
Joe" Wheeler, though so ill that he could hardly be about,
refused to order a retreat. The victors dug themselves in on
the captured heights; but, even as late as July 3, General
Shafter, depressed by his bodily condition, cabled Washington
that he could not take Santiago by storm, and that he was
"considering withdrawing about five miles and taking up a new
position." The American losses in three days had been about
1,100 men.

On the very day that Shafter sent his depressing despatch,
an event occurred that dissipated all thoughts of withdrawal.
The Spaniards believed that the capture of Santiago was im-
The s anish m^nent< ^n obedience to telegraphic orders from
Fleet General Blanco at Havana, Admiral Cervera, about

half-past nine o'clock in the morning of July 3,
steamed out of the harbor with his squadron and attempted
to escape to the westward. Admiral Sampson, in the cruiser
New York, was temporarily absent on an errand to eastward,
but he had long before issued instructions to cover such a con-
tingency, and the other war-ships dashed in pursuit. Within a
few hours every Spanish vessel was a blackened, sunken wreck
on the coast of Cuba. The Cristdbal Colon was the last afloat,
but being hotly pressed by the Oregon and Brooklyn, she turned
toward the shore, surrendered, and sank soon afterward. The
American loss was only one man killed and one seriously
wounded. Sampson in the New York did not arrive in time to
participate in the engagement, and as Schley was the senior
officer present, a bitter controversy later developed over the
question of who was in command. In reality, the battle was
"a captains' fight."

248 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Though subjected to a bombardment from land and sea,
Santiago held out until the i4th, when General
Surrenders. Toral agreed to capitulate. The actual surrender
took place three days later. The prisoners num-
bered about 10,000.

By this time the American army was suffering severely from

the ravages of malaria and yellow fever. As only a few men

would be needed to hold Santiago, the officers felt

Robin."°UI that heavy losses could be avoided only by sending

most of the regiments to a healthier climate. The

War Department had other plans, but a "round robin" signed

by many of the officers had the desired effect, and early in

August most of the army was sent to Montauk Point on Long

Island.

Several minor naval operations took place in the West Indies
in the course of the war, but the only other land operation was
an invasion of Porto Rico. On July 25 about 3,000 men, under
Major-General Miles, landed at Guanica on the
Porto'iUco. south coast, and within a few days this force was
augmented to nearly 17,000. In about two weeks
the invaders, with a loss of only 3 men killed and 40 wounded,
overran the southern and western portions of the island. Com-
plete conquest was imminent when news arrived that a protocol
had been signed suspending hostilities.

On the other side of the world, Dewey, now a rear-admiral,
had patiently awaited the arrival of troops from home. Mean-
while important internal developments had taken place in the
Philippines.

As in Cuba, many of the native inhabitants had long been
dissatisfied with Spanish rule, and there had been frequent
uprisings against it. The last of these had broken out in 1896,
the causes being partly racial, partly the oppres-
Phiiippine sive civil and economic power wielded by the friars,
1896^7°* wno held vast areas °f land- The revolt was or-
ganized by the "Katipunan," or Patriots' League,
and the chief leader was a young Tagalog named Emilio Agui-
naldo. After much bloodshed, the insurgents were brought to

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 249

such straits that Aguinaldo and other leaders accepted an agree-
ment called the treaty of Briac-na-bato (December 15, 1897),
in which the Spanish governor-general, Primo de Rivera, prom-
ised to carry out certain reforms and to pay the leaders $800,-
ooo to lay down their arms and go into exile. The reforms were
never carried out, and only three-fourths of the money was paid.
Shortly before Dewey left Hong Kong he was informed by
the American consul at Singapore that Aguinaldo was at that
place and was anxious to co-operate in an attack upon the
A uinaldo Spaniards. Dewey sent word for him to come on,
Begins a and the Tagalog leader hurried northward, but

when he reached Hong Kong Dewey was gone.
However, nineteen days after the destruction of the Spanish
fleet the American despatch-boat McCulloch brought Aguinaldo
and thirteen associates to Manila Bay. The Americans lent
them some moral and material aid, and the Filipinos rose in a
new revolt that soon extinguished Spanish authority in a large
part of the Philippines. A rebel force under Aguinaldo even
laid siege to the city of Manila.

Meanwhile Dewey had been subjected to an unexpected an-
noyance. Several neutral powers, as is not uncommon in such
cases, sent war-ships to Manila to protect their citizens and

commercial interests. For some reason Germany,
Clashes with whose interests were small, sent five ships, a force
Admiral more powerful than that commanded by Dewey

himself. All the other neutral war-ships observed
the proprieties demanded by the situation, but the German
ships ignored the rules of blockade and interfered with the
operations of the insurgents, while some of their officers openly
proclaimed their sympathy with Spain. Whether the Ger-
mans had any ulterior purposes has never been revealed, but
their behavior finally became so obnoxious to Dewey that he
lost patience and sent word to the German commander, Vice-
Admiral von Diederich, that if he wanted a fight he could "have
it right now." This blunt message, joined with the fact that
Captain Edward Chichester, the commander of the British
naval force in the harbor, declared in no uncertain terms that

2so THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

he would support the Americans, brought the insolent Teutons
to terms. Afterward the monitor Monterey, armed with power-
ful 1 2- and lo-inch guns, arrived (August 4), and so strength-
ened Dewey's force that he had no reason to fear either the
Germans or any Spanish fleet that might be sent out against
him.

In this matter, as in that of the attempted intervention at
the beginning of the war, the United States had reason to feel
G grateful to Great Britain. British friendship in

Britain this period was largely due to the personal influence

wielded by John Hay, our ambassador at London,
who as a young man had been assistant private secretary to
Abraham Lincoln. Thenceforth Anglo-American relations be-
came increasingly cordial.

At the end of June a force of 2,500 American troops, under
Brigadier-General Thomas M. Anderson, reached Cavite,
A • l * having, in an opera boujfe attack, taken the little
American island of Guam on the way. Two other contingents,
under Brigadier-General Francis V. Greene and
Major-General Wesley E. Merritt, arrived before the end of
July, making a total of almost 11,000.

The position of the Spanish forces defending Manila was
hopeless. Back in June a third Spanish fleet under Admiral
Camara had set out from Spain for the Philippines by way of
the Suez Canal, but an announcement that Rear-
Surrenders. Admiral Watson would lead a squadron to ravage
the Spanish coast caused great uneasiness at Madrid,
and after the destruction of Cervera's fleet Camara was ordered
home, just as he was about to set out down the Red Sea.
Deprived of all hope of relief, the Spanish leaders at Manila
nevertheless refused to capitulate, for they feared court-martial
and punishment in Spain. Secretly, however, they arranged
with the Americans to make only a show of resistance and then
to surrender. On August 13 the American land and naval
forces made a joint attack. After a short fight, in which only
a few men were killed or wounded, a white flag went up, and
Manila surrendered.

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 251

The destruction of Spanish sea power at Manila and San-

tiago had put both the Philippines and Cuba at American

mercy. Spain was almost bankrupt. Castilian honor had

been satisfied. The Spanish Government bowed to

"" the inevitable, and on July 18 requested the French

^Hostilities Government to authorize the French ambassador
at Washington to arrange for preliminary terms of
peace. On August 12, the day before the capture of Manila,
Ambassador Cambon and William R. Day, who had succeeded
John Sherman as secretary of state, signed a protocol providing
for a suspension of hostilities, for the relinquishment of all
Spanish claims to Cuba, for the cession of Porto Rico and one
of the Ladrone Islands, in the Pacific, to the United States,
and for the appointment of peace commissioners to meet in
Paris not later than October i. In the meantime the Spanish
forces were to evacuate Cuba and Porto Rico. The question
of what disposition would be made of the Philippines was left
an open one to be decided by the peace conference.

The American delegation at the peace conference was headed
by William R. Day, who resigned the post of secretary of state
for that purpose, being succeeded by John Hay. The Spanish
delegation was headed by President of the Senate
Conference. ^on Eugenio Montero Rios. The Spanish rep-
resentatives devoted most of October to a fruitless
attempt to saddle the big Cuban debt either upon Cuba or the
United States. They wasted most of November in an equally
fruitless effort to save the Philippines. American public opin-
ion was divided as to what should be done with the archipelago.
McKinley himself hesitated, and his letter of instructions
merely directed our representatives to ask for Luzon. Some
prominent men wished no more than a coaling station; others,
including Senator Gray of the commission, favored withdrawing
from the Philippines altogether. In the end McKinley decided
to demand the whole archipelago, and the Spanish commis-
sioners, as is usually the case with the defeated party, had to
give way on this and every other important question. Spain
had to withdraw from all her possessions in the West Indies,

252 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

thus surrendering the last of her once imperial domain in the
New World, and to cede the Philippines and the island of
Guam. The United States, however, assumed the claims of
its citizens for damages done in Cuba during the insurrection,
and in consideration of the cession of the Philippines, agreed to
pay $20,000,000, and for ten years to admit Spanish ships and
merchandise into the islands on the same terms as American
ships and goods.

The Philippine feature of the treaty provoked strong opposi-
tion in the United States. Opponents of annexation contended
that owing to their remoteness and the character of their in-
habitants the islands could never be admitted to

Opposition

to the statehood, and must always remain colonies. Sen-

ator Vest, a prominent Democrat, introduced a
resolution to the effect "That under the Constitution of the
United States no power is given to the federal government to
acquire territory to be held and governed permanently as col-
onies." Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, a prominent Re-
publican, declared that to acquire and hold the Philippines
would be not only a violation of the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, but of the whole spirit of Ameri-
can institutions. Friends of annexation denied the force of
such contentions, while others pointed out that to refuse to
ratify the treaty would result in a renewal of the war, and that
the question of the ultimate disposition of the Philippines could
be threshed out later. The fate of the treaty was in grave
doubt when William Jennings Bryan came to the
Attitude. capital and urged ratification. The question of
imperialism, he told his followers, would be an issue
in the next presidential campaign. Ten Democratic senators
voted for the treaty, and it was ratified (February 6, 1899),
with but one vote in excess of the required two-thirds. Rati-
fication by the Queen Regent of Spain was delayed six weeks
longer (March 19, 1899).

There were Americans dishonorable enough to advocate
that we should break our solemn pledge and annex Cuba, but
the great majority insisted that the island should be given its

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 253

independence. A provisional government was established to
manage affairs temporarily, and this was headed during most
America °* tne P6"0^ °^ American tutelage by Governor
Rule in Leonard Wood, who displayed great tact and high
administrative abilities under difficult circumstances.
Many improvements in law, education, and sanitation were
introduced, roads were improved, and financial affairs were so
well handled by General Tasker H. Bliss that a balance of
$1,792,109.52 was accumulated in the treasury. An important
achievement under this regime was that of an army surgeon,
Major Walter Reed, who conducted investigations that resulted
in the discovery that yellow fever, one of the most deadly of
tropical diseases, is transmitted by a species of mosquito. To
control the disease became thereafter a comparatively simple
matter, and the discovery has already resulted in the saving
of many thousands of lives, not only hi Cuba but also in the
United States and other countries.

Late in 1900 a constitutional convention, composed of elected
delegates, met in Havana and proceeded to frame a constitu-
tion modelled after that of the United States. Under pressure
from the United States the convention added (June
I2> I9°I) an appendix to the constitution embody-
ing the so-called "Platt Amendment," which had
been inserted in the American army appropriation bill of March
2, 1901. Of the eight points to this amendment the most im-
portant were that Cuba must not contract a public debt of un-
reasonable dimensions, that the United States might intervene
to protect Cuban liberty or to maintain "a government ade-
quate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, "
that the Cuban Government would carry out and, as far as
necessary, extend plans devised or that later might be agreed
upon for the sanitation of the cities of the island, and that Cuba
would sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for
naval stations at certain points to be agreed upon. It was
further stipulated that Cuba would embody these provisions
in a permanent treaty with the United States, and this was
done, though final ratifications were not exchanged until 1904.

254 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The general effect of the Platt Amendment was to make
Cuba a protectorate of the United States. The United States
could intervene to protect Cuba's independence or to restore
domestic order, and could enforce sanitary regu-
Protectorate! lations that were highly important to American
coast cities, which in the past had frequently suf-
fered from diseases carried thither from Cuban ports. Ulti-
mately only one naval base, namely, at Guantanamo on the
southeast coast, was occupied and developed; but this gave
the United States a foothold on the island, as well as a strategic
strong point on the Caribbean Sea, and conveniently near the
channel between Cuba and Haiti. The United States has never,
however, exercised its protectorate in a manner contrary to the
interests of the Cuban people.

On the last day of 1901 a general election was held in Cuba,
and resulted in the choice of electors who named (February 24,
. . 1002) for first President the fine old revolutionist

American

Withdrawal, Thomas Estrada Palma. On May 20, 1902, Gen-
eral Wood and the last American troops sailed from
the island, and the new republic formally entered upon her
independent existence. Thus closed one of the most admirable
chapters in human annals.

The rich island of Porto Rico, the fourth in size of the An-
tilles, was retained by the United States. The population at
that time consisted of 589,426 whites, mostly of Spanish descent,
304,352 mestizos, and 59,390 negroes. Under the
Foraker Act (April 12, 1900) Congress established a
civil government in which the people were allowed some par-
ticipation, but the inhabitants were described as "citizens of
Porto Rico, and as such entitled to the protection of the United
States." The Porto Rican was thus neither a citizen of the
United States nor an alien. In the words of Professor Ogg,
"he was left, like Mohammed's coffin, dangling between earth
and heaven." In March, 1917, however, a new act conferred
full citizenship upon the Porto Ricans, and increased their
participation in the local government.
The management of the War Department during the Spanish-

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 255

American conflict aroused such severe criticism that in Sep-

tember, 1898, President McKinley appointed a commission

. . to investigate the charges. Among other things,

Investigation

of the War the critics alleged that the department had dis-

played incompetence in providing weapons and mu-
nitions; that chemically treated beef — "embalmed beef," it was
popularly called — had been fed to the soldiers, thereby injuring
their health; and that some of the instruction camps had been
badly managed, resulting in unnecessary loss of life by disease.
The commission's report "whitewashed" the War Department,
but admitted that Secretary Alger had " failed to grasp the situ-
ation." The report did not allay the criticism, but McKinley,
for political reasons, retained Alger in the cabinet. A coolness
developed between the two men, however, and the President
ultimately asked for Alger's resignation. He was succeeded
(August i, 1899) by Elihu Root of New York, a keen lawyer
and able administrator, who carried out a reorganization of the
department.

In glaring contrast with the War Department, the Navy
Department was managed in a manner well-nigh beyond praise,
and the fighting efficiency of the ships and crews added new

lustre to American laurels. The soldiers, too,
Strategy.6 though handicapped by politics and mismanage-

ment in the War Department, fought bravely and
performed every feat required of them. Nor should sight be
lost of the fact that in its larger strategical aspects the war was
managed with consummate skill. The Naval War Board, of
which Captain Mahan was the most eminent member, unerr-
ingly discerned where and when to strike, and decisive results
were accomplished with a minimum expenditure of blood and
effort.
Measured by the amount of blood shed, the war was, in fact,

a ^ an?air. Fewer Americans had been slain in

America a

World it than had been killed in combats of the great civil

Power

conflict that had not risen above the dignity of skir-
mishes. Measured by its effects upon the United States and
the world, it was one of the most important wars in which we

256 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

have been engaged. For better or for worse, the United States
dropped its traditional policy of isolation and stepped out upon
the broad stage of international affairs. The restless energy
that had conquered the continent westward to the Pacific had
now carried the flag beyond the too narrow confines of the
western hemisphere. Doubtfully, almost unwillingly, the na-
tion fronted its fate, stooped to take up "the White Man's
burden," and undertook to govern strange peoples, "half devil
and half child," in lands beyond the seas.

CHAPTER XV
"IMPERIALISM"

THE Philippines, ceded to the United States by Spain, con-
sist of 3,141 islands, seven-eighths of which have an area of
less than one square mile each, while 9 contain over 10,000 square
miles each, the largest being Luzon, with 40,969
pwiippines square miles, and the next largest Mindanao, with
RUpinos 3^1292 square miles. The total land area is 115,026
square miles, and the total native population in 1899
exceeded 7,000,000. In race they varied from brown Malays
to black, woolly-headed Negritos, in religion from Christians
to Mohammedans and pagans, in civilization from college grad-
uates to naked savages whose favorite dainty was dog meat
and whose chief delight was hunting human heads. For three
hundred years the islands had been subjected to Spanish rule,
and most of the Filipinos, who constituted about seven-eighths
of the whole population, were at least nominally Christians and
civilized, but slavery, peonage, polygamy, and other barbaric
practices still flourished in places, especially among the fierce
Mohammedan Moros. Large numbers of Chinese had settled
in the islands, but the total white population, even as late as
1903, was only 14,271, with 15419 mestizos, or persons of
mixed native and Chinese blood.

The course of events in the Philippines proved much less
happy than in Cuba. By treaty the United States acquired
Spain's title to the archipelago, but we had captured only the
city of Manila, and, in the words of Admiral Dewey,
DecidMCto "we were far from being in possession of the terri-
lsfandshe torv we ^^ bought." It was only after much hesi-
tation that President McKinley decided not only
to exact the cession of all the islands but also to hold them, at
least for a time. A desire to extend American power and com-
as?

258 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

merce in the Orient, an unwillingness to lower the American
flag where it had once been hoisted, and doubts as to the ability
of the heterogeneous native population to govern themselves
appear to have been the chief reasons that caused him to reach
these momentous decisions.

Before the United States declared its purpose regarding the
islands, Aguinaldo and his followers hoped and expected to be
treated on the same basis as the Cuban revolutionists. They

proceeded, with some slight aid from the Americans,
Government. to overrun a large part of the archipelago. On

June 12 Aguinaldo, as dictator, declared the inde-
pendence of the Philippines. Later in the same month he
proclaimed a revolutionary government, "with a paper organi-
zation of executive, congress, and courts." Aguinaldo con-
tinued in power as "President," but the Americans usually re-
ferred to him as "General," nor did they ever in any formal
way recognize the Filipino government.

Even before the capture of Manila the insurgents began to
doubt American intentions, and there was more or less friction
between the besieging forces. After the capitulation the Fil-
T , ipinos occupied part of the city, but in the middle

Insurgents

Ordered out of September General Elwell S. Otis informed
Aguinaldo that he must withdraw his men or force
would be used. Aguinaldo complied with this ultimatum, but
kept it a secret from the rank and file, who "marched out in
excellent spirits, cheering the American forces."

The capital of the insurgent government was established at
Malolos, twenty miles north of Manila. A congress of some-
what irregular character met there, and a constitution was
framed and adopted by this body (January 20, 1899).

The dictator and his close associates were well aware that
differences of opinion existed in the United States regarding
the Philippines. More than one American newspaper was hail-
. . ing Aguinaldo as the "savior of his country" and

Praise of " the Washington of the Orient ' ' ; enterprising Ameri-

Aguinaldo. ,., ,. ... , . ,, . , .

can editors were soliciting his views on the issues
of the day"; and it is alleged that political managers were even

" IMPERIALISM" 259

hinting that "his influence would be of material value in the
coming presidential election in the United States."

After the withdrawal from Manila the insurgents continued
to hold positions close to that city. Believing that a conflict
with the Americans was inevitable, Mabina, a paralytic young
lawyer who was the ablest of Aguinaldo's advisers,
Proclamation, urged that matters should be brought to a crisis at
^g- "• once, but he was overruled. Realizing that the
situation was becoming tense, Admiral Dewey ad-
vised President McKinley to define the intentions of the United
States in order to put an end to uncertainty, and McKinley
(December 21, 1898) transmitted a proclamation asserting the
"supremacy" and "sovereignty" of the United States, and
stating that its authority would be enforced over the islands
until legislation "shall otherwise provide." The proclamation
declared that the Americans came "not as invaders or as con-
querors, but as friends," and that the American mission was
"one of benevolent assimilation, substituting the mild sway of
justice and right for arbitrary rule." But the Filipinos had
long been accustomed to the flowery rhetoric and hollow prom-
ises of their Spanish masters, and paid little heed to anything
but the fact that their independence was not conceded. The
bad effect of the proclamation was heightened by the fact that
at Manila General Otis published it in expurgated form, omit-
ting some of the objectionable phrases, while General Miller at
Iloilo issued it Qanuary 6) as originally written. The Fili-
pinos saw in the discrepancy a proof of American duplicity.

An armed conflict became inevitable. It was precipitated
on the night of February 4, two days before the Senate ratified
the treaty, by four Filipino soldiers approaching an American
outpost near Manila and ignoring a command to
Begins™1' ^a^- The sentry fired at them, and a Filipino de-
tachment stationed not far away returned the fire.
A general battle soon developed, in which the navy played an
effective part. The Filipinos were soon thrown back, with
losses estimated by General Otis at 3,000, while those of the
Americans amounted to only 50 killed and 184 wounded. It is

260 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

believed that the incident that precipitated the clash was not
premeditated by the Filipino leaders, but for some time they
had been making ready for an attack on the Americans, and
Aguinaldo had the draft of a declaration of war in readiness.

The conflict thus begun was a most uneven one. The Fili-
pinos had few cannon and comparatively few rifles; the sup-
ply of ammunition was scanty; and many of the soldiers were

so inexpert with rifles that they did not even know
thea\Var?r( now *° aim them. The Filipinos were, in fact,

often more effective when armed with spears, bolos,
and other primitive weapons. Opposed to them stood in the
beginning about 14,000 Americans; many of these were volun-
teers who lacked thorough training; but regulars and volun-
teers alike were far more than a match, individually or collec-
tively, for "the little brown men" who had thrown down
the gauge of battle to them. Furthermore, the war-ships were
able to render much assistance, while an endless supply of men,
money, and munitions could be sent out from the United
States. Nevertheless, the Filipinos at first fought pluckily,
and from one to half a dozen men would often be standing
ready to snatch up the precious rifle of a killed or wounded man
and turn it once more against the enemy. The bitter experi-
ence gained in a few battles soon taught them, however, that
they could not withstand the stalwart, straight-shooting Ameri-
cans in open battle, and many of the later conflicts resembled
foot-races rather than fights.

Toward the end of March General MacArthur took the offen-
sive and soon captured Malolos, the insurgent capital. During
the next few weeks he and General Lawton defeated the in-
. . surgents in numerous engagements, and took many

Take the towns. Meanwhile other forces, aided by the navy,

took Iloilo and Cebu, and extended American au-
thority over the Visayan and Sulu archipelagoes. The rainy
summer season caused military activities to languish, but in
the fall Generals Lawton and Wheaton once more took the field
and defeated the Filipinos in numerous engagements, in one
of which Lawton was slain (December 19, 1899).

[BE PHILIPPINES -

" IMPERIALISM " 261

Agninaldo went into hiding in the mountains of Luzon.
Many of his followers surrendered; others broke up into small
bands and waged a guerilla warfare that was far more trying

to the Americans than organized tactics had been.
Warfare. Fields were laid waste, the rhinderpest swept away

thousands of the tame carabaos, a sort of buffalo,
which is the chief beast of burden in the Philippines, and it has
been estimated that during three years of warfare some hun-
dreds of thousands of Filipinos perished from famine and pes-
tilence.

In America the course of events in the Philippines caused
much searching of hearts. There were, to be sure, persons of
gross mould who swept sentiment aside and frankly favored

keeping the islands because of the gold they could

Opposition , , . , i T> ^

to the be made to pour into our lap. But some men

doubted whether our treatment of the Filipinos

squared with the precepts of the Declaration of
Independence. To many it seemed that we had entered the
war with Spain to free a people, and were ending by enslav-
ing one. Others, though believing it necessary to establish
American control for the good of the inhabitants, felt, never-
theless, the tragedy of the situation; like Admiral Dewey, they
were "deeply affected by the necessity of the loss of life and
the misery which the pacification of the islands imposed."

While public opinion still hesitated, a powerful influence was
cast in favor of retaining the islands by the publication (Feb-
ruary, 1899) of a remarkable poem. "In winged words which

circled the earth in a day, and by repetition became
"White5 hackneyed in a week," Rudyard Kipling stripped
Burden." ^ miPerial vocation of its tinsel and glitter, and

"revealed it as a necessary but thankless task to
be performed by the white race under the restraints of con-
science." He called upon America to

"Take up the White Man's burden-
Send forth the best ye breed —
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;

262 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttering folk and wild —
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden —

Ye dare not stoop to less —

Nor call too loud on Freedom

To cloak your weariness.

By all ye will or whisper,

By all ye leave or do,

The silent sullen peoples

Shall weigh your God and you."

At the outset, opposition to retaining the Philippines was
mostly non-partisan in character; anti-imperialist leagues,
which sprang up in many parts of the country, but particularly

in New England, drew members from all parties.
Imperialists. Andrew Carnegie, Senator George F. Hoar, George

S. Boutwell, ex-President Harrison, Speaker Reed,
and other prominent Republicans disliked the administration's
policy in the Philippines; Reed even resigned from Congress
because of it. On the other hand, some Democrats and Demo-
cratic newspapers at first favored expansion. Less than a
week after the ratification of the treaty with Spain, William
Jennings Bryan, who expected once more to be the Democratic
presidential candidate in 1900, issued a manifesto opposing

"imperialism." The disposition of the Philippines
Democrats speedily became a political question, and the Demo-
imperialism crats displayed a determination to make it a leading

a Political ,, , rr>1- -± e

issue. issue in the campaign of 1900. The prosperity of

the United States was very great, and Republicans
charged that Democratic leaders, seeing that free silver was
unpopular, realized that their only hope of winning would be
to inject a new issue into politics.

When the Republican convention met at Philadelphia (June
19, 1900) its leaders were full of confidence. The platform
pointed to the financial transformation wrought under Repub-
lican rule, and lauded many other achievements. The Philip-

"IMPERIALISM" 263

pines and their people were referred to as "a new and noble

responsibility." Having destroyed Spain's sovereignty in the

islands, we were bound to "provide for the main-

Repubhcan

Platform tenance of law and order," to put down insurrection,
and to "confer the blessings of liberty and civiliza-
tion" upon the people. One plank dealt with the trusts.
These were now multiplying with great rapidity, but this fact
did not give the Republican leaders much anxiety. Mark
Hanna, the "political prime minister" of the administration,
wrote the trust plank, which recognized "the necessity and
propriety of the honest co-operation of capital to meet new busi-
ness conditions" but condemned "all conspiracies and com-
binations intended to restrict business, to create monopolies,
to limit production or to control prices."

As had long been foreseen, McKinley was unanimously re-
nominated, and the only question that aroused any real curi-
osity was the choice of a vice-presidential nominee. Vice-
President Hobart had died in office, hence the

McKmley

Renomi- ticket of 1896 was impossible. Among those men-
tioned were Secretary of the Treasury Bliss, Secre-
tary of the Navy Long, Representative Jonathan P. Dolliver
of Iowa, Timothy L. Woodruff of New York, and Theodore
Roosevelt. Roosevelt's foresight and energy in preparmg"the
navy Tor the war, his valor as leader of the picturesque Rough
Riders, and his well-known reforming zeal had combined to
make him one of the most popular men in the country. In the
fall of 1898 he had been elected governor of New York and his
vigorous course in that office hactlncTeased his reputation, but
he had incurred the opposition of certain great corporations
and of Senator Thomas C. Platt, the Republican boss of the
State. Platt decided to bring about Roosevelt's

Roosevelt

Nominated nomination as Vice-President in order to prevent his
Presidency6" re-election as governor. In this scheme he was
wfshes HiS greatly aided by the enthusiastic desire of a multi-
tude of Republicans, especially in the West, to put
the Rough Rider on the ticket. Neither McKinley nor Hanna
wanted him nominated, and Roosevelt himself, desiring to be

264 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

governor again, declared that he could not accept a nomination;
but the strange alliance of Platt and Republican sentiment won
the day. Roosevelt received every vote in the convention
except his own, and bowed to the will of his party. As no
Vice-President since Martin Van Buren had been elected Presi-
dent, it was supposed by Roosevelt's friends and enemies alike
that he was "shelved" politically.

The Democratic convention met in Kansas City on July 4,
the date being specially chosen to emphasize the reamrmation
by the platform of the Declaration of Independence, " that im-
mortal proclamation of the inalienable rights of

Democrats ,, „___ ,, , , , . , ,, ,

Declare man. We assert, the platform continued, that
^mpen si nQ natjon ^^ jong en(jure half republic and half
"Paramount empire, and we warn the American people that im-
perialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably
to despotism at home." The Republican Philippine policy had
been dictated by "greedy commercialism"; the war was one
of "criminal aggression." The Filipinos must be given,
"first, a stable form of government; second, independence;
and third, protection from outside interference." "Imperial-
ism" was pronounced "the paramount issue of the campaign,"
but the gold standard act of 1900 was denounced, and a de-
mand was made for " the immediate restoration of the free and
unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present ratio of
16 to i, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other
nation." Many delegates had wished to omit any reference
to the currency, but the Bryan influence had been too
strong. The platform also pledged the Democracy to "an
unceasing warfare . . . against private monopoly in every
form," and denounced the Dingley Act as "a trust-breeding
measure."

There had been some talk of Admiral Dewey as the presi-
dential candidate, but Bryan was renominated by
acclamation. Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice-President
from 1893 to 1897, was named as his associate
on the ticket.
The "Fusion Populists," the "Liberty Congress of the

"IMPERIALISM" 265

American League of Anti-Imperialists," and the "Silver Repub-
licans" also indorsed Bryan, but the Populists put
Parties. forward Charles A. Towne of Minnesota for the
vice-presidency instead of Stevenson. The "Anti-
Fusion," or " Middle-of-the-Road " Populists, nominated a
separate ticket, but they played little part in the campaign.
The Prohibitionists, the Socialist Labor party, and
Democrats. tne Social Democratic party also put tickets in the
field. That of the Social Democrats was headed
by Eugene V. Deb§, leader of the railroad strikers in 1896.
A Socialist LaSor Party had nominated candidates in 1892
and 1896, but many of its members now joined the Social
Democrats; others nominated candidates of their own and
have had a presidential ticket in every campaign since, but
have never polled a large vote.

During the campaign the Democrats tried to persuade the
people that the Republican policy in the Philippines would
result in the destruction of liberty at home. Many Repub-
licans were, it is true, dissatisfied with our course
Campaign. *n ^e islands; but the suppression of the political
rights of Southern negroes by Democrats did not
harmonize well with their enthusiasm for Filipino independence,
while the nomination of Bryan and the continued demand for
free silver repelled many voters. On all questions the Repub-
licans refused to accept the defensive, and as regards the
Philippines they asserted that Democratic agitation of the sub-
ject encouraged the insurgents to persist in their "rebellion,"
and resulted in the death of many American soldiers.

As usual, Bryan swept through many States, speaking to
immense audiences, but he met an equally determined cam-
"The Full Paigner in Roosevelt, who aroused great enthusiasm
Dinner wherever he went. Senator Hanna managed the

Pail "

Republican campaign with skill, and by hoisting on
high "the full dinner pail" as the emblem of Republican pros-
perity, he WoTT Wa'fty labor votes.

The result proved even more decisive than that of 1896.
McKinley carried nearly every Northern and Western State,

266 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

and also Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, with a total
. of 292 electoral votes to 155 for Bryan; the ppp-

Republican ular vote stood 7,219,525 for McKinley, and 6,358,-

737 for Bryan. The Populist vote was reduced to
50,599, being exceeded by that of the Prohibitionists, with
209,157, and the Social Democrats with 94,864.

Meanwhile the Filipino insurgents had continued to carry
on guerilla warfare. To meet these tactics the American com-
manders found it necessary to divide their forces into several

hundred detachments to hold villages and other
Warfare posts, and the insurgents found it comparatively
Philippines easy to surround and massacre weak detachments,

though usually only after heavy losses to them-
selves. When hotly pursued, they would frequently hide their
weapons and, mingling with the population of a village, com-
port themselves as smiling "amigos," or friends. From May
5, 1900, to June 30, 1901, a period of fourteen months, 1,026
"contacts" occurred between the hostile forces, in which over
700 Americans and about 5,000 insurgents were killed or
wounded.

For a time the insurgents were buoyed up by the hope that
the Democrats would win the presidential election. The rank
and file were told of the Democratic platform pronouncement

regarding the Philippines, and insurgent agents in

Canada even wrote home that they had established

confidential relations with Bryan. No tale of the
alleged course of events in the United States was too wild to
be believed. The Republican victory proved a bitter disap-
pointment to the insurgents, and thereafter their cause de-
clined.

In March, 1901, Brigadier-General Frederick Funston, the
enterprising Kansan whom we have already met with the Cuban
Funston insurgents, managed to penetrate, with a few Ameri-
Captures cans and a party of Macabebe scouts, into the

wilderness of northern Luzon, and, by a clever
stratagem, captured Aguinaldo and some of his chief officers.
The insurgent leader was taken to Manila, was well treated,

"IMPERIALISM" 267

and soon issued a proclamation to his followers advising them
to give up the struggle.

Sporadic resistance continued for many months, however,
and many cruel deeds were done on both sides. Even before
Aguinaldo's surrender, American troops, exasperated by in-
surgent treachery and by the frightful cruelties in-
Warfare. flicted upon captive comrades, resorted in some
cases to what was known as the "water cure" and
other modes of torture, in order to obtain information from pris-
oners. Such methods were happily not general, but their
occasional use persisted until the end of the insurrection. Fur-
thermore, the Americans, especially in Batangas, imitated Span-
ish "reconcentration" methods, but treated the people in such
camps humanely. One brigadier-general, popularly known as
"Hell Roaring Jake Smith," ordered his men to make the
island of Samar "a howling wilderness. . . . Kill everything
over ten." For issuing this order, and for having been indi-
rectly responsible for the shooting of prisoners without trial,
he was convicted by a court martial and was placed on the re-
tired list by the President.

Gradually the insurgents recognized the inevitable and
bowed to it, but it was not until July 4, 1902, that
Restored. President Roosevelt officially declared the islands
pacified. Even afterward there were sporadic out-
breaks, especially among the warlike Mohammedan Moros and
other "non-Christian tribes."

On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed a com-
mission of five persons, including President Jacob G. Schurman
of Cornell University, Rear-Admiral Dewey, and Professor
First Dean C. Worcester, to investigate conditions in

Philippine the Philippines and assist in pacifying the islands.

Commission. _. .... , . , _...

The commission issued a proclamation to the Fili-
pinos and held conferences with insurgent agents, but their
peace efforts proved only partly successful. In regard to the
people of the islands they reported that "lack of education and
political experience, combined with their racial and linguistic
diversities, disqualify them, in spite of their mental gifts and

268 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

domestic virtues, to undertake the task of governing the archi-
pelago at the present time."

In April, 1900, the President appointed a new commission,
consisting of Judge William H. Taft, Dean C. Worcester, Luke
E. Wright, Henry C. Ide, and Professor Bernard Moses, to or-
„ , ganize a civil government for the Philippines. The

Philippine instructions for the guidance of the commission were
drawn up by Secretary of War Root, whose depart-
ment supervised Philippine affairs. All the commissioners
were men of ability and good intentions, and they were able to
make real progress. They were also all men of large size
physically, their average weight being 227 pounds. As they
did much travelling about the islands, their great avoirdupois
often proved trying during the hot season, but the Filipinos,
who are a tiny people physically, considered them "an im-
posing spectacle."

On July 4, 1901, the military regime in the islands was brought
to an end, and Judge Taft was inaugurated civil governor.
Two months later three Filipino members were added to the
commission, and native judges and other public
Becomes officials were also appointed. As rapidly as mili-
Govemor ^^ conditions would permit, local civil govern-
ments were established, and a great scheme of public
education was formulated and carried out. Hundreds of
American young men and women were induced to go to the
Philippines and teach the Filipino children, while the normal
An school already existing at Manila was greatly ex-

Educational panded, and many native teachers were trained
there. It was an educational crusade the like of
which the world had never before seen, and, though some of
the results were disappointing, the effort, as a whole, proved
a great success.

Strange as it may seem, the teachers accomplished much
good by introducing outdoor sports. Hitherto the Filipinos
had had practically no athletic games, but were fond of cock-
fighting, while gambling was their "besetting sin." The effort
to introduce such games as baseball had some amusing results.

"IMPERIALISM" 269

For example, Moro men quickly grew eager to bat, but insisted
for a time that the vigorous work of base-running ought to be
-a . c done by their servants ! Real enthusiasm for the

.hfiect of •

Outdoor new sports soon spread through the islands. The
resultant physical development of the partici-
pants has been remarkable, cock-fighting is less popular than
formerly, and a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play, hitherto
lacking, has sprung into existence. Villages which in 1898
habitually indulged in head-hunting forays against each other
now engage in friendly "tugs of war" and games of baseball.
"It is indeed a startling sight," says Dean C. Worcester, in
his book The Philippines, Past and Present, "to see two
opposing teams of youthful savages in Bukidnon or Bontoc
'playing the game,' with obvious full knowledge of its refine-
ments, while their ordinarily silent and reserved parents ' root '
with unbridled enthusiasm!"

Opponents of the retention of the Philippines put forward as
one of their main arguments the contention that our system of
government was not suited to the government of distant de-
pendencies inhabited by "inferior peoples." They
Constitution asserted that "the Constitution follows the flag"
Fl°ag°?Wthe and ar8ued that its provisions safeguarding indi-
vidual rights — such as freedom of speech, trial by
jury, and habeas corpus — would hopelessly hamper colonial ad-
ministrators. But the expansionists declared that the United
States had always been a colonial power, that it had repeatedly
acquired new possessions, that it had governed the Indians as
subject peoples. They denied that the Constitution extends
of its own force (ex proprio vigore) to new territory, and they
pointed to a long series of acts of Congress expressly extending
the Constitution and statutes to recently acquired possessions.
In support of their view they also quoted the constitutional
clause which provides that "Congress shall have power to dis-
pose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting
the territory or other property belonging to the United States";
they contended that this clause was broad enough to meet all
emergencies.

270 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

In deciding what are known as the " Insular Cases" the
Supreme Court, though badly divided in opinion, in effect held
(May, 1901) that the Constitution does not extend ex proprio
The vigore to new possessions. The federal govern-

"Insular ment was, therefore, left unhampered in its work
of governing the Philippines and Porto Rico. The
court also held that the United States could impose tariff duties
on goods coming from the islands.

One of the main causes of the Filipino revolt against Spanish
rule was the enormous political and economic power wielded
by the friars, who owned much of the best land and controlled
Th Fr' ^e l°cal government. The natives hated the friars
Land so bitterly that they tortured and. even murdered

some of them, and drove out the rest. After the
American occupation the religious orders continued to lay claim
to their lands, but the natives generally refused to pay rent.
It was decided that the claims should be extinguished by pur-
chase, and Governor Taft visited Rome in person to negotiate
the sale with the papal authorities. In 1903 the purchase was
consummated, the price agreed upon being $7,239,000 for 410,-
ooo acres. Religious and agrarian questions continued, how-
ever, to be sources of trouble in the Philippines.

By act of July i, 1902, Congress declared the inhabitants of

the archipelago to be "citizens of the Philippine Islands, and

as such entitled to the protection of the United States." It

extended to them most of the constitutional guar-

Govermnent antees for the protection of life, liberty, and prop-

erty, but withheld trial by jury. It also provided
for the creation of a legislature to be composed of
the commission and an elective assembly. Certain conditions
must, however, first be fulfilled; and, as a large part of the pop-
ulation was illiterate, some being, in fact, savages, educational
and property qualifications were imposed for the suffrage, and
it was found that only about one-tenth of the adult males could
qualify. Congress also retained the right to veto all insular
legislation, and provided that appeals might be taken from the
Philippine supreme court to the Supreme Court of the United
States.

"IMPERIALISM" 271

The necessary conditions having been complied with, a gen-
eral election was held in the islands on July 30, 1907. The
Nationalist, or independence, party won the largest number of
First seats in the assembly. The first session met on

Legislature the 1 6th of the following October. Neither this
assembly nor any later one was notable for business
sense, and all refused to pass bills proposed by the commission
for stamping out slavery and peonage, the last of which, in par-
ticular, still exists in the islands.

Some Republicans put forward the theory that when the
people of the Philippines had been sufficiently educated to gov-
ern themselves they should be given their independence, but no
definite date was ever fixed by Republicans for the
Question of relinquishment of American control. The usual
dence*11 assumption was that a long time would necessarily
elapse before the thing could safely be done. The
Democrats, on the other hand, repeatedly declared in favor of
early independence for the archipelago. Their platform of 1912
said: "We favor an immediate declaration of the nation's pur-
pose to recognize the independence of the Philippine Islands as
soon as a stable government can be established, such inde-
pendence to be guaranteed by us until the neutrality of the
islands can be secured by treaty with other powers."

When the Democratic party came into power, however, it
proved less radical in deed than in word. In his first annual
message to Congress (December 2, 1913) President Wilson con-
President ceded that our duty toward the Philippines is a
Wilson's "difficult and debatable matter. . . . We must
hold steadily in view their ultimate independence,
and we must move toward the time of that independence as
steadily as the way can be cleared and the foundations thought-
fully and permanently laid. . . . Step by step we should ex-
tend and perfect the system of self-government in the Islands,
making test of them and modifying them as experience discloses
their successes and their failures."

For three years the Senate and House were unable to agree
upon a Philippine policy. Early in 1916 the Senate added to
a bill already passed by the House an amendment providing

272 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

that the islands should be given complete independence within

two, or at the discretion of the President, four years. But

the House rejected the amendment, and the two

Promise. * * bodies ultimately agreed (August, 1916) upon a

measure that merely provided that independence

should be conceded "as soon as stable government can be

established" — which was much more indefinite.

President Wilson had already given the Filipinos a majority
of the Philippine Commission, which formed the upper house of
the insular legislature, and had otherwise extended the partici-
pation of natives in their government. The new
Extension act substituted a senate for the commission, and
Government twenty-four of the twenty-six seats in it were made
elective. The educational qualification for voting,
which had been limited to males who spoke, read, and wrote
English or Spanish, was broadened to include males who spoke
and wrote a native dialect; the total number of voters was
thereby increased from about 225,000 to over 800,000. The
post of governor-general was retained, and to him was given
an independent veto power and also large powers of appoint-
ment. The governor-general, the justices of the supreme
court, and certain other officials were to be appointed by the
President.

It is greatly to the credit of the United States that the gov-
ernment of the Philippines has mainly been conducted in the
interest of the native inhabitants, and that ruthless exploita-
tion of the islands by outside capital has been pre-
Poiicy!Se vented. For some years our tariff policy toward
the Philippines was narrow and grasping, but a
more generous policy has since been adopted. Most of the
natives have been convinced that American intentions are
beneficent, but many are not content to be wards; they prefer
to be free from all tutelage, and to manage their own affairs.
It is, however, exceedingly doubtful whether they could main-
tain a stable government. Recent world events, in Mexico and
elsewhere, have undoubtedly tended to increase the number of
Americans who believe that a long interval must elapse before

"IMPERIALISM" 273

it will be safe to withdraw from the islands and leave the
inhabitants to their own devices.

For a time expansionist orators were fond of drawing gor-
geous pictures of the great wealth that possession of the islands
would bring to the United States. But the dream that bearing
An "the White Man's burden" would prove profitable

Unprofitable has been dissipated. According to official estimates
made by the War Department, the United States
during 1898-1902 expended on the islands about $190,000,000,
including the purchase price. Later expenditures brought this
sum up to fully $300,000,000, and this estimate does not in-
clude the value of lives lost, pensions, and other indirect ex-
penses. In time the insular government came to be nearly
self-sustaining, except for the cost of defense, which amounted
in peace times to from $10,000,000 to $14,000,000 yearly.
Trade with the islands has increased considerably, but the
profits thereon have been a bagatelle compared with the great
sums expended. At present little is said about the economic
value of the islands to the United States, and the main argu-
ments of those favoring retention centre around the alleged in-
capacity of the natives for self-government.

At the time the Americans entered the Philippines, European
powers were engaged in grabbing Chinese territory, marking out
"spheres of influence" for themselves and extorting conces-
Attempt to si°ns f°r mines, railways, and commercial privileges.
Partition The United States did not participate in this un-
seemly scramble, but the perilous state of the Celes-
tial Kingdom was undoubtedly a factor in causing President
McKinley to decide to retain the Philippines, for he believed
they would serve as a base from which we could exercise an
important influence on Oriental affairs.

The United States was anxious to preserve the territorial
Ha 's "Open urtegrity of China, and also to safeguard American
Door" commercial interests in the endangered empire. On

September 6, 1899, Secretary of State Hay des-
patched notes to Great Britain, Russia, and Germany, asking
them formally to declare that they would respect existing treaty

274 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ports, and would not discriminate against other foreigners —
in short, that they would not interfere with what came to be
called the principle of the "open door" in China. Great
Britain acceded to the request; the other two powers pretended
to be in accord with the principle, but avoided committing
themselves formally. Hay adroitly announced, however, that
he regarded their acceptance as "final and definitive." Subse-
quently he sent notes to France, Italy, and Japan.

For about a decade the principle of the "open door" was

reasonably well observed, but in the presidencies of Taft and

Wilson American influence in Chinese affairs waned,

Waning

American and there were encroachments by Russia and Japan.
During the Great War Japan was permitted to gain
a paramount position in China, but the exact extent of her
control is not yet fully disclosed.

Soon after Secretary Hay succeeded in establishing the prin-
ciple of the "open door," Chinese resentment over the exploita-
tion of their country culminated in what was known as the
"Boxer" movement. The Boxers — more literally
the I H° Chuan, or "Righteous Harmony Fists"
— maltreated and murdered native Christians, mis-
sionaries, and other foreigners in many parts of China. Both
the Empress Dowager and Prince Tuan, commander-in-chief
of the army, sympathized with the anti-foreign movement, no
real effort was made to put down the disorders, and the Boxers
were joined by many of the imperial troops. To safeguard the
foreign legations at Peking, some of the powers sent reinforce-
ments to the guards stationed in the legations, and early in
June, 1900, an international force of sailors and marines, includ-
ing some Americans, marched toward the capital, but were
held back by immense masses of Boxers and troops. On June
20 the German ambassador, Baron von Ketteler,- was murdered
in the street by a Chinese soldier in uniform. The whole for-
eign colony, including many women and children, would prob-
ably have been murdered had they not taken refuge within the
compound of the British legation. There for two whole months
they heroically held at bay an immense mob of Chinese.

"IMPERIALISM" 275

While an international relief force was being gathered at
Tientsin, seemingly authentic news reached the outside world
that the Boxers had captured the legation and massacred or

captured all the defenders. But Secretary Hay, by
to Peking0, shrewd management, succeeded in getting a cipher

despatch from Conger, the American minister,
through Wu, the Chinese minister at Washington. The des-
patch stated that the legation still held out, but that "Quick
relief only can prevent general massacre." Only about 20,000
men, including 2,500 Americans under Brigadier-General Adna
R. Chaffee, were ready, but these marched from Tientsin and
battled their way desperately to Peking, which they captured
in time to save the beleaguered little band from annihilation.

In punitive expeditions against the Boxers some of the allied
troops, especially the Germans and Russians, behaved with
great barbarity toward the Chinese population, and were guilty

of carrying off immense quantities of loot. In
William's sending out soldiers Emperor William instructed
Instructions them to give no quarter and to behave like "Huns,"

to German ... .

Soldiers. so that no Chinese shall ever again dare even to
look at a German askance." The Americans dis-
played greater humanity, though some, including members of
the legation, were guilty of at least purchasing loot. Many
of the Boxers were executed, and an indemnity, amounting to
about $333,000,000, was exacted from the country. In fact,
had it not been for the restraining influence of the United
States, China might have been broken up altogether.
stateYmted ^n course °f time it was discovered that the share
Remits Part to be paid the United States far exceeded the amount
indemnity, of damage done, and in Roosevelt's presidency more
than half, amounting to about $16,000,000, was re-
mitted, and is being used for the education of Chinese youths
in America. This honorable action immensely increased Ameri-
can influence in the Celestial Kingdom.

President McKinley did not live to see the restoration of
peace in the Philippines. In the September following his second
inauguration he visited the Pan-American Exposition in the

276 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

city of Buffalo, and delivered a notable address in which he
paid a tribute to Elaine, "whose mind was ever alert and thought
M K'nl ' ever constant for a larger commerce and a truer
Speech at fraternity of the Republics of the New World."
He seemed also to forecast a modification of the ex-
treme policy of protection. "We must not," he declared, "re-
pose in fancied security that we can forever sell everything and
buy little or nothing. . . . The expansion of our trade and
commerce is the pressing problem. . . . Reciprocity treaties
are in harmony with the spirit of the times; measures of re-
taliation are not."

The next day (September 6) while holding a public reception
in the Temple of Music, he was shot and mortally wounded by
a young Polish anarchist named Leon F. Czolgosz, who was
The later executed for the deed. For several days

President hopes were held out for the President's recovery;

Assassinated. . . , , , , .

then he grew suddenly worse, and on the early
morning of September 14 he died. He was buried in a cemetery
at Canton, his old Ohio home. At the hour that the simple
ceremonial was "proceeding a great hush came over every city
and hamlet in the land. The streets were deserted. The ac-
tivities of 70,000,000 of people ceased. Men and women of
every type and class felt the shadow touch for a moment their
own lives, and they let their sorrow find supreme expression in
the solemnity of a reverent silence. It was very human and it
was very wonderful."

History will not assign to the dead man a place among the
foremost of our statesmen, yet he was a man of abilities, and
in both his public and private life there was much to commend.

He was religious, temperate, kindly, gentle. Though
Character3 not endowed with much originality or an intellect
fn Hktonr °^ tne keenest type, he was shrewd, tactful, and

knew how to profit by advice. He was not a great
orator, yet he always managed to secure a hearing. As a poli-
tician he knew how to hold his ear close to the ground. He was
particularly successful in his dealings with Congress, and this
was due largely to his having been so long a member of the

"IMPERIALISM" 277

House. He was charged with being too complaisant toward
men of great wealth, and interests representing wealth, but in
his behalf it should be said that the dangers of plutocracy were
not so apparent then as later, and it may well be doubted whether
he understood some of the economic tendencies of his time. It
was his good fortune to be President in an epoch-making period,
when the United States^cTefmitely forsook its time-honored
policy of isolation and became a world power, and his place in
history will, therefore, be larger than that of some abler men.

CHAPTER XVI
"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL

ON the afternoon of September 13 Vice-President Roosevelt
climbed Mount Tahawus, in the heart of the Adirondacks, and
in the descent had reached a little lake not far from the summit,
Roosevelt when he was met by a guide bearing a telegram, to
Takes the the effect that McKinley was much worse, and that
it would be well to hurry to Buffalo. In the night
he made a forty-mile drive over rough mountain roads, and on
reaching the railway at dawn next morning learned that the
President was dead. A special train carried him swiftly to
Buffalo, and there, in a private house and in the presence of
several members of the cabinet, he took the oath as twenty-fifth
President of the United States. He at once announced that he
would continue McKinley's policies unbroken, and he insisted
upon each member of the cabinet remaining in office. Senator
Hanna voluntarily promised his powerful political support,
but was careful to state that he would not commit himself to
Roosevelt as a candidate in 1904. As Roosevelt wrote in after
years, "His ideals were in many ways not my ideals, and there
were points where both by temperament and by conviction we
were far apart. Before this time he had always been unfriendly
to me; and I do not think he ever grew to like me, at any rate
not until the very end of his life."

The new President was not yet forty-three, and was the
youngest man who had attained that exalted office. Few men,
however, ever came to the position so well equipped to shoulder
A its responsibilities. He was born in New York

Remarkable City, and on the paternal side was descended from
a long line of Knickerbocker ancestors. His mother
was a Bulloch of Georgia; one of her brothers, as Confederate
naval agent in England, had arranged for the building of the
Alabama, and another brother had fired the last shot from that

278

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 279

famous cruiser when she was sunk by the Kearsarge. As a boy,
Roosevelt was sickly and delicate; it was only by careful and
persistent exercise that he managed to grow up a sturdy, robust
man. A Harvard graduate, a political reformer, a historian
of distinction, naval administrator, rancher, big-game hunter,
faunal naturalist, and Rough Rider, his interests were world-
wide; of all the Presidents, he was the most versatile, the near-
est approach to him being Thomas Jefferson. In temperament,
however, he more nearly resembled Jackson than Jefferson, and
had all of Old Hickory's restless energy, combativeness, frank-
ness, ability to lead, and skill in winning popular applause,
combined with far greater educational advantages, culture, and
breadth of view. Some critics said that he acted too impul-
sively, but, in reality, he worked and thought more rapidly than
most men, and rarely, if ever, decided any really important
question without first having made a careful investigation and
formed a well-reasoned decision. Not infrequently during his
presidency opponents pounced upon a supposed mistake only
to find themselves involved in a maze of circumstances which
justified his course. His capacity for work was, in fact, truly
prodigious. His desk was always kept clear of business, so
that he had time for the long look ahead. In part, this was due
to his abounding vitality, which enabled him to meet the de-
mands of an office whose duties had become so exacting that
only a physically strong man was capable of filling it. All in
all, no cannier or firmer hand ever held the helm of the ship
of state.

In his earlier career Roosevelt had actively promoted the

cause of civil service reform, and he continued to uphold the

principle as President. In most cases he permitted senators to

name men for offices of a routine kind, but would

His Faculty ,. .. , , ,

for Selecting himself select men for the more important posts;

m eitner case he insisted that the appointees should
be capable and honest. Of course, some mistakes
were made, but Roosevelt had an unusual faculty for selecting
efficient and devoted public servants, and instilling into them
an enthusiastic esprit de corps.

28o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

There were in the South comparatively few white Repub-
licans, and where honest and capable men of that
toward party could not be found the President usually

Southern appointed Democrats. This policy pleased Southern

Appoint- VT j r • , c

ments. white men and friends of good government every-

where, but the good feeling caused thereby was dis-
sipated by what most Northerners considered an unimportant
episode.

At this time the most prominent American negro was Booker
T. Washington. Born a slave, Washington had managed to
work his way through Hampton Institute, and subsequently
The Booker f°unded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He
Washington made this a wonderful school, at which thousands
of colored boys and girls not only acquired book-
learning but practical training that fitted them to earn a liveli-
hood. He constantly preached to his race the much-needed
doctrines of thrift, sobriety, and labor. It was his view that
the negro should not be too insistent upon his rights until he
was fitted to exercise them. Professor Washington was one of
the most eloquent speakers in the country, and had charmed
multitudes by his humor, his homely common sense, his appeal
to universal brotherhood. His books, especially his autobi-
ographical Up from Slavery, were read by millions. His influ-
ence for good was so great that a prominent Southern historian
had stated that, with the exception of Robert E. Lee, he was
the greatest man born in the South in a hundred years. Soon
after Roosevelt became President, Washington came to the
White House on business, and at the end of the interview ac-
cepted an invitation to dinner. When the news spread through
the South that the President had entertained a member of the
"inferior race" at his table there was a great outburst of anger;
for many Southerners saw in the episode an attempt to prac-
tise "social equality," and some considered it a deliberate af-
front to their section.

Democratic politicians made much of the matter, and also
criticised the President for his policy with regard to negro
office-holders. There were comparatively few such officials,

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 281

and most of these were in localities where the negro population
outnumbered the whites. The most discussed cases were those
of a negro collector of the port of Charleston, and
Objections °^ a ne8ro postmistress at Indianola, Mississippi,
to Negro The former was appointed by Roosevelt; the latter
holders. had been in office for a decade. Both incumbents
/ were efficient public servants; the only objec-
tion was to their color. White residents of Indianola even
threatened the postmistress with mob violence, and, as the
local authorities could not guarantee her protection, the Presi-
dent ordered the delivery of the mail at Indianola suspended.
A fact that added to Northern bewilderment was that the pa-
trons themselves then hired a colored man to carry their mail
from the nearest office, so that they received it from black
hands as before. In reply to objections to the appointment of
negroes to office Roosevelt emphatically declared that he could
not consent to "close the door of hope — the door of oppor-
tunity" to any one because of race or color. Like most sudden
effervescences, Southern wrath soon subsided, and ultimately
Roosevelt had a host of warm admirers in that section.

Roosevelt not only sought to appoint capable men to office
but he insisted on holding incumbents to a high standard of
honesty and efficiency. Early in his presidency he carried out
a searching investigation into corrupt conditions
m tne post-office department, and relentlessly prose-
cuted the offenders. Several of the accused were
convicted and served terms in prison. Some of the men impli-
cated were influential Republicans, and the secretary of the
national committee escaped prosecution only because of a
statute of limitations. The President also broke up a Western
land ring that was engaged in fraudulently obtaining public
lands; a United States senator, a representative, and many
smaller thieves were given penitentiary sentences. Another
senator was prosecuted and convicted for having illegally used
his influence with the post-office department to prevent the
issue of a fraud order against a company of questionable char-
acter. In these, as in numerous other cases, it was made plain

282 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

that even men of great influence could not violate the law with
impunity.

Such prosecutions were viewed with misgivings by some Re-
publican leaders. In later years, in his Autobiography, Roose-
velt wrote that at the time of the post-office investigation,
"Several Senators came to me — Mr. Garfield was

Honesty

Good present on the occasion — and said that they were

glad I was putting a stop to corruption, but they
hoped I would avoid a scandal; that if I would make an ex-
ample of some one man and then let the others quietly resign,
it would avoid a disturbance that might hurt the party. They
were advising me in good faith, and I was as courteous as pos-
sible in my answer, but explained that I would have to act
with the utmost rigor against the offenders, no matter what
the effect on the party, and, moreover, that I did not believe
it would hurt the party. It did not hurt the party. It helped
the party. A favorite war-cry in American political life has
always been, 'Turn the rascals out.' We made it evident that,
as far as we were concerned, this war-cry was pointless; for
we turned our own rascals out."

The greatest problem confronting the country when Roose-
velt came to power was that of the trusts. Hard times during
Cleveland's second administration had brought about a lull
in industrial consolidation, but the return of pros-
Probkm.St perity after McKinley entered office had been fol-
lowed by a new'rush toward the formation of mo-
nopolies, or attempted monopolies. Prior to 1897 only sixty-
three such combinations had been formed; within the next
three years almost three times that number had been organ-
ized. By 1903 the total capitalization of all the trusts amounted
to about $7,000,000,000.

Wherever there was an industry in which it seemed probable
How Trusts tnat even ^e semblance of a monopoly could be built
were up, some promoter would set about forming an

Formed. . . „., . . ....

organization. This was usually done by inducing
some of the great companies engaged in the business to agree
to a consolidation; such companies would put their property

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 283

into the common undertaking and would receive stock in the
trust. Those companies or individuals who refused to enter
the combination would then be subjected to bitter competition,
and would generally be crushed out or reduced to accept terms
dictated by the trusts.

Exaggerated ideas as to possible profits were spread abroad
by the promoters, or "Captains of Finance," as they were
usually called, and nearly every trust formed was greatly over-
capitalized. Comparatively little attention was

Excessive r J

Capitalize- paid to the actual investment in an industry.

Good-will, the savings of combination, the profits
accruing from tariff protection, even those due to the evasion
of the laws against restraint of trade — these and other equally
intangible assets were capitalized, along with the actual invest-
ment. And such was the fever for speculation that the gul-
lible public bought these watered securities with the avidity
of hungry gudgeons. Thus the promoters who floated the
schemes not only made untold millions, but the people actually
supplied money for their own undoing.

The bigness of the sums involved in these vast transactions,
and the rapidity with which the promoters piled up great for-
tunes, "dazzled men's minds, so that they became drunk with

the passion of money-getting, and blind to all other
Finance. standards and ideals. They thought and spoke in

millions; and the Napoleons of Wall Street became,
in a sense, heroes and demigods. Men and women and even
children all over the country drank in thirstily every scrap of
news that was printed in the press about these so-called 'cap-
tains of industry,' their successful 'deals,' the off-hand way in
which they converted slips of worthless paper into guarantees
of more than princely wealth, and all the details concerning
their daily lives, their personal peculiarities, their virtues and
their vices. To the imagination of millions of Americans, the
financial centres of the country seemed to 'be spouting streams
of gold into which any one might dip at will; and every Wall
Street gutter figured as a new Pactolus."*

* Peck, Twenty Years of the Republic, page 634.

284 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The greatest trust of all was formed in the steel industry.
That industry had been striding ahead with incredible rapidity.
New processes, new methods, efficient business organization
had worked miracles, not only in cheapening the cost
industry. of production, but also in multiplying the output.
For example, by 1901 ore was being unloaded from
the ore boats at a cost of seven cents per ton, a sum that was
soon after lowered to two cents; the Carnegie Steel Company
was carrying ore from Lake Erie to its mills near Pittsburgh at
the rate of one mill per ton mile; in everything machinery ruled
supreme, and in the most up-to-date establishments the ore was
smelted at one end and the resultant mineral was never allowed
to cool until it came out a finished steel product at the other
end.

Thanks to favorable natural conditions, business ability, the
protective tariff, and other factors, the iron and steel business
was generally immensely profitable, yet at times there was
Formation ruinous competition which diminished or destroyed
of the steel profits and disorganized industry. In 1901 such a
war impended between the great Carnegie Steel
Company and its rivals. Through the management of the
astute J. Pierpont Morgan, of New York, who in those days
figured as a sort of modern Midas, at whose touch everything
turned to gold, a combination known as the United States Steel
Corporation was formed that included the Carnegie Company
and ten others of the leading steel and iron concerns, controlling
about two-thirds of the total steel output of the country.

Each of these eleven concerns was already a combination of
smaller companies, representing a total of more than two hun-
dred in all. The tangible value of the investment in the plants
absorbed by the trust was estimated by the bureau
°f corporations at $682,000,000, but their combined
stock-and-bond capitalization amounted to $911,-
700,000. It was assumed that the practical elimination of com-
petition would make the steel-and-iron business more than ever
profitable, and the promoters of the new trust soon issued securi-
ties amounting to the enormous sum of $1,404,000,000. The

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 285

common stock was nothing but "water," that is, it had no real
present value but merely value in prospect, yet immense blocks
of it were sold; it soon went beyond 50, and a day was to come
when it rose above par.

A great number of Americans viewed the rush to consolida-
tion with grave misgivings. Thousands were ruined by the
ruthless competition of the trusts; millions felt the pinch of
^ monopoly prices. It had been our proud boast

Dangers of that "America" was synonymous with "oppor-

Plutocracy

tunity," but the rapid concentration of the resources
of the country in a few hands seemed likely to deprive future
generations of the chance of obtaining a fair start in life. It
was notorious that Machiavellian methods pervaded "Big
Business" and that the fortunes of some of the great magnates
had been built up by reprehensible practices. It was even be-
lieved by many that the federal and State governments were
sometimes dominated by a plutocracy of special privilege.

The problem was complicated by the fact that many of the
trusts were more or less intimately connected by cross direc-
torates, interlocking directorates, and control of banks and
trust companies. A community of interest was
&"& created that tended to destroy competition
throughout its range, and to render the position of
a trust almost impregnable. Thus John D. Rockefeller, the
dominant figure in the Standard Oil Trust, was not content to
deal merely in oil, but obtained control of the great Amal-
gamated Copper Company, and practical control of more than
half a hundred banks, besides engaging in gas and various other
industries. Much the same situation obtained regarding J. P.
Morgan and other trust magnates. In 1904 John Moody, a
recognized authority on financial matters, wrote of the Rocke-
feller and Morgan interests in his The Truth about the Trusts:

Around these two groups, or what must ultimately become one
greater group, all other smaller groups of capitalists congregate.
They are all allied and intertwined by their various mutual inter-
ests. For instance, the Pennsylvania Railroad interests are on
the one hand allied with the Vanderbilts, and on the other

286 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

with the Rockefellers. The Vanderbilts are closely allied with
the Morgan group, and both the Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt
T, interests have recently become the dominating factors

Rockefeller in the Reading system, a former Morgan road, and
and Morgan the most important part of the anthracite coal com-
bine which has been dominated by the Morgan people.
. . . Viewed as a whole, we find the dominating influences in the
trusts to be made up of an intricate network of large and small
capitalists, many allied to another by ties of more or less impor-
tance, but all being appendages to or parts of the greater groups
which are themselves dependent on and allied with the two mam-
moth, or Rockefeller and Morgan, groups. These two mammoth
groups jointly . . . constitute the heart of the business and com-
mercial life of the nation.

Men came to call this great financial octopus,
System." ^tn *ts wide-reaching tentacles, "The System,"

and it was hated and feared by millions.
The trusts, however, did not lack defenders. Such organiza-
tions were, it was alleged, a natural outgrowth of the Industrial
Revolution and of modern business conditions. Great emphasis

was laid upon the increased efficiency of production
thefTnists0f un<^er a trust- A trust had need of only one set of
Emphasize highly paid executive officers instead of many; it
Their Greater %7 Y7. . , i_ i

Efficiency. could obtain raw materials more cheaply, make
greater use of by-products, obtain markets with less
advertising and fewer travelling men, and in a great variety of
ways could eliminate the many "wastes of competition." The
claim was also advanced that, owing to efficiency of production
under the trust system, the general public would share some of
the benefits in decreased prices.

Many enemies of the trusts denied the validity of such argu-
ments; more discriminating critics admitted the force of some
of them, but doubted whether the good aspects of combination
outweighed the bad. For example, they pointed
o/Enemies to the flagrant overcapitalization of most of the
Trusts trusts as sufficient evidence of the fact that captains

of finance did not form combinations from altruistic
motives. It was evident, they alleged, that the magnates ex-
pected to pay dividends on "watered stock" by exacting great

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 287

sums from consumers, and had no intention of allowing the gen-
eral public to reap any of the much-vaunted benefits resulting
from combination. In fact, it frequently happened that soon
after a product "went into a trust" the price was raised rather
than lowered.

Many persons contended that the trusts were an unnatural

development resulting from artificial advantages such as the

protective tariff; in their opinion the trusts ought to be broken

up by rigorous legislation, and the old era of com-

a Natural5 S petition restored. Others thought the trusts in the

ment?OP~ main a natural development, but differed as to how

they ought to be dealt with. The trust magnates,

of course, wished to be left unfettered and unchecked. Other

thinkers contended for government control. The Socialists

raised the cry that the nation should own the trusts.

The Sherman Antitrust Law of 1890 was a halting effort at
repressing the trusts altogether. It had doubtless served to
render combinations somewhat more moderate in their aggres-
sions, but most of the cases begun under it had had
Antitrust™*" a disappointing ending, and it seemed hardly more
Law Prac- than a dead letter. The McKinley administration
Deacnfetter. made no effort to enforce the law; McKinley himself
seems to have felt some uneasiness over the progress
of consolidation, but his mentor, Hanna, viewed it with com-
placency. Trust magnates contributed heavily to the Repub-
lican campaign fund in 1900, and, in the words of Herbert Croly,
Hanna's biographer, "When Mr. McKinley was re-elected, big
business undoubtedly considered that it had received a license
to do very much as it pleased." In fact, the great captains of
finance were rapidly coming to feel that they formed a priv-
ileged class, above and beyond the reach of restraint from any
source.

They were destined to a rude disillusionment. Many Ameri-
cans were coming to believe that big business was rotten at the
core, and that something must be done in the interest of the
common man. The laissez-faire policy (let business alone),
crowned a century before by Adam Smith, was still powerful,

288 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

but a revolt was brewing against the principle. For many gen-
erations the Anglo-Saxon race had been plodding along the road
A Battle for to P°htical equality, and in theory had reached that
Equality of goal. But men were beginning to see that political
m y' equality is a poor thing unless accompanied by
something approaching equality of economic opportunity.
For the new battle men now began to gird themselves. Most
demanded not equal wealth but a fair start.

President Roosevelt held the view that the trusts were in a

measure a natural development that must be controlled in the

public interest, and he drew a distinction between business done

on a large scale, which he considered legitimate,

Roosevelt's . '

Distinction and monopolistic combinations, which he sought to
Larg^scale destroy. In his first message to Congress (Decem-
Business and ber ^ 1901) he discussed railroad and trust questions,
conceded that industrial concentration could not be
prevented, and expressed the view that if properly regulated it
was highly desirable. State control, he asserted, was no longer
adequate, and federal control must be increased. Therefore, he
He Favors urged federal control over all combinations engaged
Federal in interstate trade, the elimination of overcapitali-
zation, railway rebates, and other abuses. Congress
paid little heed at first to his recommendations. Their recep-
tion in the Senate, some of whose members were rather the paid
attorneys of powerful financial interests than representatives
of the States they were supposed to serve, proved particularly
cold. The President determined to arouse public opinion to
his support, and in the summer and autumn of 1902, in speeches
made in New England and the Middle West, he vigorously pro-
pounded his views regarding the trusts. In a speech at Cin-
cinnati (September 20, 1902) he said:

In dealing with the big corporations which we call Trusts, we
All Must must resolutely purpose to proceed by evolution and
Obey the not by revolution. . . . The evils attendant upon
Law- overcapitalization alone are in my judgment sufficient

to warrant a far closer supervision and control than now exists over
the great corporations. . . . We do not wish to destroy corpo-

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 289

rations; but we do wish to make them subserve the public
good. All individuals, rich or poor, private or corporate, must
be held to the law of the land . . . and the Government will hold
them to a rigid obedience. The biggest corporation, like the
humblest private citizen, must be held to strict compliance with
the will of the people as expressed in the fundamental law. The
rich man who does not see this is indeed short-sighted. When we
make him obey the law, we insure for him the absolute protection
of the law.

There was nothing revolutionary in such utterances, but

they aroused apprehension and anger in the ininds of trust

magnates. The President had already taken action which

showed that he did not mean to stop with words.

The

Northern In the preceding March he had instructed his at-

torney-general, Philander C. Knox, to bring suit
under the Sherman Antitrust Act to dissolve the
Northern Securities Company, a so-called "holding company,"
organized in hospitable New Jersey by the Hill and Morgan
interests for the purpose of "merging" the Great Northern,
Northern Pacific, and Burlington railways, and eliminating
competition. This company would have dominated the trans-
portation of the Northwest, and it might have been the begin-
ning of a movement to consolidate all the railways of the coun-
try. The governors of some of the Northwestern States had
protested, started suits in the local courts, and appealed to
the President for aid. In the so-called Knight case, decided
in 1895, the Supreme Court had taken so narrow a view of the
Sherman Act that most lawyers believed that the federal suit
against the Northern Securities Company would fail. Attorney-
General Knox thought otherwise. He had himself been a great
corporation lawyer, and he knew all the weak joints in the
trusts' armor. Under his capable management of the case the
government won a decision in a federal circuit court (April 9,
1903), and the decision was sustained by the Federal Supreme
Court (March 14, 1004). The company was forced to dissolve.
Meanwhile the East had received an object-lesson in the evils
of unrestrained monopoly. Most of the anthracite coal mines
of Pennsylvania were in the hands of a combine that controlled

29o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

both the mines and the coal-carrying railroads. The magnates
were exceedingly grasping in their dealings with both their

employees and consumers. The employees were not
Anthracite only poorly paid but were often compelled to buy
Coal strike, their supplies at the company's stores, to live in the

company's houses, even to employ the company's
physicians. In the middle of May, 1902, after vainly asking
for better terms, the men struck for higher wages, shorter hours,
recognition of their union, the United Mine Workers of America,
and abolition of the "pluck-me stores" and other grievances.
The strikers numbered about 150,000, and under the capable
leadership of John Mitchell, head of the United Mine Workers,
they succeeded in practically paralyzing the anthracite indus-
try. Largely through the influence of Mitchell, the strikers in*
dulged in comparatively little violence, and, as they had real
grievances, they won the sympathy of a large part of the gen-
eral public.

The strike continued during the summer and early fall, and
as cold weather came on a wide-spread coal famine developed.
In the great cities of the East prices soared; often coal could

not be obtained at any price. All classes suffered,
SuffersUbllC but the poor most of all. Even hospitals sometimes

had to go without fire. The situation created great
alarm, and a wide-spread demand arose that the strike must
be settled at any cost. The strikers expressed a willingness to
arbitrate the differences, but the coal barons arrogantly turned
a deaf ear to any suggestions that they make concessions, and
actually withheld some of the coal mined in the hope that the
suffering for lack of fuel would react against the strikers.

From all sides appeals were sent to President Roosevelt that
he should intervene to stop the strike. Though without definite
constitutional authority, the President considered the situation
An to be so serious that he summoned representatives

Unavailing of both parties to the White House and appealed

to them to settle their differences for the public
good. Mitchell and other representatives of the miners had
already agreed to submit the dispute to a commission which
the President should name, and they renewed the offer; but

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 291

the operators displayed a studied insolence of manner, refused
to talk arbitration or accommodation of any kind, and used
language that was insulting to the miners and offensive to the
President.

The President almost despaired of reaching an agreement.
He formed a secret plan to appoint an investigating committee
to look into the rights of the case, and obtained a promise from

ex-President Cleveland to serve as head of the com-
fecreTpian. mission. He also arranged to send a force of reg-
ulars into the anthracite district and to have their
commander keep order, "dispossess the operators and run the
mines as a receiver," until the commission could report and
some better plan could be put into effect.

Fortunately it did not prove necessary to resort to such a
radical step. Public indignation and an inkling as to what
might follow if they remained obstinate forced the operators to

give way, and at a new conference (October 15)
Settied"k they agreed to accept arbitration. Mining was

speedily resumed, suffering from lack of coal was
soon alleviated, and when the arbitration commission appointed
by the President brought in its award (March 18, 1903), the
terms were generally favorable to the strikers.

The strike thus ended is notable from many points of view:
for its magnitude, the arrogant behavior of the coal barons,
the extraordinary method taken by the President to force a

settlement, recognition of the fact that in the mighty
^Conflict, battles between labor and capital in the present

day there is a third party concerned, namely, the
great general public, whose interests in the last analysis must be
paramount to those of either or to those of both combined.

The problem of industrial peace had become of primary
importance. In the period 1881-1905 there occurred 36,757
strikes and 1,546 lockouts, involving almost 200,000 establish-
The Problem ments an(^ over 9,ooo,ooo employees. The total
of industrial direct and indirect losses resulting therefrom can

only be guessed at, but they probably exceeded the
direct cost of any war in which the United States had then been
engaged. Many of the strikes were peaceable in character, yet

292 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

hardly a month passed in which, in some part of the country,
destruction of property, and beating and murder of "scabs,"
conflicts between rioters and the police or militia, secret assas-
sinations, dynamiting, bomb-throwing, and other manifesta-
tions of lawlessness and violence did not combine to produce a
condition which, if reported from a Spanish-American country,
would be dignified with the name of "revolution." Thinking
men were asking whether such a recurring condition of violence,
with its accompaniments of great economic loss, bloodshed,
starvation of women and little children, should be allowed to
continue forever.

Various solutions had been proposed, and of these arbitra-
tion was the most promising. Many of the States had enacted
laws providing for conciliation and arbitration, and some good

results were accomplished under these laws, but in
Actt i8g&an general the results proved disappointing. In 1898

Congress passed the so-called Erdman Act, but for
some years it remained practically a dead letter. Ultimately
resort was had to it, and in the five years preceding 1913 it was
invoked in forty-eight cases, some of them important. The act
was amended in 1911, and again in 1913. The last-mentioned
amendment established a permanent federal board of concilia-
tion and arbitration, but resort to it remained a matter of
choice. Both capital and labor have generally shown them-
selves hostile to any system of compulsory arbitration, and there
are so many other difficulties involved that most authorities
regard arbitration in labor disputes to be a palliative rather
than a panacea.

President Roosevelt's interference in the coal strike intensi-
fied the dislike which some financial magnates were beginning
to feel toward him. Through newspapers controlled by them,

and through many other agencies, an effort was
^Destroy made to discredit him with the people, and to

inculcate the view that he was a "dangerous man,"
that he had a "lawless mind," that he was "revo-

lutionary," if not "anarchical." All their efforts proved vain.

The President had bitter critics, and not a few enemies, but he

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 293

captured the confidence of the great mass of the people. No
other President since Jackson was so generally applauded. His
vigor, his denunciation of wrong-doing, his fondness for life in
the open, his frankness, and even some of his faults won him
multitudes of friends. It was his proud boast that the doors
of the White House swung as easily to the poor man as to the
plutocrat. Authors, scholars, artists, journalists, laborers,
business men, ranchmen, Rough Riders, and even prize-fighters
were freely admitted to his office, and many were entertained at
his table. Throughout his presidency his remarkable popularity
remained the despair of his enemies.

By 1903 confiding investors in the stocks of some of the
trusts discovered how poorly performance matched promise,
and awoke to the painful discovery that some of the demigods
Trust of finance were no better than vulgar swindlers.

Formation This disillusionment, combined with the attitude
adopted by the administration, brought an end to
the financial frenzy, and stopped the wild rush to consolidation.
Stock exchanges were bloated with "undigested" and "indiges-
tible" securities. Inflated values dropped like the barometer
before a cyclone. Some trusts failed altogether. Even the
preferred stock of United States Steel, which had risen as high
as ioi^i, fell to 49, and the common stock, which had been
quoted as high as 55, dropped to 8^4. The slump in stocks of
this character proved only temporary, however, and in later
years some of them rose to much higher levels.

Almost from the beginning some of the leaders in Congress
of Roosevelt 's own party were either openly or covertly hostile
to him, but on important measures he was usually able to ob-
Roosevelt tain the support of a number of progressively
Democratic minded Democratic senators and representatives.
Support. jn Us Autobiography Roosevelt later paid a high
tribute to Democrats who, like Senator Clark of Arkansas and
Senator Cockrell of Missouri, refused to permit loyalty to party
to interfere with loyalty to the interests of the country.

In 1902 the President secured the passage of the important
Reclamation Act, described in a later chapter; and in De-

294 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

cember, 1903, he managed, against the bitter opposition of the

beet and cane sugar interests and other high protectionists,

to force through favorable reciprocity concessions

Reciprocity. to Cuba. Both these measures received large

Democratic support, and the first was fathered by

a Democrat, namely Francis G. Newlands, a broad-gauge

representative from Nevada.

In the direction of trust control the President also secured
New the creation in 1903 of a Department of Com-

Secommerce merce and Labor, with a bureau of corporations,
and Labor, whose business should be to collect information
concerning combinations engaged in interstate and foreign
trade. In the same year Congress also passed the Elkins Act
TheEikins forbidding railroads granting rebates to favored
Act- shippers, but the measure was less drastic than

the President desired and the needs of the situation demanded.

A number of important international questions engaged the
President's attention in these years. In this field
Combination. ne possessed unsurpassed abilities, and in the per-
son of John Hay he enjoyed the capable assistance
of one of our greatest secretaries of state. Together the two
made a combination rarely equalled in our history.

At this time Venezuela was ruled by a mongrel named Cas-
tro, a Spanish-American dictator of the worst type. Under
him Venezuela fell behind in her financial obligations to the
citizens of many nations, and large claims were also
Venezuelan put forward against her for the alleged seizure or
Question destruction of property during civil wars. In 1901
the governments of Germany, Italy, and Great
Britain took steps to compel Venezuela to make payment to
their citizens. The validity of some of the claims and debts
was doubtful, the right of a nation to exact payment of sums
owed to its citizens was dubious, and for these and other reasons
the government of the United States watched the undertaking
closely. In the initial stages the enterprise resembled the in-
tervention of France, Great Britain, and Spain in Mexico in
the time of our Civil War. Germany was the moving spirit in

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 295

the new combination, and in view of her well-known hunger for
territory, and of the fact that she had recently tried to obtain
naval bases in Lower California, and off the coast of Venezuela,
there seemed to be reason to fear that the Kaiser might aspire
to play in Venezuela some such r61e as that attempted by
Napoleon III in Mexico.

After much diplomatic sparring, Germany, which, in Roose-
velt's words, was "rather feebly backed by England," declared
(December 8, 1901) what was called a "pacific blockade" of
German Venezuelan ports. Secretary Hay repeatedly pro-
Refuses to tested that such a blockade was a contradiction in
terms, and that its enforcement against the rights
of neutral states could not be tolerated. He urged that the
dispute should be referred to arbitration. Italy and Great
Britain expressed a willingness to come to an understanding,
but Germany refused. In December, 1902, Germany and Great
Britain severed all diplomatic relations with Venezuela, and de-
clared a formal blockade. It was certain that the bombard-
ment of Venezuelan ports and the seizure of Venezuelan terri-
tory were imminent.

Neither Roosevelt nor Hay desired to protect Venezuela
from the payment of just debts, but both statesmen understood
German ambitions in South America. Though Germany pro-
fessed that if she seized territory, occupation would
and Ha.elt ^e on^v " temporary," they knew that such posses-
Determine sion might easily become permanent, and they de-
Halt, cided that the time had come to uphold the spirit
of the Monroe Doctrine. Luckily both men under-
stood the arguments that appeal to the Prussian mind; luckily,
also, the United States had at that time a navy that was more
than a match for the one that flew the flag of the Hohenzollerns.
Quietly, and as if merely for "manoeuvres," the President gath-
ered the American fighting fleet in West Indian waters. The
commander of this fleet was Admiral George Dewey. "I was
at Culebra, Puerto Rico, at the time," wrote Dewey many years
later, "in command of a fleet consisting of over fifty ships, in-
cluding every battleship and every torpedo-boat that we had,

296 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

with orders from Washington to hold the fleet in hand and be
ready to move at a moment's notice."

Roosevelt had ascertained that Great Britain "was merely
following Germany's lead in rather half-hearted fashion," and
that she would not back Germany in case of a clash with

the United States. He therefore determined to
Ukhnatum. force the issue with the Kaiser's government. One

day he summoned to the White House Herr von
Holleben, the German ambassador, and informed him that he
could not acquiesce in the seizure of Venezuelan territory, and
that the dispute must be arbitrated. The ambassador replied
that his government would not arbitrate, and reiterated that
Germany had no intention of taking "permanent" possession
of any territory. The President responded that Germany's
" temporary" occupations had a way of becoming "permanent,"
and that he did not intend to have another Kiauchau on the
approach to the Panama Canal. He also informed Herr von
Holleben that unless by noon ten days later Germany had
agreed to arbitrate, he would send Dewey's fleet to Venezuelan
waters to see that the German forces did not take possession of
any territory. The ambassador attempted to argue the ques-
tion, but Roosevelt stated that it was not a matter of argument
but of information, which it would be well for the ambassador
to convey to Berlin.

A week later Von Holleben again had an interview with the
President on various topics, and rose to go without having said
anything about the Venezuelan matter. The President in-
German quired whether he had heard from his government
Accepts regarding arbitration. The reply was that he had

received no word. "In that case," said the Presi-
dent in substance, "it will be useless to wait as long as I in-
tended, and I shall instruct Admiral Dewey to sail a day sooner."
Much perturbed, the diplomat expressed deep apprehension,
and again said that his government would not arbitrate; the
Kaiser had said he would not arbitrate and, of course, would
not recede from his stand. However, less than twenty-four
hours before the ultimatum expired word came from Berlin that

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 297

Germany would accept arbitration. Thereupon President
Roosevelt, who had withheld the real facts from the world,
publicly complimented the Kaiser on his friendship for arbitra-
tion! But, says the biographer of Hay, "the humor of this
was probably relished more in the White House than in the
Palace at Berlin." More than a dozen years elapsed before the
full story was given to the world.

The claims of the citizens of ten powers were submitted to
The the Hague tribunal, and all were scaled down,

Outcome. ^g amount ordered paid to German citizens

being less than a third of what they had demanded.

Having failed to impose his will in America by rattling the
scabbard, the Kaiser resorted to blandishments to win influ-
ence in the United States. He ordered a yacht built in this
German country, and sent his brother, Prince Henry, to
Preparations attend the launching — also " to solidify the German-
American movement in behalf of the Fatherland."
In a great variety of ways — by the gift of a statue of Frederick
the Great, by organizing German- American societies, by ex-
changing professors, even through pacifist propaganda — an
effort was made to insert the pan-German poison into American
veins, for already the great Plot that was to bring disaster to
mankind, and misery and death to millions, was in preparation.

The situation of Venezuela as regards debts and damages
owed to foreigners was a common one among the rebellion-
ridden Latin-American states, particularly those in tropical
regions. Furthermore, some of these states, or

The , . .

Problem of revolutionary parties in those states, were not m-
frequently guilty of grave infractions of international
^aw ^^ called for redress. In a message to Con-
gress (December 3, 1901) at the beginning of the
Venezuelan squabble, President Roosevelt had taken the view
that the coercion of an American State did not violate the Mon-
roe Doctrine, provided that such action did not " take the form
of the acquisition of territory by any non-American power."

Senor Drago, the Argentine minister of foreign affairs, took
a different view of the question, and in a note dated December

298 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

29, 1902, restated in modified form the "Calvo Doctrine,"
named after an Argentine publicist who formulated it. Accord-
The Calvo- m& to ^s Doctrine a government has no right to

Drago insist, even by diplomatic action, that the pecuniary

Doctrine. ... . .

claims of its citizens against another state be paid.
As regards forcible collection of loans by military means, Drago
contended that it "implies territorial occupation to make them
effective, and territorial occupation signifies the suppression or
subordination of the governments of the countries on which it
is imposed." The " Calvo Doctrine," or as it came to be usually
called, the "Drago Doctrine," was indorsed by most of the
Latin- American states, and in part was adopted by the Hague
Conference of 1907. The powers bound themselves not to
employ force for the recovery of contract debts, but the
undertaking was not to be binding in case the debtor state
refused or neglected to reply to an offer of arbitration, or,
having accepted arbitration, failed to accept the award.

Complications arising in 1904-05 in connection with Santo
Domingo led President Roosevelt to evolve a new plan in re-
gard to such questions. Affairs in that "black Republic" were

in a state of chronic disorder. In the words of
Domingo. Roosevelt, in his Autobiography: "There was always

fighting, always plundering; and the successful
graspers for governmental powers were always pawning ports
and custom-houses, or trying to put them up as guarantees
for loans. Of course the foreigners who made loans under such
conditions demanded exorbitant interest, and if they were
Europeans expected their governments to stand by them. So
utter was the disorder that on one occasion when Admiral
Dewey landed to pay a call of ceremony on the president, he
and his party were shot at by revolutionists in crossing the
square, and had to return to the ships, leaving the call
unpaid." There was default in the interest due to foreign
creditors; certain nations — especially France, Belgium, and
Italy — arranged for concerted action; and the United States
was notified that the powers interested intended to occupy
several of the ports in order to collect the customs. President

Greenwich

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 299

Morales appealed to the United States to save his country
from the disaster of foreign occupation.

At this juncture President Roosevelt adopted the view that
the United States could not undertake to protect delinquent
American nations from punishment for the non-performance of

their duties unless she would also undertake to
Obligation, make them perform their duties. In a message to

Congress (December 6, 1904) he said: "Chronic
wrong-doing, or an impotence which results in a general loosen-
ing of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere,
ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and,
in the Western hemisphere, the adherence of the United States
to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however
reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrong-doing or impotence,
to the exercise of an international police power."

In the following February a protocol was arranged with the
existing Santo Domingan Government, whereby the United
States undertook to take charge of the custom-houses, collect

the customs, and turn over 45 per cent to Santo

The U. S. I-* • - , .,. • i • » i

Assumes the Domingo, and put the remainder in a sinking fund
of Sangtoment for the benefit of the creditors. For two years the
United States Senate refused to ratify the treaty,
but the President proceeded under a modus vivendi
to carry the plan into execution. Finally, in February, 1907,
the Senate consented to ratify a revised treaty, which, however,
continued the financial arrangement. Since that time it has
several times been necessary for our sailors and marines to
fight petty battles to preserve order, but, upon the whole, the
arrangement has worked well.

The principle that the United States may exercise "an inter-
national police power," and act as the agent in the
collection of debts from irresponsible American

to the states, has sometimes been called the Roosevelt cor-

Monroe ,, <• i -. •- -r^ • T« r •> •

Doctrine. ollary of the Monroe Doctrine. In view of the in-
creasing importance of our relations with Latin
America, the problem it attempts to solve is likely to attract
much attention in the future.

300 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

During these years, relations with Great Britain became in-
creasingly friendly. A long-outstanding dispute over the
Relations Alaskan boundary was settled (October 20, 1903),
with Great and by consenting to abrogate the Cfeyton-Bulwer
convention of 1850 Great Britain good-naturedly
removed a diplomatic obstacle that stood in the way of our
constructing an isthmian canal.

For centuries men had dreamed of digging through the narrow
isthmus that separates the Atlantic from the Pacific, and open-
ing a highway for ships between the two oceans. The discov-
ery of gold in California and the desirability of a
Of an shorter water route to the new El Dorado first

Canaiian caused the people of the United States to consider
the thought of an isthmian canal seriously. But
the time was not yet come. A Panama railway was, how-
ever, constructed by American capital for use in carrying pas-
sengers and freight from one ocean to the other. The United
States also concluded with Great Britain the Clayton-Bulwer
convention, which contemplated the construction of a canal by
private capital, and pledged each party never to "obtain or
maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship
canal." This convention was later a source of much embar-
rassment to the United States.

The completion in 1869 of the Suez Canal, and the great suc-
cess of that venture, revived interest in the American project.
In 1872 an interoceanic canal commission, created by Con-
De Lesse s Sress> began to survey possible routes, and about the
Seeks New same time Ferdinand de Lesseps, the famous builder
of the Suez Canal, decided to add to his Old World
laurels fresh ones won in the New. De Lesseps and his asso-
ciates considered a number of routes, among them that across
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, that by way of Lake Nicaragua,
and that across the Isthmus of Panama. The last was the
shortest, and it was ultimately chosen. A great company was
formed in France, a concession already granted by Colombia
to a Frenchman named Wyse was taken over, and other prepa-
rations were made to transform a dream into a reality.

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 301

The plan for a canal under French auspices aroused much
antagonism in the United States, for the interference of Napo-
leon III in Mexico had not been forgotten, and the idea that
any canal constructed at Panama must be under
OppTsUion. our control had taken deep root. But in 1880 De
Lesseps came to the United States and did much to
disarm his critics by pointing out that his company was a pri-
vate enterprise, in no sense an affair of the French Government,
and that by subscribing to a majority of the stock Americans
could obtain control. He also managed to obtain considerable
financial support, and even induced a member of Hayes's cab-
inet, namely Richard W. Thompson, to accept the presidency
of an American advisory committee, a circumstance which led
Hayes to ask for Thompson's resignation. In a message to
Congress Hayes himself had declared (March 8, 1880): "The
policy of this country is a canal under American control. The
United States cannot consent to the surrender of this control
to any European power, or to any combination of European
powers." Such a canal "would be the great ocean thorough-
fare between our Atlantic and our Pacific shores, and virtually
a part of the coast-line of the United States."

Early in 1881 the De Lesseps company began work on the
great enterprise. De Lesseps estimated the cost at only
$120,000,000. He even fixed upon 1888 as the year for open-
Failure of m£ ^e cana-l> and issued invitations for the cere-
the French monies! But the natural obstacles at Panama

Company. , „, , . , ,

were far greater than at Suez, labor problems were
more difficult, and, as the deadly character of mosquitoes was
then unknown, yellow fever and malaria swept away the work-
men by thousands. Furthermore, the company's financial
affairs were grossly mismanaged; vast sums were deliberately
stolen. In 1884 De Lesseps' estimate had already been ex-
ceeded by $10,000,000, and the real work was hardly begun.
Five years later the company collapsed. Investigations re-
vealed a vast amount of corruption. Some of the culprits were
sentenced to prison; the scandal shook France to its founda-
tions, and threatened the life of the republic. Only a fraction

302 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

of the excavating work had been done, and costly steam-dredges,
engines, and other machinery lay rusting for years in the muddy
ooze of tropical swamps.

Meanwhile many plans had been formed for digging a purely
American canal. In 1889 Congress granted a charter to the
Maritime Canal Company, which proposed to use the Nica-
The raguan route. Some construction work was done

Nicaragua by this company, but in 1893 its limited funds be-
came exhausted, and work was practically suspended.
A strong effort was made to induce Congress to subsidize the
company, but the hostility of the transcontinental railways,
which dreaded competition by water, and doubts as to the feasi-
bility of the enterprise combined with other causes to prevent
favorable action.

In 1898 the spectacular voyage of the Oregon focussed public
attention upon the need for a canal, and helped to develop an
insistent demand that the United States should construct and
control such a waterway. In the way stood the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty. In the early '8o's Secre-
Abrogated tarv °^ State Elaine and his successor, Frelinghuysen,
had repeatedly tried to secure modifications of the
treaty, but had found Great Britain obdurate. When John
Hay became secretary of state he took up the task, and in 1900
negotiated with Lord Pauncefote, the British ambassador, a
treaty removing some of the objectionable features of the pact,,
but retaining others. The Senate amended the treaty, and
Great Britain refused to accept the amendments. Finally,
soon after Roosevelt became President, Hay and Pauncefote
reached a new agreement formally abrogating the Clayton-
Bulwer convention, and this was duly ratified. The new treaty
made it possible for the United States to construct, fortify,
and operate a canal. The only important limitation was that
the canal must be open to the vessels of all nations "on terms
of entire equality."

Before this time the New Panama Canal Company, successor
to the old De Lesseps Company, had offered to sell its rights
on the isthmus to the United States for $100,000,000. The

sum was excessive, and a canal commission had reported in
favor of building a canal by the Nicaragua route. But on Janu-
Nicara ua ar^ 4» i9°2> tne French company reduced its price to
w.Panama $40,000,000, a reasonable amount. The alarmed
friends of the Nicaragua route managed a few days
later to carry through the House, almost unanimously, a bill
providing for a canal by that route. But the Senate, after a
long fight, adopted an amendment authorizing the President
to accept the French company's offer, to acquire control at
Panama of a strip of land not less than six miles in width from
sea to sea, and to dig the canal at that place; provided, however,
that in case he found it impossible to do these things, within
"a reasonable time and upon reasonable terms," then he should
turn to the Nicaragua route. The main influence in bringing
the Senate to make this decision — an eminently wise one — was
wielded by Senator Hanna, whose keen business brain dis-
cerned the many advantages of Panama over Nicaragua. In
a speech championing his view he made use of the argument
that the Nicaragua region was much subject to seismic disturb-
ances— an argument that was especially effective because re-
cent volcanic eruptions on the island of Martinique, result-
ing in frightful loss of life, had made a deep impression in
the United States. The House subsequently accepted the
Senate's amendment, and President Roosevelt, who him-
self favored the Panama route, signed the bill (June 28,
1902).

An agreement with the French company was reached without
difficulty, and on January 27, 1903, Secretary Hay and Doctor
Thomas Herran, Colombian charge at Washington, signed a
treaty whereby the United States agreed to pay
Colombia.1 Colombia $10,000,000 for her consent to our pur-
chase of the French company's rights, and for leasing
in perpetuity a strip six miles wide across the isthmus, and that
after nine years Colombia was to receive an annual bonus of
$250,000. The Senate of the United States promptly ratified
the treaty.
The government of Colombia at this time was the usual South

304 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

American "dictatorship," with all that this word implies.
"President" Maroquin, under whose authority the treaty had

been negotiated, called a Congress to consider the
Senate treaty — the first that had met for five years. After

Treaty3 ^on& delay the Senate unanimously rejected the

treaty. It is alleged that before this was done
efforts were made to compel the French company to pay $10,-
000,000 for the privilege of selling. There is no doubt that the
Colombian authorities hoped to force the United States to raise
the price. Furthermore, some of them wished to wait and con-
fiscate the property of the French company, whose concession,
they contended, would soon expire.

The people of the isthmus had looked forward to deriving
great benefits from the canal, and were deeply disgruntled by
the rejection of the treaty. The French company also felt
Panama chagrined, and feared that its rights would be con-
Plans to fiscated. Agents of the company and of the people

planned a revolution in Panama. Such a conspiracy,
it may be remarked, was not unusual in Colombia, for in fifty-
three years there had been at least fifty-three revolutions, or
attempted revolutions, in that distracted country. Maroquin
himself had in 1900, when he was Vice-President, gained control
by the simple expedient of seizing and imprisoning his superior,
and then claiming to be chief executive because of " the absence
of the President!" Doctor Manuel Amador Guerrero, one of
the isthmian leaders, and M. Philippe Bunau-Varilla, chief
engineer of the company, met in the United States and per-
fected the arrangements for the uprising. Guerrero tried to
learn from Secretary Hay what course the United States would
pursue in case of an outbreak on the isthmus, but Hay would
only say guardedly that the United States would enforce the
treaty of 1846. By this treaty the United States had bound
itself to keep peace and order along the right of way of the
Panama Railroad. Six times the United States had landed
sailors and marines for that purpose, one of these instances
being in the first administration of Grover Cleveland.
President Roosevelt himself was aware of the ferment on the

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 305

isthmus. He was deeply exercised by the failure of Colombia
to ratify the treaty. In later years he declared: "You could

no more make an agreement with the Colombian
AtSude.1'8 rulers than you could nail currant jelly to a wall."

But in a letter to the editor of the Review of Reviews
he wrote (October 10, 1903) that he cast aside the proposition
"to foment the secession of Panama. Whatever other govern-
ments can do, the United States can not go into the securing,
by such underhand means, the cession." He frankly admitted, .
however, that "privately ... I should be delighted if Panama
were an independent state, or if it made itself so at this mo-
ment." Feeling thus, he did not, in his own words, "lift my
finger to incite the revolutionists. ... I simply ceased to
stamp out the different revolutionary fuses that were already
burning." And "I directed the Navy Department to station
various ships within easy reach of the Isthmus, to be ready to
act in the event of need arising."

The arrival on November 3 of 450 Colombian soldiers at
Colon on the Atlantic side precipitated the uprising a day sooner
than the revolutionists had intended. Some of the officers, who

had hurried across the isthmus to the town of Pan-
Succeed^0* ama, were seized by the revolutionists, and the

officer left in command of the troops was bribed to
re-embark his men and depart. About fifty American sailors
and marines were landed at Colon to maintain order and pro-
tect American lives and property. Colombian authority on
the isthmus was speedily overthrown without any blood being
shed, except that a shell fired by a Colombian gunboat in the
harbor of Panama killed a Chinaman and a dog. The people
supported the uprising almost unanimously.

American naval officers in isthmian waters had already re-
ceived orders from Washington to keep the line of transit open,

and to "prevent the landing of any armed force
Orders. w^tn hostile intent, either Government or insurgent,

at either Colon, Porto Bello, or other point."
Enforcement of this order practically estopped Colombia from
attempting to reconquer the revolted province, for an over-

306 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

land march through the mountains and tropical jungles was
impracticable.

Our government hastened to take advantage of what the
gods had brought. Three days after the revolt began, Secretary
Hay cabled the American consul at Panama to recognize the
de facto government, and a week later President
Receded Roosevelt formally received M. Bunau-Varilla as
and a New envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
Negotiated, of the republic of Panama. A few days later (No-
vember 1 8) Hay and Bunau-Varilla signed a treaty
by which Panama promised to cede perpetual control of a
zone ten miles wide across the isthmus, while the United States
agreed to pay therefor $10,000,000 down and an annuity of
$250,000, beginning nine years thereafter. The example of the
United States in recognizing the independence of Panama was
quickly followed by most other powers. Colombia vehemently
protested, but was too weak to venture beyond protests. Her
rulers had grasped for too much and had lost all.

The administration's course in the Panama affair provoked
much criticism, mainly but not wholly from Democratic sources.
The United States, the critics declared, had taken advantage
Criticism of °^ a wea^er power, and had violated principles of
the Panama international morality. They alleged that by the
treaty of 1846 the United States had guaranteed
the sovereignty of Colombia over the isthmus. They de-
nounced the speedy recognition of Panama as "indecent."
Some even openly charged the President with having fomented
the revolution. On the other hand, the administration's course
found warm defenders. The President himself denied having
fostered the revolt, and justified his recognition of
Defense Panama and the negotiation of the new treaty on
the ground of Colombia's grasping conduct, and her
powerlessness to preserve order. In support of the latter argu-
ment he emphasized the fact that Colombia was then under
the rule of a dictator, and that the constitution of the country
was suspended. He further declared that Colombia had no
right "to bar the transit of the world's traffic across the

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 307

Isthmus," and he contended that "intervention was justified
by the treaty of 1846, by our national interests, and by the
interests of civilization at large."

Most critics thought that his defense was not conclusive,

but Colombia had behaved in such a dog-in-the-manger fashion,

and the prospect of a canal was so fascinating, that Americans

generally applauded the accomplished fact, and did

Ratified**3' not scrutinize too closely the means by which it

had been brought about. As a canal would greatly

benefit the South, most Democratic senators voted for the

treaty, though some criticised the way in which it had been

obtained. The treaty was, therefore, ratified (February 23,

1904) by the overwhelming majority of 66 to 14.

The purchase of the rights of the French company was con-
summated, and the way was thus finally cleared for digging
the "big ditch." Many practical problems, however, had to
be solved before the work could be completed.
Preparations. Yellow fever and malaria began their old-time
ravages among the canal workers, but under the
energetic direction of the chief sanitary officer, Colonel William
C. Gorgas, who had already performed notable work of the
same sort in Cuba, a vigorous campaign was waged against filth
and the deadly mosquitoes, and the Canal Zone was made "as
safe as a health resort." Difference of opinion existed as to
whether it would be better to construct a lock or a sea-level
canal. In November, 1005, a board of American and European
engineers, by a vote of 8 to 5, declared in favor of a sea-level
canal. But it was certain that a canal of that type would in-
volve greater expense and increased engineering difficulties,
and would require a much longer time. After careful investi-
gation President Roosevelt wisely decided in favor of a lock
canal, and Congress ratified the decision.

Congressional insistence upon having the construction work
managed by a commission delayed the enterprise. Certain sel-
fish interests, including some of the transcontinental railroads,
covertly tried to discredit the undertaking, while, of course,
the political opponents of the administration sought with their

3o8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

probes to find party capital. Late in 1905 a well-known jour-
nalist spent twenty-eight hours and ten minutes on the Isthmus,
Attem tsto an<^ subsequently published an extremely critical
Discredit the article, entitled "Our Mismanagement at Panama."
Some criticisms had a better basis than those con-
tained in this article, but, upon the whole, the enterprise was
conducted on a high plane, without corruption or notable waste.
Even in the least satisfactory period much valuable preliminary
work was done in sanitation, and the assembling of material
and men. In February, 1907, President Roosevelt announced
that he had decided to put the undertaking in charge of army
engineers. Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Goethals
Goethals. was appointed chief engineer, with Majors William
L. Sibert and David Du B. Gaillard as assistants,
and the President managed matters in such a way as to give
Goethals ample powers.

Thenceforward the enterprise moved forward more rapidly.
Labor problems were solved, the Chagres River was controlled
by building a great dam, the famous Culebra Cut was exca-
vated, the Gatun locks were built, the dirt was really
Completed. made "to %•" On October 10, 1913, not quite a
decade after the Panama revolt, water was turned
into the Culebra Cut, and soon after small boats were able to
navigate the whole length of the canal. The first commercial
use of the waterway was made on May 19, 1914, when three
barges, loaded with sugar from Hawaii, passed through from
the Pacific to the Atlantic. The formal opening to traffic oc-
curred on August 15 of that year. For a considerable period
slides in the Culebra Cut caused much trouble, and on one occa-
sion the canal was closed to traffic for months, but trouble of
this kind had been anticipated and the difficulty was finally
solved. The greatest engineering enterprise in all history had
been completed. Goethals, Gorgas, Sibert, and Gaillard were
appropriately rewarded by promotions for their splendid
work, which had really been beyond praise. In 1915 the
opening of the canal was fitly celebrated at great expositions
at San Francisco and San Diego. The total cost of the

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 309

canal, including appropriations for the fiscal year 1915, was
$361,874,861.

The opening of the canal to traffic was almost coincident
with the outbreak of the Great War. That war demoralized
the commerce and water transportation of the world, and de-
layed the realization of some of the benefits expected
importance from the canal. Still, in the first eleven and a
"ai^" half months of its operation 1,258 vessels passed
through the waterway, and the tolls collected almost sufficed
to cover the costs of operation and maintenance. With the
return of peace it may confidently be predicted that the canal
will play an increasingly important part in the transportation
of goods between the eastern and western parts of the United
States, and that it will do much toward revolutionizing our com-
mercial relations with western South America, Australia, and
the Orient.

The revolt of Panama occurred only a few months before the
opening of the presidential campaign of 1904. President Roose-
velt frankly desired a nomination and election in his own right,
and by the rank and file of his party his ambition
toPPC was regarded with enthusiasm, for, unlike Tyler,

N^Snation Filmiore> Johnson, and Arthur, he had succeeded
both as a statesman and as a politician. By some
financial interests, and by certain Republican leaders his can-
didacy was looked upon with strong hostility, and through news-
papers and other agencies they sought to convince the public
that he was "rash," "impulsive," "overconfident of his own
judgment," and generally "unsafe." The man selected to
oppose the President for the nomination was Senator Hanna.
A political fund was raised and tentative steps were taken
toward controlling delegates. Hanna himself disclaimed any
purpose of becoming a candidate, but, on the other hand, he
held back from indorsing Roosevelt. It is possible that he
might ultimately have been persuaded to enter the contest,
but his health was bad, and in February, 1904, he died.

His death removed the only person who would have had the
slightest chance of defeating Roosevelt. Already the ground

3io THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

swell of disapproval of the plan to thrust aside the popular idol
was making itself felt in unmistakable fashion, and soon all op-
Roosevelt position to his nomination utterly collapsed. When
and the national convention met in Chicago (June 21-23) >

Fairbanks. . . , . , ,

its orators vied with one another in praising the
President's personality and achievements, and he was nominated
by acclamation. For Vice-President the convention named
Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, a conservative from Indiana.

Two decisive defeats had tended to discredit the Bryan, or

free-silver, wing of the Democracy; and when the national

convention met in St. Louis on July 6, the conservatives, who

were dubbed the "safe and saners," managed to

Conservatives . ,

Control control it. The leading candidate put forward by
Con^nTion tne conservatives was Judge Alton B. Parker of
and Nominate New York, and his candidacy was astutely managed
by David B. Hill, who here appeared for the last
time on the national stage. Among the other candidates for
the nomination were Arthur P. Gorman of Maryland, ex-
Governor Pattison of Pennsylvania, Senator Francis M. Cock-
rell of Missouri, Richard Olney of Massachusetts, and William
R. Hearst, formerly of California but then a resident of New
York. Hearst was the foremost exponent of "yellow journal-
ism," and his candidacy was promoted by his numerous news-
papers and by leagues formed in his favor. Bryan preferred
either Pattison or Cockrell, but his wishes were disregarded,
and Parker was nominated on the first ballot. Ex-Senator
Henry Gassaway Davis, an octogenarian millionaire of West
Virginia, was named for the vice-presidency.

The platform iterated former Democratic pronouncements.
on the tariff, trusts, and imperialism, condemned the Roose-
velt administration as "spasmodic, erratic, sensa-
tional, spectacular, and arbitrary," and charged it

Regarding with a long series of unlawful and unconstitutional
Standard. acts. As originally drafted, the platform contained
a declaration to the effect that the great increase
in the production of gold had removed the currency question
"from the field of political contention," but the Bryan element

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 311

managed to eliminate this plank, and the platform as adopted
did not mention the money question. Before the convention
adjourned, a telegram was received from Parker stating that he
regarded "the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably estab-
lished," and adding that if this view was unsatisfactory to a
majority of the convention, he would decline the nomination.
The telegram created much consternation and drew a bitter
speech from Bryan, but after an acrimonious debate the con-
vention replied that the money question had been ignored be-
cause it was not considered an issue in the campaign.

Judge Parker, who had thus been selected to lead the Demo-
cratic hosts, had seen long years of service on the New York
bench and was then chief judge of the court of appeals. His
Park r's views on public questions were little known, but
Career and some of his supporters had urged that this fact
rendered him more "available," an argument which
had drawn from Bryan the retort that "it is the first time in
recent years at least, that a man has been urged for so high a
position on the ground that his opinions are unknown." In
reality, Parker was decidedly conservative in his opinions, but
he had not deserted the party in 1896 nor 1900. About all the
public knew of Davis, the vice-presidential nominee, was that
he was in his eighty-second year, and was a rich ex-senator.
Altogether, the ticket justified the statement of a colored Re-
publican orator when he said that the Democrats had "nomi-
nated an enigma from New York, and a reminiscence from West
Virginia."

Both Cleveland and Bryan announced that they would sup-
port the ticket, and, to outward appearances, the schism in
the party seemed healed. But immediately after the conven-
Radical ^on Bryan na(^ sa^ that little could be hoped from
Democratic the Democracy so long as it remained " under the
control of the Wall-Street element," and he opined
that Parker's nomination "virtually nullifies the anti-trust
plank." His support was largely perfunctory and for the sake
of regularity. Hundreds of thousands of other radical Demo-
crats openly or secretly determined that they would not accept

3i2 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Parker and the conservative elements that were most con-
spicuous in his support.

Their defection alone would have been enough to render the
result certain, but in addition the Democratic managers com-
mitted the monumental blunder of making Roosevelt's per-
sonality one of the main issues of the campaign,
popularity! ^ tnat t^me tne President was almost at the zenith
of his popularity. The great mass of the people
were convinced of his honesty and nobility of purpose. His
many-sidedness was such that he appealed to all manner of
men. His character was held up as a shining example to young
men, and the "strenuous life," the title of one of his essays,
became a sort of fad. The newspapers and magazines were
filled with pictures showing him in all manner of costumes —
as Rough Rider and ranchman, "sitting on his porch at Saga-
more Hill, hunting the grizzly in the Far West, or taking a
fence on a fine mount." His admirers even enjoyed the car-
toons of their idol, representing him as "Terrible Teddy," at
the sight of whose big teeth the trusts and other "malefactors
of great wealth" went into hysterics. At a celebration "under
the Oaks at Jackson" of the fiftieth anniversary of the Repub-
lican party, John Hay drew the following portrait of his chief:

Of gentle birth and breeding, yet a man of the people in the
best sense; with the training of a scholar and the breezy accessi-
bility of a ranchman; a man of the library and a man of the world;
an athlete and a thinker; a soldier and a statesman; a reader, a
writer, and a maker of history; with the sensibility of a poet and
the steel nerve of a rough rider; one who never did, and never could,
turn his back on a friend or on an enemy.

When the mass of Americans were willing to subscribe en-
thusiastically to such an eulogium, it is evident that the Demo-
D . crats could make no headway by raising their voices

Attack in behalf of a Constitution endangered by an irre-

sponsible dictator. On the contrary, the people
generally felt well pleased with a President who would go to the
limits of his authority — or even a little beyond — in their behalf.

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 313

As for the great financial interests, some of them supported
Roosevelt from the beginning. Others would have preferred
to see him beaten, but most of these soon decided that he was
Attitude of certam °f election, and not a few of them ultimately
"Big subscribed to the Republican campaign fund in the

hope that the Republicans would prove grateful.
These were old "Big Business" tactics. Years before, Henry
O. Havemeyer, president of the sugar trust, had testified that
the trusts contributed to both parties, placing their money
where it would do the most good.

The original Democratic plan of campaign was that Judge

Parker should remain, with dignity befitting a judge, at his

summer home at Esopus on the Hudson. Presently,

Emerges however, the party managers found that their

Retirement cause was losing ground, and, as a forlorn hope,

they sent their candidate out to make some speeches.

But Judge Parker did not possess the art of winning popular

applause, nor did he have the knack of sounding clarion

calls.

The closing days of the contest saw one sensational incident.
In speeches at Madison Square Garden and elsewhere Judge
Parker insinuated that the President had placed George B.
Cortelyou in charge of the Republican campaign
because Cortelyou, having been secretary of the
ReplyVeltS new Department of Commerce and Labor, pos-
sessed information that would enable him to black-
mail the trusts into making contributions to the Republican
fund. Three days before the election Roosevelt denounced
the charge as "unqualifiedly and atrociously false." He ad-
mitted that some corporations were contributing to the Re-
publican fund, as others were to the Democratic fund, but he
said that the Republican fund was the smallest for twelve
years. He also pointed out that the Department of Com-
merce and Labor had been so recently organized that as yet it
had no corporation secrets, and he stated that he had selected
Cortelyou to direct the campaign only after other men had re-

3i4 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

fused to serve. He closed by saying that, if elected, he would
be unhampered by any promise or pledge except to "see to it
that every man has a square deal, no less and no more."

The election returns showed that Roosevelt's personality
and the administration's record had won an overwhelming
victory. Judge Parker was the worst-defeated candidate of a

major party since Horace Greeley, in 1872. He car-
TriumphVdt "ed none except States south of Mason and Dixon's

Line, and of the border States he lost Missouri,
Delaware, and West Virginia, and one of the electoral votes of
Maryland. His total electoral vote was 140; that of Roose-
velt, 336. Of the popular vote, Parker received 5,084,491,
Roosevelt 7,628,834; in other words, the plurality of the ex-
ponent of "the square deal" was more than 2,500,000.

The Populists' party, which had nominated a candidate in
the person of Thomas E. Watson of Georgia, polled 114,546
votes. A more notable feature of the election was the great

increase in the Socialist vote. The Social Demo-
dependence cratic party had now taken the name Socialist
bySVoters Party> and Debs, who was again the candidate,

received 402,460 votes, as against only 94,768 in
1900. In Minnesota, Montana, Colorado, Massachusetts, and
Missouri, all of which gave Roosevelt big pluralities, Demo-
cratic governors were elected. This phenomenon was due in
part to Roosevelt's popularity, in part to dissatisfaction with
local Republican machines, in part to growing independence of
the voters, more and more of whom were becoming willing to
"split a ticket."

In later years much light was thrown on the subject of financial
contributions during this campaign. In 1905 an investigation
of the management of certain great life-insurance companies

disclosed the fact that some of them had contrib-
Reveiations. uted heavily to the Republican fund. In 1907 it

was revealed that E. H. Harriman, the great rail-
road magnate, raised $250,000 for use in New York. In 1912
it became known that many other large interests, including per-
haps the Standard Oil Company, had made contributions to

"BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA CANAL 315

the Republican fund. Roosevelt admitted having been aware
of Harriman's activities, but asserted that the money thus
raised was for the purpose of aiding the local ticket in New
York, as his own success in that State had been beyond doubt.
In support of this statement he pointed out that his own plu-
rality in New York proved to be 175,000, while Higgins, the
Republican candidate for governor, was elected by only 80,000.
Before a congressional investigating committee in 1912 he stated
that he expressly instructed Chairman Cortelyou to reject con-
tributions from Standard Oil. Cortelyou bore out this testi-
mony, but, as the Republican national treasurer was dead and
his records were destroyed, it was impossible to ascertain what
his course had been.

The course of the administration during 1905-09 was such
that no one ventured to accuse the President of displaying any
undue friendship for either Harriman or Standard Oil, but some
Parker's critics asserted that the revelations proved the
Charge Not truth of Parker's charge. To this, Roosevelt's
friends responded that in his denial of Parker's
charges he had expressly admitted that corporations were
contributing to the Republican fund; they said that the
essence of Parker's charge was that Cortelyou had been made
chairman in order to blackmail the trusts into making contri-
butions, and they pointed out that no evidence had ever been
brought forward to prove this charge.

In his reply to Parker, Roosevelt had asserted that corpora-
tions were also making contributions to the Democratic fund,
and this statement received ample confirmation. In 1905 one
Co rations °^ ^e great insurance officers testified: "My life
also Aided was made weary by the Democratic candidates

Democrats. , . , . , • o e A.I.

chasing for money in that campaign. Some of the
very men who to-day are being interviewed in the papers as
denouncing the men who contribute to campaigns — their
shadows were crossing my path every step I took." In 1912
August Belmont and T. F. Ryan, great corporation magnates,
testified that they gave many hundreds of thousands of dollars
to aid Parker.

Patriotic men in all parties recognized the danger in such
gifts and deeply deplored the practice. In 1907,
a^ter the insurance revelations, Congress passed

Regarding an act forbidding corporations to contribute money
tions. to be used in federal elections. Later federal

statutes required the publication of campaign con-
tributions, whether made in primaries, conventions, or elec-
tions.

CHAPTER XVII

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM

ON the night of the election, and as soon as the outcome was

certain, Roosevelt gave out a statement in which he said: "On

the 4th of March next I shall have served three and a half years,

and that three and a half years constitutes my first

Roosevelt's term. The wise custom which limits the President

Statement

Regarding a to two terms regards the substance and not the
tion. form, and under no circumstances will I be a can-

didate for or accept another nomination." The
statement was intended as a reply to critics who had alleged
that he meant to perpetuate himself in power, and as a decla-
ration of independence from the Republican bosses. How-
ever, it was to prove a source of embarrassment to him in the
future.

By the time that Roosevelt entered upon his second term

his conception of the presidential office was clearly manifest.

He believed that the President should have definite

TheoryGofS policies, a coherent programme, and should lead

Presidency ^e country- He held that the executive, in a

sense, should even "manage Congress," and he

did not hesitate to force through legislation distasteful to many

of the leaders of his party. In after years he wrote, in his

Autobiography:

The course I followed, of regarding the executive as subject only
to the people, and, under the Constitution, bound to serve the
people affirmatively in cases where the Constitution does not ex-
plicitly forbid him to render the service, was sub-

J e, stantially the course followed by both Andrew Jackson

Buchanan J

Method and and Abraham Lincoln. Other honorable and well-
the Jackson- meaning Presidents, such as Tames Buchanan, took

Lincoln , . , , , ' .. .

Method. the opposite and, as it seems to me, narrowly legalistic

view that the President is the servant of Congress

rather than of the people, and can do nothing, no matter how

necessary it be to act, unless the Constitution explicitly com-

318 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

mands the action. Most lawyers who are past middle age take
this view, and so do large numbers of well-meaning, respectable
citizens. . . . There are many worthy people who reprobate the
Buchanan method as a matter of history, but who in actual life
reprobate still more strongly the Jackson-Lincoln method when
it is put into practice. These persons conscientiously believe that
the President should solve every doubt in favor of inaction as
against action, that he should construe strictly and narrowly the
constitutional grant of powers both to the National Government,
and to the President within the National Government. In addi-
tion, however, to the men who conscientiously believe in this course
from high, although as I hold misguided, motives, there are many
men who affect to believe in it merely because it enables them to
attack and to try to hamper, for partisan or personal reasons, an
executive whom they dislike.

There can be no question that the Presidents generally re-
garded as most successful have taken a broad view of their
powers. Roosevelt's successor adopted the legalistic view,

with results not altogether happy. In general, the
Leadership.1 people undoubtedly desire the President to lead,

and they applaud an executive who gets results,
whether with "a Big Stick" or by the milder methods of moral
suasion. Under our system of division of powers between the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches, unity of action,
which is requisite to any real efficiency, can often only be ob-
tained by the President's assuming control, and even taking an
active hand in the work of Congress, though party discipline
may sometimes accomplish this result in an imperfect way
when the executive and legislative branches are in harmony
politically. A President who does not lead Congress, or at
least work in harmony with it, is certain to be a weak Presi-
dent, and the country is likely to suffer under him.

During Roosevelt's "first" term there were certain changes
in the cabinet, but the personnel remained the same from one
term to the other. Secretary of State Hay was, however,

sinking toward the grave, and in the middle of
John Hay. March he sailed for Europe in a vain search for

health. He returned in June, spent a week in
Washington, and died (July i, 1905) at his summer home at

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 319

Newbury, New Hampshire. His death was greatly regretted
both at home and abroad, for few American diplomats had ever
won so enviable a reputation. His relations with President
Roosevelt had long been intimate, even affectionate, for, though
unlike in many respects, and differing on some points of domes-
tic policy, they were a unit on foreign affairs, had many tastes
in common, and each understood and respected the great quali-
ties of the other. To fill the vacancy created by Hay's death,
Elihu Root was transferred from the War Department to the
State Department, and our international relations continued to
be conducted with the same firmness and success. William H.
Taft, governor of the Philippines, succeeded Root as secretary
of war.

In his first administration President Roosevelt had remarked
that the sum of wisdom in international affairs was "to speak
softly and to carry a big stick." By this motto he meant that
The "Bi a nat^on should deal courteously with other powers,
Stick" but should be so well prepared to defend its inter-

ests that no one would deem it safe to trample them
under foot. Under both Hay and Root, Americans, in whatever
country they might happen to be, could safely rely upon being
fully protected by the long and powerful arm of the United
States. A good example of this occurred in 1904, when a Mo-
roccan chieftain named Raizuli kidnapped Ion H. Perdicaris,
an American citizen, and held him for ransom. After vain
negotiations, Hay cabled to Morocco this ultimatum: "We
want Perdicaris alive or Raizuli dead." In two days Perdi-
caris was free. Roosevelt believed such a policy to be the
only one that a self-respecting nation can follow, and that it
is far safer in the end. He held that a government that will
not protect its citizens when abroad in the exercise of all their
legitimate rights is unworthy of the name, and can expect to
retain neither the confidence of its people nor the respect of
the world. Acquiescence in encroachments, according to his
view, usually means repetition of the offense in one form or
another, and far greater danger of war in the end.

Roosevelt believed that wars were still possible, at times

32o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

perhaps even necessary, the world being such as it is. He pur-
sued a policy of "steady preparedness," and insisted upon a
His Belief in Pr°gramrne °f " two battleships a year," for he had
"Prepared- no desire that the United States should become

another China, "the helpless prey of outsiders be-
cause it does not possess the power to fight." In his Autobi-
ography, published in 1913, he wrote: "It is folly to try to abol-
ish our navy, and at the same time to insist that we have a
right to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, that we have a right to
control the Panama Canal which we ourselves dug, that we
have a right to retain Hawaii and prevent foreign nations from
taking Cuba, and a right to determine what immigrants, Asiatic
or European, shall come to our shores, and the terms on which
they shall be naturalized and shall hold land and exercise other
privileges. We are a rich people, and an unmilitary people.
But I know my countrymen. Down at bottom their temper is
such that they will not permanently tolerate injustice done to
them. In the long run they will no more permit affronts to
their national honor than injuries to their national interest.
Such being the case, they will do well to remember that the
surest of all ways to invite disasters is to be opulent, aggressive,
and unarmed."

Roosevelt's insistence upon preparedness led some people
to believe that he was a rampant jingo, bent upon involving
the United States in war. In reality, he favored what he was

fond of calling "the peace of righteousness," and
"the Peace1 ne was a friend to arbitration, though he held the
°eS^Whteous~ view that there were some disputes that could not

be arbitrated. Through his management and that
of Hay a dispute with Mexico over the "Pious Fund of the
Californias" 'was referred (1902) to the Hague court, being the
first case referred to that tribunal. The second case before the
court was that of the claims against Venezuela, already de-
scribed. The dispute with Great Britain over the Alaskan
boundary was settled by a joint tribunal. Roosevelt also
wished to issue the call for the second Hague conference, but
stood aside in favor of the Czar, at whose instance the first had

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 321

met. With his consent, John Hay devoted almost his last
public efforts to negotiating limited compulsory arbitration
treaties with France, Great Britain, and other countries, but
the Senate refused to ratify them. Under Secretary Root
treaties drawn after the model recommended by the first Hague
conference were negotiated with most of the great powers, and
were duly ratified. These treaties did not bind the contract-
ing parties to submit to arbitration questions affecting their
territorial integrity, national honor, or vital national interest.

Roosevelt's most conspicuous service to the cause of interna-
tional peace was performed in 1905, when, through his initia-
tive, delegates from Russia and Japan met at
Helps to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and agreed upon a
End the peace that brought to an end the bloody war that
Japanese had been raging between those two nations. The
President's part in the affair was managed with
consummate skill, and won for him not only the
coveted Nobel peace prize, but the enthusiastic applause of an
admiring world.

In August of the following year a revolt broke out in Cuba
against the government of President Palma, who, feeling him-
self too weak to preserve order, asked the United States to in-
Intervention tervene under the Platt Amendment. President
in Cuba, Roosevelt was reluctant to do so. He issued an
appeal to the Cuban people to save their country
from "the anarchy of civil war," and sent Secretary of War
Taft and Assistant Secretary of State Bacon to Havana to in-
vestigate the situation. Palma resigned, and the investigators
found conditions so hopeless that, acting on instructions from
Washington, Secretary Taft issued a proclamation taking tem-
porary control. Six thousand regulars were hurried to the
island under Brigadier-General Frederick Funston, who, as a
former filibuster and comrade-in-arms of many of the Cuban
leaders, was peculiarly fitted for the task. No attempt at re-
sistance was made. Under the rule of Governor Charles E.
Magoon, who was transferred thither from the Canal Zone,
peace and order were restored, numerous reforms were inau-

322 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

gurated, and two years later (January 28, 1909) control was once
more turned over to a rehabilitated Cuban government, headed
by President Jose Miguel Gomez. President Roosevelt had
given warning that it was out of the question for the island to
continue independent if the "insurrectionary habit should be-
come confirmed," yet in the next decade intervention was more
than once imminent, and early in 1917 it became necessary to
land marines at Santiago and other ports for the protection of
life and property. There is reason to believe that the disorders
on this occasion were due to the machinations of German
agents.

Pregnant with more dangerous possibilities was a contro-
versy with Japan. Ever since the days when Admiral Perry
persuaded the Japanese to open their ports to foreigners, warm
friendship had existed between America and the
Jhe Land of the Rising Sun. America had sent hun-

Japanese

Problem on dreds of teachers to Japan and had received many
Coast. Japanese young men and women into her own col-

leges. America proudly regarded Japan as a sort
of protegee, grew enthusiastic over her art and literature, and
was her best commercial customer. Most Americans sympa-
thized keenly with the Japanese in their war with Russia, but
soon after the close of that war a change took place. It was due
in part to the clash of American and Japanese interests in China,
but mainly to an increased influx of Japanese immigrants into
the Pacific coast States. In 1900 there were only 24,326 Japa-
nese in the whole United States, but after 1903 the number in-
creased rapidly, and white laborers, small shopkeepers, and
truck farmers began to feel and resent the competition of
Orientals accustomed to a lower standard of living. Race
prejudice flared up — race prejudice sharpened by economic
competition. The people of the Far West transferred to the
Japanese their old hatred for the Chinese, and raised the new
slogan, "The Japanese must go !" But the new game was in-
finitely more dangerous than the old. Unlike the Chinese, the
Japanese are a proud people, who had just beaten a great power.
They are as touchy and susceptible to affront "as Sir Walter's

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 323

Hieland laird, walking the streets of Edinboro, hand on basket
hilt, and sniffing the air for an affront." When the San Fran-
cisco school board, urged on by the labor element, passed an
ordinance (October n, 1906) segregating "Chinese, Japanese,
Koreans, and other Mongolians" in separate schools, Japan
vigorously protested. All sorts of wild stories were set afloat
regarding alleged designs of Japan against the peace and safety
of the United States, and were given wide publicity in the sen-
sational press. It is now known that some of these stories owed
their origin to secret attempts of Germany to embroil the two
countries — for Japan was allied to Great Britain, Germany's
rival and future enemy.

Most Americans deeply deplored the anti- Japanese agita-
tion, yet it was clear to most thinking men that the teeming
millions of Japanese must not be permitted to immigrate freely.
As in the case of the Italians lynched by the New
Situation1™* Orleans mob in Harrison's administration, the fed-
eral government was greatly hampered by its lack
of control over State and local authorities. However, President
Roosevelt personally took a hand in the matter, and succeeded
in preventing the California legislature from passing threatened
anti- Japanese legislation, and in persuading the San Francisco
authorities to modify the school segregation order on the under-
standing that he would try to secure an agreement with Japan
The to Prevent further immigration. A sort of "gentle-

" Gentlemen's men's agreement" was reached with the Mikado's
government, whereby Japan promised not to grant
passports to laborers bound for the United States, except re-
turning residents and members of their families, while our
government took steps to prevent Japanese from coming to the
United States from the insular possessions, or from foreign coun-
tries other than Japan. This solution temporarily stilled the
anti- Japanese agitation, but, as we shall see, trouble broke out
afresh a few years later.

Toward the end of 1907 President Roosevelt came to the con-
clusion that it would be well to show the world that we were
prepared to protect our interests in the Pacific. Our battle fleet

324 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

at that time was kept in the Atlantic; to have divided it and
sent part to the Pacific would have been bad strategy, for, in
Cruise of the case of sudden war, there would have been danger
SounVth? of bein8 beaten in detail. The President decided to
World. sen(j the whole battle fleet to the Pacific. The plan

aroused much opposition along the Atlantic coast and from some
who feared that the move might precipitate a war with Japan.
But on December 16 sixteen battle-ships, six destroyers, and
six auxiliary vessels under command of Rear-Admiral Robley
D. Evans — better known as "Fighting Bob" — sailed from
Hampton Roads. The fleet visited the ports of several of the
South American states, passed through the Straits of Magellan,
and reached the coast of California. There Rear-Admiral
Sperry took command, and under his leadership the fleet visited
Hawaii, Australia, Japan, and other Oriental countries, passed
through the Mediterranean Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar,
and on February 23, 1909, once more dropped anchor at Hamp-
ton Roads, being welcomed home by the President in person.
Before this time foreign naval officers had doubted whether a
battle fleet could be taken round the world, yet not a single
accident had marred the voyage, and the ships returned in better
fighting trim than when they set out. The success of the voy-
age greatly increased the naval prestige of the United States,
and the demonstration served the purpose for which it was
designed.

Ever since the days of Clay and the younger Adams some
men had realized the desirability of closer relations between the
United States and other nations of the Western Hemisphere.
Pan Elaine had sought to arrange in 1881 for a meeting

American of a Pan-American Congress, and such a body actu-
ally assembled at Washington in 1889, when he was
secretary of state under Harrison. In 1901 another congress
met in the City of Mexico; there was a third meeting at Rio
Janeiro in 1906, and a fourth at Buenos Ayres in 1910. Secre-
tary of State Root attended the meeting at Rio, and later vis-
ited other South American countries, being everywhere received
with great cordiality. These congresses did much to promote

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 325

better relations, both politically and commercially, between the
nations of the two Americas, and to create a feeling of solidarity
against encroachments from the outside. In 1890 an Inter-
national Bureau of the American Republics was established at
Washington, and proved mutually useful. In 1906 its scope
was broadened to include the compiling and distribution of
legal and commercial information, and in 1910 it was renamed
the "Bureau of the Pan-American Union." A fine building
was erected at Washington for the Bureau with funds mainly
contributed by Andrew Carnegie, and under the energetic and
enthusiastic management of John Barrett, who became director
in 1907, much work of value was accomplished.

Throughout his presidency Roosevelt constantly preached a
higher standard of citizenship in both private and public life.
In an age when business and public morality were at a low ebb,
Roosevelt's wnen tne word "graft" was taken from the argot
Moral of tramps and thieves to fill a felt want in the lan-

guage, the President's vigorous deeds and his de-
nunciations of dishonesty came like a fresh ocean breeze, driv-
ing away the noxious vapors that were poisoning American
public and private life. Under his courageous leadership hon-
est men took heart, and a reforming impulse made itself felt
throughout the land.

A whole literature sprang up exposing the nefarious workings
of crooked politics and crooked business. The lead in this cru-
sade was taken by McClure's Magazine, which in 1903 began
the publication of Ida Tarbell's history of the Stand-
ard Oil Company. In it she revealed the methods

in Business whereby that great trust had built up and main-

and Politics , *

by the tamed its mastery of the oil trade, and she also

Rakers." showed the intimate connection between trans-
portation and monopoly. In the same magazine
Lincoln Steffens wrote of "The Shame of the Cities," exposing
municipal misgovernment and the corrupt "plunderbund"
between Big Business and political rings for obtaining street
railway and other franchises. In a series of articles on "Fren-
zied Finance," published in Everybody's, Thomas W. Lawson, a

326 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Boston financier, described in sensational language the alleged
inner workings of "The System," and explained the methods
whereby it fleeced the public. Collier's specialized on the ex-
posure of the frauds in the patent-medicine trade. Even novel-
ists took up the cry. In Coniston Winston Churchill told the
story of a State controlled by a corrupt railroad magnate. In
The Jungle Upton Sinclair exposed the disgusting horrors of
Chicago meat-packing plants. The craze for such literature
went so far that it became a sort of hysteria, and Roosevelt him-
self sought to put a halt to indiscriminate abuse. Taking his
text from Bunyan's " man with the muck-rake," he made a
speech urging that efforts be turned from destruction to con-
struction. Thereafter writers who stirred business and po-
litical cesspools were popularly known as "muck-rakers."

Much that was good came out of the ferment. Citizens rose
up in indignation. Political rings were smashed on every hand,
and, though some cities and States remained "corrupt and un*
ashamed," there was promise of better things. In
against83 St. Louis, for example, a courageous young circuit
Rings*1 attorney, Joseph W. Folk, exposed a vast amount
of graft and corruption, and, despite bitter business,
political, and even judicial opposition, succeeded in sending
some of the offenders to the penitentiary. The people of Mis-
souri elected him governor. In New York a legislative investi-
gation of the great life-insurance companies uncovered an ap-
palling lack of business honesty. The chief inquisitor was
Charles E. Hughes. The people of New York twice made him
their chief magistrate.

Yet even where reform triumphed selfish interests still lurked

in the shadows, watching covertly for the first signs of public

indifference in order to regain their power. But the moral

atmosphere of the country had been cleared. The

Resolution, years of Roosevelt's rule will always be notable for

a revolution in the attitude of Americans toward

financial and political matters. Honesty in such matters came

into fashion. By no means all the credit for the transformation

belonged to him. Other men labored earnestly and effectively

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 327

in the same great cause, but the victory was largely due to his
powerful influence.

For years well-informed people had been aware that un-
scrupulous manufacturers of food and drugs were accustomed
to adulterate their products, to use chemical preservatives that
were harmful to health, to make use of diseased
Laws.F° animals unfit for human food, to conduct their
business amid filthy and unsanitary surroundings.
An ever-increasing demand arose for federal legislation to safe-
guard the people against such abuses. The publication of
Upton Sinclair's book, above referred to, did much to bring the
agitation to a crisis, and the influence of the President and the
pressure of public opinion forced Congress in 1906 to enact
sweeping legislation providing for rigorous inspection of meat-
packing plants engaged in interstate business, and for the
proper labelling of foods and drugs in interstate trade, and pro-
hibiting the use of dangerous preservatives. No better acts
were ever passed by Congress, yet selfish interests sought to
nullify them; and the Department of Agriculture and its chief
chemist, Doctor Harvey W. Wiley, administered the laws "mid
the proddings of consumers and the protests of manufacturers."
In the long session of the Fifty-ninth Congress, President
Roosevelt managed, with the aid of many Democrats, to secure
the passage of a more stringent railway-regulation law known
The as the Hepburn Act (June 29, 1906). By it the

Hepburn membership of the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion was increased from five to seven, and the com-
mission was empowered to fix maximum rates of transporta-
tion when complaints were made against the existing rates,
but the carriers were given the right to appeal to the courts.
The act provided heavier penalties for rebating and made ex-
press companies, sleeping-car companies, and interstate oil-
pipe lines subject to its provisions. It also forbade the grant-
ing of free passes to any except specified classes of persons, and
thus struck a heavy blow at a custom whereby transportation
companies had been accustomed to influence administrative
officers, legislators, and even judges. One clause forbade inter-

328 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

state or foreign transportation, except for the carrier's own use,
of any commodity, other than timber, mined or produced by
the carrier. This "commodity clause" was aimed chiefly at
the combination between anthracite producers and coal-carry-
ing railroads, but in 1909 the Supreme Court handed down a
decision practically annulling this clause of the act.

In this period most of the States also enacted legislation —

similar to the Granger Laws of the '705 — regulating common

carriers as to rates, liability for damages to injured employees,

and other matters. Some of the acts were admi-

Some state

Legislation rable, but most erred in being too severe. In some
States passenger rates were fixed so low as to hamper
the roads in making needed repairs and extensions. Where the
rates were so low as to amount to actual confiscation, they were,
of course, set aside by the courts.

President Roosevelt repeatedly recommended legislation re-
quiring all corporations engaged in interstate commerce to take
out federal charters, but his efforts in this direction

Trust

Recom- failed. He also urged that the Sherman Antitrust
Act should be amended and made "more efficient
and more in harmony with actual conditions," but again Con-
gress held back.

Under the President's direction a vigorous campaign was

waged against rebating, and many shippers and transportation

companies were prosecuted and convicted. In August, 1907,

the Standard Oil Company was found guilty on

Fine?C° IA^t2 counts of rebating, and Judge Kenesaw M.

Landis, of the federal district court at Chicago,

fined the offender $29,240,000. The verdict was later set aside

on a technicality by a higher court, and when the case was

brought up for retrial, it was dismissed.

In 1907 the government instituted suits under the Sherman
Antitrust Act against the Standard Oil Company and the
American Tobacco Company, popularly known as the Tobacco
Trust. Four years passed before the Supreme Court handed
down its final decisions in these cases. The court then ordered
the two trusts to dissolve, but the judgments were far from

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 329

radical, and by taking the view that the law applied only to
"unreasonable" restraints of trade, the court, in the opinion of
Antitrust many critics, emasculated the Sherman Act. The
Suits, decree in the case of the Standard Oil Company

ordered that the trust should be broken up into
thirty-eight separate companies. There were to be no com-
mon officers or directors, but shares in the various companies
were distributed ratably to the old stockholders. It was the
theory of the court that the new companies would compete
with each other, but critics of the decision laughed at the idea
that the thirty-eight companies, all commonly owned by the
Rockefellers and their associates, would ever compete with each
other very vigorously. Soon after the decision was announced
Standard Oil stock almost doubled in value, while the prices
of gasoline and kerosene were increased. A similar decision
was handed down in the case of the Tobacco Trust.

President Taft and his attorney-general, Wickersham, hailed
the decisions as judicial victories, but the general public was
inclined to consider them "judicial jokes." It was clear that
Outcome *ke Sherman Act was not a satisfactory solution of
Unsatisfac- the trust problem. President Roosevelt had so

contended, and had refrained from indiscriminate
prosecutions under it. After the above-described decisions the
country realized that the act must be repealed or amended,
and the work was taken up by the Wilson administration.

In the period of Roosevelt's presidency there was an ever-
increasing agitation in favor of social justice for workers: for
shorter hours, sanitary working conditions, compensation for

injuries and deaths received in industrial accidents,

justice for minimum- wage laws, prohibition of child labor,
and other reforms. The need for legislation regu-
lating such matters, particularly to safeguard the health of
women against overwork and unsanitary surroundings, to se-
cure compensation for accidents to workers, and to abolish the
hideous wrong of wearing out the lives of little children, was
urgent; but selfish exploiters fought regulations that were
obviously not only humane but in the interests of the people

330 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

as a whole. In interpreting laws of this sort passed by the
nation and the States, the courts, in the opinion of many, often
displayed a narrow view and laid themselves open to the charge
that they were more tender of property rights than of human
rights — that, hi the words of Roosevelt, they "knew legalism
but not life."

Many States passed child-labor laws, but some of these
laws were defective. In 1908 Congress enacted a satisfactory
statute regulating child labor in the District of Columbia, but
Congress rejected a proposal championed by Sen-
Chtid-aLabor ator Bevcridge of Indiana to exclude from interstate
Law Held commerce all goods produced in factories or mines
tional. in which children under fourteen years of age were

employed. This bill was opposed not only by ex-
ploiters of child labor but also by champions of State rights.
Woodrow Wilson, for example, characterized it as "manifestly
absurd"; when he became President he changed his view and
signed an act along these lines, but it was adjudged unconsti-
tutional.

An act passed in 1906 making interstate commerce carriers
liable for injuries received by their employees while at work
was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. A new
Em lo er's measure> passed in 1908, stood the judicial test,
Liability partly because it was more carefully drawn, partly
because the attitude of the court had changed.
Railroads were also compelled to use air-brakes and other safety
appliances on trains, and the hours of labor of train crews were
restricted. This legislation was badly needed and saved many
lives, not only of trainmen but of the travelling public.

Notwithstanding these beginnings, democratic America

America lagged behind monarchical Europe in legislation

Lags behind designed to safeguard the interests of those whose

only capital is then* ability to labor and who, when

they have lost that, have lost all.

One of the most praiseworthy movements begun under the
Roosevelt administration was that for the conservation of
natural resources. Up to that time wastefulness had been the

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 331

most glaring of American faults. The land had been ruined
by failure to prevent erosion, or by persistent cultivation of ex-
hausting crops; coal was wastefully mined and
Wastefulness, wastefully burned; natural-gas wells were left to roar
unchecked for months, or to flame to the heavens
for years; the forests were ruthlessly cut down, and each year
fires swept away thousands of square miles, leaving worthless
wastes where blasted trunks stood amid the blackened stumps
and prostrate bodies of comrades half consumed. In a variety
of other ways Americans seemed bent on despoiling posterity
of its heritage. As regards the national domain, the accepted
policy had been to give it away as rapidly as possible, and,
though millions of acres had been taken up by desirable and
deserving settlers, immense areas had fallen into the hands of a
comparative few.

George Washington and other far-sighted individuals early
realized the importance of conserving our natural resources,
but for generations their voices of warning were as little heeded
Need of as those of prophets crying in the wilderness. The
Conserva- nee^ °^ f°rest: conservation was first to be realized,
tion- both because of the failing supply of timber and be-

cause men came to see that, if the destruction of forests covering
watersheds was allowed to proceed unchecked, stream flow
would be disastrously affected: there would be "low water or
no water at all during the long dry periods, and destructive
floods after heavy rains." In 1891, largely as a result of agi-
tation conducted by the Boone and Crockett Club, of which
Theodore Roosevelt was a moving spirit, and by the American
Forestry Association, Congress passed the eminently wise
Forestry Reserve Act. Under that act Presidents Harrison,
Cleveland, and McKmley set apart a total of 35,000,000 acres
of forest, the first tract thus reserved being the Yellowstone
Park Timberland Reserve.

In other lines a beginning was made, and many men bore an
honorable part in advancing the movement, but to Gifford
Pinchot is due the title of " Father of the Conservation Move-
ment." After graduating at Yale in 1889 Pinchot studied sci-

332 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

entific forestry in Europe, and in 1892 began at Biltmore,
North Carolina, the first systematic forestry work ever at-
Gifford tempted in this country. Later, under the auspices

Pinchot's of the National Academy of Sciences, and with the

Work

approval of Cleveland's secretary of the interior, he
made a study of the national forests and formulated a policy
for their management. In 1898 he became chief of the Division
of Forestry, which had been created by Congress in 1881. In
this position he did good work, and gathered about him a body
of trained foresters, who made a scientific study of forestry
problems and helped to promote forestry on private lands.
But, strangely enough, these men did not have charge of the
public forests; these were under control of a division of the
general land office, which was in a separate department, that of
the interior, and were under the management of clerks who had
no practical knowledge of forestry. In 1901 Pinchot's Division
of Forestry became the Bureau of Forestry, and in 1905, through
the insistent efforts of Roosevelt, Congress made it the "Forest
Service," and Pinchot's trained men were at last given control
over the national forests.

Roosevelt and Pinchot were warm friends, and were in hearty

agreement as to the neepls of forest conservation,
increases Roosevelt added about 150,000,000 acres to the
Reserves54 f°rest reserves, and by 1909 Pinchot, as forester,

headed an efficient force of over 3,000 men, who
protected against fires and thieves a timbered area greater than
the total acreage of all Germany.

The new policy toward the forests was bitterly attacked by
men whose selfish interests had been balked by it. Every year
a fight was made in Congress to cut off the appropriations for
O sition ^e Forest Service, and to prevent the setting aside
to Forest of further reserves. In 1907, while the agricultural

appropriations bill was before the Senate, an
Oregon senator managed to add an amendment providing that
the President could not set aside any additional national forests
in the six Northwestern States. This meant the retention of
many million acres to be exploited by private interests at the

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 333

expense of the public interest. But the Forest Service knew
just what tracts ought to be reserved, so Roosevelt issued a
proclamation setting aside 16,000,000 acres of timberland,
and two days later signed the agricultural bill. In his own
words, "the opponents of the Forest Service turned hand-
springs in their wrath" when they heard the news.

After Roosevelt's administration some additions were made

to the national forests, while certain tracts that were found to

be fitted for agriculture were opened to settlement. In 1919

there were more than 160 national forests, with a

I he

National total area of 162,000,000 acres. Nearly all these
were west of the Mississippi, but there were im-
portant national forests about the headwaters of certain streams
in the White Mountains and the Appalachians. The forest
service not only sought to protect the forests, but set out mil-
lions of young trees. The forests were not locked up so that
they would be of no use, but timber that was ready to be cut
was marketed. A policy was also adopted of exacting charges
from stock-raisers who pastured their sheep, cattle, or horses
on the public lands.

Being greatly interested in natural history, Roosevelt estab-
lished fifty-one national reservations in seventeen States and
Territories, from Porto Rico to Hawaii and Alaska,
and New" ' as refuges for birds. By so doing he saved some
Parks™11 species that were threatened with extinction. He
also created a number of new national parks and a
few special game preserves, and withdrew from entry vast
stretches of mineral lands.

The President soon became an ardent advocate of conserv-
ing all natural- resources that are limited in amount. In 1902
he secured the passage of the Great Reclamation Act, a subject
described in detail in the next chapter. In 1907
Conservation he induced Congress to authorize an Inland Water-
^n8ference' ways Commission to study the interlocking prob-
lems of waterways and forest preservation, and to
investigate the possibilities of inland transportation by water.
In May, 1908, to fix the attention of the country upon the im-

334 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

portance of conservation, he summoned to Washington an
epoch-making conference of governors, scientists, and other
prominent men. The discussions took a broad range, and the
educational value of the conference proved immense. As the
President had hoped, the movement caught the popular fancy,
and conservation became a settled policy in the minds of
the American people. The conference recommended, among
other things, protection of the source waters of navigable
streams, prevention of forest fires by both national and State
action, extension of practical forestry, the granting of sepa-
rate titles to the surface of public lands and to the minerals
beneath, retention of mineral lands until some system of devel-
opment by carefully regulated private enterprise could be de-
veloped, and appointment by the individual States of conser-
vation commissions to co-operate with one another and with
the federal authorities.

Within eighteen months forty-one such commissions had
been created, while a National Conservation Commission was
established, consisting of one member from each State and Ter-
ritory, with Gifford Pinchot as chairman. In 1909
theldea. a North American Conservation Congress was held,
to which came delegates from Newfoundland,
Canada, and Mexico, as well as from the United States. This
congress formulated a programme designed to make the natural
resources of North America of greatest use to present and future
generations. The National Conservation Commission collected
an immense amount of valuable information, but the hostility
of certain Congressmen resulted in 1909 in its being denied an
appropriation for further activity. Its place was partly taken
by an unofficial National Conservation Commission, whose first
president was ex-President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard.
Another organization which did excellent work was the
Country Life Commission, designed not so much
to promote better farming as to improve living
conditions in rural districts and render country life
more attractive. This commission also was bitterly opposed
by certain congressmen.

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 335

President Roosevelt's reforming activities aroused bitter
antagonism among ultraconservatives and selfish interests,
but his popularity among the people increased rather than
diminished. In the congressional elections of 1906 his admin-
istration again received an overwhelming vote of confidence.
Included in the majority membership of Senate and House,
however, were many men who were either openly or covertly
hostile to the President, and this hostility became more and
more manifest as his term drew toward its close.

Late in 1907, soon after the imposition of the great fine
against the Standard Oil Company, a financial stringency,
amounting in some centres to a panic, developed. There were
runs on many banks and trust companies, but the
1907" financial interests combined for mutual protection,
clearing-house certificates were issued as an emer-
gency currency, and only a comparatively few institutions went
to the wall. Basically the business of the country was sound,
and the flurry was mainly a "money panic"; it was often re-
ferred to as the "rich man's panic." In some of the great in-
dustrial centres lack of employment developed, but the West
suffered comparatively little and the farming class were not
much inconvenienced.

One result of the panic was the passage of the Aidrich- Vree-
land bill, authorizing national banks to issue emergency notes
in times of financial stress. The act was intended as merely
Aidrich a temP°rary measure, and was to expire June 30,
Vreeiand 1914. It provided for a National Monetary Com-
mission, composed of nine representatives and nine
senators, with Senator Aidrich of Rhode Island as chairman.
This commission investigated currency and banking questions
and ultimately brought in a report, but legislation was delayed
until after Wilson came into power.

Some of the President's enemies charged that the panic was
due to the activities of "Theodore the Meddler," but many of
his friends declared that the flurry was "manufactured" by
trust magnates in order to discredit the attempts of the Presi-
dent to subject them to the law.

336 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

As fairly good business conditions soon returned, Roosevelt's
popularity suffered no serious diminution, and, as the time for
the political campaign of 1908 drew near, an insistent demand
arose that he should accept a "second elective term."
^e Pomted to his self-denying statement of 1904,

to Carry but the demand was so strong that it was only by
Policies. setting his face firmly against it that he prevented

his renomination and probably his re-election. He
was anxious, however, that his successor should be some one
who would carry out his policies. Among the candidates were
Senator Knox of Pennsylvania, Governor Hughes of New York,
Governor Cummins of Iowa, Vice-President Fairbanks, Senator
La Follette of Wisconsin, Speaker Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois,
Senator Foraker of Ohio, and Secretary of War Taft. Roose-
velt's choice fell upon Taft, and he threw his influence strongly
to him. As governor of the Philippines, member of the cabinet,
and in the conduct of numerous special missions Taft had dis-
played abilities of a high order. There was no great enthu-
siasm for him personally, but he received extensive financial
assistance from his half-brother, Charles P. Taft, a multi-
millionaire of Cincinnati, while Roosevelt's support rendered
his success certain. When the Republican convention met in
Chicago in the middle of June, he was easily nominated on the
first ballot. His nomination was considered a victory of the
progressive element of the party. For the sake of harmony
the vice-presidential nomination was given to the conservatives,
and Representative James S. Sherman of New York became
Taft's running mate on the ticket.

In its platform the party confidently asked for its continu-
ance in power on the basis of past performance. The achieve-
ments of the Roosevelt administration were lauded in resound-

ing periods. "In no other period since national
Platform. sovereignty was won under Washington, or pre-

served under Lincoln," ran one sentence, "has there
been such mighty progress in those ideals of government which
make for justice, equality, and fair dealing among men."
Among the measures promised for the future were amendment

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 337

of the Antitrust Act, currency reform, modification of the power
of federal courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes, and re-
vision of the tariff. This last task was to be carried out "by
a special session of Congress immediately following the in-
auguration of the next President." "In all tariff legislation,"
so ran the platform, "the true principle of protection is best
maintained by the imposition of such duties as will equal the
difference between the cost of production at home and abroad,
Tariff together with a reasonable profit to American in-

Revision dustries." This language was not very specific,

and the platform said nothing as to whether re-
vision would be up or down, but in speeches made during the
campaign Taft explained that revision would be downward.
This pledge later rose up to plague him.

In the Democratic party the "safe and sane" wing had lost
prestige in the disastrous campaign of 1904 and the radicals
were again in the saddle. Bryan had kept before the country

by lecturing and by publishing a political paper
Kern" called the Commoner, and had laid plans for again

leading the party in 1908. Other men were men-
tioned for the honor, but when the national convention met at
Denver (July 7, 1908) Bryan was nominated by a great majority,
with John W. Kern of Indiana as the vice-presidential can-
didate. The platform contained the usual criticisms of the
party in power, and, among other things, favored tariff and
currency reform and a more stringent antitrust act, and prom-
ised changes in the power of federal judges to issue injunctions
in case of strikes.

Both Taft and Bryan made extended speaking tours, but the
campaign proved even duller than that of 1904. With return-
ing prosperity the people were well satisfied with Republican

rule and evinced small desire for a change. In the

rp F»

Elected. election Bryan received 1,323,000 more of the pop-
ular vote than had Parker, yet Taft's popular plu-
rality amounted to about 1,270,000, while the electoral vote
stood 321 for Taft, 162 for Bryan. Debs, who was once more
the Socialist candidate, received 420,820, which was an increase

338 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

of only 18,000 over that of four years before. The Populists,
who appeared for the last time, polled only 29,146, being sur-
passed by an ephemeral organization known as the Independence
party.

In the final session of the Sixtieth Congress the breach which
had long been perceptible between President Roosevelt and
certain conservative Republicans in the House and Senate be-
A Rift in came decidedly wider. The leaders of this " stand-
Republican pat" element in the Senate were Aldrich of Rhode

Ranks

Island and Hale of Maine; in the House, Speaker
Cannon. Of these men Roosevelt later wrote in his Autobi-
ography: "I made a resolute effort to get on with all three
and with their followers, and I have no question that they
made an equally resolute effort to get on with me. We suc-
ceeded in working together, although with increasing friction,
for some years, I pushing forward and they hanging back.
Gradually, however, I was forced to abandon the effort to per-
suade them to come my way, and then I achieved results only
by appealing over the heads of the Senate and House leaders
to the people, who were the masters of both of us. I continued
in this way to get results until almost the close of my term; and
the Republican party became once more the progressive and
indeed the fairly radical progressive party of the Nation. When
my successor was chosen, however, the leaders of the House
or Senate, or most of them, felt that it was safe to come to a
break with me, and the last or short session of Congress, held
between the election of my successor and his inauguration four
months later, saw a series of contests between the majorities'
in the two houses of Congress and the President, — myself,—
quite as bitter as if they and I had belonged to opposite political
parties." Dire consequences to the party in power were ulti-
mately to result from the divergencies thus revealing them-
selves. But at the moment the sun of Republicanism seemed
to shine out of practically a clear sky, while Democratic pros-
pects had rarely seemed darker.

The administration thus closing was undoubtedly one of the
most remarkable in American annals, and Roosevelt retired

ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM 339

amid the enthusiastic plaudits of an admiring people. As an ad-
ministrator he had displayed remarkable foresight and won-
Rooseveit's derful ability to get things done. He was not con-
Achieve- tent to wait until a situation became desperate: he

ments and . * .

Character- acted in accordance with a favonte aphorism, to
the effect that nine parts of wisdom is being wise
in time. His success in bringing things to pass was partly due
to careful planning and remarkable driving force but also in
large measure to a rare talent for picking efficient men and
inspiring them with an enthusiasm for public service. No
American of his time had so many admiring friends or so many
bitter enemies. It was highly creditable to be assailed by
some of the men who sought to pull him down, yet it must be
said that he alienated and antagonized — often on small matters
— some men as well meaning as he. This was largely due to
what was probably his chief weakness, namely, an excessive
tendency to controversy and denunciation. It was proper
enough, perhaps, for him to put certain individuals into his
"Ananias Club," or to classify some others as "nature fakers" or
"malefactors of great wealth," but not infrequently he scorched
with vitriolic language persons who hardly deserved such treat-
ment. Furthermore, he often engaged in wordy controver-
sies when silence would have been the better course. It was
like gunning for flies with an elephant-rifle. But these were
minor blemishes on a great and noble character. Judged
merely as an individual, as a specimen of the genus homo, he
was the most remarkable man of his age, one of the few most
remarkable of all ages. A celebrated Englishman, John Mor-
ley, said that he had been impressed by two great natural phe-
nomena in America — Niagara Falls and Theodore Roosevelt.

For more than a quarter of a century he fought in the fore-
front of good causes, standing where the fighting waxed fiercest,
giving and receiving mighty blows, and exulting in
American. t^ie iov °f conflict. No one preached patriotism
and civic righteousness so effectively as he, or
taught so many to scorn what is base and ignoble. He brought
into public life an inspiration that will abide for generations.

Long ago it was written that without vision the people perish.
Theodore Roosevelt wrote:

We, here in America, hold in our hands the hope of the world,
the fate of the coming years, and shame and disgrace will be ours
if in our eyes the light of high resolve is dimmed, if we trail in the
dust the golden hope of men.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE NEW WEST

RECENT decades have continued to behold a marvellous
transformation in the West. In 1870 Idaho, Washington, and
Oregon combined had a white population of only 130,000; of
R ;d these, 91,000 were in Oregon, largely in the won-

increasein derful Willamette Valley. Seattle, founded in
1852, had only 1,100, and Tacoma, founded in
1868, only 73. In ten years the population of the region more
than doubled, while the decade of 1880-90 witnessed an even
greater increase. By 1910 Idaho contained 325,594 people,
Oregon 672,763, Washington 1,141,990. Seattle had multi-
plied over two hundred times, and had 237,194; Tacoma over
a thousand times, and had 83,743. Portland, an older city
than either, had 207,214. The acquisition of Alaska and the
expansion of trade with Hawaii, Australia, and the Orient were
important factors in building up all the Pacific States, and San
Francisco Bay and Puget Sound had come to be among the
busiest waters in the world.

By 1910 California had added $2,000,000,000 to the world's
gold supply, but mining was then only one of many industries.
A great diversity of manufactures had sprung up. Even pe-
troleum had been discovered, though the fact that

California. .,..,, , _

California oil has an asphaltum, not a paraffin, base
renders it better fitted for fuel than for illuminating or rapid-
combustion purposes. Lumbering and the growing of a wide
variety of agricultural and horticultural products, including
oranges and grapes, employed great numbers of people, as did
stock-raising and many other occupations. Tens of thousands
of people of wealth had been drawn thither to make their homes
by the wonderful natural beauty of the country, and the agree-
able climate. With an area larger than that of some empires,

34i

342 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

with populous cities, great universities, celebrated authors, and
wonderful natural advantages as regards climate, location, and
otherwise, California possessed an individuality all her own
and was famous throughout the world.

Democratic fear of increasing Republican strength long de-
layed the admission of some of the northwestern States, but in
1889 an omnibus bill conferred statehood upon Montana, Wash-
ington, and North and South Dakota, the last two

New Stutcs

being formed by dividing the immense Dakota
Territory. Wyoming and Idaho were admitted the next year.
Utah, the "child of the desert," had prospered under the patri-
archal reign of Brigham Young, and had a population double
that of Idaho and three times that of Wyoming, but, owing to
popular hostility to Mormonism, had to wait for statehood
until 1896. Oklahoma, after vainly knocking for years, was
admitted in 1907; Arizona and New Mexico, whose large Mex-
ican population long kept them out, were finally admitted in
1912. From the Atlantic to the Pacific not a single Territory
remained.

Railroads continued to be a vital factor in the life and devel-
opment of the West. New trunk lines and "feeders" were
constructed, and roads were consolidated into great systems,
in which process many spectacular fights took place between
rival magnates. These magnates were often unscrupulous as
to methods; they bent governors to their will, corrupted judges
and State legislatures, dominated whole States.

Such a railway-empire builder was Edward H. Harriman,
who gained control of the Union Pacific when it was tottering
financially, built it up, and used it as a lever to extend his
power. In a titanic conflict in 1901 for the con-
tr°l of the Northern Pacific he was beaten by the
combined strength of J. P. Morgan and James J.
Hill, but he gained possession of the Southern Pacific, and east
of the Mississippi controlled the Illinois Central and the Georgia
Central, with their branch lines. At his death in 1909 he con-
trolled about 25,000 miles of road, had a strong influence in
the management of roads aggregating 50,000 miles more, and

THE NEW WEST 343

also controlled important banks and steamboat lines. He used
this great power ruthlessly; his word had practically the force
of law in certain States, including California; he defied even
the federal government.

A magnate of a different type was James J. Hill, who came to
control transportation in the Northwest much as Harriman did
that of the Southwest. Born in Ontario in 1838, he settled in

St. Paul, which was then a small frontier town,
m™es worked in steamboat offices, and finally engaged in

fuel and transportation enterprises for himself. In
1878, with three associates — two of them later prominent in
the building of the famous Canadian Pacific — he managed to
obtain control of "a pitiful heap of unrelated scraps" known
as the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, though its lines extended
only a few hundred miles west of the Mississippi. Hill soon
became the dominant figure in the enterprise, reorganized the
road under a new name, pushed out extensions, and greatly
aided in the rapid settlement of Minnesota and Dakota. But
his great dream was a transcontinental of his own. Critics
sneered at the thought of constructing a new line between the
Canadian Pacific, in the building of which he had played a
part, and the Northern Pacific; they called the project "Hill's
folly." But Hill persevered, and in 1893 completed a road
connecting St. Paul and Lake Superior with Seattle and the
Pacific coast. Branch lines were thrown out to north and
south, and a line of steamships was established to Japan and
China, thus realizing the old dream of John Jacob Astor, the
founder of Astoria on the Columbia. Not only did Hill by his
transportation activities contribute immensely toward the
settlement of the Northwest, but he was a pioneer in pro-
moting many ideas which that section and the whole country
needed. He encouraged diversified farming, introduced better
breeds of stock, urged the use of better seed, established model
farms, and preached the conservation of natural resources. A
generation passed before he succeeded in hammering his ideas
into the bucolic brain, nor was he alone in the work, but the
ultimate results justified his labors. In an age when railway

magnates and other millionaires were objects of well-nigh uni-
versal suspicion, most people made an exception for "Jim"
Hill, as he was affectionately called, and he was rightly regarded
as one of the real statesmen of the country.

There are many persons still living who studied in their
youth geographies containing maps on which a large part of
the West bore the inscription, "Great American Desert."
The "Great Shortly before the Civil War an eminent scientist

American of the Smithsonian Institution emphatically de-
Desert "

clared that the region west of the g8th meridian,

which runs through eastern Nebraska and central Kansas,
"is a barren waste ... a wilderness, unfitted for the use of
the husbandman, although in some of the mountainous valleys
at Salt Lake, by means of irrigation, a precarious supply of
food may be obtained." Even as late as 1870 it would have
been difficult to find any one to contradict General Hazen when
he said that there could be no general agriculture between the
looth meridian, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Canada, and
Mexico.

There was an element of truth in these old views of the West,
but not the whole truth. Approximately at the pyth meridian
"the region of assured rainfall ends and the arid region be-
gins." To eastward of that line droughts are not
Region" uncommon, but generally the rainfall is sufficient
for the production of crops; to westward droughts
are so much the rule that special methods must be resorted
to in order to render the production of crops at all certain.
Long before the American conquest the mission fathers in Cali-
fornia had brought water to their land by artificial means, and
prior to 1850 Brigham Young and his Mormon followers had
begun to transform the arid region of Salt Lake by irrigation,
but elsewhere Americans were slow to realize the possibilities
thus disclosed.

The first Easterner of prominence to champion irrigation was
Major John Wesley Powell. This soldier and scientist was best
known for an adventurous descent of the Colorado River
through the great canyon, now a Mecca for tourists. He was

THE NEW WEST 345

long director of the federal geological survey, and as such car-
ried out extended investigations in the West, the results of which
Work of were published in 1879 in his great report on The
Major Lands of the Arid Region. It is not too much to say

Lowell

that he "organized the work that laid the founda-
tion for the great irrigation development." From first-hand
observation he knew that in the arid West were vast plains and
great valleys, fertile of soil but bearing little more than cactus
or sage-brush, to which it would be only necessary to bring the
vivifying power of water in order to make such land as produc-
tive as any in the world.

In the decade following the publication of Powell's report
Congress authorized some investigations into the possibilities
of irrigation, but the only actual development of irrigation proj-
ects was done by private individuals or companies.
Act, 1894^ IR several States enterprises due to private initiative
were carried into successful operation, and consider-
able tracts of land were redeemed from the desert. In 1894
Congress gave a great impetus to such work by passing the
Carey Act, offering to each of the States hi the arid region a
million acres of public land, provided the States would see to
it that such land was reclaimed and settled. Several States
accepted the proposal, and then gave to private corporations
the rights to irrigate the land and sell it to settlers.

But private initiative was not equal to the vast task of re-
claiming the arid lands, and men began to ask that the nation
itself should take up the work of making such lands fit for
Th R la- settlement. An important factor in developing
mation Act, public sentiment along this line were the Irrigation
congresses, the first of which was held at Salt Lake
City in September, 1891. The platforms of both the great
parties in 1900 declared in favor of federal aid for reclamation
work, and in the following year, in the person of Roosevelt,
there came into the presidency a man who really understood
the West, its needs and its possibilities. In his first message
to Congress Roosevelt declared that "forest and water prob-
lems are perhaps the most vital internal problems of the United

346 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

States," and largely as a result of his energetic support Con-
gress (June, 1902) passed the Newlands Reclamation Act, fa-
thered by Francis G. Newlands, a Democratic representative
from Nevada. The act appropriated for reclamation purposes
95 per cent of the money received from the sale of public lands
in the West, and put the work in charge of the Department of
the Interior. Future generations will probably regard the act
as one of the most beneficent ever passed by Congress.

The reclamation work was at first in charge of the Geological
Survey, but in 1908 a special Reclamation Service was estab-
lished, and for the post of director a man of great competence
The was selected in the person of Frederick H. Newell,

Reclamation who was already chief engineer of the work and who,
with Gifford Pinchot, had been largely instrumental
in inducing the President to take up the subject. Many great
projects were begun, and vast sums were expended under the
Reclamation Act and under another act of 1910, which author-
ized the issuance of $20,000,000 in certificates of indebtedness
for use in the work. Private initiative also continued to accom-
plish important results, and a decade after the passage of the
Reclamation Act a member of the Reclamation Service could
write:

Irrigation canals representing an investment of one hundred and
fifty million dollars, and long enough to girdle the globe with triple
bands, have spread oases of green in sixteen arid states and terri-
tories. An annual harvest valued at not less than two hundred
and fifty million dollars is the desert's response to the intelligent
application of water to her sun-burned valleys. Practically all
of this stupendous miracle has been wrought within the past
quarter of a century, and a large part of it by individual enter-
prise. The Great American Desert no longer calls up a vision of
desolation and horrors. With the westward march of settlers, its
boundaries have shrunken. Railroads have thrust its barriers
aside. Its flowing streams and its underground waters are being
measured and studied, and we are beginning to grasp faintly a
little of its potential greatness. Conservative engineers, on the
basis of our present knowledge, estimate that not less than thirty
million acres are yet reclaimable by water from the streams which
drain it.

THE NEW WEST 347

Since the above was written many million more dollars have
been expended, both by individuals and by the government.
By 1918 the total amount expended by the Reclamation Service
Later amounted to about $125,000,000. Water had been

Progress. provided on the government projects for about a
million and a half acres, and about a million acres were under
cultivation. Some of the dams built to impound the water
are wonderful structures; among the most notable are the
Engle dam on the Rio Grande River, the Roosevelt dam on
Salt River in Arizona, and the Shoshone dam in Wyoming, the
last-named being the loftiest in the world. The land irrigated
by the Reclamation Service is sold to settlers, and the money
invested thus forms a sort of "revolving fund" that can be
used in developing future projects.

The success of reclamation has been so great in the arid re-
gion that it is probable that in course of time irrigation will
be used in more humid regions. Even in the Middle West
hardly a summer passes in which there is not a dry period that
damages crops, while every few seasons a drought occurs that
causes an almost total failure.

The West has been transformed in fifty years, yet its real

development has hardly begun. Sight should not

Possibilities, be lost of the fact that two-thirds of the total area of

the United States lies to westward of the Mississippi

River. Of what immense populations may not this region be

the home in generations not far distant !

In the early portion of our period the West was poor and
radical. Populism and many another "ism" came out of Kan-
sas and other Western States. Now the West is prosperous
and more conservative. Western statesmen have
Less Radical ceased to boast of being "sockless" or of the length

Formerly °^ ^eir whiskers. In sections in which, in the early
'go's, farmers were burning corn for fuel, and knew
not where the money was to come from with which to pay the
interest on the mortgage, the same men or their sons ride in
high-power motor-cars, clip coupons from government bonds,
and grow indignant over the proposals of wild-eyed agitators
in Chicago or New York.

348 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

The progress of Alaska under American rule long continued
to be exceedingly slow, and the white population remained so
small that it was not until 1884 that the new possession was
SlowDe- given a civil government, and not until 1912 that
veiopment it was permitted to have an elective legislature.
Owing to remoteness and transportation difficul-
ties, to high mountains and unfordable rivers, to swarming
mosquitoes in summer and frightful cold in winter, years passed
before large stretches of the vast interior were even explored.
In 1883 Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, who had had experi-
ence as an Arctic explorer, led a party which floated down the
Yukon from its headwaters, and Schwatka's book describing
the trip made this great waterway better known to the world.
Other exploring expeditions gradually unlocked Alaska's ge-
ographical secrets and disclosed, for example, that Denali,
or Mount McKinley, an immense snow peak 20,300 feet high,
forms "the top of the continent."

From a financial point of view, outside interest in Alaska was
long chiefly confined to trading with the Indians for furs and to
the interesting and highly profitable fur-seal industry. In
1869 the federal government leased the sealing rights
Fisii.ai on tne Pribyloff Islands, where the seals chiefly

congregated, to the Alaska Commercial Company
for twenty years, and in 1890 made a new contract with the
North American Company. Both the companies and the
government obtained large financial returns from the fur-seal
industry, but pelagic sealing in Bering Sea by Canadians and
others resulted in international complications that have been
described in an earlier chapter. About 1878 enterprising Ameri-
cans began to establish canneries near the mouths of the rivers,
in order to take advantage of the vast "run" of salmon, which
leave the sea and ascend the streams to spawn. In a few vears
the industry was annually producing immense quantities of
food valued at many millions of dollars.

When Alaska was purchased optimists predicted that it
would be found to contain vast mineral resources. In 1880
quartz veins were discovered in the region about Juneau, near

THE NEW WEST 349

the southern extremity. Most of the ore was low grade, yield-
ing only a few dollars in gold per ton; but working conditions

were favorable, and one mine, the famous Tread-
RushG°ld we^> on Douglas Island, soon became one of the

most productive in the world. As early as 1873 a
few prospectors began operations in the upper Yukon country.
But the region was exceedingly remote, the working season
was short, food and transportation difficulties were enormous,
and it was not until the rinding in 1896 of fabulously rich placer
deposits along Klondike Creek that the world at large learned
of the mineral possibilities of the Yukon country. The "Klon-
dike" lies over the boundary in British America, but rich au-
riferous deposits were soon found on streams emptying into the
Yukon in the true Alaska and even around the head of Cook
Inlet and about Nome, near Bering Strait. Hordes of gold-
seekers hastened from all over the world toward the diggings,
and braved incredible hardships in a hyperborean land of tall
mountains, muskegs, swift rivers, snow, and bitter cold to reach
the region of their hopes. Many died on the way, thousands
turned back, many more thousands found only disappointment,
a few "struck it rich" and dug out great sums in gold dust.
The camps were picturesque and lively, but more orderly than
those of California in '49; there were comparatively few rob-
beries and murders — little need for lynch law. The battles
fought were mostly with hostile nature, but it was not a life
for weaklings. The " sour-dough " poet, Robert Service, wrote
truly:

"This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:
'Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your

sane —

Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core.' "

Most of the gold-seekers soon returned to their homes, and
during the first decade of the new century Alaska gained only
about a thousand in population, the number of inhabitants in
1910 being 64,356, of whom 25,331 were Indians. Vast coal,

350 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

copper, and other mineral deposits were known to exist; inte-
rior valleys were even thought to possess great agricultural and
grazing possibilities; reindeer raising had been suc-
Resources. cessfully introduced; but the further development
of the country waited on the construction of better
methods of transportation and a more definite governmental
policy regarding the natural resources of the country. Even'
so, however, "Seward's Folly" was annually producing, in
minerals, fish, furs, and other products, more than five times
its purchase price.

The mighty Yukon affords entrance for 2,000 miles to the
heart of the country, and by 1913 a few short railway lines had
been built by private companies, but otherwise inland trans-
portation was mostly carried on by dog-sledge, pack-
Government train, and on the backs of men. The great cost of
the Trans- railway construction and the unlikelihood of early
portation profits discouraged private initiative in the devel-
opment of better transportation facilities, and in
1912 a railroad commission appointed by President Taft re-
ported in favor of the government's taking up railway-building
in Alaska. Early in 1914 Congress authorized the President
to construct and operate not to exceed 1,000 miles of railroad
in Alaska, at an expense not to exceed $35,000,000. A route
extending from Seward to Fairbanks, with a branch to the Ma-
tanuska coal-fields, was selected in 1915, and work was soon
afterward begun. Operation was to be by the government.

Many difficulties remain to be overcome before Alaska's re-
sources can be fully developed, but there can be little doubt
that the region is a great natural storehouse from which for
ages to come our people can draw for use and enjoyment.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT

ON the eve of March 3, 1909, a hundred thousand visitors
had gathered in the capital to witness the installation of a
President whose administration, it was confidently expected,
would be prosperous and successful. The broad equipment
and varied training of William H. Taft for the high position to
which he had been called were admitted on every hand, and his
genial good nature was so pronounced that he had few personal
enemies even among his political opponents. The weather
bureau forecast fair weather for the great day, but an unex-
pected "flare-back" swept down upon the city, bringing such a
fierce storm of wind, snow, sleet, and rain that for the first time
in over a century the inaugural oath had to be administered
indoors. In after years men who looked back to that stormy
day felt that it foreshadowed coming events — an administra-
tion that seemed likely to pass calmly and serenely yet that, in
reality, proved full of turmoil and ended in disaster.

From his predecessor's cabinet the new President retained
only two men, namely, George von L. Meyer, who was trans-
ferred from the post-office to the navy, and James Wilson,
secretary of agriculture. Wilson had taken that
Cabinet. position in 1897, and he remained in office until
1913, the longest term of a cabinet member in the
history of the country and a period in which a vast amount of
progress was made in developing scientific agriculture. For sec-
retary of state President Taft chose Senator Philander C. Knox
of Pennsylvania, who had been attorney-general in 1901-04;
and for attorney-general he named George W. Wickersham,
a New York lawyer. In general, it was a cabinet that was
notable for legal learning rather than for political sagacity or
breadth of view. In some quarters it was assumed that the

352 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

President chose so many lawyers because he believed their
training would be helpful in translating into effective enact-
ments the sentiment in favor of reform aroused by the agitation
under his predecessor.

Soon after his retirement that predecessor sailed for the wilds
of East Africa to indulge his fondness for natural history and
big-game hunting. With him he took his son Kermit and a
^ scientists from the Smithsonian Institution.

Roosevelt

Goes to The party reached Mombasa in April, and soon

Africa. j . J . . . '

plunged into the remote interior, where for many
months Colonel Roosevelt and his son hunted rhinoceroses,
lions, elephants, and other savage beasts with great success.
Meanwhile President Taft was left free to make or mar his ad-
ministration, without suggestion or dictation from his former
chief.

In reality Taft's position was much more difficult than was
popularly supposed. Within his party there existed a pro-
gressive and a conservative wing. The progressives enthusi-
Taft's astically favored the " Roosevelt policies " and would

Difficult be bitterly disappointed at any faltering in uphold-
ing or promoting them. The conservatives, who
were more powerful than numerous, bitterly disliked those
policies and were determined to put an end to them. In the
beginning Taft appears to have hoped to steer a course which
would enable him to obtain the support of both factions. But
to do so successfully was beyond his or any other man's powers.
Furthermore, as perhaps he failed to see, the political situation
was such that unless he worked with the progressive element
he really served the purposes of the conservatives, for they were
satisfied to stand still, and if the President did not aid the pro-
gressives to drive the wagon forward, the conservatives gained
their object.

The first important task taken up was the revision of the
tariff. In accordance with the platform promise, the President
summoned Congress in extra session (March 15, 1009), and the
Solons set to work upon a new tariff bill. It quickly developed
that neither Republicans nor Democrats would be able to

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 353

present a united front on the issue. Some Republicans opposed
any reductions in the schedules, or even wished to build the
tariff wall still higher; others favored carrying out their can-
didate's pre-election pledge to lower it. Even many Demo-
crats forgot their free-trade principles in their eagerness to se-
cure the highest possible protection for articles produced in
their States or districts. As usual, the pressure from protected
interests proved tremendous, and the capital swarmed with
lobbyists.

As the Senate was controlled by a coterie of extremely high-
tariff Republicans, headed by Senator Aldrich, and the House
by another, headed by Speaker Joseph G. Cannon, it was clear
that decided downward revision was unlikely un-
AidrichyAct. less the President forced it by aggressive action.
But Taft took the ground that the executive ought
not to dictate to the legislative branch, and merely used his in-
fluence in a mild way. He succeeded in securing free entrance
into the United States for Philippine products in limited
amounts, and in substituting a tax on the net earnings of cor-
porations in place of an inheritance tax, but most of his sug-
gestions for downward revision were ignored. After months
of jockeying Congress finally passed what is known to history
as the Payne-Aldrich Bill, and the President signed it. Twenty
Republican representatives and seven Republican senators de-
nounced the measure and refused to vote for it. Among these
"insurgent" senators were Dolliver and Cummins of Iowa,
Beveridge of Indiana, Bristow of Kansas, and La Follette of
Wisconsin. President Taft confessed that the woollens sched-
ule was unsatisfactory, but in a speech delivered at Winona,
Wisconsin, in September, 1909, he pronounced the bill, as a
whole, the best tariff law ever made. This view found few sup-
porters except among reactionary Republicans and the protected
interests.

The "insurgents" who revolted against the Payne-Aldrich
Bill were mostly men who had ardently supported the Roose-
velt policies. Their number was soon increased by a scandal
in the Department of the Interior. As head of that department

354 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Taft had appointed Richard Achilles Ballinger, a Seattle law-
yer and politician, who for a time had been commissioner of
B ... the general land-office under Roosevelt. While not

Pinchot in the public service he had become attorney for
the "Cunningham claims" to valuable coal deposits
in Alaska. The legality of these claims was doubtful, and many
persons believed them fraudulent and part of a plan on the
part of the Morgan-Guggenheim Syndicate — popularly known
as the " Morganheims " — to gobble up the rich natural resources
of Alaska. Among those who believed the claims fraudulent
were Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot and Messrs. Shaw, Glavis,
and Price, of the Forestry Service. All of these men were offi-
cials in the Department of the Interior, and hence were subor-
dinates of Ballinger. Believing that Ballinger was betraying
conservation, they ignored bureaucratic red tape and appealed
over his head to the President and people. Taft deemed them
guilty of insubordination and dismissed them from the ser-
vice; at the same time he declared his confidence in Ballinger.
The controversy caused a great uproar, and many newspapers
and magazines of progressive sympathies upheld Pinchot and
attacked Ballinger. It was charged that Taft had not suffi-
ciently investigated the matter, and, though both he and Bal-
linger were warmly defended, many people felt that he had
put too much emphasis upon mere official punctilio and too
little upon public efficiency. Later a representative of the
Morgan-Guggenheim Syndicate admitted that his company
held options on many of the Cunningham claims, all of which,
it may be added, were finally held by the courts to be void. A
congressional investigating committee "whitewashed" Bal-
linger, but he continued to be a target for bitter criticism, and
ultimately (March 6, 1911) he resigned.

Whatever may have been the merits of his course in the
Pinchot-Ballinger controversy, it is beyond question that Taft
remained loyal to conservation. He appointed ardent con-
servationists to fill the vacancies created by the dismissal of
Pinchot and his associates, secured important legislation to

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 355

safeguard the movement, and withdrew from entry many mil-
lion acres of water-power sites and of coal, petroleum, and
mineral lands. He also secured legislation providing for the
purchase of forest reserves in the White and Appalachian
Mountains, already referred to.

But it was beyond his power to close the rift that had opened
A in Republican ranks. Before a year of his admin-

Republican istration had passed, and while Roosevelt was still
in the African jungles, it was clear to keen observers
that the party was facing the greatest crisis in its history.

The crisis was all the graver because of the character of the
times. It was an age of unrest, of striving after things unat-
tained, perhaps unattainable. Men were not only demanding
social and industrial reforms, but were beginning
of Unrest. to contend that our whole political system, includ-
ing even the Federal Constitution, needed over-
hauling. That document, the critics asserted, was framed in
the eighteenth century for a decentralized society, chiefly agri-
cultural in character and as yet untouched by the transforming
influences of the Industrial Revolution. There were then no
steamships, no railroads, no telegraphs, no factories, no stock
exchanges, no tenement-houses, no trusts, no labor-unions, no
cities of even 50,000 people, nothing virtually, except Mother
Earth and human nature, that entered into the transformed
world and its problems. Conditions change, and political in-
stitutions must change with them, else countries become petri-
fied, as did China. "Broad construction" and certain amend-
ments had helped to adjust the Constitution to the demands of
a new age, but further changes were needed, and fundamental
amendments were virtually impossible because the process pre-
scribed is so difficult that conservative influences intrenched in
a few States could block changes. As things stood, the critics
complained, legislators must devote a large share of their atten-
tion to considering not whether a law was needed, but whether,
if passed, the courts would adjudge it constitutional.

Criticism of the courts was wide-spread and often virulent.

356 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Even fairly conservative people, including many lawyers, said
that they were dilatory, that they were often swamped by
technicalities and hide-bound by precedent. More
radical critics declared that they were dams to the
progress of social justice, gave too much weight to
property rights and too little to human rights, that they served
as bulwarks of privilege, that the judges themselves lacked an
"understanding heart."

In all parts of the country, and particularly in the West and
Middle West, it was felt that conservative and even reactionary
influences too often controlled courts, executives, and legisla-
tive bodies; and a wide-spread demand developed
More*" Direct for more "direct government." Four devices for
meat1"1" checkmating the nefarious designs of "bosses"
and special interests were considered especially
promising: namely, primary elections, the initiative, the refer-
endum, and the recall.

Until recently it had been customary for the law to ignore
the operations of parties and to regulate only elections. The
nomination of persons for office had been left to extra-legal
Prima - rules drawn up and administered by parties them-
Eiection selves. But parties frequently fell into the hands
of "rings," which controlled conventions and put
up men likely to betray the public interests. When both the
great parties in a city or State nominated such candidates,
citizens could only take a choice between two evils — or else
resort to the doubtful device of nominating an independent
ticket. Political observers had long realized that one of the
greatest weaknesses in the American political system was this
unsatisfactory method of selecting candidates; and an increas-
ing number of men were insisting that nominations, like elec-
tions, must be put under legal restrictions. Prior to 1908 laws
regulating primary elections were enacted in a number of
Western and Middle Western States, including Wisconsin,
Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, and the two Dakotas; and a
strong demand for similar legislation arose elsewhere. The
innovation was opposed by political bosses and special in-

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 357

terests, and by some well-meaning men of conservative ten-
dencies.

The demand for the initiative, referendum, and recall grew
out of conditions that had long created wide-spread dissatisfac-
tion. Legislatures would frequently refuse to pass legislation
which the public desired, or would enact bad laws,

Initiative,

Referendum, while corrupt or incompetent officials would cling

and Recall. , . , , . ,

to power because the process of impeachment was
unwieldy and uncertain. By the initiative voters could them-
selves propose laws and enact them at elections. By the refer-
endum they could prevent or annul unpopular or unsatisfactory
laws. By the recall they could remove dishonest, incompetent,
or unpopular officials. Reduced to their lowest terms, these
devices constituted an attempt to adapt the principles of the
old town meetings of New England to the complicated condi-
tions of a great and populous republic. At the tune that the
Taft administration came into power all of these three devices
were in use in Oregon, and a few other States had adopted the
referendum and recall. Agitation in favor of the new "direct
democracy" was spreading elsewhere, but encountered bitter
opposition in conservative and reactionary quarters.

By way of anticipation it may be said here that primary-
election laws of one sort or another were ultimately adopted
in most of the States, but ignorance of the requisites of a good

law and underhand work on the part of enemies of
Adoption of the system combined to make many of these laws
System^ more or less unsatisfactory. Political machines

and the selfish interests back of the machines
naturally fought the primary plan and, when forced to concede
such laws, often contrived to make them imperfect. To be
really effective, a primary law should be as stringent as for an
election. Furthermore, it should be combined with what is
known as the short ballot, for it is useless to expect the voter
to be able to display much discrimination if he is called upon
to name a great number of officers. Many political scientists
believe that we elect too many officers. In their opinion it
would be better to diminish the number of elective positions,

358 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

to elect only a few men, to let them appoint the rest, and thus
concentrate responsibility. The voter would then be able to
form an intelligent opinion as to the character and abilities
of the candidates, either at the primary or at the election. The
ordinary voter cannot do this when there are a score or more
of positions to be filled and the aspirants number hundreds.
The amount of money which can be expended by a candidate
should be strictly limited. Some authorities are inclined to
believe that a majority rather than a plurality of votes should
be required; otherwise, a well-organized minority may win.
In order to secure such a majority, a system of preferential
voting has been evolved whereby the voter can express not
only his first but also his second and third choices. But no
system can be evolved that will beat the bosses unless a majority
of the citizens are fully awake to their responsibilities. After
all, the great advantage of the primary is that it enables an
aroused public sentiment to take the party organization away
from a political ring more easily than where the old convention
system prevails.

The initiative, the referendum, and the recall have been less
initiative widely adopted than the primary system, and their
Referendum, use js still mainly confined to the West and North-

and Recall . , . '

Still on west. Final judgment cannot yet be passed on
these devices. Where they have been tried they
have scored some successes and some failures.

Americans are too much inclined to lay the blame for mis-
government on faulty systems when some of the causes lie deeper.
Improved governmental devices may prove helpful, but, no

matter how ingenious, they cannot neutralize igno-
Defective , ' . .._

institutions ranee, nor make up for the indifference which allows

Bkme°than what is everybody's business to be nobody's busi-
Defective ness except the politician's. Better political sys-
tems are needed, but, above all, a higher sense of
righteousness and responsibility among voters. Most of our
misgovernment results not from defective institutions but from
defective citizenship. A stream cannot rise higher than its
source, and thus far no political hydraulic ram which will raise

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 359

the best men in a democracy into office has been devised. Be-
fore we can have any real regeneration in our governmental
affairs there must be a regeneration of the American people.

The demand for reform helped to accentuate the differences
in the Republican party. On the one hand stood men of a
conservative or reactionary type who thought that the reform-
ing impulse had already gone far enough, or even
t,/°8 too far. On the other hand stood the progressively

tivesSerVa inclined, who believed that only a beginning had
been made, that the world is a changing world, that
institutions must be overhauled and modified to meet new
conditions. As already stated, President Taft, though advo-
cating some progressive measures, seemed to stand with the
conservatives. His defenders assert that thereby he showed
his greatness. In their view the things for which his critics
clamored were not the things the people ought to have had.
Taft, they contend, stood up for the old and sound order, and
sacrificed himself to save the foundations of constitutional
government against ruthless innovation.

As time passed Taft became increasingly unpopular. This
was due partly to his policies, partly to his personality, partly
to the very nature of the situation in which he found himself.
It was his misfortune to follow one of the most bril-
Misfortune. ^ant political leaders who ever lived — a veritable
superman, who possessed a wonderful capacity for
doing and saying interesting and impressive things. Through-
out, Taft continued to have defenders, but, after Roosevelt, he
seemed to many people to be unimaginative, unromantic, prosy,
and dull.

At first, however, the main wrath of progressives was directed
not at Taft but at the body of conservative Republicans who
controlled Congress. These men were so powerful
Pat Ring in that they had arrogated to themselves practically
Overthrown. a11 legislative power. Almost nothing could be ac-
complished against their opposition. In the House,
for example, Speaker Cannon and his fellow stand-patters
controlled procedure so thoroughly that Republicans who were

360 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

out of sympathy with them found it almost impossible to ob-
tain the floor in order to speak. Cannon was a picturesque old
man from the Danville district of Illinois, much given, despite
his Quaker origin, to the use of fine-cut tobacco and profanity.
He was generally called "Uncle Joe," and was always cartooned
with a tip-tilted cigar between his teeth. He was a man of
ability and had once enjoyed decided popularity, but his enemies
declared that he was So conservatively inclined that "if he had
attended the caucus on Creation he would have remained loyal
to Chaos." Most of his popularity had now vanished and an
urgent demand had arisen that he should be shorn of his auto-
cratic powers. After frequent parliamentary skirmishes a num-
ber of insurgent Republicans, headed by Norris of Nebraska
and Murdock of Kansas, united with the Democrats, in March,
1910, and wrested control from Cannon and the stand-patters.
Cannon was permitted to retain the speakership, but the power
of appointing committees was taken from him and his author-
ity was otherwise circumscribed. This revolution in the House
foreshadowed a greater one that was impending.

The public was eager to learn what attitude ex-President
Roosevelt would take toward the Taft administration. In the
spring of 1910 Colonel Roosevelt, his son Kermit, and the ac-
companying scientists returned to civilization from
Roosevelt. ^e African jungle by way of Victoria Nyanza and
the Nile. At historic Khartoum the party was met
by many newspaper men; thenceforth the ex-President's journey
resembled a triumphal procession. In Italy he was joined by
Gifford Pinchot, whom Taft had discharged from the forestry
service, and from Pinchot he doubtless heard something of the
course of politics at home, and in particular about the BalHnger
scandal. In Europe he was received with enthusiasm by peo-
ple and crowned heads alike, and delivered a series of notable
addresses that attracted world-wide attention. On June 18,
1910, he reached New York City and was accorded a spon-
taneous, enthusiastic, and universal reception. In a speech
made on landing he said that he was ready and eager to do his
part in helping to solve problems which must be solved, if the

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 361

people were to see the destinies of the republic "rise to the
high level of our hopes and its opportunities. This is the duty
of every citizen, but it is peculiarly my duty, for any man who
has ever been honored by being made President of the United
States is thereby, forever after, rendered the debtor of the
American people." Upon the subject of the breach in the Re-
publican party he long remained discreetly silent, but it was
noticed that his relations with the Taft administration were
slight, and that in his speeches and in his writings as associate
editor of The Outlook he advocated progressive measures.

The congressional and State elections of 1910 attracted more
than usual attention. In response to a wide-spread public
call, Colonel Roosevelt, not long after his return, took a vigor-
ous part in the Republican State convention in New York and
wrested control of the party organization from the reactionary
Barnes machine. He also made a long speaking tour through
the country, but his efforts were mainly directed in favor of
"insurgent" candidates, and he refrained from saying much
in praise of the Taft administration. The Democrats, how-
ever, accused him of "straddling" in the interest of party soli-
darity.

At Ossawatomie, Kansas, at a celebration in honor of John
Brown, he delivered (August 31, 1910) a notable address which
attracted wide-spread attention. In it he set forth his creed
of "New Nationalism." After advocating certain
Nationalism." reforms which he considered necessary to meet
changed conditions — such as tariff-revision, conser-
vation, a graduated income tax, labor legislation, direct pri-
maries, and recall of elective officers — he urged that federal
authority should be increased in order to make it strong enough
for every national purpose. In particular he advocated the
elimination of what he had long called "the twilight zone"
between State and federal authority, which served "as a refuge
for lawbreakers, and especially for lawbreakers of great wealth,
who can hire the vulpine legal cunning which will teach the
way to avoid both jurisdictions. . . . The American people
are right in demanding that New Nationalism without which

362 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

we cannot hope to deal with new problems. The New Nation-
alism puts the national need before sectional or personal advan-
tages. It is impatient of the utter confusion that results from
local legislatures attempting to treat national issues as local
issues. It is still more impatient of the impotence which
springs from the overdivision of government powers, the im-
potence which makes it possible for local selfishness or for legal
cunning, hired by wealthy special interests, to bring national
activities to a deadlock. This New Nationalism regards the
executive power as the steward of the public welfare. It de-
mands of the judiciary that it shall be interested primarily in
human welfare rather than in property, just as it demands
that the representative body shall represent all the people
rather than one class or section of the people."

The Democrats entered the campaign full of hope, and fought
vigorously. They were aided by discontent in the Republican
ranks, and for the first time in eighteen years they won the
popular verdict. They carried such States as New
. Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts,
and Connecticut, secured a majority of over sixty
in the House of Representatives, and greatly reduced the Re-
publican majority in the Senate. Many "progressive" Re-
publican candidates escaped the cataclysm, which was especially
disastrous to "stand-patters," many of whom were defeated
in the election or in the conventions that preceded it. This
outcome was humiliating to the administration, for Taft had
taken his stand with the "stand-pat" wing and had even tried
to read some of the progressive leaders out of the party. A
minor but significant feature of the election was that the So-
cialist vote was greatly increased and that for the first time
this party elected a member of Congress, in the person of Victor
L. Berger of Milwaukee.

Realizing that the Payne-Aldrich Act had been one of the
main causes of Republican defeat, President Taft sought to
retrieve that political blunder. The act had authorized him
to appoint a tariff board to assist him in applying maximum
and minimum rates; he now set it to work collecting informa-

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 363

tion to be used in some future revision of schedules. He also
negotiated a reciprocity pact with Canada (January, 1911),
„ ,. whereby it was agreed that the duties on such Ca-

Reciprocity, nadian products as wood-pulp, rough lumber, paper,

and wheat should be abolished or lowered, while
corresponding concessions should be made to American agricul-
tural implements and certain other commodities. The measure
had much to recommend it, but American farmers and lumber-
men raised the cry that it sacrificed their interests to those of
manufacturers. Many Republicans opposed the pact; most
Democrats supported it. By use of whip and spur Taft forced
through the House a bill embodying the terms of the agreement,
but the Sixty-First Congress came to an end before a vote was
taken on it in the Senate. Taft, therefore, called an extra session
of the new Congress, and after a long and bitter fight the mea-
sure was finally forced through. In times past Canada had
vainly begged for reciprocity, but conditions had changed in
the Dominion, which now had "infant industries" of its own
desiring protection. In September, 1911, a general election was
held to ascertain the attitude of the voters on the question. It
resulted in the overwhelming defeat of the Laurier government,
which had negotiated the agreement, and in the consequent
rejection of reciprocity. The outcome still further weakened
the Taft administration.

In the new Congress the House of Representatives was, of
course, controlled by the Democrats. Champ Clark of Missouri
succeeded Cannon as speaker, while Oscar W. Underwood of

Alabama became chairman of the Committee on
TarffiBiik Ways and Means. The Democrats and "insurgent "

Republicans combined to carry through both houses
a farmer's free-list bill, which removed the duties on such articles
as boots and shoes, wire fencing, and agricultural implements;
a bill revising the notorious "Schedule K"; and a bill reducing
the duties on cotton manufactures, chemicals, and certain other
articles. Taft vetoed all these "pop-gun" measures, as they
were called. Next year he dealt similarly with an iron-and-
steel bill and a new woollens bill. The tariff, therefore, be-

364 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

came a leading issue in the campaign of 1912, and Democrats
raised the cry that they would reduce duties and lower the cost
of living.

Despite its failures, the Taft administration could point to a
number of constructive achievements. Numerous arbitration
treaties were concluded with foreign powers, New Mexico and
Constructive Arizona were admitted to statehood, and in 1910 a
Achieve- postal- savings system and in 1912 a parcels-post
were established. This last innovation had long
been successful abroad, but the great express companies had
hitherto prevented its adoption in the United States. It was
operated in connection with the post-office, and the business
quickly assumed mammoth proportions, 700,000,000 parcels
being carried the first year.

The period of Taft's presidency also saw the submission by
Congress of two long-advocated constitutional amendments.
The first of these empowered Congress to levy an income tax
Sixteenth and w^tnout tne necessity of apportioning it among the
Seventeenth States according to population. The second pro-
vided for the election of United States senators by
popular vote instead of by the legislatures. Both amendments
were ratified. The income-tax amendment was proclaimed a
part of the Constitution on February 25, 1913; the other on
the 3ist of the following May. Submission of the income-tax
amendment had been agreed upon while the Payne-Aldrich
tariff act was under consideration. The other amendment
was the outcome of a wide-spread belief that selfish special in-
terests too often controlled the choice of senators in legislatures.

Five vacancies occurred in the Federal Supreme Court dur-
ing Taft's administration. Thus it fell to him to appoint a
majority of that august tribunal. On the death of Chief Justice
Changes in Melville Fuller, who had presided over the court for
the Supreme twenty-two years, Taft promoted Associate Justice
Edward D. White of Louisiana to fill the vacancy.
Of the other appointees the most notable was Charles E.
Hughes, whom we have already met as governor of New York.
White and two other appointees were Democrats. In naming

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 365

them the President showed that he wished to avoid packing
the court with Republicans. Bryan and other critics charged,
however, that Taft was careful to select jurists who, whatever
their political affiliations, were of a conservative cast of mind.
In June, 1910, at the request of the President, Congress
created a new Commerce Court, whose main duty should be to
consider appeals from decisions made by the Interstate Com-
merce Commission. This tribunal's career proved
Court*"* short and stormy. It assumed powers that the
Supreme Court held to be beyond its jurisdiction,
some of its decisions were unpopular, and one of its judges,
Robert W. Archbald, was impeached by Congress for having
had improper financial relations with certain railway corpora-
tions. In 1913 Congress abolished the court altogether.

As set forth in an earlier chapter, the Supreme Court in 1911
decided long-pending suits against the Tobacco trust and the
Standard Oil Company, and ordered the "dissolution" of those
companies. The administration hailed the decisions
Anti-Trust as great judicial victories. But the general public
Defective expressed skepticism regarding the practical value
of the decisions, and failed to wax enthusiastic over
the filing of other suits. As Roosevelt and others had long held,
the Sherman Act was not a satisfactory solution of the trust
problem. It exercised a restraining effect that was doubtless
wholesome, but suits brought under it tended to unsettle busi-
ness, and when cases were won the practical results often proved
disappointing. As one commentator on the trusts wrote:
"Combinations are Protean, and we are baffled by shadowy
communities of interest which seem to have no bodies we can
grasp. Our lawyers perform inscrutable incantations, making
many stock certificates grow where one grew before, but the
people are not satisfied that these ceremonies have exorcised
the spirit of monopoly from the body of large business."

Long before 1912 it became certain that any attempt to re-
nominate Taft would meet with bitter opposition. Many Re-
publicans, including some who had been most ardent in his
support in 1908, were deeply dissatisfied with his course and

366 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

believed that the interests of the country demanded a change;
others, fearing that it would be impossible to re-elect him, felt
Taft Desires t^iat ^ would be better to put forward a stronger
aRenomina- candidate. But Taft and his friends made light
of the opposition, and determined to force his re-
nomination as a "vindication." They controlled the party
machinery in most of the States, could obtain ample funds, and
could depend upon receiving the aid of most of the Republican
leaders. Few of these had any special admiration or love for
Taft, but in the progressive movement against him they recog-
nized a menace to their power.

The movement against Taft began to take definite shape
early in 1911. Senators La Follette, Bourne, Clapp, Cummins,
and Poindexter, Representatives Norris, Murdock, and Lenroot,
The and others, both in and out of Congress, formed a

Progressive definite Progressive Republican organization, whose

Movement. . .

main objects were to promote progressive measures
and beat Taft. Some of the leaders encouraged La Follette to
seek the nomination. As the presidential bee had long been
buzzing in La Toilette's bonnet, it did not require much persua-
sion to induce him to enter the lists. In the summer of 1911 he
began an active campaign for the nomination. In the follow-
ing October his candidacy was indorsed by a na-
Candidacy!8 tional conference of Progressive Republicans; and
yet, as time passed, it became clear that, despite dis-
satisfaction with Taft, La Follette was making small headway,
and would not be able to defeat the President. In Wisconsin,
in the Senate, and through the pages of a weekly newspaper
which he owned and edited, La Follette had fought vigorously
for progressive measures and was one of the pioneers of the
movement. He had attracted much attention by going about
the country and reading the "roll-call" of the votes of reaction-
ary senators and representatives on public measures. He had
a small following in almost every section of the country, but he
lacked the confidence of some even of the Progressive Repub-
licans, and few of his friends and admirers knew how to trans-
late public sentiment into delegates to conventions. Practical

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 367

progressives soon perceived that there was only one man in the
country who stood a chance to turn President Taft and his sup-
porters out of their intrenched position, and he was not Senator
La Follette. On February 2, 1912, while under a great mental
and physical strain, the senator made a long and injudicious
speech in Philadelphia before a meeting of publishers, and this,
with other developments, soon resulted in wholesale desertions
from his banner.

For months there had been developing an insistent demand
that Colonel Roosevelt should enter the race, and his disin-
clination to answer the call only increased the clamor, which

ultimately reached cyclonic proportions. The
Roosevelt!** Colonel's position was peculiarly difficult, not to

say embarrassing. A large section of the party of
which he had once been the idolized chief had risen in revolt
against the man he had set over them, and were now demand-
ing that he should come from retirement and aid them in
driving the incumbent from power. He had little to gain,
perhaps much to lose, in returning to public affairs. His posi-
tion in history was assured. The honors he had received at
home and abroad were sufficient for the most ambitious of men.
He had disclaimed any intention of again being a candidate,
though he later explained that his announcement in 1904 re-
ferred only to a renomination in 1908. If he entered the con-
test, he would certainly be assailed with the bitterest virulence
by old enemies; it was equally certain that he would alienate
many former friends. It was doubtful whether he could be
nominated, and yet more doubtful whether, if nominated, he
could be elected. But he was deeply dissatisfied with the course
of his former protege. His sympathies lay with the insurgents,
who, in times of need in many a bitter fight, had always stood
unflinchingly at his back. Doubtless he felt that to refuse
their call would be equivalent to deserting them in their ex-
tremity. Furthermore, there can be little question that a de-
sire to see written into law his plans for "a New Nationalism"
was a strong factor in his ultimate decision. If he could wrest
control of the party from the stand-pat leaders and set its feet

368 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

anew on the progressive road, he believed that he would ac-
complish something worth while, even should he be defeated in
November. Therefore, after long consideration, in reply to
the appeal of seven Republican governors, he announced that
his hat was "in the ring." He made the fight on a platform of
progressive principles, including the initiative, the referendum,
and the recall of elective officers, but, as a substitute for the
recall of judges, he suggested a recall of judicial decisions.

The announcement of Roosevelt's candidacy precipitated the
greatest pre-convention battle ever seen in American politics.
The contest was an even one, for, though Roosevelt had a far
larger personal following than had Taft, the Presi-
foreDelegates. dent's supporters controlled the party machinery
in most of the States. In the Southern States
especially, none of which had chosen a Republican elector since
1876, the party was almost synonymous with the federal office-
holders, most of whom shaped their political course according
to the wishes of the powers in Washington. Protests had often
been made against this vicious state of affairs, and some pro-
posals had been made to diminish Southern representation, but
nothing had been done, and in 1908 Taft, apparently with
Roosevelt's acquiescence, had profited by the situation. In
all the Southern States and in many of the Northern States the
old convention system, uncontrolled by law, was still in vogue,
and this greatly simplified the task of the Taft managers, who
hurriedly began to grind out Taft delegates with precision and
despatch. The old-line politicians, in their desperation, dis-
played no squeamishness as to means and methods, for their
backs were to the wall and they knew that their own power,
as well as that of the President, was at stake.

Had the convention system existed everywhere, Taft's nomi-
nation would soon have been assured, but it chanced that in a
number of Northern and Western States a system of
Eiections.ary preferential primaries, safeguarded by law, had re-
cently been established. In some districts where
the convention system still prevailed the Roosevelt managers
succeeded in choosing the delegates; from many others they

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 369

sent contesting delegations; but they concentrated their chief
efforts on the States having primaries. The first election of
this sort took place in North Dakota and resulted in favor of
La Follette, with Roosevelt second and Taft trailing far in the
rear. Roosevelt then took the stump in his own behalf and
attracted vast crowds. Taft followed his example, and the
fight soon grew bitter. The President denounced the Roose-
velt supporters as "political emotionalists or neurotics," and
declared that their success would mean the downfall of our in-
stitutions. In reply Roosevelt charged Taft with having fallen
under the control of reactionary bosses, and said that though
Taft often meant well he meant well feebly. With but few ex-
ceptions the preference primaries resulted in Roosevelt's favor.
In Wisconsin his supporters left the field open to La Follette,
who carried the State over Taft; Taft secured a small plurality
in Massachusetts, but lost the 8 delegates at large and 10 of
the district delegates. Roosevelt swept Illinois by 138,000,
and carried Nebraska, Oregon, Maryland, California, Pennsyl-
vania, New Jersey, South Dakota, and even Taft's own State,
Ohio, in most cases by enormous majorities. Out of 360 dele-
gates elected in primaries safeguarded by law, La Follette ob-
tained 36, Taft 46, and Roosevelt 278. In most of the States
where a real Republican party existed Roosevelt secured the
delegates; Taft controlled all the Territorial and insular dele-
gates and most of those from the Southern States, with a con-
siderable number from New York and other Northern States
whose political machinery was controlled by his friends. In
Iowa, where the convention system was still in existence,
Senator Cummins was a candidate. Roosevelt did not oppose
him, and the delegation was about evenly divided between
Cummins and Taft.

Roosevelt's supporters declared that so clear an expression
of the preference of the Republican rank and file ought to be
decisive. Under ordinary conditions this might have been the
case, but the bitterness aroused was exceedingly great, and
many conservatively inclined Republicans, who stood aghast
at the idea of breaking the "third- term" precedent or feared

370 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

such innovations as the recall of judicial decisions, encouraged
the Taf t managers to persist in their plan of renominating him
Th at any cost. Therefore the Taft men retorted

Contested that they were under no obligation to change the

Seats- r .u UM *u

rules of the game while the game was in progress,

and proceeded with their programme. As they controlled a
big majority of the national committee, they were able to dic-
tate the decisions regarding the more than two hundred con-
tests heard by that body. Less than a score of these contested
seats were awarded to the Roosevelt claimants.

The national convention met at Chicago (June 18) amid in-
tense bitterness and with the Roosevelt supporters openly cry-
ing "Steam-roller !" and "Fraud !" In response to a call from
his friends, Roosevelt himself went to Chicago and
Supporters helped to manage his campaign from outside the
Convention convention hall. He was received with great en-
thusiasm by his followers and said that he felt as
strong as "a bull moose." The Taft forces showed signs of
wavering and a few delegates went over to the Roosevelt side;
it was only by heroic work that Taft's lieutenants managed to
hold the rest in line. Many of the contests were brought be-
fore the convention, but the Taft contestants who had been
seated by the national committee were permitted to vote on
one another's right to retain their seats, and after a riotous
and dramatic contest the Taft forces managed to organize the
convention and to elect Senator Elihu Root as temporary chair-
man over Governor Francis McGovern of Wisconsin, the
Roosevelt nominee, by 558 to 502. The bitterness of the con-
test may be inferred from the fact that when Root rose to de-
liver his "key-note" address, he was greeted with derisive cries
of "Receiver of stolen goods!"

After further vain efforts to secure a reversal of the conven-
The Protest tion's stand regarding contested seats, Henry J.
Roosevelt Allen of Kansas read (June 22) a statement to the
Delegates. effect that the national committee had stolen a great
number of seats, that the convention no longer represented the
party, and that the Roosevelt delegates would decline to vote.

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 371

"We shall sit in protest," said Allen, "and the people who
sent us here shall judge us." Many of the Roosevelt delegates

left the hall and most of those who remained re-
Sherman. fused to take part in the proceedings. Amid these

depressing circumstances what was left of the con-
vention proceeded to adopt a platform and to renominate Taf t
and Sherman.

That night Roosevelt's supporters met in Orchestra Kail
and, amid tumultuous scenes of excitement and enthusiasm,
informally nominated Roosevelt. The Colonel himself ap-
Roosevelt peared in the hall and declared that he had been
Nominated defrauded, and that, if such practices as had pre-

luformally. ' J ,

vailed were condoned and should meet with perma-
nent success, it would mean the downfall of the republic. He
asked that a more formal convention be held later and prom-
ised that he would accept a nomination tendered by that body
or would support any other man it might select.

Meanwhile a vigorous but less spectacular contest had been
waged for the Democratic nomination. In that party, as
among the Republicans, there was a conservative and a pro-
T, gressive wing that was anxious to control, while

Democratic many candidates were eager to lead their party to

Contest. * • * A X

expected victory. Among these were Governor
Judson Harmon of Ohio, Congressman Oscar Underwood of
Alabama, Speaker Champ Clark of Missouri, and Governor
Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. Harmon and Underwood
were most favored by the conservative element; Wilson was
regarded as the leading progressive candidate; while Clark's
lieutenants flirted with both factions. In both conventions
and primaries Clark won the greatest number of delegates,
with Wilson second. Clark would undoubtedly have been
nominated had it not been for the Democratic rule requiring a
two- thirds majority.

The determining influence in the convention was exercised
by William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was determined not to
permit reactionary control, and would undoubtedly have pre-
cipitated a breach in the party rather than submit to defeat on

372 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

this vital matter. In the pre-convention contest he had op-
posed .Harmon's candidacy on the ground that Harmon was a

friend of Wall Street, and he had even taken the
Course* stump in Ohio against him. When the national con-

vention met at Baltimore (June 25), Bryan assumed
the leadership of the progressive forces. At first the conserva-
tives controlled, and elected Judge Parker as temporary chair-
man over Bryan by 579 to 510. But Bryan appealed to the
rank and file of the Democracy at home, and in consequence
so many protesting telegrams came pouring in to the conven-
tion that many of the delegates who had been supporting the
conservatives changed their allegiance and enabled the pro-
gressives to have their way both as to platform and candidates.
On the third day of the convention Bryan precipitated a great
uproar by presenting a resolution declaring the convention
opposed to the nomination of any candidate for President who
was the representative of, or under obligations to, any "member
of the privilege-hunting and favor-seeking class," and demand-
ing the withdrawal from the convention of certain capitalist
delegates whom he considered as members of that class. In
support of his resolution, which he admitted was "extraordi-
nary," Bryan declared that there was not a delegate in the
hall who did not know that an effort was being made "to sell
the Democratic party into bondage to the predatory interests."
After a sensational debate Bryan consented to withdraw the
last part of his resolution, and what remained was adopted by
a great majority; even many reactionaries voted for it as a
matter of policy.

On the first ballot Clark received 440^, Wilson 324, Harmon
148, Underwood 117^, with 56 scattering. For many ballots
thereafter Clark had a plurality, and on the tenth ballot Tam-

many Hall threw its support from Harmon to Clark,
Secures the and Clark received a small majority. But Bryan,

who had been voting for Clark because under in-
structions to do so from the Democrats of Ne-
braska, viewed this development with a wintry eye, and in the
course of the fourteenth ballot he declared that he would with-

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 373

hold his vote from Clark as long as New York's plutocratic
influence was thrown *.o him. He therefore threw his vote to
Wilson, in whose b.nalf he had been working for some time.
Bryan's defection proved a death-blow to Clark's candidacy.
The balance began to incline toward Wilson, who sprang into
the lead on the twenty-eighth ballot, and on the forty-sixth re-
ceived the needed two-thirds. For the vice-presidency the con-
vention named Governor Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana.

The Democratic presidential nominee was a newcomer in
politics. He was born at Staunton, Virginia, December 28,
1856, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and was the son of a Presbyte-
rian minister. After graduating from Princeton and
fr°m the law school of the University of Virginia,
he practised for a short time at Atlanta; then he
took graduate work in Johns Hopkins University, and, after
receiving the degree of Ph.D., taught history, political science,
and kindred subjects at Bryn Mawr College, Wesleyan Uni-
versity, and Princeton University, becoming president of Prince-
tion in 1902. He wrote a popular history of the United States,
and a number of other works dealing with history or political
science. His entrance into practical politics was partly due to
the efforts of his friend and admirer, George Harvey, who per-
sistently advertised Wilson's merits in the pages of his maga-
zines— Harper's Weekly and The North American Review. In
1910 Wilson was nominated for governor of New Jersey, and
was swept into power on the tide of reaction against the Taft
administration. As governor he became involved in some bitter
quarrels with the reactionary Democratic machine, but man-
aged to secure the enactment of a number of progressive laws.
On the 5th of August a great convention of Progressives met
at Chicago. The delegates, among whom were eighteen women,
displayed an earnestness and enthusiasm which impressed even
The hostile newspaper correspondents; and delegates

Progressive and audience sang with the fervor of crusaders such
songs as the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and
"Onward, Christian Soldiers." Ex-Senator Beveridge fired the
hearts of his hearers with a "key-note" address, and Roosevelt

374 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

himself appeared and made a powerful "Confession of Faith,"
filled with pleas in behalf of social and industrial justice. The
convention formally nominated Roosevelt, with Governor
Hiram Johnson of California as his running mate. The new
party took the name of "Progressive," and adopted the "Bull
Moose" as its emblem. Members of the party were popularly
known as "Bull Moosers." The name had been suggested by
Roosevelt's words on his arrival at Chicago in June; it was first
used by enemies as a term of derision, but Progressives perceived
its possibilities and adopted it.

In their platform the Progressives combined the Hamil-

tonian system of nationalism with the Jeffersonian principle

of popular rule. The new party's mission was declared to be

to destroy "the invisible government" that sat en-

Nationahsm J '

and Popular throned behind the "ostensible government," and
"to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt
business and corrupt politics." The platform favored direct
primaries, the short ballot, the initiative and referendum, the
recall of executive and legislative officers and of judicial deci-
sions, woman suffrage, conservation, downward revision of the
tariff, a non-partisan scientific tariff board, and federal control
of industrial corporations engaged in interstate commerce; and
laid great stress upon a sweeping programme for social and in-
dustrial justice, including workmen's compensation, a minimum
wage for women workers, and prohibition of child labor.

Many Republican leaders professed to believe that the Pro-
gressives would cut little figure in the campaign, but time
quickly showed the hollowness of such predictions. Many of
the most influential men in the old Republican party,
Leaders!™6 including ex-Senator Beveridge of Indiana, Senator
Dixon of Montana, Senator Clapp of Minnesota,
Senator Poindexter of Washington, Gifford Pinchot, Hugh
Hanna, Oscar S. Straus, George W. Perkins, Medill McCormick,
James R. Garfield, and Charles S. Bird, enthusiastically took up
the Progressive cause. The Progressive platform appealed
strongly to idealists and social reformers, and many such per-
sons, including Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey, Raymond Robbins,

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 375

Antoinette Funk, and Jane Addams, declared themselves for the
new party. Many Republican nominees for presidential elec-
tors and other offices withdrew from the ticket in order to support
Roosevelt; in several States the Republican organization went
over to the Progressives almost intact; and in South Dakota
and California the Roosevelt electors ran as Republicans. In
Wisconsin, McGovern remained on the Republican ticket as a
candidate for governor, but stated that he would vote for Roose-
velt. Senator Cummins of Iowa announced that he would
continue a Republican, but said that Taf t had been nominated
by such fraudulent means that he would support Roosevelt.
Hadley of Missouri, one of the seven governors who had asked
Roosevelt to become a candidate, finally announced that he
would vote for Taft, though he expressed disapproval of the
methods used to nominate him. Senator La Follette, who had
been deeply disgruntled by the desertion of his candidacy,
made verbal warfare on both Taft and Roosevelt, particularly
on the latter. He accused the Progressive nominee of un-
bounded ambition and egoism and of being subservient to
trusts, and declared that Roosevelt had become progressive
only at the eleventh hour. In reply the Progressives republished
an article written by the senator in 1909, fulsomely praising
Roosevelt, who was then retiring from the presidency.

The Progressives threw themselves into the conflict with the
enthusiasm of crusaders, and won converts by the very ardor
of their canvass. By November the Bull Moose call was
echoing in every forest, and great herds were pour-
Moose" "call. mS through every valley and dale. If the Demo-
crats had nominated a conservative candidate, it is
possible that the Progressives would have won over enough
progressive Democrats to have achieved the seeming impos-
sible; but the selection of Wilson precluded any wholesale de-
sertions from the banner of Democracy. Even as it was, how-
ever, a number of rather prominent Democrats, including W.
Bourke Cockran of New York, and John M. Parker of Louisiana,
supported Roosevelt, while the election figures seem to indicate
that some hundreds of thousands of the Democratic rank and

376 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

file did likewise. On the other hand, it is certain that some
Republicans voted for Wilson in order to beat Roosevelt.

Almost from the beginning clear-sighted men saw that Wil-
son's election was certain, and that the only real doubt con-
cerned whether Taft or Roosevelt would be second in the race.
The bitterness that developed between Republicans
Canvass. an(^ Progressives surpassed anything of the sort
since the Civil War. Republicans called the Pro-
gressives "renegades," "traitors," "disappointed office-seek-
ers," "visionaries"; their leader was a "neurotic," a "dema-
gogue," u "boss boss," seeking to make himself "dictator";
and, strangely enough, an effort was made to convince the people
that he was in league with Wall Street. Progressives looked
upon the campaign as a new Armageddon, a battle between
right and wrong; Taft's nomination was a "steal" managed
by a "gang of crooks," and it was put through by an alliance
of "crooked business and crooked politics." Their most chari-
table judgment of Taft was that he was "well-meaning but
weak," and that he was surrounded by men who "knew what
they wanted," and were "neither weak nor well-meaning."

The Republicans covered dead walls with posters declaring
that "prosperity" was in danger and reminding voters that
"It is better to be safe than sorry." Their orators denounced
T, Roosevelt and the Progressives, and appealed to

Republican their hearers to remain loyal to the "Grand Old
Plea.

Party." Having learned in the primary contests
that he was not a vote-making campaigner, Taft made only a
few speeches, but in his few messages to the country he de-
fended his nomination as fair and honorable, declared the Pro-
gressives had split off "not for any principle, but merely to
gratify personal ambition and vengeance," characterized their
platform as "a crazy quilt," and predicted his own election.
In notifying Taft of his renomination Senator Root had declared
that the action of the Chicago convention had been in accord
"with the rules of law governing the party, and founded upon
justice and common sense."
Being confident of success, Wilson campaigned somewhat

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 377

leisurely, speaking with dignity and perspicacity to large audi-
ences. He dwelt upon the evils of the protective tariff, talked
much of the "New Freedom" that he was advocat-

Ine

Democratic ing for business and the people, and accused the
Progressives of seeking to legalize monopoly. On
the other hand, Bryan, who as usual made an immense number
of speeches, thought the Progressive trust remedy socialistic.

As befitted the "Bull Moose" candidate, Colonel Roosevelt
swept through many States, and everywhere he went the ex-
tent of his personal following was revealed in the vast crowds
who met to hear and cheer him. On the evening
°f October 14, when starting from a hotel in Mil-
waukee to the Auditorium, in which he was to
speak, he was shot by John Shrank, a half-crazed fanatic of
Bavarian birth, who had long cherished a grudge against Roose-
velt for having, when police commissioner of New York, closed
a saloon owned by Shrank's uncle. Fortunately the bullet
struck a manuscript and spectacle-case in the ex-President's
pocket, thereby weakening its force, but the missile entered his
breast, causing a deep wound and fracturing a rib. Without
waiting to ascertain the extent of his injury, Roosevelt pro-
ceeded to the hall and spoke for more than an hour to a large
and excited audience. Holding up the manuscript and show-
ing the hole through which the bullet had gone, he said: "It
takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose ! " Subsequently he
was taken to a Chicago hospital and later to his home at Oyster
Bay. Thanks to his temperate habits and iron physique, he
recovered rapidly, and was able shortly before the election to
appear at two monster meetings in New York City. His op-
ponents sought to minimize the political results of the episode,
some even criticised his course after the shooting, but it is be-
yond question that sympathy and admiration for his "game-
ness" won him many votes.

Most voters went to the polls believing that the main result
was a foregone conclusion, and the outcome justified this view.
Wilson carried 40 States, and won 2 of the electoral votes of
California, receiving a total electoral vote of 435 and a popu-

378 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

lar vote of 6,286,214. Roosevelt received n electoral votes
in California, and carried Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota,

South Dakota, and Washington, his total elec-
Eiected. toral vote being 88 and his popular vote 4,126,020.

Taft carried only Utah and Vermont, with 8 elec-
toral votes, and received a popular vote of 3,483,922. The
Democrats also elected a great majority in the House of Rep-
resentatives and a working majority in the Senate. The So-
cialist vote increased to 898,296, but that party lost its seat in
the House. In one sense the Democratic victory was not so
overwhelming as it seemed, for the combined popular vote of
Roosevelt and Taft exceeded that of Wilson by 1,323,728; and
the combined vote of all the minority parties exceeded Wilson's
vote by 2,458,741. In fact, owing to the peculiarities of our
electoral system, if 250,000 voters in the right States had trans-
ferred their ballots from Wilson to Roosevelt, the latter would
have received a majority of the electoral votes and the presi-
dency. Wilson had won, as Lincoln had won in 1860, as a re-
sult of division among his opponents.

The Progressives felt that they had gained a moral victory,
and declared that the large majority of Roosevelt's popular
vote over Taft's set at rest any question as to which man had

been the real choice of the Republican party,
the future? Most Progressives went further and proclaimed the

view that the Republican party was doomed to dis-
appear and that the Progressive party had a glorious future
before it. In reality, however, dissatisfaction with Taft and
enthusiasm for Roosevelt had been important factors in the
great Progressive showing, and many voters had cast their bal-
lots for Roosevelt without ceasing to consider themselves Re-
publicans. Serious as was the split — and the historian has to
go back to 1860 to find anything to equal it — it was not so
complete as it seemed. In many States and smaller divisions
Republicans and Progressives, though differing as to the heads
of the ticket, supported the same candidates for Congress and
local offices. This state of affairs proved chiefly to the advan-
tage of the Republicans, and, though badly outvoted by the

THE PROGRESSIVE REVOLT 379

Progressives in the presidential contest, they won many more
local offices and seats in Congress.

For the time being, however, decidedly the most interesting
political question was: Will the Progressive party or the Re-
publican party survive ? The answer depended in large measure
upon whether the course of the victorious Democrats proved
progressive or reactionary.

CHAPTER XX
THE "NEW FREEDOM" AND "WATCHFUL WAITING"

ON March 4, 1913, a great crowd assembled before the east
front of the Capitol to witness the inauguration as President of
the first Democrat who had taken that solemn obligation in
twenty years. The day was pleasant, the arrangements were
well made, and the multitude had an excellent opportunity to
see and hear the man who, in little more than two years, had
sprung from the presidency of a university to the presidency of
the nation. Woodrow Wilson's inaugural address was pitched
on a high plane, and its sentiments were decidedly "progressive"
in tone. The new President had a gift for language, and the
speech contained passages that were much admired. One of
the most quoted was as follows:

"This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here
muster not the forces of party, but the forces of humanity. Men's
hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's hopes
call upon us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to the great
trust? Who dares fail to try? I summon all honest men, all
patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me,
I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me."

In selecting his cabinet Wilson fulfilled most predictions and
pleased millions of Democrats by naming William Jennings
Bryan, Democracy's thrice disappointed leader, as secretary
B of state. Bryan's immense influence in the party

Secretary made some such offer almost compulsory; to have

of State , , . , ,. J'

ignored him would have been to alienate a great
section of the party at the very outset; furthermore, Wilson
owed the " Commoner " a great political debt for decisive work
done in the Baltimore convention. Bryan had never made any
profound study of the practices of diplomacy, but it was not
expected that the duties of the position would be very difficult,

380

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 381

and one of the ablest authorities on international law in the
country was called to the State Department as counsellor.

The other cabinet appointees were much less prominent.
The best known was probably Secretary of the Treasury William
G. McAdoo, who had won a reputation by building the first
Other tunnel under the Hudson River. In the following

Cabinet year he married one of Wilson's daughters, and he
proved to be the man upon whom the President
leaned most. Of the other members probably the most capa-
ble was Franklin K. Lane of California, a former member of
the Interstate Commerce Commission, who became secretary
of the interior. In the closing days of Taft's administration
the Department of Commerce and Labor had been divided, and
to the new Department of Labor the President called William
B. Wilson of Pennsylvania, a Scotchman by birth, one of the
founders of the United Mine Workers of America, and a mem-
ber of the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses.
Upon the whole it was a cabinet that was distinguished neither
for ability nor for the lack of it.

Five of the cabinet appointees were Southerners by birth,
though McAdoo, like the President himself, had settled in the
North. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, the Demo-
cratic leaders in the House and Senate, even twelve
in Control, members of the Senate chosen from Northern and
Western States, were likewise Sou them- born; there
were more Confederate than Union veterans in Congress; the
chairmen of most of the great committees could sing "Dixie"
much better than " Marching through Georgia." It was truly
said that the South was "back in the Union and in charge of
the Union."

To many Democrats the change in administration was chiefly
interesting because it afforded a prospect for offices. But
time and civil service reform had worked great
ofh0fikeess.ti°n changes. Presidents Roosevelt and Taf t had placed
the consular service, many subordinate positions
in the diplomatic service, and practically all post-office em-
ployees except first, second, and third class postmasters under

382 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

civil service rules, and had otherwise extended the merit system.
The incoming administration stood pledged to civil service re-
form, and Wilson was himself a vice-president of the Civil
Service Reform League. Upon the whole, the President seemed
inclined to uphold the merit system, and early in his second
administration he took a step forward by extending the com-
petitive system to all first, second, and third class postmaster-
ships. However, there were backward steps — the diplomatic
service was somewhat demoralized by substituting, in certain
cases, raw men for experienced diplomatists; and in this and
other departments Democratic spoilsmen found many ways of
rewarding "deserving" party workers.

The new administration hastened to take up the task of writ-
ing into law its legislative programme. During the campaign
Wilson had said much regarding economic evils and the reme-
dies he proposed to apply, and some of these
Freedom/* speeches, in revised form, had been gathered into
a book entitled The New Freedom, so called after a
phrase that recurred in it again and again. Many readers of
the book thought it vague in concrete proposals, but the gist
of it was that American economic conditions had been trans-
formed, great monopolies had sprung up, and the federal gov-
ernment had become "a foster-child of special interests."
Wilson said that he was for honest business, no matter how
"big," but he proposed to destroy monopoly, which he as-
sumed had been built up, not by economy, intelligence, or effi-
ciency, but by special favors and reprehensible practices; he
constantly insisted upon the "restoration" of older liberties,
and by this most people inferred that he meant to restore the
era of competition. Many political economists doubted the
virtue of his panacea.

In accordance with a determination announced soon after
his election, the new President speedily summoned Congress to
meet in extra session on April 7. When the two houses had
organized he revived a custom that had been disused since
the days of the elder Adams, and appeared before them in
person and read his message. This revival caused much com-

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 383

ment, some of it unfavorable; Wilson himself explained that
it enabled him to enter into closer relations with the legis-
lative branch. The fact was, he had decided to fol-

Wilson

Revives low the Roosevelt rather than the Taft conception

f* * (

Addressing o* tne presidential office; to assume the position of
Congress in a leader, even in legislative matters. In view of

Person.

the lack of coherence in his party, it is probable that
his decision was wise. Some Democratic legislators resented
his interference, but most, realizing how often their party had
failed because of lack of unity, submitted with surprisingly good
grace.

As the first steps in his programme, Wilson asked for the
passage of a new tariff act, a new currency-and-banking act,
and for new trust legislation.

The tariff was the first of these subjects taken up. In due
course a bill was reported from the House Committee of Ways
and Means by Chairman Underwood. It was based in large

measure upon the "pop-gun" bills vetoed by Taft.

The measure quickly passed the House by a vote

of more than two to one, but in the Senate delib-
eration proved much more extended. In both houses there
were the usual attempts at "trading," and agents of the pro-
tected interests flocked to Washington in such droves that Wil-
son issued a public statement denouncing the "extraordinary
exertions" of an "insidious and numerous lobby." Both
houses investigated the lobby evil, and the House committee's
inquiry, which reached back for thirty years, laid bare some
startling facts regarding the use of underhand and corrupt in-
fluences in determining legislation in the past.

The Underwood bill, as amended by House and Senate, was
finally enacted into law early in October. It was by no means
a free-trade measure, but it reduced duties on over nine hundred
.p. articles, especially on necessities, such as food and

Underwood clothing, and it placed raw wool, iron ore, steel rails,

and rough lumber on the free list. The sugar rates
were reduced a fourth, and that commodity was to be placed
on the free list from May, 1916. This sacrifice of the sugar-

384 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

growing interests of the country aroused much opposition in
the sugar-producing sections; both the senators and some of the
representatives from Louisiana voted with the Republicans in
opposition to the act. In that State the sugar schedule pro-
voked such an uprising against the Democratic party that in
April, 1916, the clause putting sugar on the free list was repealed.
The act also contained a clause designed to prevent the "dump-
ing" of foreign goods into the United States at ruinously low
rates; it established absolute free trade with the Philippines;
and it remitted 5 per cent of the duty on goods imported in
American ships, the idea being to encourage the development of
our merchant marine. The act did not provide for a tariff
commission of any sort, but subsequently agitation in favor of
such a body became so strong that in September, 1916, Con-
gress created a bipartisan Tariff Commission of six members
to gather information on tariff problems.

It was certain that the new tariff schedules would prove con-
siderably less productive in taxes than the old, so an income-
tax feature was added. A tax of i per cent was levied on the
profits of corporations and on individual incomes
m excess of $3,000 in the case of single persons, or
$4,000 of married persons. On large individual
incomes a graduated surtax was levied, running from i per
cent on incomes between $20,000 and $50,000, to 6 per cent on
incomes in excess of $500,000.

On June 23, while the tariff bill was still under considera-
tion in the Senate, President Wilson again appeared before Con-
gress and urged the enactment of a new banking-and-currency

Federal ^aw' ^^e nee<^ °^ some sucn measure had long been
Reserve recognized by both the great parties. Under Taft
the National Monetary Commission, headed by
Senator Aldrich, had reported a tentative scheme for reform, but
no legislation resulted. A measure known as the Glass-Owen
bill was introduced in the House three days after President
Wilson's appeal, and after long consideration and some amend-
ments it was enacted into law in December, after the regular
session had convened. The main objects of the act were to

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 385

provide a more elastic circulating medium, to reorganize bank-
ing in such a way as to render funds better available to meet
unusual demands, and to destroy the so-called "money trust,"
a gigantic concentration of money power the menace of which
had been emphasized by facts brought to light by a House com-
mittee late in the Taft administration. The act established a
system of reserve banks under the central control of a Federal
Reserve Board, consisting of the secretary of the treasury, the
secretary of agriculture, and the comptroller of the currency
ex officio, and of four other members appointed by the President
with the approval of the Senate. It also authorized the issu-
ance of "federal reserve notes" on the security of commercial
paper instead of government bonds, as in the case of the old
national-bank notes, for which the new notes were gradually
to be substituted. During the next few years the new system
proved equal to the needs of most unusual situations, though
at present (1920) some critics assert that it tends to a dangerous
inflation of the currency. It is not improbable that the act
will be considered the most notable achievement of Wilson's
first administration.

Early in 1914 Congress took up the trust problem. Five
bills, popularly known as the "five brothers," were intro-
duced, and after many months of deliberation two acts were

passed. One of these created a Federal Trade Com-
truTtActs. mission, modelled somewhat after the Interstate

Commerce Commission. The new commission was
given wide powers of investigating matters connected with in-
terstate trade and the management of corporations engaged in
interstate trade, and more restricted powers of enforcing
antitrust regulations forbidding unfair methods. The other
measure, the Clayton Act, prohibited interlocking directorates
of banks and other corporations and forbade discrimination in
prices when the effect would tend to produce monopoly, and
placed under the ban various other practices used by monop-
olists. Labor and agricultural organizations, "lawfully carry-
ing out the legitimate objects thereto," were exempted from the
provisions of the act, and, as a special concession to labor, the

386 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

injunction powers of the federal courts in labor disputes were
greatly curtailed. A bill to regulate the issue of stocks and
bonds by common carriers and designed to strike a blow at
the plundering practices connected with "watered stock"
caused so much opposition that it was dropped.

In some quarters the new trust measures were hailed as a
final solution of the great problem. Only time can tell whether
or not such predictions were well founded. It should be said,
however, that price manipulation and other evils continue, in
some cases to an extent hitherto unheard of. It would be un-
safe, therefore, to assume that the last word has been said on
the trust question.

In the enactment of all these laws President Wilson's influ-
ence was insistent and powerful. He gained his ends partly
by prodding but largely by persuasion. The docility with
which the Democratic factions submitted to his
Influence. driving was surprising, because for years that party
had seemed like a balky team, never willing to pull
together. Now and then Democratic pupils displayed signs
of restiveness, but "the schoolmaster" always proved his mas-
tery and enforced his discipline. "Mr. Wilson is the whole
thing at this juncture," wrote a veteran political observer in
Harper's Weekly early in 1914. "He dispenses the high and
the low and the middle justice. He has suffered no notable
rebuff in putting into effect his plans and his ideas. The proc-
esses of government reflect his will. The members of Congress
do not love him, but they do not doubt the quality of the
man. . . . He is, indeed, chief magistrate to the uttermost
fringe of his authority."

Both Wilson and Bryan came to their respective offices with
a passion for peace and with theories as to how it could be
maintained. Under Roosevelt more than a score of limited
arbitration treaties had been concluded with as
Arbftration. many nations, and under Taft the arbitration prin-
ciple had been still further advanced. Bryan
plunged into this sort of work with eagerness. In his opinion
wars usually result from action taken too precipitately, and he

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 387

believed, with much truth, that some plan for delaying action
until passions had cooled would be helpful. Less than two
months after assuming office he laid before the diplomatic corps
at Washington a proposal that each foreign nation should enter
into an agreement with the United States to submit to an in-
ternational tribunal for investigation and report any dispute
upon which an agreement could not be reached. During the
interval — the period suggested was one year — neither power
concerned should declare hostilities or increase its military
programme. The plan was cordially received in most foreign
capitals, and before the end of the year thirty-one nations signi-
fied a willingness to accept. Ultimately treaties embodying
the delay principle were concluded with most of the powers of
the world, including England and France. Germany and Aus-
tria, long the chief stumbling-blocks in the way of international
conciliation, held aloof. It was fortunate they did so. It is
easy to see that it would have been highly embarrassing in
February, 1917, for the United States to have been bound by
such a treaty with either.

As set forth in an earlier chapter, President Roosevelt ex-
pressed the view that in flagrant cases of "wrong doing or im-
potence" on the part of other American states, it might be-
come necessary under the Monroe Doctrine for the
United States to exercise "an international police
power." Acting on this theory, he established a
virtual protectorate over Santo Domingo. His successor sought
to make a similar arrangement with regard to Nicaragua, which
for years had been a scene of disorder and revolution, but he
met with much opposition in the Senate, which rejected one
treaty and failed to take action upon another. Notwithstand-
ing, Taft sent a representative to Nicaragua to take charge of
the customs. The opponents of the treaty were mainly Demo-
crats, some of whom contended that American activity in the
Caribbean region was chiefly due to selfish "dollar diplomacy,"
a name also bestowed upon American policy in the Orient.
But the logic of events, in the shape of continued disorders,
proved too strong for the Wilson administration. A new treaty

388 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

was negotiated in 1914 with Nicaragua and this was finally
ratified. Furthermore, anarchical conditions in Haiti forced
the United States in 1915 to impose a more radical protectorate
over that country than any yet arranged. By the treaty con-
cluded with Nicaragua the United States acquired exclusive
and perpetual right to construct an interoceanic canal across
that country, and also the right to use Fonseca Bay on the
Pacific coast and the Corn Islands on the Caribbean side as
naval bases.

By payment of $25,000,000 to Denmark the United States
in 1916 acquired the Virgin Islands, to the eastward of Porto
Rico. The United States had long desired the islands for stra-
Purchase of te^c reas°ns> and both Seward and John Hay had
the Danish negotiated treaties of cession, only to see the Danish

West Indies. _. 6.. ' .f. . . .

Parliament reject them — probably in the last in-
stance because of hostile German influence. But the Great War
had brought financial embarrassments to the Danes, and they at
last proved willing to dispose of their West India possessions.
Ever since the Panama revolution Colombia had nourished
a grudge against the United States. To promote better rela-
tions, and, critics asserted, to display disapproval of Roose-
velt's course in the matter, the Wilson administra-
Treaty D ^on negotiated a treaty with Colombia expressing
"sincere regret that anything had occurred to mar
the relations of cordial friendship that had so long subsisted
between the two nations." The treaty further bound the United
States to pay Colombia $25,000,000. But all the administra-
tion's efforts to pacify Colombia were balked by opposition in
the Senate.

Soon after Wilson's inauguration a renewal on the Pacific
coast of anti- Japanese agitation produced a serious diplomatic
controversy and gave the country some anxious moments,
but a much more persistent source of trouble was
the state of Mexican affairs. In that country for
many years Porfirio Diaz had maintained peace
with a hand of iron, and Mexico had witnessed great national
progress. The prosperity of the common people, the peons,

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 389

had not kept pace with mines, railroads, telegraphs, and other
signs of civilization. Most of the peons were poor and de-
graded, few of them could read or write, and many lived on
vast estates in a condition comparable to that of serfdom in
the Middle Ages. In 1910 the hundredth anniversary of Mex-
ican independence was celebrated with much ceremonial, and
Diaz received congratulations from all over the world upon the
success of his rule. But the nominal President and actual dic-
tator was now an old man, and had lost much of his once great
mental and physical vigor. Hardly had the echoes of the cele-
bration died away when uprisings broke out in Chihuahua and
Durango, and soon spread to other provinces. The chief leader
among the revolutionists was Francisco I. Madero, a member
of a wealthy and powerful family, who seems to have sincerely
desired to uplift his people. Finding resistance hopeless, Diaz,
in the following May, resigned and sailed for Europe. In Oc-
tober Madero was formally elected President, and a better day
for Mexico seemed to have dawned. But outbreaks against his
authority soon occurred, and in February, 1913, he was treach-
erously overthrown, taken prisoner, and assassinated. General
Victoriano Huerta, commander-in-chief of the army and one
of the conspirators responsible for Madero's destruction and
death, seized power as provisional president.

From the outset American property in Mexico had been de-
stroyed and American lives imperilled, but President Taft,
though often urged to intervene, confined himself to protests,
to concentrating (March, 1911) 20,000 regulars
alon8 the border, and to establishing (March 14,
1912) an embargo against the shipment of arms to
factions opposing Madero, whose authority he had recognized.
President Wilson also pursued a policy of what he later desig-
nated as "watchful waiting." He refused to recognize the
Huerta government.

Huerta's authority was never submitted to by all of Mexico,
and an armed movement against him was soon under way. The
party opposing him called themselves "Constitutionalists";
they were most active in the northern provinces, and their

3Qo THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

most noted leaders were Venustiano Carranza and Francisco
Villa. Carranza, who assumed the title of "provisional Presi-
dent," came of good family and was well educated,
amFvma. being a lawyer by profession. Villa sprang from the
peon class, had learned to write his name only after
attaining manhood, and had been and remained a bandit. But
he was a bold man, of rough, primitive force, with a natural
gift for leadership.

Though ostensibly giving aid to neither party President
Wilson desired the success of the Constitutionalists
intervention. anc^ made no secret of his wish to eliminate Huerta.
Negotiations designed to persuade Huerta to efface
himself failed. Outrages against Americans and other foreigners
continued, but, in spite of a growing demand for interven-
tion, Wilson held to his policy of "watchful waiting." The
cost of intervention in blood and money, fear that once in
Mexico we would either have to annex it or declare it a de-
pendency, unwillingness to interfere in the internal affairs of
other peoples, and a belief that intervention would antagonize
Latin-American sentiment were among the arguments put for-
ward by the President's supporters in behalf of the "hands off"
policy. Those favoring a more vigorous course pointed to the
vast investment of American capital in Mexico and to the many
outrages committed against our citizens, and argued that, in
view of the inability of Mexicans to govern themselves, inter-
vention was inevitable in the end and might as well come at
once.

In February, 1914, in the interest of the Constitutionalists,
the President revoked the embargo on arms, thereby, of course,
further antagonizing the Huerta faction. Two months later
some bluejackets from an American war-ship landed
at Tampico, the outlet of the great Mexican oil-
fields, and were arrested by a local Huerta military
officer. They were speedily released by order of a superior
officer, and expressions of regret, in which Huerta joined, were
tendered. There had been other exasperating "incidents,"
and Admiral Mayo, who commanded the American vessels off

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 391

the port, demanded a salute to the flag, and he was backed up
by the President. Huerta refused, and the Gulf fleet, on wire-
less orders from Washington, thereupon bombarded and seized
(April 21, 1914) the city of Vera Cruz. Nineteen Americans
were killed, while the Mexican losses, including some non-
combatants, were several tunes greater. Six thousand regulars
under General Funston were hurried to Vera Cruz to hold the
city. The capture of Vera Cruz was fiercely resented by Mex-
icans of all factions, even by Carranza. The American Con-
gress passed resolutions justifying the step, but many persons
doubted the wisdom of what had been done. Because of
Huerta's attitude the embargo on the shipment of arms was
restored.

The diplomatic representatives in Washington of Argentina,
Brazil, and Chile now tendered (April 25, 1914) their good
offices to arrange a peaceful adjustment. As a result a so-
called "ABC Conference," in which representa-
Conference." ^ves °^ *he mediators, of Carranza, and of the
United States met at Niagara Falls, Canada, and
remained in session for some weeks, but without accomplishing
anything of much consequence. However, Wilson's accep-
tance of mediation helped convince Latin America that the
United States did not desire to conquer Mexico.

Meanwhile Huerta's position had steadily grown weaker. In
the middle of July, 1914, he resigned and fled to Europe. The
Constitutionalists soon entered the capital. Some Americans
believed that peace and order would soon be re-
HuertL stored in the distracted country. The triumph of
" watchful waiting " was proclaimed. Such assump-
tions were premature. Villa and Carranza soon quarrelled, and
a new war broke out, fully as frightful as the old. In Septem-
ber Wilson ordered the evacuation of Vera Cruz, but conditions
were so threatening that the actual evacuation did not take
place until November 23. The maltreatment of Americans in
Mexico continued, and lawless bands of marauders even ex-
tended their operations to American soil.
Meanwhile the struggle for survival between Republicans

392 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

and Progressives had given piquancy to politics at home. The
disaster in 1912 had proved a stunning blow to the "Old Guard"
Re ublican Republican leaders. Conciliation, not coercion,
Overtures to became their watchword. All over the land the

Progressives were implored to "come back" and
help defeat the common enemy, the Democrats. Nor did the
appeal lack potency with many of the Progressive rank and file
and even with some of the chief leaders. Furthermore, a mild
reconstruction of Republican national convention machinery was
carried out, and the excessive representation of Southern States
was somewhat reduced, but not to a basis of the actual voting
strength of Republicans in those States. Most Progressives con-
tinued, however, to insist that they intended to remain with
the new party and scornfully repelled Republican overtures.

The local and State elections of 1913 proved distinctly en-
couraging to Republicans and discouraging to Progressives,
but it was clear that the decisive test would come in the autumn

of 1914. Meanwhile an industrial depression set-

tled down on the land- The winter of 1913-14 saw
business dull in many lines, and an increasing num-
ber of men out of work. Conditions grew slightly worse during
the spring and summer, and the outbreak of the Great War in
Europe for a time threatened to precipitate a business cataclysm.
Political opponents of the administration cried, "I told you
so!" and attributed the hard times to the Democratic tariff
and general Democratic incompetence. In the fall elections
there was a decided reaction against the Democrats, and they
were saved from disaster only by reason of the fact that the
opposition was still divided. As it was, they managed to carry
a number of former Republican States, such as Massachusetts,
Michigan, and Nebraska, and to increase their majority in the
Senate by two, but their House majority fell from 147 to only
29. The Democratic loss inured almost wholly to the advan-
tage of the Republicans, who carried many of their former
strongholds, and also New York. The Progressives, in spite
of vigorous campaigning by Colonel Roosevelt, ex-Senator Bev-
eridge, and other prominent leaders, carried only one State,

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 393

namely California, where they re-elected Governor Johnson.
Their popular vote fell to about 1,800,000, less than half that
in 1912, while their representation in the House was cut from
15 to 7. It was clear that the Progressives were doomed.

In this election the choice of senators by direct vote re-
ceived a trial, in accordance with the new amendment. An-
other feature was that the Socialists again elected a member
of Congress, in the person of Meyer London of New York
City.

In the following year anarchy continued to reign in most of
Mexico, the capital changed hands repeatedly, and many of
the unhappy people were reduced to a state of starvation.
Toward the end of the year Carranza's power increased, and in
October the United States and several of the Latin American
states accorded him recognition as the de facto ruler. The em-
bargo on arms, which had been lowered, was reimposed in order
to weaken the Villa forces. The Carranza government was
also permitted to transport troops across American soil in order
to attack rebel forces that could not readily be reached other-
wise.

These measures greatly angered Villa. Furthermore, he was
worked upon by German agents, who were anxious to embroil
the United States with Mexico and thus distract American at-
tention from submarine outrages. It is now known

that larSe sums °* monev were sent to tne bandit
leader by these agents. Soon Villa began murder-
ing Americans wherever found. As a culminating act he
swooped down one night (March 9, 1916), with several hundred
followers, upon the little town of Columbus, New Mexico, and
killed eight soldiers and nine civilians, and wounded several
others. Some of the raiders were themselves shot down in the
attack, while a detachment of cavalry pursued the party for
miles, killing many and capturing others.

It was announced that a punitive expedition would be sent
into Mexico in pursuit of Villa, but that it would be conducted
"with scrupulous respect" for Mexican sovereignty. Lack
of proper transport facilities and other necessary equipment

394 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

caused the loss of valuable time, but on March 15 a force of
6,000 men under Brigadier-General John J. Pershing crossed the
border on a "cold trail." It was popularly assumed
that they meant to get Villa "dead or alive."
The Villistas retreated into a wilderness of deserts
and mountains, and long managed to evade their pursuers,
but on March 29 a cavalry force under Colonel Dodd defeated
and dispersed a band at San Geronimo. Villa was severely
wounded in this fight, and long remained in hiding. This did
not, however, bring the trouble to an end, and early in May
there was a new raid into Texas.

Many of the Mexican people viewed the expedition as a
"Gringo invasion," and Carranza repeatedly protested against
the continued presence of the troops on Mexican soil. In the
Pershin 's middle of June General Trevino announced that he
Force would not permit the movement of American troops

in any direction except toward the border. Soon
afterward a clash took place at Carrizal, and a force of
American colored cavalry were defeated and scattered, with a
loss of about twenty killed and seventeen captured. The im-
mediate release of the prisoners was demanded and was soon
conceded. In view of the threatening state of Mexican affairs,
President Wilson had ordered out practically all of the National
Guard, and he sent most of them to the border to do patrol
duty. The mobilization was badly conducted, and the weak-
ness of the American military system was again revealed. It
was expected by many that vigorous action would at last be
taken in Mexico, but the administration resumed its "watchful
waiting." General Pershing was condemned to inaction, and
early in 1917 his force was withdrawn from Mexico altogether.
The affairs of that unhappy country continued to be distracted,
and American lives and property in Mexico and along the
border continued to be unsafe. In May, 1920, Carranza was
overthrown and slain. After more than nine years of revolu-
tion, there seemed no immediate prospect that peace and quiet
would be restored. In fact, anarchy, not order, seems to be
the normal state of affairs in Mexico, as a study of her his-

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 395

tory during the last century reveals. The state of peace under
the Diaz regime was abnormal.

From the summer of 1914 onward Mexican affairs were
largely overshadowed by the Great War. This tremendous
struggle, which was begun by Austria's declaration of war on
Serbia (July 28), and Germany's declaration of war
Waer-Great against Russia four days later, spread with amazing
rapidity, and soon most of the great powers were
involved in it. For years well-meaning but short- visioned paci-
fists had been assuring the world that there would never be
another serious war, and yet, almost in the twinkling of an
eye, most of the civilized nations were locked in the bloodiest
conflict of the ages.

The responsibility for precipitating the war is already fixed.
In general it rests upon the houses of Hohenzollern and Haps-
burg — two mediaeval anachronisms in a modern world — upon
the war lords surrounding them, and lastly upon
theu" deluded people. In the final analysis, it rests
upon Kaiser Wilhelm II, for it could never have
come without his consent, approbation, and instigation. For
hundreds of years, by conquest, purchase, marriage, and other
methods, his ancestors had built up their dominions until the
nation over which they ruled was one of the most powerful
in the world. But the Kaiser was not content. In half a cen-
tury Prussia had waged three wars, none of which had been
costly in blood or treasure, and all of which had been enormously
profitable. The war lords believed that Great Britain was so
distracted by her Irish troubles that she would stand aside.
They expected an easy and speedy victory over Serbia, Russia,
and France. The German people had been taught to believe
in the justice of might and to look forward to the day when
Germany would force her Kultur upon the world. With few
exceptions Germans cheerfully plunged after their war lords
into the bloody vortex. Every proposal to adjust the contro-
versy by diplomacy, by an international conference, or by arbi-
tration was pushed aside. The naked sword was to rule. Ger-
many struck for "Weltmacht oder Niedergang," for "world power

396 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

or downfall." From the outset she followed a deliberate policy
of Schrecklichkeit, or "frightfulness." She began by making a
dastardly attack upon the neutrality of a little nation she was
bound by treaty to protect. It was not long before she cast
all international law to the winds, and was violating most other
laws, both human and divine.

From the beginning many Americans realized that the
Entente Allies were fighting for civilization, but the attitude of
some others was determined by prejudices rather than by the
American merits of the case. Both belligerents presented their
Sympathies cases and asked the sympathy of our people. Un-
fortunately not all Americans were well enough in-
formed to be able to discriminate between the true and the
false, and it is well known that fiction is often more convincing
than fact. Furthermore, the German Government had long
had agents at work in America preparing for the day that
had now come. Many people, therefore, took the German side
in the controversy. Many others remained indifferent. Not a
few assumed that it was a conflict in which no vital principle
was at stake on either side. But the ruthless violation of in-
nocent Belgium and the long train of Teutonic barbarities
gradually swung the great mass of Americans into antagonism
to the powers guilty of such offenses against humanity.

Very early in the conflict the American Government pro-
claimed a policy of strict neutrality. On August 18 President
Wilson went further, and issued an appeal in which he said
that "Every man who really loves America will
Wilson Asks act ancj Speak jn the true spirit of neutrality, which
be Neutral in is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friend-
and Action." h'ness to all concerned. ... I venture, therefore,
my fellow countrymen, to speak a solemn word of
warning to you against that deepest, most subtle, most essen-
tial breach of neutrality which may spring out of partisanship,
out of passionately taking sides. . . . We must be impartial
in thought as well as in action." But he asked the impossible.
Men who knew what was back of the war could not feel "friend-
liness" toward those guilty of plunging the world into such

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 397

a disaster. Three years later, looking back to that time, Vice-
President Marshall publicly confessed that he had been at
fault for having even attempted to be neutral when such issues
were at stake.

The effect of the war on American economic interests was at
first unfavorable. Business conditions were already bad, and
they grew much worse during the fall and winter of 1914-15.
Stock exchanges were closed for a time, foreign
Waron commerce was demoralized, and gold flowed toward
Business1 Europe to an alarming extent. Then, though com-
merce with the Central Powers soon practically
ceased, the Entente Allies began to draw supplies of many
sorts from America, and thereby gave business a great impetus.
The volume of this export business became so vast that the
excess of exports over imports, which was only $324,000,000
in 1914, was $1,768,000,000 in 1915, and about $3,000,000,000
in 1916. The Allied powers were forced to send gold to the
United States to meet the unfavorable balance of trade, and
presently there was actually a plethora of gold in this country.
Unable to continue sending gold, the Allies pledged American
securities held by their people. Ultimately large loans were
floated in the United States, and the money thus obtained was
used to pay for goods bought by the Allies. The first foreign
loan raised here was, however, a German loan, and some of it
was used in instigating measures against the peace and safety
of the United States. From being a debtor nation owing
$4,000,000,000 or $5,000,000,000 abroad, the United States
was soon transformed into a creditor nation.

But as America's economic situation improved, dangerous
international complications developed. At the very begin-
ning of the war, by invading neutral Belgium Germany com-
mitted one of the grossest violations of international
vfoiations'of law recorded in history. She immediately followed
international ft^B Up ^y sowing the high seas with mines that

were, of course, dangerous to neutral shipping.
Germany sought to justify such acts on the ground that "neces-
sity knows no law"; her defenders must make use of every

398 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

available weapon in order to save their country from annihila-
tion. But such arguments came with ill grace from aggressors.
At first, however, it seemed possible that America's most
serious difficulties would be with the Allies. In their efforts
to destroy German commerce the Allies resorted to measures
that drew protests from our government. Pressure

Blockade? was Put ^ tnem uP°n neutrai nations, such as Hol-
land and the Scandinavian countries, to prevent
them from re-exporting goods brought into their ports, and
the list of contraband articles was greatly enlarged. How-
ever, international law on many of the points involved had not
yet been crystallized, and in defense of the "ultimate destina-
tion" rule, that is of stopping the sending of contraband, or
conditional contraband, to Germany through neutral countries,
England was able to quote a decision of our Federal Supreme
Court upholding the right to seize goods going into the Con-
federacy by way of Mexico. Furthermore, in adopting and en-
forcing their measures, the British were tender of American
susceptibilities, and usually purchased at high rates the car-
goes diverted from their destinations. Most important of all,
however, the questionable acts of the Allies endangered only
property, and not human lives, as was the case with German
violations of the law of nations. For this reason, American
protests to Great Britain and France were less vigorous than
those to Germany. Certainly no acts were committed by these
governments that would have justified the United States in
doing anything that would aid nations that were engaged in
a deadly assault upon civilization.

In all great world wars the side that has been able to gain
and hold command of the high seas has emerged victorious
from the conflict, or at least has not been defeated. As Mahan
pointed out, sea-power has been the determining
r. factor in such conflicts from the days of the duels
between Athens and Sparta, and Rome and Car-
thage, down to the time when British fleets foiled the efforts of
Napoleon, and finally made possible his downfall.
On land, in the Great War, the Teutonic powers wete long

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 399

able to set their enemies at defiance, but on the water their
war-ships were soon swept off the high seas, and their ocean-
borne commerce was paralyzed. As Germany was
Dilemma!""1 mainty a manufacturing and commercial country,
the loss of most of her foreign trade was very seri-
ous. Her war lords realized that unless they could strike a
counter-blow on the water their ultimate defeat would be only
a question of time. With their submarines and mines they
managed to sink a number of enemy war-ships, but the losses
thus inflicted made no real impression upon the vast British
fleet, while the efforts of their above-water ships proved even
more futile. Meanwhile British yards were turning out war-
ships much more rapidly than they were destroyed. It was
clear that some means must be taken for overcoming this handi-
cap, and in their desperate determination to rule the world or
ruin it, the German war lords decided upon the most ruthless
step ever taken by a nation calling itself civilized. First, how-
ever, they sought a suitable occasion.

On February 2, 1915, Great Britain gave notice that hence-
forth all shipments of foodstuffs to Germany would be con-
sidered as absolute contraband. In justification she pointed
out that Germany had just confiscated all grain in
Protest1 private hands and that thenceforth any food going
against into Germany would very probably be used for the
Foodstuffs, support of the German armies. The Germans at
once violently protested against this order, which,
they asserted, was meant to doom their whole population to
starvation. But their arguments would have had more weight
with the neutral world had it not been known that the German
armies in 1870-71 blockaded Paris, and reduced the people to
eat dogs and cats, and that German soldiers in Belgium and
northern France were even then taking food from the starving
people. Those who knew Germany felt confident that had
Germany, and not England, controlled the seas she would long
since have imposed a far more rigorous blockade than any the
British had attempted. There was, in fact, a concrete instance
of the German policy in such matters. In March, 1915, it was

400 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

learned that the German raider, Prince Eitel Friedrich, had,
late in January, seized the American sailing-ship, William B.
Frye, bound from Seattle to Queenstown with a cargo of wheat,
and had sunk her on the ground that the wheat was contra-
band. All German protests sounded hollow after that.

On February 4, 1915, Germany took the drastic step of de-
claring that after the i8th of that month all waters around the
British Isles would be considered a "war zone," and that "all
"F ' htful enemy vessels encountered in these waters will be
ness" on the destroyed, even if it will not always be possible to

save their crews and passengers." Neutrals were
warned not to intrust their people or merchandise to such
ships; even neutral vessels entering the zone would expose
themselves to grave danger. As the German above-water
war-ships rarely dared to venture out of their own harbors, it
was evident that Germany had decided to use her submarines
in warfare against merchant vessels. It was a well-established
principle of international law that such vessels must not be
sunk until after all on board had been taken off. But sub-
marines were too small to take on board a considerable number
of captives; it was evident that the Germans meant to force
passengers and crew to take to open boats, that submarines might
even torpedo vessels without giving warning.

The German announcement aroused grave apprehension
among neutrals. On February 10 the United States warned
the German Government that the proposed measure violated

international law, and that should any harm result
Warring8 to American ships or citizens, Germany would be

held to "a strict accountability." In reply the
German Government insisted upon the necessity of meeting
British naval policy with "sharp counter-measures," and dis-
claimed responsibility for "any unfortunate accidents" that
might occur. Acting upon a hint in this note, Secretary Bryan
proposed that Great Britain should permit foodstuffs to reach
Germany for the use of the civil population, and that Germany
should abandon her submarine campaign against merchant
vessels, but nothing came from this proposal.

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 401

One of the main German objects in attempting this cam-
paign of submarine " f rightf ulness " was to prevent the ship-
ment of munitions of war to the Allies from America. At the
same time an effort was being made in this country
Munitions."1 *° bring about the imposition of an embargo on
such shipments. Pro-German agents made much
of the argument that by permitting the trade in munitions the
United States was becoming responsible for prolonging the
war. Certain pacifists who exalted peace over justice were
taken in by such arguments and aided German sympathizers
in their campaign for an embargo. But the movement made
small headway. The right of private individuals to sell arms
to belligerents was well established under international law,
and all well-informed Americans were aware that German
firms, notably Krupp's, of which Germans were inordinately
proud, had sold munitions in practically every war of recent
times.

Notwithstanding the protests of the United States and other
neutrals, Germany on the appointed day (February 18, 1915)
began ruthless submarine warfare. Within a few weeks the
U-boats sank a large number of ships of their en-
PersistermanS emies, and of neutrals as well. In some instances
warning was given before the fatal torpedo was
sped; in others the vessels were torpedoed without warning,
with the result that great numbers of persons were slain by the
explosions, or were drowned when the ships sank. In either
case the survivors, including frequently women and children,
were almost invariably compelled to take to small open boats,
often when the sea was running high. Many such persons were
drowned, or perished of thirst, starvation, or cold.

Late in March the British passenger steamer Falaba was
torpedoed, and more than a hundred persons lost their lives,
among them being an American named Leon C.
Outrages. Thrasher. On May i the American steamer Gulf-
light, bound for France with a cargo of oil, was tor-
pedoed without warning, and two of her crew were drowned,
while her captain died soon after of nervous shock. Other in-

402 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

cidents more or less grave took place, but the most terrible was
yet to come.

On the day that the Gtdflight was torpedoed the great British
passenger steamer Lusitania, one of the largest and finest ships
afloat, sailed from New York for Liverpool, with 1,959 souls on
board. Not long before her departure the German
embassy published advertisements in certain news-
papers warning Americans against the dangers of
entering the war zone, and it is said that some intending pas-
sengers even received telegrams to the same effect. Little heed,
however, was paid to these warnings, for the American Govern-
ment had solemnly protested against the German purpose,
and passengers believed Germany would not dare to carry out
her threat.

The voyage proved prosperous until about two o'clock on
the afternoon of May 8, when, off the Old Head of Kinsale on
the southeast coast of Ireland, the great ship, without the
slightest warning, was struck by a torpedo and, ac-
1 cording to some accounts, almost immediately by

Lasiiana, another. Only the pen of a Dante could do justice
to the scene of horror that followed — a scene that
will forever be remembered with shudders, along with the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew and the Black Hole of Calcutta, as
one of the most dastardly deeds in human history. In that
awful moment officers, crew, and passengers — British, Cana-
dians, and Americans alike — displayed heroic qualities in keep-
ing with the best traditions of their race. The cry of "Women
and children first!" was raised and heeded. But the stricken
ship speedily listed heavily to starboard, so that the decks
inclined upward like steep roofs, preventing easy movement,
and rendering impossible the launching of some of the boats.
Soon she sank, carrying down with her those remaining aboard
and many who struggled in the sea about her. In all 1,198
persons lost their lives, including 286 women and 94 children,
34 of the last being babes in arms. The American citizens
thus foully done to death numbered 114, among them being
Charles Klein, dramatist and author of The Music Master;

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 403

Charles Frohman, famous theatrical producer; Justus Miles
Forman, author; Elbert Hubbard, author and lecturer; Lindon
Bates, vice-chairman for relief in Belgium; and Alfred G.
Vanderbilt, capitalist. "Save the kiddies!" exclaimed Van-
derbilt, while Frohman, a philosopher to the last, said as the
ship was about to plunge into the depths: "Why fear death?
It is the most beautiful adventure in life."

In Germany the news of the sinking of the Lusitania was re-
ceived with glee. Special medals were struck by way of com-
memoration, and in places school-children were given a holiday.
But the German Government hastily instructed
Rejoicings. Count von Bernstorff, its ambassador in Washing-
ton, "to express its deepest sympathy at the loss
of lives on board the Lusitania. The responsibility rests, how-
ever, with the British Government, which, through its plan of
starving the civilian population of Germany, has forced Ger-
many to resort to retaliatory measures." To these crocodile
tears German agents added lying statements to the effect that
the main damage was done by the explosion of munitions on
board, while one of their creatures in New York falsely made
affidavit that the ship was armed with naval guns. These
tactics were, of course, designed to confuse the issue and divide
American sentiment.

In the United States the news was received with a thrill of
horror, even by many persons who hitherto had upheld the
German cause. Ex-President Roosevelt denounced the deed as
"not merely piracy, but piracy on a vaster scale
Sentiment. °* murder than old-time pirates ever practised."
Few people ventured openly to justify the deed,
but some argued that America should bow before the "mailed
fist," and endure the violation of her rights. President Wilson
was determined to protest, but hoped that Germany would
prove amenable to reason. In a speech at Philadelphia before
an audience of newly naturalized citizens he said: "There is
such a thing as a nation being too proud to fight. There is such
a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to con-
vince others by force that it is right." These words were se-

404 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

verely criticised as unfortunate. In the opinion of the critics
Germany had thrown justice and mercy to the winds and cared
nothing for the good opinion of the world, if she could only
terrorize it. Force, they were convinced, was the only argu-
ment the Hohenzollerns respected, and they believed that any
suggestion that the United States would not resort to force to
uphold its rights rendered future outrages more probable.

The note of protest sent to Germany (May 13, 1915) was
signed "Bryan," but it had really been written by the Presi-
dent himself. It emphasized the previous friendly relations
The First between the two powers, upheld the right of Ameri-
cans to travel on the high seas, pointed out the prac-

tical impossibility of using submarines in the de-
struction of commerce "without an inevitable violation of many
sacred principles of justice and humanity," and specified the
Lusitania and other cases in which American rights had been
violated. It expressed a confident belief that Germany would
disavow the outrages, would prevent a recurrence of such at-
tacks, and would "make reparation so far as reparation is
possible for injuries which are beyond measure." It closed by
saying that "the Imperial German Government will not expect
the Government of the United States to omit any word or any
act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of main-
taining the rights of the United States and its citizens and of
safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment."

The German Government took its time about replying, and
not until May 28 did it transmit its answer. Reparation was
promised for the attack on the Gulflight, on the ground that a

mistake had been made by the submarine com-
Fir™Repiy. mander, but ruthless submarine warfare and the

sinking of the Falaba and Lusitania were defended
on the ground of "just self-defense." The evidence seems to
show that the Germans did not take our protest very seriously.
In his book, My Four Years in Germany, Gerard, American
ambassador at Berlin, states that Zimmermann, German under-
secretary for foreign affairs, told an American woman not to
worry about the breaking of diplomatic relations, as word had

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 405

just been recsived from the Austrian Government that Doctor
Dumba, the Austrian ambassador in Washington, had cabled
that Bryan had told him that " the Lusitania note from America
to Germany was only sent as a sop to public opinion in America,
and that the Government did not really mean what was said
in that note." It is known that Bryan had an interview with
Dumba, but it is unbelievable that an American statesman
should have been guilty of such an amazing indiscretion.
Gerard himself says that he is sure "that Dr. Dumba must
have misunderstood friendly statements made by Mr. Bryan."
But Bryan had such a desire for peace that he was opposed to
bringing matters to a crisis, and it is possible he did not con-
ceal this view from Dumba. Furthermore, the Germans were
well aware that Senator Stone of Missouri, chairman of the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and next after Bryan
in importance in international matters, was not only a peace-
at-any-price man, but a German sympathizer. German-
Americans in Germany and in the United States were constantly
assuring the Kaiser's government that American public senti-
ment would not countenance a vigorous policy; "watchful
waiting" in Mexico and Wilson's " too-proud- to-fight " speech
were not without their influence; therefore, the Imperial Gov-
ernment felt it safe to return a defiant answer. They did not
misjudge the situation, for President Wilson had not yet deter-
mined to bring the controversy to extremities.

Many Americans and the world at large assumed that the
United States would now transmit a real ultimatum. This ex-
pectation was strengthened by the sudden resignation (June 8)
of Bryan as secretary of state. The explanation
given out was that the note in preparation might
involve the United States in war. Bryan was suc-
ceeded by Robert Lansing, counsellor of the State Department.
When the note was given out, however, it was found that it
did little more than reiterate the American position; it was not
an ultimatum in any sense. The German Government procras-
tinated a month and then transmitted a reply that was evasive
and that made a number of unacceptable suggestions. It was

4o6 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

evident that Germany was merely playing for time. Mean-
while she had continued her submarine activities. On May
25th an American vessel, the Nebraska, was torpe-
American doed off the Irish coast, though fortunately she did
Second1"1 not sm^- Germany long denied responsibility for the
German attack, but her guilt was clearly established. Ameri-
can public opinion had grown restive under the long
delay, and President Wilson's note-writing proclivities had be-
come a subject of sarcastic and bitter comment both at home
Third an(^ aDroad- The third American note (July 21)

American proved somewhat more drastic. It characterized
the German replies as "very unsatisfactory," and
gave warning that a repetition of the acts complained of would
be regarded as "deliberately unfriendly." This phrase, in the
language of diplomacy, has a special meaning, and connotes an
act that will lead to war. Germany vouchsafed no reply to
this communication.

Meanwhile German agents spent vast sums of money sub-
sidizing newspapers, forming "leagues" and "societies," and
bribing men of influence in order to secure an embargo against
the exportation of munitions of war. On April 4
against &n& on June 29 Austria-Hungary protested that
Tradetl0nS t^ie traffic was unneutral, but our government re-
plied that such trade was fully sanctioned by inter-
national law, and pointed to frequent instances in which Ger-
mans had engaged in it. The United States stood ready to sell
to the Central Powers, and was in no sense responsible for their
inability to avail themselves of the privilege. To impose an
embargo would be an act of which the Entente Allies could
justly complain. Furthermore, the United States, being largely
dependent in case of war upon the purchase of munitions from
abroad, could not afford to establish such a precedent.

Unable to secure an embargo, German and Austrian agents,
working, partly at least, under the oversight and instigation of
their ambassadors, Von Bernstorff and Dumba, resorted to
violent methods to prevent goods from reaching their ene-
mies. Explosions and incendiary fires damaged munitions

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 407

plants, bombs were placed aboard vessels carrying cargoes to
the Allies, and much property was destroyed and many lives
"Frightful- token. The whole land was filled with spies, strikes
ness" in were instigated, and Mexicans were encouraged to
murder Americans. In July, 1915, a crack-brained
German-American college professor named Erich Muenter,
who had disappeared some years before while under suspicion
of having murdered his wife, placed a time-bomb in the
Supreme Court room in the national capitol, and the ex-
plosion did considerable damage. The same man shot and
seriously wounded J. P. Morgan, Jr., the fiscal agent of the
Allies in America, but was overpowered, and committed suicide
in jail. To what extent the government was then aware of
Von Bernstorff's nefarious activities has not yet been revealed,
but in September, 1915, the President demanded and secured
the recall of Dumba, and later of the German naval and mili-
tary attaches, Captains Boy-Ed and Von Papen. The intrigues
and murderous activities of Teutonic agents in this period made
up a story so incredible that many trustful Americans, not yet
awake to the desperate methods of the war lords, were loath to
believe that such things were actually taking place.

While America was protesting, the Germans continued to
torpedo merchant vessels, and in August, 1915, two Americans
lost their lives in the sinking of the British liner Arabic. At
Von this point, Count Von Bernstorff made vague

Bernstorff's promises (August 24) of reparation, and on Sep-
tember i delivered a memorandum to Secretary
Lansing stating that thenceforth "liners will not be sunk by
our submarines without warning and without safety of the
lives of non-combatants, provided that the liners do not try to
escape or offer resistance." Later it was explained that the
attack on the Arabic had been made by mistake, an4 regret
was expressed, yet Germany refused "to acknowledge any
obligation to grant an indemnity.'* She proposed to submit the
particular dispute to The Hague tribunal, but expressly stated
that this tribunal should not have the right to make a general
decision on the legality of submarine warfare. Early in Oc-

4o8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

tober, however, Von Bernstorff promised an indemnity for
the lives lost on the Arabic, but Germany still continued to
refuse settlement for the Lusitania outrage.

In some quarters the German concession was hailed as a
great diplomatic victory, but critics pointed out that the vic-
tory was subject to important qualifications in that nothing was

said regarding the safety of the crews of torpedoed
Doubts"1 cargo-boats. Furthermore, many Americans were

gravely suspicious of the good faith of the German
Government, and doubted whether it would keep its pledges.
In their opinion, the German civil government cud not possess
the real power. They believed that the German Ministry of
Foreign Affairs did not determine international relations, but
merely acted as a mask for the war lords, who were in actual
control. The war lords violated international law, and then put
forward the diplomatists to excuse the violations and to make
adjustments, which might or might not be carried out. Of this
state of affairs our ambassador, Gerard, was well aware at the
time.

The scene now shifted to the Mediterranean. On Novem-
ber 7 the Italian liner Ancona was sunk off the coast of
Tunis by a submarine flying the Austrian flag, and several

Americans lost their lives. The United States was

The Ancona

and Persia. thus forced to take up the whole controversy anew
with Austria, and to demand indemnity for the
victims and punishment for the submarine commander. After
much procrastination, Austria promised (December 3, 1915)
to comply with the demands. Yet attacks on vessels in the
Mediterranean continued, and on December 30 the British
passenger steamer Persia was sunk without warning off the
coast of Crete. In this disaster two Americans, one a mis-
sionary, the other the United States consul to Aden, were
drowned. In this case the submarine remained submerged,
but the wake of the torpedo was seen. Both Austria and Ger-
many denied responsibility for the act. Later facts came to
light which seemed to prove that the submarine which sank
the Ancona was really a German vessel masquerading under

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 409

the Austrian flag — a fact that had been suspected from the
beginning.

Very early in the war prominent Americans, among them
Theodore Roosevelt, Congressman Augustus P. Gardner of
Massachusetts, and General Leonard Wood, began urgently
Th o t' *° advocate the need of a stronger army and navy
ofPre- to protect American rights. But the mass of the

people proved apathetic, while pacifists and pro-
Germans strongly opposed preparedness. Secretary Bryan de-
clared that in case of need "the United States could raise
a million men between sunrise and sunset." In his annual
message of December 4, 1914, President Wilson argued at
length against the need of special preparation, though he fa-
vored the development of the militia and the extension of
voluntary training. "We must depend," said he, "in every
time of national peril, in the future as in the past, not upon
a standing army, nor yet upon a reserve army, but upon a
citizenry trained and accustomed to arms."

But Germany's ruthless submarine warfare and the destruc-
tion of American lives aroused millions of Americans who de-
plored "militarism" to a realization that in the last analysis
Wilson brute force, not right or reason, rules the world,

Changes and that America was comparatively defenseless.
His View

Despite the threatening state of our relations with

Germany, the summer and fall of 1915 passed without anything
of much consequence being done save the opening by General
Wood of voluntary reserve officers' training camps at Platts-
burg. Meanwhile, however, President Wilson had changed
his views. In his annual message of December, 1915, he ad-
vocated "preparedness," and even made a speaking tour in
the Middle West to arouse public sentiment on the question.
He declared there was "not a day to be lost," but in speaking
of possible dangers he displayed a vagueness that weakened the
strength of his appeal. Pro-German influence was thrown
unanimously against the preparedness programme, and paci-
fists ably aided the pro-Germans. In Congress neither party
was willing strongly to support preparedness measures. In the

410 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

face of this opposition and public apathy, Wilson displayed
less than his usual decision, and Secretary of War Garrison,
who was an ardent advocate of preparedness, resigned (Feb-
ruary 10, 1916) because he felt the lack of presidential support.
He was succeeded by ex-Mayor Newton D. Baker of Cleveland.
Baker was an able man, an exceedingly plausible politician,
but the friends of preparedness charged that he had no special
qualifications for the post, that he was a pacifist, almost a non-
resistant, and they questioned the wisdom of his appointment.
Thereafter the question dragged slowly along. There was
much parade of appointing boards and commissions for purposes
of defense, and large appropriations were made for both the army

and navy, but the concrete results in added fighting
Art. y strength were disappointing. The most important

piece of legislation, the Hay Act (June 3, 1916),
provided for increasing the normal peace strength of the regular
army by five annual accessions to 175,000 officers and men,
though in case of need the number might be raised at once by
executive order to 220,000. The State militia, estimated to
number 125,000, were to be put under federal control, and were
to be increased by five annual accessions to a total of about
425,000. The measure was severely criticised by militar
experts, and it was largely because he deemed the plan in-
adequate that Garrison had resigned.

Meanwhile the country was flooded with proposals and
methods to end war and insure peace. Great numbers of re-
formers were convinced that they had panaceas that would

make war impossible. Societies to eliminate the
Absurdities, economic causes of war, world's court leagues,

organizations for durable peace, leagues to enforce
peace, and similar organizations sprang up. Speakers tourec
the country — some of them beyond question in German pay
— propounding their favorite peace nostrums. A well-known
manufacturer even took (December, 1915) a ship-load of paci-
fists to Europe for the purpose of getting the soldiers "out of
the trenches by Christmas." But war stubbornly continued tc
rage in Europe and even in near-by Mexico.

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 411

A constantly increasing number of Allied vessels were being
armed with guns as a protection against submarines. The
right to do so was well established under international law,
but in February, 1915, Germany declared that thenceforth the
U-boats would sink such vessels without giving warning. In
Congress pro-Germans and pacifists made a strong effort to
pass a resolution to keep Americans off such boats, but Presi-
dent Wilson threw his influence against the measure, and it
was defeated.

During the winter there had been occasional violations of
the pledge made after the Arabic sinking, and in April occurred
a flagrant case. The British unarmed steamer Sussex was tor-
pedoed without warning in the English Channel,
Threatens and, though she managed to make a French port,
Refactions rnany persons were killed by the explosion, and
others, including several Americans, were wounded.
Germany at first disclaimed responsibility, but pieces of the
torpedo were found and they were of German make. The
United States thereupon declared that the limit of patience had
been reached, and informed Germany that it would sever all
diplomatic relations unless Germany "should now immediately
declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods
of submarine warfare against passenger- and freight-carrying
vessels."

Finding further denial useless, Germany somewhat vaguely
promised to observe "the general principles of visitation and
search." She also promised to punish the guilty submarine
commander, but later inquiries regarding the nature
German* of his punishment remained unanswered, and it is
Reservation1 improbable that he was treated very rigorously.
Germany reserved the right to withdraw her con-
cession in case the United States would not persuade the En-
tente Allies to abandon certain practices of which she com-
plained. The United States accepted Germany's declaration,
but stated that it could not consent to the reservation. Upon
this point Germany made no further answer.

The outcome was hailed by friends of the administration as

4i2 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

another bloodless diplomatic victory, illustrating the virtue
of the President's policy of patience. Many Americans, how-
ever, expressed doubt as to whether the victory was
Warning. so great as was contended. They pointed to
Germany's reservation of the right to renew ruth-
less warfare, and expressed the view that she would keep her
pledge only so long as suited her purpose. From Germany
Ambassador Gerard warned his government that he " believed
that the rulers of Germany would at some future date, forced
by the Von Tirpitzes and the Conservative parties, take up
ruthless submarine warfare again, possibly in the autumn, or
at any rate about February or March, 1917." He renewed this
warning when he visited the United States in the autumn. In
reality, of course, Germany was merely lulling the United States
into a fool's paradise of false security. Meanwhile she kept her
shipyards busy day and night building a great fleet of sub-
marines with which to renew her piratical performances on the
high seas when her attack would be more irresistible.

During the greater part of 1916 the international situation
was more or less overshadowed by the presidential campaign.
It had become apparent by this time that the Progressive
party's tenure of life could not be greatly prolonged,
and in both the Progressive and Republican camps
Conventixms tnere existed a strong desire to formulate some plan
for united action against the common enemy. By
agreement between the two national committees the national
conventions of both parties assembled in Chicago on the same
day (June 7). They met in separate halls, but protracted
negotiations were carried on in the hope of agreeing upon a
platform and a fusion ticket.

Among the Republican candidates for the nomination were
Justice Charles E. Hughes, Elihu Root, Charles W. Fairbanks,
Senator Theodore E. Burton of Ohio, and Senator John W.
Weeks of Massachusetts. Some Republicans favored naming
Roosevelt, and the Progressives insisted that they would ac-
cept no other man.
Roosevelt had long been a biting critic of the administration,

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 413

more especially of its foreign policy, both with regard to Mexico
and Germany. He ardently advocated thorough military pre-
paredness as the best insurance against war, and
Criticisms3 favored a vigorous enforcement, in the old-fashioned
ministration wav> °^ American rights. Of our course in regard
to the Lusitania he said that " the President wrote
note after note, each filled with lofty expressions and each
sterile in its utter futility, because it did not mean action,
and Germany knew it did not mean action." He declared
that Wilson was strong in words but weak in action, that he
had "met a policy of blood and iron with a policy of milk and
water," that his course was "worthy of a Byzantine logothete
— but not of an American statesman."

In a public statement issued upon returning from a trip to
the West Indies, Roosevelt announced that he did not care to
be President unless the country was in an "heroic mood."
In the Republican convention he received a con-
Fairbanks! siderable number of votes, but Hughes was nomi-
nated on the third ballot. For the vice-presidential
nominee the Republicans once more selected Fairbanks of
Indiana. After the second ballot the Progressives, who had
been watching the course of events, realized that the Repub-
licans would not take Roosevelt, so they nominated him
at about the time that Hughes was named by the Repub-
licans. For the vice-presidency the Progressives put forward
John M. Parker of Louisiana, a former Democrat. But
R , Roosevelt realized the hopelessness of the situa-
Supports tion, and after considering the matter he declined
to run and urged the Progressives to support
Hughes. Parker continued in the contest, but he received
little support, and the Progressive party virtually disap-
peared.

The Republican platform demanded the protection of all
American rights, at home and abroad, by land and sea, and
charged that in its foreign policies the Wilson administra-
tion had resorted to shifty expedients, to phrase-making, and
to performances in language only. It gave a vivid description

4i4 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

of horrors and outrages in Mexico, denounced the administra-
tion's "shameful failure to discharge the duties of this country
as the next friend to Mexico," and pledged the Re-
publican party to aid in restoring order in that
distracted country. Preparedness was empha-
sized, as was also the policy of protection. The Underwood
Tariff Act was declared to be "a complete failure in every
respect."

The Democratic convention assembled in St. Louis on June
14 and renominated Wilson and Marshall by acclamation.
The platform pointed to a long list of constructive achievements,
favored preparedness and the protection of Ameri-
can rights abroad, condemned organizations that
were seeking in America to advance the interests
of foreign powers by intimidating the government by threats
of reprisal at the ballot-box, and emphasized the diplomatic
"victories" of the Wilson administration. On this last sub-
ject Senator Ollie James of Kentucky declared that "without
orphaning a single American child, without widowing a single
American mother, without firing a single gun or shedding a
drop of blood, Woodrow Wilson wrung from the most militant
spirit that ever brooded over a battlefield a recognition of
American rights and an agreement to American demands."

In the pre-convention campaign pro-German influences had
sought to control both parties. The German-American Alli-
ance, an organization dominated by the friends of Germany,
had fought Roosevelt's candidacy with particular
Poiky'asan bitterness. In both the Republican and Demo-
crSi^c parties there was a strong tendency to con-
ciliate the pro-German vote. In the Republican
platform and in the speeches of many Republican orators the
Wilson administration was denounced for its weak foreign
policy, but most emphasis was laid upon Mexican outrages,
and comparatively little was said about the Lusitania and the
other submarine horrors. Colonel Roosevelt, however, did not
hesitate to denounce Germany. He characterized Wilson's
diplomacy both in Mexico and Europe as weak and pusillani-

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 415

mous, and declared that his policy made not for peace but for
war. Justice Hughes was in no sense pro-German, but at
first was more reserved in his language in regard to submarine
warfare, though he spoke out vigorously shortly before the
election. Toward the end of the campaign a pro-German
agitator named Jeremiah O'Leary wrote an offensive letter to
the President predicting his defeat, to which Wilson replied:
"I would feel deeply mortified to have you or anybody like
you vote for me. Since you have access to many disloyal
Americans and I have not, I will ask you to convey this mes-
sage to them." This defiance of alien influence unquestion-
ably won the President many votes. As between the two can-
didates, Von Bernstoff wrote home after the election that he
considered "Wilson as the lesser evil."

In the midst of the campaign the demands of railway en-
gineers, firemen, conductors, and trainmen for an eight-hour
day and other concessions precipitated a serious crisis. Sug-
Adamson gestions were made that the dispute should be
Eight-Hour submitted to the Federal Board of Mediation and

Acf

Conciliation, a body created in 1913, but the brother-
hoods refused. Late hi August President Wilson called a con-
ference of the brotherhood chairmen and railway managers, but
he was unable to persuade them to compromise. On August 28
the brotherhood representatives left the capital bearing orders
for a strike to begin on September 4. On the apth Wilson
asked Congress for remedial legislation. A hundred hours later
a measure known as the Adamson Eight-Hour Law was ready
for his approval. It provided that after January i, 1917,
employees engaged in the operation of trains on interstate
steam roads over 100 miles in length should work an eight-
hour day, and should receive extra pay for overtime. The
wage scale was temporarily to be on the basis of the existing
pay, but a commission was to study the question and bring
in a report, and a permanent settlement was then to be made.
The measure did not apply to switchmen, trackmen, or other
employees. Opponents of the law severely criticised the haste
with which it was passed. They declared that the government

416 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

had been coerced into enacting it, and predicted that the prec-
edent thus set would cause much trouble in the future.

The election proved to be the closest since the Elaine-
Cleveland contest of 1884. The early returns which came into
New York City seemed to indicate the election of Hughes by
a large majority in the electoral colleges, and many
Re-elected. Democratic newspapers conceded defeat. The Re-
publicans had, in fact, carried Indiana, New York,
and other "pivotal" States, but Wilson carried the solid South
and Ohio, and ran better than had been anticipated in the
West, winning Kansas and almost all of the States in which
women voted. The outcome finally hinged upon California,
and days passed before the vote in that State could be tabulated.
Early in the campaign Hughes had made a tour in California,
and while there had consorted with the reactionary Republican
leaders and had failed to meet Governor Johnson, former Pro-
gressive nominee for the vice-presidency, who was seeking the
Republican nomination for senator. For this fatal mistake the
Republican national managers were primarily to blame rather
than Hughes himself. Subsequently Johnson was nominated,
and in his speeches he supported Hughes — at least nominally
— but, though Johnson carried the State by almost 300,000
Hughes lost it by 3,773, and with it the presidency. The elec-
toral result finally stood 277 votes for Wilson and 254 for Hughes.
The discrepancy between the vote of Johnson and that of
Hughes was, however, only partly due to the failure of Hughes
to recognize Johnson. In California, as in all other States,

"He Ke t tne cr^' " ^e kept us out °^ war> " won Wilson many
Us out of votes. The slogan was particularly effective with
women voters, and Wilson carried almost all the
States in which women balloted. As regards the Progressives,
a large majority undoubtedly followed Roosevelt's leadership
and voted for Hughes, but a considerable minority refused to
return to the old allegiance. It was the general judgment of
political observers that the Republican campaign had been
badly managed, and that the Republicans had thrown away
what might have been an easy victory.

The Democrats won a considerable plurality of the popular

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 417

vote and retained control of the Senate. In the House of Rep-
resentatives the balance of power would be held by a few Pro-
gressives and other independents, and upon them depended
which party would be able to organize that body and elect the
speaker. The Socialist vote was considerably less than in
1912, being about 590,000. The Socialists retained, however,
a seat in the House of Representatives. For the first time a
woman, Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, was elected to
Congress.

During the summer and fall German submarines repeatedly
violated, though not in a spectacular way, the pledge given
after the sinking of the Sussex, but our government ignored

these violations. The year had been a hard one
Proposals. f°r ^e German army and the German people.

The attack on Verdun had been beaten off by the
French, and the British had inflicted great losses upon the
Germans in the terrific push along the Somme, while the Rus-
sians had won a great victory in Galicia. Roumania had finally
thrown in her lot with the Allies, but a German drive had
resulted in the overrunning of about two-thirds of that coun-
try. This victory revived Teutonic spirits, but the people of
the Central Powers were in serious distress, and it was neces-
sary to hold up before them another will-o'-the-wisp. On
December 12 the German Government surprised the world
by transmitting to neutral powers a proposal for a peace con-
ference. But the language used was that of a conqueror, and
keen observers believed that the main Teutonic hope was to sow
dissensions among the Allies; that, failing to dictate a peace,
Germany would resort to a new policy of " f rightf ulness."

From the beginning of the conflict President Wilson had
eagerly sought to play the role of peacemaker and had made
repeated overtures to that effect. On the subject of peace
and regarding our differences with the belligerents there had
been many interchanges of opinion of which the general pub-
lic knew nothing. The confidential agent of the President in
these negotiations was often Colonel Edward M. House of
Texas, who came and went to Europe on mysterious missions.
President Wilson's idea at this time was that there must be a

4i8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

peace by compromise. But the Allies and millions even of
Americans believed that an unbeaten Germany would be a
world menace and that there must be no peace until those who
were guilty of having precipitated civilization into the abyss
were forced to make restitution for wrongs done and were
deprived of power to offend again in the future. Compromise,
therefore, was impossible.

Even before Germany made her peace proposal President
Wilson had decided upon a new effort. On December 18, 1916,
he asked that all the belligerent powers should state "their
respective views as to the terms upon which the war might be
concluded, and the arrangements which would be deemed satis-
factory as a guarantee against its renewal." In explaining this
note, Secretary Lansing said "that we are drawing near the
verge of war ourselves." His pessimistic words precipitated a
serious stock panic, nor was the country reassured by a second
statement issued by him. The note drew replies from both
sides but did nothing toward ending the war; neither did a
homily delivered (January 22, 1917) by the President before
the Senate on world peace, and the methods whereby it could
be obtained and observed. In this speech he declared "that
it must be a peace without victory," and he emphasized "free-
dom of the seas," the limitation of armaments, and the adop-
tion of some method of guaranteeing permanent peace.

Nine days later the great blow fell. At six o'clock on the
evening of January 31, 1917, Ambassador Gerard was informed
by Zimmermann, the German foreign minister, that at midnight
the German U-boats would begin unrestricted war-
fare in a zone surrounding the British Isles and off

Unrestricted the western coast of France, and in another zone
Warfare. that included most of the Mediterranean. At four
o'clock of the same day a note of the same tenor
was handed to Secretary of State Lansing by Ambassador Von
Bernstorff. Any ship entering the barred zones, no matter
what its cargo, port of departure, or destination, would be
ruthlessly sunk without regard to the safety of passengers or
crews. As a special concession, however, the war lords gra-

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 419

ciously offered to permit America to send one passenger-ship
a week to the port of Falmouth, but the ships must follow a
specified route, our government must guarantee that the ves-
sels bore no contraband of war, and the hulls must be painted
in alternate stripes of red and white, or as one patriot indig-
nantly declared, "like a barber's pole."

Many explanations have been offered as to why Germany
made this astonishing decision to defy not only the United
States but the rest of the neutral world. Beyond question the
German war ^Orc^s realized that their plight was desperate,
Motives and and that only desperate methods could break the
strangle hold of the Allied blockade and enable
them to win the war. They seem to have hoped that the
United States would take no action beyond sending the usual
diplomatic notes. Gerard tells us: "The Germans believed
that President Wilson had been elected with a mandate to keep
out of war at any cost, and that America could be insulted,
flouted, and humiliated with impunity." He says that Zim-
mermann declared that "everything will be all right. America
will do nothing, for President Wilson is for peace and nothing
else." At the worst, they expected that the United States
would not go beyond breaking diplomatic relations. Further-
more, they knew that even if we declared war a long period
must elapse before we could become a formidable factor in the
conflict. The military weakness of America was much better
understood hi Berlin than in Washington, and the war lords
knew that more than a year must pass before the United States
could put an army of any consequence at the fighting front.
They hoped to win the war in that interval. In a speech soon
after he returned to America, Gerard declared: "If we had a
million men under arms to-day, we would not be near the
edge of war."

There were pacifists and pro-Germans who insisted that
America should meekly bow before the Hohenzollern fist, but
the great mass of Americans thought otherwise. President
Wilson realized that forbearance had ceased to be a virtue, and
that the German declaration closed for the present his altru-

420 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

istic endeavors and policy of idealistic hopes. On February 3
he ordered that Ambassador von Bernstorff should be handed
his passports and that our representatives in Ger-
Rdations10 manv should return home. On the same day, in a
Broken, speech before Congress, he stated that only "actual
1917!^ overt acts" could make him believe that Germany
would persist in her determination, but he said
that in case his "inveterate confidence" should prove unfounded
he would ask authority to protect our seamen and people on
the high seas. Even yet, however, he had not determined
upon actual war.

Germany persisted in her piratical course, and several viola-
tions of American rights occurred, but for a time nothing took
place that the President thought it wise to consider an "overt
act." On February 26, six days before the end
Neutrality." °^ tne session, the President appeared before Con-
gress and announced that he desired that the United
States should assume a position of "armed neutrality." He
said that he believed that he already had power to authorize
the arming of merchantmen, but he expressed a wish that
Congress would specifically authorize him to do so and thus
support his action. Even as he was speaking, word reached
the capital that a submarine had murdered on the high seas
two American women. On March i a despatch from Zim-
mermann which had come into the hands of our secret service
was published throughout the country, and revealed the fact
that Germany was endeavoring to persuade Mexico
Overtures to to attack the United States. Germany promised
japan° and Mexico "general financial support," while to Mexico
was assigned the simple task of reconquering "the
lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona " ! The Presi-
dent of Mexico was also to persuade Japan to make peace with
Germany and declare war on the United States. Some paci-
fists and pro-Germans denied the authenticity of this despatch,
but Zimmermann admitted having transmitted it. The most
skeptical Americans were at last convinced that the war lords
would stop at nothing, no matter how treacherous or dastardly.

THE "NEW FREEDOM" 421

A great patriotic uprising occurred. A resolution granting the
President what he asked for passed the House by an enormous
majority, but in the Senate a little knot designated
ky the President as "wilful men," among whom
were Stone of Missouri and La Follette of Wis-
consin, started a filibuster against the measure, and the session
closed before a vote could be taken.

Thus ended the first administration of Woodrow Wilson,
with the country irresistibly drawn into the bloody maelstrom
of the greatest war in history.

The events leading up to our entering the conflict will doubt-
less long continue to be a subject of controversy. President
Wilson's course in international affairs will be bitterly criticised
and as warmly defended. His admirers justify his policy by
such arguments as that for two years he kept the United States
out of the war, and that he waited until the people were ready
to back up a vigorous course. His critics point out that he
got into the conflict in the end, and deny that he prepared the
country either mentally or materially for war.

Students of history will not fail to see a close parallel between
Wilson's policy in 1914-16 and that of Jefferson and Madison
in the period preceding the War of 1812. In each instance a
great world war was raging; in each instance America's rights
as a neutral were trampled upon. In each instance our govern-
ment protested but for a long time did not go beyond pro-
test. And in each instance the United States was finally drawn
into the struggle unprepared. Once again America had been
forewarned but had failed to forearm.

CHAPTER XXI

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR

THE submarine dangers proved so great that most American
ship-owners refused to send their vessels to Europe unless the
government would furnish guns and trained men to operate

them. President Wilson had already asserted a
ShipshArmed. belief that he had the power to arm merchantmen,

and, despite the failure of the bill expressly grant-
ing him that authority, he issued orders a few days after his
second inauguration that naval guns should be mounted on
the ships. Regular naval officers and men were put in charge
of the guns, with orders to fire at submarines on sight. This
policy was fully justified by the German declaration that the
U-boats would torpedo without warning vessels entering the
"war zone."

The filibuster in the Senate had resulted in the failure of
needed appropriation bills, and the President, therefore, sum-
moned the new Congress to meet in special session on April 16.

But in the middle of March it became known that

Armed

Neutrality" submarines had sunk three of our ships without

a Failure. . if , - , ,,

warning, causing the death of three Americans.
The President realized that his "armed neutrality" policy did
not meet the needs of the situation, and he therefore con-
voked Congress to meet two weeks earlier in order "to con-
sider grave matters of international policy."

At the moment the President issued the new call, the country
was again threatened with a great railroad strike. The Adam-
son law, passed the previous September, was supposed to go
into effect on January i, 1917, but a federal district
court held it; unconstitutional. The railroads en-
tered into an agreement with the attorney-general
to continue on the old basis but to give the men the back pay
due them in case the Supreme Court upheld the law. The

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 423

men were dissatisfied, and on March 15, in the midst of the
crisis with Germany, the brotherhoods called a nation-wide
strike to begin on the I7th, but consented to postpone it until
the i gth. On that day the managers, following an appeal to
their patriotism, yielded, and on the same day the Supreme
Court, by a vote of 5 to 4, upheld the act. Later in the year
the men began an agitation for radical increases in their pay
and again were victorious.

In the new House of Representatives the two great parties
were so evenly matched that doubt existed as to which would
be able to organize that body and elect the Speaker. But a
Dem t feeling developed that it would be better for the
Organize the legislative and executive branches to be in accord
politically. Some independents and a few Repub-
licans threw their votes to Champ Clark, and he was re-elected
Speaker over Mann of Illinois. In the executive session of the
Senate, which had met after the inauguration, the rules of that
body had been modified, and a system of closure of debate
had been adopted in order to prevent future filibustering. The
ease with which a few senators could block legislation in that
body had been a great evil, and a change in rules had long
been agitated. Most of the heads of committees in both
houses continued to be Southerners.

The final crisis with Germany had come. Pacifists and pro-
Germans made a last effort. They flooded Congress and the
President with telegrams and letters advocating a policy of
submission, and thousands hurried to Washington
Come."5 m person to present their views. But America's
patience was at last exhausted. The great mass of
intelligent people saw that the time for words was past, the
time for action come. A great surge of feeling swept over the
land, bearing down all opposition, and bands of militant "Pil-
grims of Patriotism" visited the capital to demand that the
nation should vindicate its rights and those of civilization.

By evening of the day of meeting Congress was ready to
listen to the President, and he appeared before a joint session
and delivered a momentous message. He said that submarine

424 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

warfare had proved so destructive and unrestrained that it had
become "a warfare against mankind." Armed neutrality, he
confessed, was "impractical" and "ineffectual"; he
therefore asked Congress to declare that the recent
course of the German Government constituted war
against the United States, and to take the necessary steps to
employ all our resources to force the German Government to
terms and end the conflict. This would involve, he said, the
closest possible co-operation with the other nations at war with
Germany, and the extension of liberal financial credits to those
countries. The material resources of the country must be or-
ganized and mobilized, the navy must be strengthened, espe-
cially with the best means for dealing with submarines; and he
recommended that to the armed forces already authorized an
immediate addition should be made of at least 500,000 men,
"chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service."

He asserted that we had "no quarrel with the German peo-
ple," but only with their despotic government. This govern-
ment, the Prussian autocracy, "was not and never could be
Autocracy our friend." From the very outset of the war it
the Enemy, j^ "filled our unsuspecting communities and even
our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues
everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our
peace within and without, our industries and our commerce.
Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before
the war began." "This natural foe to liberty" must be beaten,
and "the world must be made safe for democracy."

"There are, it may be," he said in conclusion, "many months
of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to
lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible
and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in
the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and
we shall fight for the things which we have always carried near-
est our hearts — for democracy, for the right of those who sub-
mit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for
the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion
of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 425

and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.
To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes,
everything that we are and everything that we have, with the
pride of those who know that the day has come when America
is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the prin-
ciples that gave her birth and happiness, and the peace which
she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other."

Even while President Wilson was on his way to address
Congress, word was being passed about Washington that the
American armed merchantman Aztec had been sunk without
w warning, with probable loss of life, and this new

Declared, example of German " f rightfulness " helped to em-
phasize the demand for war. A resolution recog-
nizing a state of war, authorizing the President to employ the
entire naval and military forces against the Imperial German
Government, and pledging all the resources of the country to
bring the conflict to a successful termination, was introduced in
both houses. In the Senate it was opposed by such men as
Stone and La Follette, but it was passed by a vote of 82 to 6.-
In the House Kitchin of North Carolina, Democratic floor
leader, took a prominent part against it, but it passed by a
vote of 373 to 50. The United States and Germany were
definitely at war.

The Central Powers sought to make light of America's entry
into the conflict, sneered at the American army and navy, and
declared that the Allies would be brought to their knees before
Effect of ^e United States would be ready to take an active
America's part. In reality, however, America's decision to
enter "lie conflict reverberated around the world.
It vastly heartened the Allies, put at their service the resources
of the richest and potentially the most powerful nation on the
globe, and influenced numerous other nations, among them
Cuba, China, Brazil, Panama, and Bolivia, either to break diplo-
matic relations with Germany or to declare war upon her.
And, disguise their opinions as they would, the Germans and
their allies were unable to view with real equanimity the ad-
hesion of so powerful a country to their foes.

426 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

When America threw her sword into the scale, the Great War
had been raging two years and eight months. At the outset
the Germans had sought to win a speedy decision, but after
Summa of S^^g ^n signt °f Paris they had been turned
Preceding back at the Marne by the genius of Toffre, Foch,

Events

and Gallieni. A later drive for the Channel ports
had been foiled by the French and British, and the year 1914
ended in the West with the Germans in possession of almost all
of Belgium, and an important part of industrial France, but
balked of their main object. In the meanwhile the Russians had
inflicted tremendous defeats upon the Austrians in Galicia, but
they had been hurled out of East Prussia by Von Hindenburg.
In 1915 the Teutons changed their strategy and made their
mam effort in the East. Accepting the defensive on the west-
ern front, they began under Mackensen and Hindenburg a great
drive which moved forward triumphantly through
the spriflgj summer, and autumn, and gave them all
of Poland, Courland, and other Russian provinces
west of the Dvina River, and rewon most of Galicia. Mean-
while the French and British "nibbled" at the German lines
on the western front and won some minor successes, but ac-
complished nothing decisive. The most promising undertaking
on the part of the Allies during the year was the attempt to
open the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople, reduce Turkey,
and obtain a highway for bringing Russian wheat to Western
markets and carrying munitions of war to the Muscovites.
But the attack was conducted in too leisurely a fashion; not
enough troops were thrown into the enterprise; and finally
the Allies had to confess failure and withdraw their troops from
the Gallipoli Peninsula. In the autumn the Teutonic powers
persuaded Bulgaria to enter the conflict as an ally. Caught
between two forces, Servia and Montenegro were overrun, and
dilatory efforts at rescue conducted by Great Britain and
France through Salonica proved unavailing. In Mesopotamia,
a British expedition approached Bagdad, but was repulsed by
overwhelming forces, was forced to retreat, and after a long
siege was compelled to surrender at Kut-el-Amara.

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 427

In 1916 the Germans once more turned to the West, resolved
"to bleed France white" and put her out of the war. In Feb-
ruary they attacked Verdun, and for month after month kept
battering away at that great fortification. It was
u^e the meeting of an irresistible power with an
immovable body. But the French said, "They
shall not pass," and French valor, aided by developments else-
where, foiled the Teutonic efforts. Early in June the rejuve-
nated Russians, under Brusiloff, began a new drive which recov-
ered much Russian territory, reconquered part of Galicia, and
was finally brought to a standstill only after months of des-
perate fighting. On the ist of July the new British army began
its first great effort on the Somme, and there ensued in that
region a long-continued battle which equalled, if it did not sur-
pass, the titanic conflict at Verdun. The Germans were driven
slowly back, and were only saved from an extensive retreat by
the opportune arrival of wet autumn weather. Meanwhile
the Italians, who had entered the conflict in the spring of 1915,
had been slowly pushing their way against stupendous natural
obstacles toward Trent and Trieste, and had absorbed much of
the Austrian strength. By the end of the summer it seemed
as if the collapse of the Central Powers might not be far off,
and the hopes of those who desired this were heightened when
Roumania threw herself into the conflict. But the failure of the
Allies to carry out an effective drive northward from Salonica
gave Falkenhayn and Mackensen an opportunity to overrun
two-thirds of Roumania and to revive Teutonic hopes.

In Europe and Asia Minor, therefore, the Central Powers
still bade defiance to their foes, and could point to large con-
quests of territory as proof of the fact that they " had won the
war." But their commerce had long since been

The Balance.

swept from the high seas, and each day that passed

Germany was losing in foreign trade more than the price of a
Lusitania. All of Germany's colonies had been overrun, with
the exception of a small stretch of German East Africa. Arabia
was in revolt against Turkey. The British were once more in
the ascendant in Mesopotamia, and early in 1917 they recap-

428 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

tured Kut-el-Amara and soon after took Bagdad. In May,
1916, the German High Seas Fleet had ventured to challenge
British supremacy in the North Sea, but after the greatest
engagement in naval history it had stolen back to port in the
night. Though proclaiming a "victory," the German above-
water navy never again ventured to try conclusions with its
enemies. But the German U-boats waged incessant and de-
structive warfare against Allied merchant shipping, and even
before the announcement of unlimited warfare had sunk sev-
eral millions of tons, mostly of vessels flying the British flag.

At the moment that America entered the war two circum-
stances combined to raise Teutonic hopes. In March a sud-
den uprising in Russia resulted in the dethronement of the
The Russia Czar and the setting up of a revolutionary govern-

Revolution, ment. In some Allied countries this revolution
March, 1917. . . , . , , . . , ,

was greeted with joy, but men of insight foresaw
that not improbably it would paralyze Russian military efforts,
and so the result proved. In July Kerensky, the minister of
war, succeeded in galvanizing the Russian army into making
an attack which temporarily proved successful, but defeat soon
followed; the army became completely demoralized, German
secret agents succeeded in confusing Russian counsels, the vast
empire broke up into fragments, and Bolshevism rose amid the
ruins. The collapse of Russia freed the Central Powers from
the necessity of maintaining great armies along the eastern
front, and enabled them to devote their main attention to the
western and Italian fronts. As many months must elapse
before the United States could supply an army to fill the va-
cancy left by Russian faltering, the military situation from the
Allied point of view was most serious.

But the Germans pinned their main hopes upon the U-
boats. Never before had the world witnessed such a carnival

of destruction upon the high seas. Ships were sent
Period. down by the hundreds, and the waters around Great

Britain and off the coast of western France were
filled with floating wreckage. In a single week of April, 1917,
perhaps the blackest week of all modern history, the submarines

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 429

sank nearly fifty vessels of more than 1,600 tons, and many
smaller ones. The Germans boasted that in three months
they would reduce the British to submission, and it was evident
to all who had eyes to see that unless some means could be
found of checking this warfare, Great Britain, dependent upon
the outside world for most of her foo'd supply, would indeed be
forced to accept any terms that the war lords might dictate.
She might even be compelled to surrender her fleet to the
victors. With it the war lords could sweep the seas and reduce
all the world, America included, to a state of vassalage.

It was clear that the United States must play a large part
in the war in order to secure victory. It was equally clear
that we were almost totally unprepared for the task. Let us
America's ^rst cons^er tne army. The appropriations for the
Military Un- War Department for the fiscal year 1915 had been

preparedness. .., . - , , A

$150,000,000, and for the year 1916 $203,000,000,
and the last sum was about $30,000,000 in excess of the whole
sum expended by the German Empire in 1913 upon its army
of about 800,000 men, well armed, well officered, and well
equipped with all the latest military devices. Yet our regular
army on April i, 1917, numbered less than 128,000 officers and
men, and some thousands of these had enlisted during the last
few months. The National Guard in federal service numbered
about 80,000 men. Although part of the Guard and much of
the regular army had been on the Mexican border, little or no
effort had been made to train either officers or men in the meth-
ods of the new warfare. In the new Springfield rule, adopted in
1903, we had perhaps the best military rifle in the world, but
we had only about 600,000. Pains had not been taken to pro-
vide the necessary machinery for turning the rifles out in vast
quantities, and we were ultimately forced to supply many of
our troops with a British model rifle, rechambered to carry the
Springfield cartridge. The first few months of the Great War
had shown the vital importance of motor-trucks in the new
warfare, yet our army had only a few motor-trucks. It had
shown the vital need of great numbers of machine-guns, but
we had only a few machine-guns. The aeroplane is an Ameri-

430 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

can invention, and in 1908 our army had begun experimenting
with such craft, but the work had not been pushed vigorously,
and when we declared war we had not a single aeroplane fit to
meet German planes in battle in the skies. The new warfare
was largely a war of artillery, yet we had not a single really
up-to-date field-piece. Worst of all, the War Department had
made no plans as to what type of motor-trucks, machine-guns,
aeroplanes, and artillery should be adopted, and many precious
months were spent in planning and experimenting before even
construction could begin.

The great immediate need was for weapons with which to
fight the submarine, and happily the navy, though its man-
agement has been both criticised and defended, was at least
more forehanded than the army. Since 1912 our navy had

. „ fallen in relative strength until it was much below

The Navy.

that of Germany, but it contained eleven completed

dreadnoughts, and more than a score of pre-dreadnought battle-
ships, though it did not contain a single battle-cruiser, a type
of ship that had been found to be of immense value during the
war. Luckily Great Britain was amply supplied with dread-
noughts, battle-cruisers, and other large vessels, and our great-
est contribution to Allied success on the sea took the form of
lighter ships. Of these our destroyers, of which we had more
than fifty completed and others in the process of construction,
proved to be of greatest value, and they were supplemented by
light cruisers and great numbers of yachts and submarine-
chasers, which were soon put into commission.

Comparatively few Americans had any definite conception
of the difficulties of creating a modern military machine.
Talk about a million men springing to arms overnight had
lulled many into a feeling of false security, while
Delusions. others had the cheerful notion that American in-
ventive genius, if confronted by a crisis, would
speedily perfect weapons with which to defeat our enemies. A
Naval Consulting Board composed of inventors and men of
science had been formed before the war began, and for months
the newspapers were filled with speculations concerning the ex-

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 431

periments which Edison and other men of genius were conduct-
ing in secrecy; more than once the country was heartened by
vague announcements that wonderful weapons of warfare had
been evolved. Gradually, however, the belief that some way
would be found of "inventing" us out of the war evaporated,
and the stern fact came home to the people that the conflict
could be won only by lavish expenditure of blood and treasure,
properly organized and directed. Not a single new American
invention that was revolutionary in character played a consid-
erable part in ending the war. The only new inventions of
large importance that contributed to that end were the tank
and the depth bomb, both of which were produced by our sup-
posedly less nimble-witted cousins, the British.

It was clear that we were confronted with the greatest task
of improvisation in all our history, and that to get ready it
would be necessary to pour out money in floods hitherto un-
dreamed of. Yet there was much for which to be
CtaShidd. grateful. Thanks to the Allied armies and the
British navy, we could carry out our preparations
practically unmolested by the enemy. It would not be neces-
sary for us to sacrifice our regular army, as the British had been
compelled to sacrifice theirs, in order to gain time in which to
train a new one. Furthermore, our allies gladly supplied hun-
dreds of experienced officers to teach our officers and men the
new warfare. Yet we must not be too dilatory, for, as was
well said, "time and Von Hindenburg waited for no man,"
and the disastrous results of failure on the part of the Allies
to take sufficiently into account the time element in warfare —
more important than ever before — had repeatedly been sadly
revealed.

The German hope that the United States would not take an
active part in the war was soon dispelled. Congress speedily
appropriated (April 27) the immense sum of $7,000,000,000,
and authorized the secretary of the treasury to advance loans
to nations at war with our enemies. In accordance with the
President's wishes, a selective service bill was introduced in
Congress. It met with considerable opposition not only from

432 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

pacifists and pro-Germans, but also from patriotic men who
preferred depending entirely on the volunteer system. Even
The Speaker Clark bitterly opposed it, declaring that in

Conscription his State, Missouri, "conscript" was considered the
same as "convict." But volunteering was slow,
there was need of raising men rapidly, and a belief that conscrip-
tion was the fairest way of doing it created so strong a public
sentiment in behalf of the measure that in the middle of May it
passed both houses by great majorities. It authorized the Presi-
dent to raise the regular army to the maximum number provided
by the act of June, 1916, and to draft into the service members
of the National Guard and of the National Guard Reserves,
and it required men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty,
inclusive, to register. From those thus registered the President
was empowered to call out 500,000 men, and then an additional
500,000. The raising of still larger forces was subsequently
authorized, and the age limit was extended to forty-five years.
The total number of men registered exceeded 24,000,000. Ulti-
mately about 4,000,000 men served in the American army, and
about 800,000 more in the navy, the marine corps, and other
services.

To supply the officers required for this great expansion of
the army many men were commissioned from the ranks or from
civil life, but the chief dependence was placed upon officers'
Officers' training camps. These were opened in many parts
Training of the country, and were conducted upon a plan used
by General Leonard Wood at Plattsburg in 1915.
Both England and France sent over some of their ablest officers
to assist in the training process. Considering the shortness of
the time available, the plan worked well. In all, 96,000 officers,
about two-thirds of the line officers, were graduates of these
camps. Like most of our war effort, however, it was improv-
isation, and justifiable only on grounds of sheer necessity.

One section of the original draft law was inserted against the
wishes of the administration. Even before the break with
Germany Colonel Roosevelt had applied to the secretary of
war for permission, in the event of hostilities, to raise a divi-

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 433

sion of volunteers, and he later offered to raise two, or possi-
bly four. He did not ask chief command but expressed a

willingness to go as a junior brigadier. The spec-
offerevdts tacular success of the Rough Riders, enthusiasm

for Roosevelt personally, and other considerations
caused more than 300,000 hardy spirits — more than the number
of men then in the regular army and the National Guard com-
bined — to offer their services. When the proposal came before
Congress many Democrats opposed the plan, and friends of
the plan charged that these opponents feared that the enter-
prise would be "carried through in characteristic Rooseveltian
fashion," and would have unfavorable results in the presidential
election in 1920. Other Democrats, however, heartily supported
the plan, and there was finally incorporated into the bill a sec-
tion authorizing the President to raise not to exceed four divi-
sions of volunteers, none of the men to be under twenty-five
years of age. Supporters of the plan urged that it would result
in the raising of a powerful righting force, and that the appear-
ance in France of the most famous of living Americans would
greatly hearten the Allied world. But Secretary Baker ob-
jected to the proposal from the first, and President Wilson,
alleging military reasons, announced that he would not make
use of the volunteer forces for the present at least.

It was vitally important that we should increase our mer-
chant marine. Fortunately there were in ports of the United
States about ninety German merchant vessels of a total ton-

nage of over 600,000, and these vessels, together with
German and & few interned warships, were seized. As Austria-

Hungary speedily broke off diplomatic relations
(April 8), 14 Austrian ships, having a gross tonnage
of 67,807, were taken over. The machinery of nearly all the
German ships had been badly damaged by their crews, who
supposed that thereby they had put the ships out of commis-
sion for many months. But by skilful use of the new method
of electric welding, American mechanics put the ships into
working order in astonishingly short time. Most of the vessels
were rechristened. Thus the Vaterland, the biggest ship afloat,

434 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

became the Leviathan, while others were named after Schurz,
Steuben, Sigel, and other Germans who had played noble
parts in American history. Subsequently these ships carried
many hundreds of thousands of men to France.

The construction of merchant ships did not proceed so
smoothly. Back in September, 1916, Congress had created a
Shipping Board of five members to regulate the rates and prac-
tices of water-carriers in foreign commerce, or in
ofhsh?ps6stl Q interstate commerce on the high seas or on the
Great Lakes. Our entry into the war brought to
this board new and vastly important duties, among these being
the building of ships. For this purpose the board organized
an Emergency Fleet Corporation, with a capital of $50,000,000,
all subscribed by the government, while Congress appropriated
vast sums for its use. The Shipping Board commandeered all
ships being built in American yards, and a vast programme of
new construction was undertaken. The need of ships was so
vital that plans for great numbers of wooden ships were made.
Major-General George Goethals, builder of the Panama Canal,
became general manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation,
and the public expected ship construction to move forward
rapidly. But shipyards and ways were lacking, the supply of
skilled workmen was limited, strikes and other troubles were
frequent, and optimistic forecasts, issued by Chairman Denman
of the Shipping Board, were not only not realized but even
the completion of the ships commandeered was delayed. Gen-
eral Goethals opposed the building of wooden ships, and became
involved in a controversy with Denman which resulted in the
retirement (August, 1917) of both men.

It was important to be constructing merchant ships, but the

war on the sea could not be won merely by setting up new

targets for German torpedoes. The really effective policy was

to fight the submarines. Shortly before we entered

Sims Admiral the war> Vice-Admiral Sims was sent to England to

arrange co-operation between our navy and those

of our allies. Sims was a highly talented officer who had done

a great deal to make the American navy efficient. When still

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 435

a lieutenant, he became convinced that the shooting of our naval
gunners was poor, and that new methods ought to be adopted.
His superiors ignored his recommendations, and it was only
when he wrote to President Roosevelt in person that he was
given an opportunity to prove his contentions. Having shown
that he was right, he was put in charge of effecting reforms in
gunnery, and ultimately became known as " the Father of Target
Practice." In 1910, in a speech in the Guildhall in London,
Sims had declared: "I believe that if the time ever comes.when
the British Empire is menaced by an external enemy, you may
count upon every man, every drop of blood, every ship, and
every dollar of your kindred across the sea." For this speech
he was reprimanded by the home authorities, but a day came
when he was able to remind the British and his own people of
his prediction. Admiral Sims held command of our naval
forces operating abroad in Atlantic waters throughout the war,
and co-operated with our allies in a manner that won their
regard and admiration.

The work of patrolling a large part of the Atlantic was soon
taken over by our navy, thereby releasing British vessels for
use in the North Sea and other waters close at home. Early in
American ^a^ a considerable number of destroyers were sent
Destroyers in to British waters, and arrived at Queenstown in

the War Zone. , , , . - ,, i

such good trim that they were able to set to work
as soon as they had taken on fuel. Later their number was
considerably augmented, and many cruisers, converted yachts,
submarine-chasers, and a few battleships were sent abroad.
Hydroplanes and dirigible balloons were also provided in course
of tune. Even in the autumn of 1918, however, our vessels
engaged in anti-submarine work in European waters amounted
to only about three per cent of the total Allied effort.

Meanwhile American armed merchantmen had continued to
make voyages through the war zone. On April 19, 1917, a gun
crew on the merchant steamer Mongolia fired the first American
shot of the war against a submarine, and, it was believed, seri-
ously damaged or destroyed the U-boat. Similar duels, mostly
at long range, occurred from time to time, in some of which the

436 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

American vessels were sunk, while in others they drove off or
sank their assailants. The U-boat captains speedily discovered

that it was hazardous to attack armed American
U-Boats. * merchantmen with gun-fire, and after a few months

such conflicts became less common. This was
partly due to the fact that the Allies wisely adopted a policy
of gathering merchantmen into fleets convoyed by war-ships.

The Entente Allies had planned an early renewal of the
offensives which they had been forced to discontinue by the
approach of winter. The Russian revolution did much to dis-
Hindenbur 's arrange tne plan, but the French and British per-
Strategic severed in the undertaking. The British successes

Retreat

along the Somme in the preceding year had left the
Germans in so perilous a position that early in February, 1917,
Von Hindenburg, who had taken over the command in the
West, began a great strategic retreat from the Somme region,
and fell back to what became known as the Hindenburg Line,
running from Lens through St. Quentin and La Fere to the
Aisne River near Soissons. The retreat was managed with
skill, and the French and British, hampered by the muddy,
shell- torn terrain of two former campaigns, and by German
destruction of the roads, were unable to inflict heavy losses on
the retiring foe. By this withdrawal the Germans gave up
over a thousand square miles of French soil, but they reduced
it practically to a desert by destroying the towns and villages,
filling up or polluting the wells, and even cutting down the
vines and fruit-trees.

This prudent retreat was a play for time, for the Germans
knew that it would take the British and French a long while
to build roads up to the new line, bring up artillery, shells, and
British and other supplies, and make the necessary approaches.
Offensive, The British and French persevered, however, in
1917- the plan of undertaking the offensive. On April

9 the British began a great "push" against the point where
the new line joined the old, namely, about Lens and Arras.
The attack was preceded by a stupendous bombardment, and
the assaulting forces were aided by low-flying aeroplanes and

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 437

tanks. The Canadian troops won immortal glory by carrying
Vimy Ridge, the chief buttress of the German line in that
sector, and many other positions were taken elsewhere. German
counter-attacks were hurled back with great slaughter, and in a
few days the British were astride the Hindenburg Line, which
the Germans had boasted was invulnerable, and had forced the
defenders back upon a reserve line some distance in the rear.
In a week's time the British captured more territory and more
guns than in the whole of the previous year's offensive. On
April 1 6 General Nivelle, who had succeeded General Joffre as
commander-in-chiqf of the French armies, began a great drive
against the German line along the Aisne on a front of twenty
miles between Rheims and Soissons. The attack won much
ground, and resulted in the capture of many guns and prisoners,
but the French losses were heavy, and after some days the
French Government called a halt. General Nivelle was re-
lieved of command and was succeeded by General Petain, one
of the heroes of Verdun, while General Foch became chief-of-
staff. The slackening of the French attack enabled the Ger-
mans to concentrate before the British and to bring them to
a standstill. In June the British launched a furious attack
against Messines Ridge east of Ypres, and they continued bat-
tering their way slowly forward in this sector until the approach
of winter once more made operations on a great scale impossible.
The failure of the April drive, together with the course of events
in Russia, cast a cloud of gloom over France. " Defeatism,"
instigated by German gold, reared its head and threatened to
undermine French morale. During the remainder of the year
the French undertook no great offensive, though they managed
to wrest the Chemin des Dames ridge from the Germans and
to threaten Laon. The Russian collapse had frustrated all
hope of decisive victory in 1917, and France and the other
Allied countries felt that the German hosts could not be over-
come until a great American army was in the field.

In April British and French commissions arrived in America
to arrange plans of co-operation against the common foe. The
British commission was headed by Foreign Secretary Balfour,

438 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

that of the French by ex-Premier Viviani and the immortal
General Joff re. The French commission also included the Mar-
French and clu^s ^e Chambrun, a lineal descendant of Lafayette.
British Memories of the days when France had stretched

out a helping hand to the weak republic in the
West arose in every mind and helped to arouse a fervor
of enthusiasm wherever the French commission went, while
patriots rejoiced that the two great branches of the Anglo-
Saxon race, enemies in the long ago, were now fighting shoulder
to shoulder for civilization against a common foe. The com-
missions laid the foundation for effective co-operation between
the United States and the other enemies of Germany. They
were later followed by missions from Russia, Italy, Belgium,
Roumania, and Japan.

France had grown war-weary and her statesmen and military
men were anxious to do something that would restore the faith
of the French people in ultimate victory. General Joffre and
French Plea ^s colleagues, therefore, urgently requested that
that Troops American troops should be sent to France as soon
as possible, as concrete evidence that American aid
would be forthcoming. We had no troops that were ready to
enter the firing line, but for the sake of the moral influence,
announcement was made that a force would be sent over as
soon as possible.

To command this force the President selected Major-General
John J. Pershing, the man who had led the expedition into
Mexico after Villa. General Pershing had seen active service
Ma'or against the Apaches, in the Santiago campaign,

General and later in the Philippines, particularly against
the Moros. As a military observer he had been
attached to one of the Japanese armies in the Japanese-Russian
War and had there witnessed modern warfare on a large scale.
His work in the Philippines was of so high a character that
President Roosevelt, a keen judge of men, promoted him from
captain to brigadier-general, jumping him over the heads of
862 other officers.

On June 8 General Pershing and his staff landed at Liverpool,

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 439

and after a few days in England passed over to Paris. In both
England and France he was greeted with great enthusiasm,
but he and those with him soon settled down to the
stupendous task of arranging for America's partici-

Francem pation in the war on a grand scale. In the middle

of June an American division, which included some
marines, set sail for France. On the way over the transports
were attacked by submarines, but the convoying war-ships drove
off the enemy, and the troops reached France without the loss
of a man. They were greeted with indescribable enthusiasm
by the French people. On the 4th of July a battalion paraded
through the streets of Paris amid a demonstration perhaps
never surpassed in the history of that famous capital. Many of
the men hi the division were, however, new recruits, and months
of weary work lay ahead of the units before they were privi-
leged to take part in an actual battle.

The Germans had boasted that their U-boats would make
the transportation of American troops to France practically
impossible, and much uneasiness existed in the United States
Convo 'n ^est ^ boast mignt be made good. Every effort
the Troop- was made by both the American and British navies

to protect the troop-ships. They were convoyed
all the way over by war-ships, and as they drew near European
shores, where the danger was greatest, they were surrounded by
destroyers and other anti-submarine craft, while hydroplanes
and balloons kept a careful watch from aloft. These tactics
were successful beyond what even optimists had hoped. In all,
only four transports were sunk, while two others were tor-
pedoed but were able to make port. Most of these vessels were
attacked on the homeward voyage, when less care was taken to
safeguard them. Only 396 men were lost at sea, an infinitesimal
loss considering that over 2,000,000 were carried over.
Of the regular naval vessels, the cruiser San Diego and the

destroyer Jacob Jones were sunk by the enemy, the
N™valCLosses. former by striking a mine laid by a German sub-

marine off the Long Island coast. Another de-
stroyer, the Cassin, was hit by a torpedo but managed to make

440 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

port, while a few minor craft were sunk. That these losses
were so small was partly due to the fact that the German sub-
marines concentrated almost all their efforts against merchant
vessels.

Throughout the war by far the greater part of the anti-
submarine work continued to be performed by the British,
but the American navy co-operated effectively. In all, our

ships were credited with certainly destroying one
American submarine and possibly destroying or damaging

about two dozen others. Furthermore, our navy,
with some British assistance, laid a great mine barrage from
the Norwegian coast to the Orkney Islands, thereby rendering
it increasingly difficult and dangerous for the German sub-
marines to reach the high seas.

When the United States entered the war, the submarine
campaign was at its height. Ships were being sunk in such
appalling numbers that when Admiral Sims arrived in London
The he found many Britons who secretly feared that the

Submarines war was lost. But the adoption of the convoy

system and increased use of depth bombs and other
devices proved effective, and gradually the peril diminished.
As the destruction of vessels decreased the rate of construction
increased, until finally, in May, 1918, tonnage constructed by the
Allies surpassed the tonnage sunk by the enemy. This favor-
able showing was due in no small measure to the activity of
American shipyards, which had been put under the energetic
direction of Charles M. Schwab. Many disappointments had
been experienced in our shipbuilding campaign, but our efforts
at last bore fruit. By the autumn of 1918 American yards
were delivering more ships than were British yards.

The task of mobilizing the country's resources for the war
was one of the greatest that had ever faced a nation. It would
have been difficult in any circumstances, and it was rendered

doubly so by reason of the fact that comparatively
TaskUpend°US little °f a practical nature had been done before our

entry. As a result everything had to be impro-
vised in haste and at enormous cost, in order to get American
troops to the front in time to play their part.

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 441

The country displayed commendable eagerness to assist in

the great work, and willingly co-operated with the government.

Congress appropriated money in sums hitherto undreamed of,

and enacted many sweeping war measures, including

Puts its*10' the Selective Draft Act, an Espionage Act, a Food

the°\v£[° and Fuel Act' a War Risk Insurance Act> and a
Daylight-saving Law. The people subscribed hun-

dreds of millions of dollars for the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A.,
the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and other
agencies doing volunteer war work. Thousands of business
men of large experience dropped their private enterprises and
offered their services free of charge or for a nominal wage to
their country.

Yet for reasons upon which men are not yet agreed some

aspects of our war preparations moved forward slowly, and in

consequence there was much dissatisfaction and criticism.

Toward the end of 1917 a majority of the Senate

Shortcomings committee on military affairs, after investigating

Department t^ie a^eged shortcomings of the War Department,
reported that they had discovered many instances
of mismanagement, such as failure to provide blankets, uni-
forms, arms, and adequate hospital facilities. The leadership
in the investigation was taken by Senator Chamberlain of Ore-
gon, a member of President Wilson's own party. An insistent
demand was made by many newspapers, and by such men as
Colonel Roosevelt, that our war activities must be speeded up.
Responsibility for alleged shortcomings was placed in large
measure on Secretary of War Baker and certain bureaucrats
in his department, but many people felt that the ultimate re-
sponsibility rested on the shoulders of the President. In
January, 1918, Secretary Baker defended his department in
glowing terms, but Senator Chamberlain and other members of
the committee and a considerable section of the general public
declined to accept his picture of conditions and insisted that it
created a wrong impression. In a speech delivered in New
York City Senator Chamberlain declared that the military
establishment had "almost stopped functioning. Why? Be-
cause of inefficiency in every bureau and every department of

442 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the Government of the United States." This speech moved
President Wilson to issue a counter-statement defending Baker
as a capable administrator and denouncing Chamberlain's re-
marks as "an astonishing and unjustifiable distortion of the
truth."

Senator Chamberlain, hi a subsequent speech (January 4,
1918), admitted that much had been accomplished, but he
charged that the United States Army was almost wholly with-
Senator out Orcmance, was insufficiently supplied with rifles,
Chamberlain's that shortage of clothing and inadequate hospital
facilities had caused unnecessary deaths in the
army cantonments, and that our whole war effort was lagging.
Next day Surgeon-General Gorgas, before the Senate committee
on military affairs, confirmed some of Chamberlain's charges
regarding inadequate hospital equipment. A few days later
Senator Hitchcock, like Chamberlain a Democrat, severely at-
tacked the administration for short-sightedness and failure to
prepare for war activities. He painted a gloomy picture of the
existing situation and insisted that in many matters America's
preparations were far behind schedule.

To remedy the evils he believed existed, Senator Chamber-
lain introduced two bills, one to create a new department of
munitions and another to establish a war cabinet to direct war
War activities. The Republicans and a few Democratic

Activities senators supported these measures, but President
Wilson and Secretary Baker bitterly opposed them,
and they failed. However, the President recognized that
something must be done, and he procured the introduction and
passage of what was known as the Overman Bill, authorizing
him to reorganize our war activities. Furthermore, he appointed
Edward R. Stettinius, an able business man, as surveyor-gen-
eral of army purchases, and also brought General Goethals back
into responsible service.

The airplane situation was one of the matters that caused
deepest concern among Americans anxious to win the war.
In July, 1917, the government had formulated a plan for the
building of 22,000 airplanes. The plan appealed to the imag-
ination of the country, and before the public mind arose

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 443

picture of vast fleets of planes darkening the sky and carrying
destruction to the heart of Germany. Some persons declared
that airplanes were the weapon with which to win
&e war> and another slogan was added to the
many already in existence. Congress unanimously
voted $640,000,000 for the aerial service, and subsequently
increased this sum. It was confidently asserted that by the
opening of the campaign of 1918 thousands of American planes
would be at the front.

Some experts advocated that we proceed at once to manufac-
ture the best types of planes already in existence, but the War
Department followed a policy of having some planes built in
The France, and of seeking to evolve a new type for

"Liberty construction in America. Experts were set to work
evolving a new aircraft engine which ultimately
became known as the "Liberty Motor." In September, 1917,
Secretary of War Baker issued an optimistic statement declar-
ing that the new engine "had passed the final test" and that
"in power, speed, serviceability, and minimum weight the
new engine invites comparison with the best the European war
has produced." Later developments showed, however, that
in reality the motor was still in an experimental stage, and many
months elapsed before its defects were corrected and it was
really ready for war service.

Meanwhile America's airplane programme halted, and a seri-
ous feature of the situation was that the Germans, stimulated
by the news of our aircraft efforts, largely increased their pro-
duction of planes. A great outcry arose in America.
. Gutzon Borglum, a well-known sculptor, was per-
mitted by President Wilson to make an investiga-
tion of the aircraft situation, and he brought in a pessimistic
report in which he attributed the delay in airplane production
to gross mismanagement and even treachery. At the Presi-
dent's request ex- Justice Hughes, his late opponent, made a
more exhaustive investigation, which showed that there had
been some mismanagement, but the Hughes report was much
less sensational in its charges.
The aerial service was reorganized, and ultimately, after

444 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

many discouraging delays, the production of the Liberty Motor
proceeded rapidly, and the motor proved to be of value, especially
for training and bombing planes. However, pro-
duction of both engines and planes in this country
was so much delayed from various causes that
most of the aircraft actually used by American flyers at the
front came from French sources.

Fortunately the training of American aviators proceeded
more satisfactorily. With the aid of foreign instructors, over
8,000 men graduated from elementary flying courses, and about
half that number from advanced courses. More than 5,000
pilots and observers were sent overseas, and a considerable
number saw active service.

It early became clear that America could render much aid

by furnishing larger supplies of food to the Allies. The cry of

"Food will win the war !" was raised. Like most other slogans

this cry was not literally true, but food would be-

Question. yond question help to win the war, and without it

the war would be lost. The need of the Allies was

very great, and at the time the United States entered the con-

flict the whole world's food reserve was very low. Even in the

United States the reserve stock of wheat was said to be propor-

tionately lower than at any other time in our history.

The food campaign took two chief forms: conservation of the
existing supply and increased production. A great campaign,
partly governmental, partly voluntary, was launched to save
such things as sugar, meat, flour, and fats. The
general public co-operated with astonishing cheer-

Production fulness and loyalty in carrying out a system of
rationing whereby immense quantities of foods
needed overseas were saved. Another campaign for increased
production was conducted with equal energy and resourceful-
ness. Farmers were encouraged to produce more gram and
vegetables, and to raise more cattle and hogs; great emphasis
was laid on the importance of good seed ; everybody was urged
to cultivate a "war garden"; canning clubs were organized;
and in a really remarkable manner the public generally and the

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 445

farmers in particular rallied to the call. In order to stimulate
the raising of wheat, a minimum price of $2.20 a bushel was
fixed by the government for No. i northern spring wheat at
the principal interior markets, with a system of differentials
between zones and different grades. This and other price-
fixing on other articles was done under authority conferred by
the Food and Fuel Control Act of August 10, 1917, which gave
the government sweeping powers over the sale and distribution
of foods and fuels. Under the act President Wilson called to
the post of federal food administrator Herbert C. Hoover,
whose services as head of Belgian relief had already won him
international fame.

The railway situation in the United States had long been bad.
Railway magnates had too often been interested in manipulating
the stocks and bonds of their roads in such ways as to fleece
A Bad ^e 8eneral public and even their own stockholders,

Railway while their attitude toward the public was often

Situation. ^, »•.«>• T r T

the reverse of obliging. In consequence, a feeling
of hostility had developed toward the roads, and this was some-
times translated into restrictive legislation that fixed passenger
and freight rates at so low a figure that the roads were unable
out of their receipts to make needed repairs and extensions.
Furthermore, the roads for a long time had found it difficult to
borrow sufficient money for this purpose. Their equipment had
deteriorated in consequence. The situation grew worse after
the United States entered the war, and there was great conges-
tion of freight and inability of the roads to perform the trans-
portation work of the country.

The traffic congestion ultimately became so great that, on
December 26, 1917, the federal government abruptly assumed
full control of the railroads under an act of August 29, 1916,

which authorized such a step in time of war. Over
Government 400 separate corporations, 650,000 shareholders,
Control 260,000 miles of road, property valued at $17,500,-

000,000, and about 1,600,000 employees were af-
fected by this order. To manage the roads, the President desig-
nated Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo as director-general of

446 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

railroads. The property rights of stockholders and others were
guaranteed, and in a message to Congress, January 4, 1918, the
President recommended as a basis of compensation the average
net income of the three years ending June 30, 1917, which,
according to the returns of the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion, was $1,049,974,977. Legislation for managing and financ-
ing the railroads and compensating the owners was passed by
Congress.

Various steps were taken to render the railroads more effi-
cient. Unnecessary trains were taken off, competition between
different lines was reduced, and the most direct lines were used
in transporting freight, irrespective of the ownership
°f the lines. The experiment proved less success-
ful, however, than had been hoped. Wages were
greatly increased, and from this and other causes the cost of
operating the roads rose to unheard of heights. Passenger and
freight rates were raised, but, though the roads did an enormous
business, receipts lacked much of meeting expenditures, and it
was necessary for the government to expend hundreds of millions
of dollars to meet the deficit. Thus the general public was
forced to pay out of both pockets. Out of one they paid the in-
creased price of passenger and freight rates; out of the other
they paid taxes to be used in meeting the extraordinary railroad
expenses.

The seizure of the railroads was in large measure due to an
alarming shortage in the supply of coal. Toward the middle
of January, 1918, in the midst of one of the coldest periods the
country had ever experienced, the shortage became
Shortage. so serious that Fuel Administrator Garfield, with
the approval of President Wilson, ordered a general
shut-down of industry throughout the United States east of the
Mississippi for five successive days, and the limitation of the
working week to five days during the nine weeks following.
Exceptions were made for industries engaged in war work.
This drastic order resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions
of dollars to manufacturers and other business men, but bore
hardest, of course, upon the working class, several million of

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 447

whom were rendered temporarily idle. The five days passed,
and for several Mondays the "heatless" order was carried out;
much fuel was thereby saved, and the coming of milder weather
also helped to relieve the situation, so that the order was sus-
pended before nine weeks had elapsed.

One of the great problems which faced the government was
that of finance. It was clear that the war would be enormously
costly, for not only must we spend vast sums upon our own

preparations but it was vital that we should advance
ofhFinance!0n money to our associates in the contest. New taxes

were imposed, but it was clear that most of the
money must be obtained by loans. Congress authorized the
issuance of certificates of indebtedness, war-saving certificates
(better known as thrift stamps) , and government bonds. Certif-
icates of indebtedness were intended to run for only a few
months and bore interest at comparatively low rates. Large
sums were temporarily obtained by this means, and over $800,-
000,000 was realized from the sale of thrift stamps. But by
far the greatest amount of money was obtained through the
sale of bonds.

In all, five loans were floated and sold before the signing of
the peace treaty. The first four were known as Liberty Loans;
the last, which was floated after the armistice was signed, was

called the Victory Loan. The bonds of the First
. Liberty Loan were announced on May 14, 1917.

They were dated June 15 of that year, and were to
bear 3^2 per cent interest from that date, payable semi-annu-
ally. They were to mature 30 years later but were made
redeemable at the end of 15 years. These bonds were made
exempt both as to principal and interest from all taxation except
inheritance taxes. Holders were accorded the privilege of con-
verting them into bonds bearing a higher rate of interest that
might be issued subsequently. The bonds were issued in de-
nominations as low as $100 for registered bonds, and $50 for
coupon bonds. A partial-payment scheme was adopted, and
other devices were used to encourage small investors to sub-
scribe. When the lists were closed, it was found that over

448 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

4,000,000 persons had bought bonds, and that the subscriptions
totalled $3,035,226,850, which was 50 per cent more than the
amount offered. Allotments were made in full to those who
had subscribed $10,000 or less. Those subscribing for larger
amounts were allotted from 60 to 20 per cent of their subscrip-
tions.

A second loan of $3,000,000,000 was offered on the ist of
the following October. The rate was fixed at 4 per cent, and
the bonds were made payable in 25 years, but the government
might at its option redeem them in 10 years. They
Libeerty°Loan. were a^so made convertible into subsequent issues
bearing a higher rate of interest, but they were not
exempt from graduated income taxes and excess profits and war
profits taxes levied by the federal government. Almost 10,-
000,000 persons subscribed a total of $4,617,532,300. This was
an excess of 54 per cent, but the government accepted one half
of the excess.

A third Liberty Loan of $3,000,000,000 was offered on April
6, 1918, and the selling campaign closed on May 4. The rate
of interest was fixed at 4^ per cent, with about the same exemp-
tions and privileges as was the case with the second
Loan ' CTty issue except that the bonds were not made con-
vertible into later issues. The date of maturity
was fixed at September, 1928. The campaign took place in the
dark days of the German drive in Picardy and Flanders, and
the result was again a tremendous success. There were over
18,000,000 subscriptions for a total of $4,176,516,850, an over-
subscription of nearly 40 per cent.

The fourth Liberty Loan was floated in the fall of 1918 in the
midst of Allied victories. The offering was for the enormous
sum of $6,000,000,000, the rate was fixed at 4^ per cent, and
the bonds were made payable on October 15, 1938,
Liberty Loan, but were redeemable five years earlier. The patri-
otic spirit of the nation was so fully aroused that
there were over 21,000,000 subscriptions for a total of $6,989,-
047,000, making the loan the greatest financial operation in the
history of any nation.

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 449

Soon after the fourth Liberty Loan was closed the Teutonic
collapse took place, but expenses continued to be so enormous
that a fifth loan, known as the Victory Loan, became necessary.
The sum asked for was $4,500,000,000. The bonds
LoanVlCt0ry were issued for the short term of four years, with
the privilege to pay in three, and the interest rate
was fixed at 4^ per cent for partially tax-exempt bonds, which
were convertible into 3^ bonds wholly exempt from all except
estate and inheritance taxes. By this time war enthusiasm had
largely abated, yet there were 12,000,000 subscriptions for a
total of $5,249,908,300.

The wonderful success of these loans was in large measure
due to the patriotism of the people. Although the bonds were
generally considered to be a safe investment, the interest return
Th B d offered was comparatively low, and beyond ques-
Fali below tion a very large majority of the subscriptions were
made with the prime object of helping to win the
war rather than to obtain a large financial return. In fact, the
bonds soon fell below par; by the spring of 1920 those of some
issues were quoted below 85. Because of their special income-
tax-exemption features, those of the first loan, although for a
lower rate of interest, held their own better than any of the other
issues except the Victory bonds. The decline in the price of
bonds was in large measure due to the fact that many people
bought bonds and then found it necessary to dispose of them,
even at a sacrifice. It was greatly to the credit of Americans
that when bonds of old issues were selling much below par, they
were willing to buy new bonds at par.

It was felt, however, that posterity ought not to be made to
bear the entire financial burden of the conflict, so an elaborate
system of war taxation was adopted. The first measure of
this sort was the so-called War Revenue Act ap-
proved by the President on October 3, 1917. In-
creased income taxes and internal duties, new excise
taxes, and a heavy excess-profit tax of from 20 to 60 per cent
formed the chief bases of the new act. The individual income
tax, which had been increased in September, 1916, was amended

4So THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

so that single persons with a net income of over $1,000 must
pay 2 per cent on all beyond that sum, while all married per-
sons having net incomes of $2,000 must pay an excess beyond
that sum, provided, however, that an exemption was allowed
for each dependent child under eighteen, and for other depen-
dents physically or mentally defective. A graduated surtax
rising from i to 50 per cent on large incomes was added to the
existing rates. It was estimated that the act would produce a
revenue of $2,500,000,000 during the fiscal year 1918.

After our declaration of war with Germany, Austria-Hungary
severed diplomatic relations with the United States, but formal
hostilities did not immediately follow. Many Americans urged

War Declared ^iat we snou^ a^so declare war against the Dual
on Austria- Monarchy, but the President and a majority of
Congress thought otherwise. One of the reasons
advanced for not doing so was that there were many hundreds
of thousands of Austro-Hungarian subjects in the United States
and that a declaration of war against their country would tend
to make them more dangerous. But the great victory of the
Austrians and Germans over the Italians in the fall of 1917
created a new situation. The United States hastened to send
money and supplies to the hard-pressed Italians, and the gov-
ernment also prepared to send troops, who would, of course,
fight Austrian soldiers. It was also felt that a formal declara-
tion of war would help to improve Italian morale. At the
request of the President, Congress, therefore, declared in the
middle of December that a state of war existed with Austria-
Hungary. Among the grievances specified against the Dual
Monarchy were the meddling of former Ambassador Dumba
with our domestic affairs, and the sinking of American vessels
by Austrian submarines.

The United States was never, however, formally at war with
Turkey and Bulgaria, Germany's other allies. Diplomatic re-
lations with Turkey had already been broken, but those with
Bulgaria were continued throughout the conflict.

It was, of course, necessary for the American authorities to
keep close watch on the immense numbers of enemy aliens resi-

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 451

dent in the United States. Acts of Congress required that
Germans and Austro-Hungarians must register as enemy aliens
and carry certificates of identification. They were
forbidden to go near army camps, navy-yards, and
other military and naval establishments without
special permits; they were not permitted to reside in, or visit,
certain districts. These provisions at first only applied to
men, but it was soon discovered that women subjects of enemy
countries were, if anything, more dangerous than the men,
and by a bill approved by the President the provisions of the
espionage act were extended to them. The registration re-
vealed the fact that there were about 500,000 German "enemy
aliens," and between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 Austro-Hungarian
enemy aliens in the United States. In addition, there were
some Bulgarians and Turks, to say nothing of millions of nat-
uralized citizens from the Central Powers, and millions more
of their descendants. There had been much uneasiness lest
trouble might be caused by this population, particularly by the
German alien enemies. Germans in Germany had even boasted
that the United States dare not go to war because to do so
would provoke a civil conflict at home.

Beyond question there were many disloyal utterances, and
some actual damage was done by German spies and sympa-
thizers in the way of blowing up munition plants and causing
"accidents" of one sort or another. Still there were
Spies and ° fewer such outrages than many people had expected.

Sympathizers *n ^act» tnere were not so many a* ter we entered the
war as there had been before. That this was so
was due largely to the effective work of the federal secret ser-
vice, which nipped in the bud many dangerous plots of which
the general public remained in ignorance.
Altogether it was found necessary to arrest about 6,000 per-
sons under personal warrants. Many of these per-
Arrests.10 sons were arrested on suspicion rather than be-
cause actual proof had been obtained that they were
dangerous. Some were ultimately released from internment
camps on parole. In the way of criminal prosecutions, 1,532

452

persons were arrested under the Espionage Act, which pro-
hibited disloyal utterances, enemy propaganda, etc. Sixty-
five persons were arrested for making threats against the Presi-
dent, 10 for committing sabotage, and 908 indictments were
returned under the penal code relating to conspiracy, most of
these being against Industrial Workers of the World.

There were thousands more enemy aliens, and even some
citizens of the United States who secretly sympathized with
the Central Powers, but when the final test came it is to the
credit of citizens of German and Austro-Hungarian origin that
the vast majority, whatever their sympathies had been before
the United States entered the war, whole-heartedly decided
that America was their country, and gave her their loyal sup-
port. Hundreds of thousands fought valiantly in battle, and
many laid down their lives in the contest.

The entrance of the United States into the war caused a
split in the Socialist party. Some leaders, such as Charles
Edward Russell and John Spargo, believed that Germany must
be beaten, and supported the war. Others opposed
Attitude the war, and some seemed really to sympathize
toward the with Germany. At a meeting in St. Louis on
April 14, 1917, Socialist delegates addressed an
open letter to the Socialists in other belligerent countries, to
the effect "that the people of the United States have been
forced by their ruling class into this world cataclysm, as you
have been heretofore by your own rulers." They pledged
themselves to make any sacrifice that might be necessary "to
force our masters to conclude a speedy peace." Many So-
cialists disavowed the statement, but some persisted in their
unpatriotic course. A few, including Eugene V. Debs, several
times candidate for the presidency on the Socialist ticket, and
Victor Berger, former congressman from Milwaukee, were con-
victed and sentenced to prison for seditious utterances. Berger
was re-elected to Congress in November, 1918, shortly before
his conviction, but was not permitted to take his seat. In
December, 1919, while out on bail he was again elected.

A set of men who caused the United States more serious

AMERICA ENTERS THE GREAT WAR 453

trouble were the Industrial Workers of the World, who had

their counterpart in the European Syndicalists. The ideas of

the Industrial Workers of the World were to the

rpi _

Industrial last degree anarchical. They advocated that work-
ther\Vorldf ers f°rce the owners of factories to turn their pos-
sessions over to the employees. To bring about
that object they favored strikes and all manner of damage to
property — in short, what is known as "sabotage." This word
is said to have been derived from the custom of French Syn-
dicalists of throwing their wooden shoes, or sabots, into ma-
chinery in order to injure it. A favorite form of sabotage in
the United States was the putting of emery dust or carborundum
into the bearings of machinery. Some of the I. W. W.'s were
really in German pay, and did all they could to hamper Ameri-
can war efforts. They put bombs in munition factories, injured
machinery, incited strikes, especially among shipbuilders, and
set fire to forests, grain elevators, and crops. Many of the
I. W. W.'s were arrested, and some, including one of their chief
leaders, William D. Haywood, were sentenced to the peni-
tentiary. Others, of foreign origin, were interned as dangerous
to the peace and safety of the country. After the armistice
was signed, many foreign I. W. W.'s and other radicals, includ-
ing Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, were arrested
and deported.

CHAPTER XXII

CAMPAIGNS OF 1 91 8

THE collapse of Russia and the defeat of Italy created a
situation of which the Central Powers sought to take full ad-
vantage by launching a new peace offensive, the success of

which would leave them victors in the war. They
Teutonic '

Peace redoubled their efforts to negotiate a separate

peace with Russia, and at the same time endeavored
to detach other belligerents from the alliance against them.
During the lull in military operations in the course of the win-
ter, repeated speeches were made by the governmental heads of
the chief warring powers on the subject of peace and peace
terms. In March, 1918, Russia, which was then under the
control of the Bolsheviki, definitely withdrew from the war and
accepted the humiliating treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia's
treachery forced Roumania to accept harsh terms, but all the
other peace efforts failed.

Even while talking peace the Germans were boasting that
in the spring they would launch a resistless offensive on the
western front. In Allied countries some military observers
supposed that these announcements were designed
Boasts!* to nearten the people at home and to terrify France
and Great Britain into making peace, or that they
were intended to cover a drive against Italy or Salonica. Com-
paratively few people believed that the Germans would so
openly advertise their purpose.

Yet the war lords meant what they said. The collapse of
Russia had enabled them to transfer hundreds of thousands
of men and thousands of pieces of artillery to the western front,
and to divert thither shells and other munitions that otherwise
must have been used against the Muscovites. German indus-
tries were combed of every man who could be spared, and the

454

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 455

war lords "robbed the cradle and the grave" to obtain the

human material with which to make the final supreme effort.

Thanks to these preparations, they succeeded in

rationsrepa massing on the western front forces about 20 per cent

superior in fighting men to the armies of France and

Great Britain. As yet the American forces in France were

negligible, and the war lords hoped to win before we could

turn the scale. Like a pugilist in the prize-ring, Germany

realized that the time had come when she must win or admit

defeat. Therefore, she made a final effort to score a knockout.

Every preparation which Teutonic military ingenuity could

suggest was made. The best men in the German army were

put into special units and were carefully drilled as shock troops.

Tactics which had succeeded in Italy and before

New Tactics. Riga were to be tried out on a grand scale. The

blow was to be the heaviest delivered in all history.

The Kaiser himself assumed nominal command and announced

after the conflict had begun that the supreme moment was at

hand.

At five o'clock on the morning of March 21, German artil-
lery, aided by some Austrian guns, began a terrific bombard-
ment on a front of about sixty miles, in the region between
The Blow Arras and La Fere. Long-range guns shelled roads
Falls, March and concentration points as far back as twenty-
eight miles behind the lines, while thousands of
medium and lighter pieces poured millions of projectiles into
the British trenches and battery positions, drenching them with
clouds of poison gas. After several hours of this hurricane fire
the German storm troops moved forward under cover of a mist
to the attack, taking with them great numbers of mobile trench
mortars that could be pushed forward by hand. Thus began
one of the great epic conflicts of history.

The British had expected to be attacked, but they were not
prepared for a storm so heavy as that which burst upon them.
General von Ludendorff had assembled about a hundred divi-
sions, or approximately a million men, and he launched this
great force, like a gigantic spear, full at the breast of his en-

456 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

emy. As one division was exhausted another moved forward to
take its place. The outnumbered British fought gallantly, but
A German thdr line was broken in many places, and they were
Tactical forced backward. The Fifth British Army was

Victory. .

practically cut to pieces, ror a time a gap was
opened, but the determined efforts of Brigadier-General Carey,
who hastily organized a scratch force, which included some
Americans, closed the gap and saved the situation. In a little
more than a week, however, the Germans retook practically all
the ground lost in the battle of the Somme, and in the " strate-
gic retreat" of 1917; they claimed to have captured 90,000
prisoners and 1,300 cannon, and they were within a few miles
of the vitally important town of Amiens. But in front of
Arras and along Vimy Ridge General Byng's Third Army had
held firm, containing the German flood on the north, while
French reserves poured up on the south and with machine-guns
and 75 's inflicted frightful losses on the Germans, who had
advanced beyond the protecting fire of their own artillery.

During those fateful days the whole world watched the con-
flict with a tensity of suspense probably never before equalled
in human annals. The Germans had neglected nothing to

make this ''Kaiser's Battle" spectacular and terri-
Guns Per ble. In the hope of helping to break French morale

they began on March 23 to bombard Paris with
super-guns, firing from the almost incredible distance of seventy-
eight miles, while their aeroplanes made raid after raid upon
the city, dropping many bombs and sometimes descending so
low as to rake the streets with machine-guns. But the shells
from the long-range cannon were comparatively small, did not
contain a large bursting charge, and though they killed over
200 civilians, they did comparatively little damage. Because
of the bombs and shells, and fear of the Germans taking the
city, almost a million people left Paris and took refuge in prov-
inces more remote from the seat of war.

By the early days of April the lines seemed once more to be
becoming stabilized, but the Teutonic storm had not yet spent
its force. On April 9 the Germans attacked in great strength

THE WESTERN FRONT
IN 1918

SCALE OF MILES

6" 15 20 so 5> So

••^HB Hindenburg Line, March 21, i»
4 + + 4 Farthest Advance of Germans
••••Final Battle Line, Nov. 11. 1918

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 457

in the region of Armentieres and the La Bassee Canal. They
broke through at a point where the line was held by a Portu-
guese division and drove another great wedge into
Situation?* the Allied front, taking many more prisoners and
guns. By April 12 the situation had become so
desperate that General Haig issued a proclamation in which he
told his men that the enemy were seeking " to separate us from
the French, to take the Channel ports, and to destroy the Brit-
ish army." "Victory," he said, "will belong to the side which
holds out the longest. . . . Every position must be held to
the last man. There must be no retirement. With our backs
to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one
of us must fight to the end. The safety of our homes and the
freedom of mankind depend alike upon the conduct of each
one of us at this critical moment."

Extending their attack still further north, the Germans re-
captured Messines Ridge and all ground gained by the British
in 1917 in their Flanders offensive. They took Kemmel Hill
and other strong points. Ypres itself was in
French Valor danger, no one could say where the flood would go,
Drive the but the dogged fighting qualities of the British sol-
diers and the opportune arrival of strong French
reinforcements once more saved the situation. Repeated Ger-
man assaults were repulsed with stupendous slaughter, and
again the battle died down.

The Teutons had won two great tactical victories. They
had taken more than 100,000 prisoners, great numbers of can-
non, many tanks, millions of shells, and immense quantities of
other booty, and they had overrun great stretches
Vktoriesbut of territory. They had brought the Allied cause
i)£ttegic to t*16 brmk of disaster, and yet they had met a
strategic defeat. They had not divided the British
and French armies. They had not hurled the former back in
irretrievable rout and disorder upon the Channel ports. They
had not won the decision they set out to win. They had lost
time, and time was everything. Other crises were to develop
in the next few months, but never again so grave a one as in

458 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

those weeks of March and April, when British and French valor
saved the world in Picardy and Flanders.

Happily the great offensive had some good results. For one
thing, it resulted in unity of Allied command. Since the begin-
ning of the war, disaster after disaster had befallen the Allied
Unit of armies because there was no one man to make de-
Command cisions. Divided counsels had resulted, and though

at Last

the final decision might be right, it was often de-
layed until it was too late. Long before this time Kaiser Wil-
helm is reported to have said to King Constantine of Greece:
"I shall beat them, for they have no united command." After
the Italian disaster a Supreme War Council had been set up at
Versailles, but "it was only a body which sought unity of effort
through the compromises of conferences." Hitherto interna-
tional jealousies had prevented the consummation which all
clear-sighted men realized was desirable, but in the presence of
this supreme crisis selfish thoughts were put aside, and on
March 26 the War Council appointed General Ferdinand Foch
generalissimo of all the Allied armies. Foch later attributed
his appointment to the efforts of Premier Lloyd George, but
there can be no doubt that General Pershing, General Bliss,
who was our representative on the Council, Secretary of War
Baker, who was then in France, and President Wilson exerted
their influence in behalf of unified command, and that their
influence was helpful in causing the Allied governments to con-
firm the appointment of Foch as commander-in-chief.

The moment when Foch took command was a critical one,
but he was a man made for crises. A scholar and a keen stu-
dent of military science, he was also a man of action. Before

the war, as an instructor at the Ecole de Guerre,
Ferdinand ^e constantly declared: "Battles are won or lost

in the minds of those who fight them. No battle is
lost until it is believed to be so. " At the first battle of the Marne
he had commanded the army to whose lot it fell to meet the
German effort to break through the French centre. On the
decisive day, though hard pressed, he threw forward the im-
mortal Forty-second Division, broke the German line, and
helped win the victory. Later hi the year he co-ordinated the

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 459

French and British forces that fought the first battle of Flanders,
and held back the Germans from the Channel ports. He was
now condemned temporarily to the defensive, but he had often
said in the past that "to make war is to attack," and those
who knew him best predicted that when the hour came, he
would strike hard and resistlessly. In General Petain he had
an admirable lieutenant, while to Premier Clemenceau, "the
Tiger" and crusader for humanity, fell the work of managing
civil affairs and keeping up the courage of the people — tasks
which, despite his seventy-eight years, he performed like a hero
out of Plutarch.

On March 28 General Pershing went to Foch's headquarters
and said to him: "I come to say to you that the American
people would hold it a great honor for our troops were they en-
gaged in the present battle. I ask it of you in my
Offer"118 S name and in that of the American people. There is
at this moment no other question than that of fight-
ing. Infantry, artillery, aviation — all that we have are yours
to dispose of as you will. Others are coming which are as nu-
merous as will be necessary. I have come to say to you that
the American people would be proud to be engaged in the
greatest battle in history."

Another result of the offensive was that it showed the Allied
peoples the impossibility of peace by compromise. Some men
had begun to hope that Germany would be amenable to reason.
Peace ^e ^ea tnat ^e German people were not back of

Delusions the war had taken fast hold in some circles. But
even dreamers were forced to realize that the Ger-
mans were mad with the lust of power, and that the downfall
of Russia and their victories in the west had revived their hope
that they could dictate a conqueror's terms to a vanquished
world. Furthermore, many Americans, including some in high
position, hugged the vain delusion that Germany would be so
deeply impressed by our preparations — by our vast loans, by
our aeroplane and shipping programmes, by our military prepa-
rations— that she would beg for peace without our being ac-
tually forced to fight. We were to march in procession around
Jericho, sound the trumpets, and the walls would fall flat. The

46o THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

thing was attempted. The march was made. The trumpets
were sounded. But the walls obstinately refused to crumble.
Instead of easy-bought victory, the vital question was, Could
hard-pressed France and Britain hold back the German horde
until America was ready to do her part ? Plans for peace were
reluctantly tucked away in pigeonholes. With all the people
of Germany deliriously applauding victory, even the most op-
timistic dreamer saw at last that "nothing could unsaddle the
men who rode her war-horses, except the thrust of steel." Words
counted for nothing; the sword must decide.

General Pershing, with a spirit that did him honor, offered all
he had. But as yet he had little. On April i less than 370,000
men, of whom about half were non-combatants, had reached

Europe. Only four divisions — about 108,000 men,
YetCReady0t combatants and otherwise — had had experience in

the trenches, and some professional observers
doubted whether even the most seasoned of these, the First,
was ready "to be thrown into the vortex of a violent battle."
Only the First, in fact, was at once sent to the active front,
being placed opposite the apex of the German salient close to
Montdidier. Two other divisions were practically formed but
had not yet received their artillery. This artillery must come
from French arsenals, as must also aeroplanes, tanks, and most
or all of the machine-guns. Over-optimistic officials and press
agents had informed the world that by April i America would
fill the air with a fleet of aeroplanes that would darken the sky.
But not a single fighting plane had yet been delivered.

In almost every particular the United States was far behind
her schedule. For various reasons, there were not in France
the number of divisions which, in the words of Lloyd George,

"every one had confidently expected would be
b\mBriCaded° t^iere-" But fortunately, in training-camps at home,
with the there were a million and a half men, and men were

British and , , . _,, , . , .

the French, sorely needed. 1 hey were not thoroughly trained.

To organize them into a separate army would take

many months. Generals Foch and Petain had for some time

been urging that the Americans should be incorporated with the

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 461

French and British armies, but hitherto the Americans had in-
sisted upon acting independently. Now it became clear that
as parts of a new machine they would be too late. As new cogs
in an old machine they might perform wonders. Lloyd George
and Clemenceau submitted to Secretary Baker and to President
Wilson a plan for brigading the Americans with the British and
French. Acceptance meant sacrifice of American pride, but it
was not a time to think of pride. In the words of Lloyd George:
"President Wilson assented to the proposal without any hesi-
tation."

Then began the greatest long-distance troop movement in the
history of mankind. America had not the ships with which to
transport so many men. Great Britain threw her commerce
to the winds, drew in her ships from all the seven
Movem«itOOP seas» an^ built a bridge of boats across the Atlantic.
American vessels, especially the former German
liners, did their part. The French were able to do a little.
The British and American navies undertook the work of pro-
tecting the transports against the under-water wasps. In April
120,072 men embarked for France; in May 247,714; in June,
280,434; in July, 311,359; in August, 286,375; in September,
259,670; in October, 184,063; in November, 12,124. In all,
more than 2,000,000 soldiers were transported through the war
zone, with a loss of only 396 men from submarine activities.
It was a record of which both navies had good reason to be
proud, and it gave the lie to German boasts that they would
prevent our men from reaching France. Of those transported,
49 per cent were carried in British ships, 45 per cent by American
ships, and the remainder by French and Italian ships, and by
Russian ships under British control.

The troops landed in both France and Great Britain, and the
people of these countries had concrete evidence of the American
w.u "invasion," for Americans in uniform were every-

Americans where. Their coming worked wonders in keeping up
British and French morale, and yet one vital ques-
tion had not been definitely answered. It was, Will the Ameri-
cans fight? Hitherto only the French and the British — includ-

462 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ing colonials — had shown themselves able to meet the Germans
on equal terms. There were pessimists in both France and
England who feared lest the newcomers, most of them com-
paratively fresh from civil life, would not measure up to the
bloody work. Up to June there had been no conclusive test.
On quiet sectors the Americans had acquitted themselves with
credit; and on May 28, in a local counter-offensive, the First
Division, commanded by Major-General Robert L. Bullard,
retook the town of Cantigny in gallant fashion. But no Ameri-
can division had yet attempted the supreme task of stopping a
determined German "drive."

On the day before the American exploit at Cantigny, Luden-
dorff began a third offensive. Once more the German purpose
was carefully concealed, and the surprise was complete. French
AN and British forces were sent reeling back from the

German Chemin des Dames. The Germans crossed the
Vesle and the Ourcq. They took Soissons and
Fere-en-Tardenois and scores of smaller places. They captured
hundreds of guns and many thousands of prisoners. And they
came flooding down once more into the valley of the Marne.
Foch needed troops badly. Both he and Pershing felt that the
time had come to test the real mettle of the men from beyond
the seas. The Americans were eager to go in. For months
they had been waiting impatiently, like eager hounds straining
on the leash.

Two American divisions, the Second, under Major-General
Omar Bundy, and the Third, under Major-General Joseph
Dickman, were rushed by trains and motor-trucks to the region
The of Chateau-Thierry on the Marne — the point where

Americans the Germans were nearest Paris. The Second was
one of the first four divisions in France, and it had
had trench experience. The Third had arrived more recently,
had not yet received its artillery, and was to have gone to a
quiet sector under the support of French guns, when the change
of plan placed it in the path of the enemy. One of the brigades
of the Second was composed of splendidly drilled, straight-
shooting marines, under Brigadier-General Harbord. All the

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 463

other units of both divisions were regular troops, though a great
majority of the men had volunteered since the war began. The
motorized machine-gun battalion of the Third was sent at once
to the firing line; the other units of the two divisions were put
in position to support the French troops ahead, though the 5th
machine-gun battalion and some of the marines were sent almost
at once into the fight. The sight of so many thousands of Ameri-
cans rushing to meet the enemy vastly heartened the civilian
population, including the crowds of fleeing refugees, and word
that the "Sammies" were "going in" stiffened the whole French
battle line.

The American machine-gunners and some units of infantry
were soon sent to the firing line, and with their aid the French
held back the enemy until the early morning of June 4, when

the Second Division took over a twelve-mile front
BeiieauqU£ on both sides of the Paris road. Not content with
Wood, and merely holding, the marines, aided by some regulars,

retook the village of Bouresques and Belleau Wood,
waging for days a bitter battle with German machine-gunners
for the last. In it they captured 700 Germans, and by
their valor so impressed the French that the name of the
wood was changed to " Bois des marines." Meanwhile machine-
gunners from the Third were helping to hold back the enemy in
the western outskirts of Chateau-Thierry, and units from that
division were used to replace worn-out units of the Second. On
July i the 3d Brigade of the Second Division, under Brigadier-
General Lewis, recaptured the village of Vaux in a most work-
manlike manner, taking 500 prisoners. Elsewhere on the
western front more and more Americans were going into the
trenches. At Cantigny on June 20 the First Division made
another advance, while still farther north (July 4) American in-
fantry brigaded with the British Army aided Australians to
perform a notable exploit at Hamei.

After Cantigny and Chateau-Thierry there could no longer
be doubt that Americans would fight, and fight well. The last
doubts of the Allies disappeared; French and British spirits
soared skyward. In Paris and London startling stories were

464 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

told of American valor, of their accuracy of aim, of the panther-
ish fury with which the men went into action, resolved to slay
The or be slain. It was hinted that they did not bother

Americans to take prisoners, and it was reported that the Aus-
tralians, who were notorious for not being too gentle
in their methods, conceded that Americans were good soldiers
but a "bit rough"! No one any longer doubted that, given
adequate training and equipment, the Americans would fight
as well as any troops in the war. Even the Germans, who had
invariably made light of American fighting qualities, were find-
ing out their mistake, and the discovery was disquieting.

The claim sometimes made that the Americans in the Chateau-
Thierry region saved Paris is, however, much too sweeping. It
would be more correct to say that they helped to save Paris.
They stood across the Paris road, but the Germans made no
really powerful effort at this time to advance farther in this
region. Farther northward French troops, by employing a new
"yielding defense," baffled all German efforts to widen the
salient, and, particularly in the region of Compiegne, beat back
their assaults with tremendous slaughter. These were the con-
flicts that really brought the drive to an end.

Thus far the moral, rather than the material, results of our
participation had been most important. But 30x3,000 Ameri-
cans were landing in France a month, and the time was near
when we could strike really weighty blows. Only
Straf thfle a fracti°n °f the Americans in France were yet on
Passes that the battle line, but already the "rifle strength" of
Teutons. the Allies on the western front had passed that of
the Teutons. The Allied total on July i, accord-
ing to figures compiled by the Allies, was 1,556,000; of the
Teutons, including a few Austrians, 1,412,000. The evil con-
sequences of putting the best German soldiers into select organ-
izations of "storm troops" were beginning to appear. The
"storm troops" had suffered immense losses, and the fighting
quality of the ordinary divisions, which had been robbed of
their best fighting material, was greatly lowered. By the time
that the Allies took the offensive the German army, though

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 465

still powerful, was in the condition of a fighter who after vainly
striving to knock out his antagonist finds his own strength
badly depleted.

Furthermore, the submarine situation was greatly improved,

and glorious events had just taken place on the Italian front.

It had been practically a foregone conclusion that at some time

the Teutons would launch another "drive" in an

An Italian

Victory and attempt to capture Venice and overrun the Lom-
bard plain. If such an attack succeeded, it would
practically put Italy out of the war. In view of what had hap-
pened in the previous autumn, Allied leaders could not but feel
anxious. Foch had not only to hold back the enemy in France
but also to keep in mind the possibility of being obliged to
furnish men to succor the Italians. But considerable French
and British forces, and even a few Americans, were now on the
Italian front, while the spirit of Italy had rallied magnificently
to meet the crisis. On the 15th of June the long-impending
blow fell. On that day the Austrians launched a great offensive
along a hundred-mile front from the mountains to the sea. In
some places they forced their way over the Piave, but the
Italians, French, and British met them with high determination,
torrential rains raised the river in their rear, and they were
beaten back with great slaughter. The victors took thousands
of prisoners, many guns, and much other booty. The failure
of the Austrian offensive lifted a great load from Foch's shoul-
ders. The Italian front was safe. He could safely throw all
his resources in France against Ludendorff. There can be no
doubt that military historians will say that this Austrian defeat
marked the beginning of the end.

The great immediate question was, Will the Germans attack
again? It was clear that they must either go forward or go
back, for the great salients they had driven into the Allied lines,
The Germans ^ougn dangerous to the Allies, were also perilous
Prepare a to themselves. But to retreat would be a confes-

Friedensturm. . , .

sion to their own people and to the world that their
great offensive had met defeat. For political reasons, if no
other, a new effort must be made. And, still keeping to the

466 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

policy of holding up a will-o'-the-wisp to hearten their people,
the war lords named the new drive a "Fr iedensturm" that is a
"storm to bring peace."

Some military critics on the Allied side assumed that the
blow would be delivered against the British. But the British
had made good their losses in men and material, and had built
The Select so manv ^es °^ defense that the prospect in that
the Rheims quarter was not promising. The sector chosen by
the Germans was the Rheims salient, and they
planned to attack on both sides of Rheims, from Chateau-
Thierry on the Marne almost to the Argonne Forest. Their
immediate objectives were Rheims, the so-called "Mountain of
Rheims," Epernay, and Chalons. Success might have been
followed by a drive on Paris. This time they failed to conceal
their intentions, and some days before the attack came the
Allied leaders had divined the German plan. Careful prepara-
tions were made, and not only were great numbers of French
and some Italians concentrated in the threatened sectors, but
about 300,000 Americans were on the Marne front or in im-
mediate support.

On the night of July 14 a raiding party of five Frenchmen
under a lieutenant named Balestier penetrated the German
lines and captured prisoners from whom it was ascertained
that the drive would begin next morning. An hour
Checked6 before midnight the Allied artillery opened a furi-
ous bombardment, which decimated many of the
waiting German units and otherwise played havoc with German
plans. The Germans, too, were prodigal with shells, but when
the infantry attacked they met a hot reception. East of Rheims
General Gouraud's army, which included the famous American
"Rainbow Division," yielded the front line according to plan,
and then stopped the drive almost immediately, though only
after desperate fighting. To the southwest of Rheims French
and Italian forces had to cede some ground, but gave up noth-
ing vital. Farther south half a dozen German divisions forced
their way over the Marne. In front of the French the assailants
made good their foothold. The American forces in this region

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 467

belonged to the Third and Twenty-eighth Divisions. Both
fought well, though the Third played the larger part. Its artil-
lerymen and riflemen slaughtered the Germans by hundreds as
they sought to cross the river, and one regiment, the 38th,
under Colonel McAlexander, won immortal glory by holding
its position, though surrounded on three sides. It practically
annihilated the 6th German Grenadier Regiment, and took 400
prisoners. In some other places the defenders temporarily were
driven back from the river, but the Americans counter-attacked,
and by noon next day there were no living Germans except
prisoners on the south side of the Marne west of Jaulgonne.
The Americans had not only repulsed the assailants but had
taken over 600 prisoners — news that greatly heartened defend-
ers hi other sectors. In some places along the battle front the
Germans continued to make efforts to press forward, but by
the end of the third day of battle it was clear that the German
drive had failed.

For months the Allied leaders had eagerly looked forward
to the time when they could snatch the initiative away from
the enemy. Foch's hour had struck. The Austrian sword no

longer hung threateningly over Italy, while from
Opportunity, overseas was pouring an inexhaustible reserve of

hardy fighters. Furthermore, Foch had a surprise
ready for the enemy. In the preceding November the British
had won a striking victory before Cambrai by using tanks.
The Allied General Staff decided that the tanks were the long-
awaited solution for breaking through the German lines. They
decided to build vast fleets of them, especially light, swift tanks,
which would be less easily hit by shells than the bigger kind.
Some of the new tanks were ready when the Germans launched
their March offensive, yet, in spite of the critical moment, Foch
refused to use them and thus reveal his hand. Now, however,
he had great numbers of tanks, both of the heavier sort and of
the lighter variety, called "whippets" by the British and "mos-
quitoes" by the French. In the words of General Malleterre:
"On July 18 General Foch was ready, with his tanks, his cannon,
his shells, his Americans. Then began the battle of liberation."

468 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

With Petain and Pershing, Foch arranged a great counter-
blow at the Marne salient. Two powerful armies under Gen-
erals Mangin and Degoutte were secretly assembled on the
west side of the salient, and with these armies were
° ~ two American divisions, the First and the Second.

At dawn of the i8th, without a preliminary bom-
bardment, these armies, aided by French tanks, suddenly
dashed forward behind a rolling barrage. The Germans were
completely surprised. Thousands of prisoners and many guns
were taken. By nightfall the invaders had been swept back
several miles. Caught at a disadvantage, the German High
Command threw in hosts of reserves, but in vain. The Allies,
including more Americans and even some British, attacked the
salient from three sides. The Germans fought stubbornly, but
day after day they were forced back. Soissons and Fere-en-
Tardenois were retaken, and the invaders were driven over the
Ourcq and then over the Vesle. More than 30,000 Germans,
700 cannons, and vast quantities of war material had been cap-
tured. The First and Second American Divisions alone took
7,000 prisoners and over 100 guns.

"To make war is to attack," Foch had always contended.
He lived up to his maxim now. Hardly were the Crown Prince's
forces back over the Vesle, when British and French forces,

under Haig, launched (August 8) a new offensive
Victory. " " against the point of the salient projecting toward

Amiens. Great numbers of tanks were used, and
with comparatively small losses the Allies won a great victory.
In his book on the war Ludendorff calls this " Germany's Black
Day." In less than a week more than 40,000 Germans and
several hundred guns were taken. The victors pushed forward
relentlessly after the enemy.

Meanwhile other strokes were preparing, for Foch was deter-
mined not to give the enemy breathing time. His system dif-
fered from that of Ludendorff. Ludendorff's plan was to
gather all available resources for a stupendous, smashing blow.
His system had won victories, but it had a weakness in
that several weeks were required to prepare a new blow, and

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 469

in the interval his enemy had opportunity to recuperate.
Foch, like a skilled boxer, struck now here, now there, and the

Germans were kept constantly on the run. The
Strat4y- war kad become one of movement, and Foch was

resolved to harry his enemies to the utmost be-
fore they could return to their intrenched lines. Though
making no promises and even deprecating high hopes, he was
striving for a final decision.

Late in August the British under Byng smashed through the
Hindenburg Line, southeast of Arras, while in the same period
General Mangin swept the Germans out of high ground north

of the Aisne. Early in September the British under

Home broke the famous Drocourt-Queant switch

b°ur?L?ne" line On a frOnt °f six mileS- UP in Flanders

Germans evacuated the Lys salient, closely followed
and harassed by the Allies. All along the battle front, from
Verdun to the sea, the Allies were pressing the enemy hard,
and in most of these movements Americans took part. By
the middle of September the Germans were once more vir-
tually back in the old Hindenburg Line, from which they had
launched their great offensive in the spring. But in two
months they had lost nearly 200,000 prisoners, immense numbers
in killed and wounded, over 2,000 pieces of artillery, and vast
quantities of supplies. Furthermore, the Hindenburg Line
east of Arras and the switch line behind it were already breached.
The great question was, Could the Germans hold the Hinden-
burg Line until winter gave them respite? If they could, they
might still obtain favorable terms from a war-weary world.

Meanwhile General Pershing had been organizing an army
under his own immediate command. Long ago it had been
settled that our first independent effort should be made against
the St. Mihiel salient, which projected southeast
of Verdun like an arrow pointed at the heart of
France. To erase it was a necessary preliminary
to a more ambitious effort. General Pershing gath-
ered a force of about 600,000 men, mostly Americans but in-
cluding some French. The French and British lent many guns,

470 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

airplanes, and tanks. On the night of September n a tr&
mendous bombardment was opened upon the salient, which
the Germans were beginning to evacuate. In the early morning
the infantry and tanks "went over the top." Twenty-seven
hours later the salient was only a memory. Sixteen thousand
prisoners, 443 guns, much war material, and valuable territory
were taken. Our total casual ties were only 7,000. In the words
of Pershing: "The Allies found they had a formidable army to
aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had one to
reckon with."

The victory also enabled our forces to threaten Metz and
the rich Briey iron-fields, from which Germany drew most of
her all-essential iron ore. But for the moment these were not
A New ^e American objectives. On the very day after

American the reduction of the salient artillery and fresh

troops began moving toward the line between the
Meuse River and the western edge of the Argonne Forest.
The immediate object of attack would be the German zone of
defense in this region, but twenty-five miles to the northward,
at Mezieres and Sedan, lay the main enemy artery of com-
munication between Germany and Belgium and northern France.
This was Pershing's real goal.

But Foch, the master of all Allied forces, did not confine his
plans to the western front. On September 19 General Allenby
began an offensive which speedily resulted in the practical

annihilation of the Turkish army in Palestine.
Great y Furthermore, his victorious forces pushed forward,

and in the ^dle of October cut the Berlin to
Bagdad Railway near Aleppo, thus isolating the
Turkish forces in Mesopotamia and compelling their ultimate
surrender. Allenby's spectacular blow practically put Turkey
out of the war.

Almost simultaneously the Allied army at Saloni-

Beafen.a ca> under General Franchet d'Esperey, began (Sep-

tember 14) an offensive northward from Salonica.

In a few days the lines of the enemy were broken, and Bul-

garia, threatened with annihilation, signed an armistice which

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 471

was practically a surrender at discretion. This great victory
insured the early capitulation of Turkey. It enabled the Ser-
bians to return to their homeland, and it made certain, barring
an early peace, the re-entry of Roumania into the war and an
invasion of Austria-Hungary from the south and southeast.

The news from the Balkans and Palestine sounded the death-
knell to Teutonic hopes. The whole Teutonic edifice was col-
lapsing like a house of cards. Many hundreds of thousands of
seasoned Allied troops would be freed for operations
" C ' against Austria-Hungary and Germany, while an

th™Wali°n endless stream of Americans continued to pour
across the Atlantic. The U-boat campaign was
breaking down, Allied construction of ships had passed sub-
marine destruction, and it was clear that the U-boats could not
win the war. A speedy peace was the only way whereby the
Teutons could save anything from the wreck. Already, on
September 15, the Austro-Hungarian Government, with the
secret approval of Germany, had asked for a preliminary and
"non-binding" discussion of war amis with a view to the pos-
sible calling of a peace conference. Happily the Allies avoided
the trap.

In the last days of September the Allies began the epic
struggle that will probably be known as the battle of the Hin-
denburg Line. An American army, aided by French forces on
Battle of the *ts ^tf began a drive down the Meuse Valley,
Hmdenburg while far to the northwest in Flanders British, Bel-
gians, and French struck in the region of Ypres.
Both drives made valuable gains, and since the first was mainly
an American venture, more space will be given it in subsequent
pages. A little later the French, aided by some Americans,
assailed the enemy defenses before Rheims, while the British
struck squarely at the Hindenburg Line in the region of St.
Quentin and Cambrai. Of all the great hammer-strokes that
won the war this was the mightiest, and participating in it were
American divisions, notably the Twenty-seventh New York
and the "Wildcat Division," the latter largely composed of
straight-shooting Southern mountaineers, under Major-General

472 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Lewis. The blow broke the Hindenburg Line on a wide front,
and, for the first time since the beginning of trench warfare in
the West, the Allies were through the maze of defenses and were
fighting in the open. In all these operations great numbers of
prisoners and guns were taken, while the Germans were forced
to sacrifice immense quantities of supplies. By the end of the
third week in October the Hindenburg Line had passed into
history, the Germans had evacuated the Belgian coast, and their
government was seeking an armistice. But while the negotia-
tions were proceeding, the Allies continued to push ahead, and
victories were becoming as monotonous as defeats had once been.
Let us now return to Pershing's army. The task set the
Americans was an appalling one. They must make a direct
frontal attack in rough, difficult country upon line after line
The American °^ carefu^y prepared intrenchments, and, as the
Drive down holding of these lines was absolutely vital to the

tlic IMcusc

safety of most of their army, the Germans might
be depended upon to defend them with the courage of despair.
On the night of September 25 the Americans quietly took the
place of French troops on the sector. Next day they charged
through the barbed-wire entanglements and the sea of shell-
craters across No Man's Land and mastered all the first-line
defenses. The assault was continued on the next two days,
against increasing resistance, and gains of from three to seven
miles were made, while 10,000 prisoners were taken. Mean-
while French forces on the other side of the Argonne Forest
made good progress.

Thus began the bloodiest battle in American history, a con-
flict somewhat resembling that in the Wilderness fifty-three
years before, but on a larger scale and more prolonged. The

enemy speedily flung reserve divisions into the fray,
Battle kf & and Pershing did likewise. By the 4th of October
History"1 ^ American artillery had been brought up, and

the infantry again surged forward. Bitter fighting
took place all along the line, and not least of all in the gloomy
recesses of the almost impenetrable Argonne Forest. The
German machine-gunners fought for every foot of ground, and

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 473

exacted a heavy toll of the assailants, most of whom were
taking part in their first great battle. But by October 10 the
Americans, with French assistance, had cleared the forest.
The great obstacle was now the second zone of German defense,
the Kriemhilde Line, but with dogged determination the Ameri-
cans slowly battered their way forward through this line.
Every day thousands upon thousands fell, and the whole battle
zone was an inferno of machine-guns, shells, and deadly gas,
but Pershing was determined to play his part in the great drama,
and sent division after division, some of them without any
fighting experience, into the maw of war. To do so was the
truest mercy, for the German reserves were rapidly becoming
exhausted, each victory made the next easier, the end of the
war was in sight, and a quick push and a strong push would be
infinitely cheaper in blood than a long-drawn-out conflict.

On November i the final advance was begun. After heavy

fighting the Germans were flung back, and on the 6th the

Rainbow Division reached a point on the Meuse opposite

Sedan. In the words of Pershing: "The strategical

Reached. 8oa^ which was our highest hope was gained. We

had cut the enemy's main line of communications,
and nothing but surrender or an armistice could save his army
from complete disaster." Between September 26 and Novem-
ber 6 the American army in the Meuse-Argonne battle had
beaten 40 German divisions, most of which, however, were far
below normal strength, had taken 26,059 prisoners, and 468
guns. Its own losses had, however, been enormous, exceeding
100,000 men killed, wounded, or missing.

During the whole war the American losses in killed, wounded,
missing, and dead of disease, numbered 302,612. The total
number of dead was 77,118, including 34,248 killed and 13,700
mortally wounded. The Americans captured about 44,000
prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers, and trench mortars. The
French and British losses, even for 1918, were much heavier,
and they captured several tunes as many prisoners and guns.
During 1918 the British alone captured on the west front
201,000 prisoners and 2,850 guns.

474 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

It will no doubt be the final verdict of history that the
American army played the decisive part in the final campaign,
though its part in the actual fighting was smaller than that
. . , of France or Great Britain. American food and

America s

Part in the money were also vital factors in the fortunate out-
Victory. . . , IT-

come. Comparisons with commonplace things are

sometimes illuminating. America played the part of a strong
man who, in passing down the street, sees half a dozen men
struggling to put a heavy piano into a van. The weight prom-
ises to be a little too much for them, but with the aid of the
newcomer the piano is lifted in. Perhaps the volunteer does
not lift so hard as do the others, certainly he is not so badly
exhausted, yet his aid was essential to the performance of the
task.

The work done by our forces in the field is all the more

creditable to them because America was not yet really ready.

Many divisions were thrown into the vortex of battle before

they had finished their training, and for artillery,

Americas . . .. .

War Effort airplanes, and tanks our armies were largely (in trie
Beginning matter of tanks wholly) dependent upon the French
to Bear an(j British. At the moment the armistice was

Fruit.

signed America's prodigious effort in the making of
war material was just beginning to bear fruit in a large way,
and had the contest lasted until the spring of 1919 there would
have been no lack of equipment. As it was, American pluck
and determination to win triumphed over all obstacles and
achieved victory, though at bloody cost. Some military critics
assert that American losses were double what they would have
been had the armies been better equipped and the men and
officers thoroughly trained.

By the end of the first week in November the cause of the

Central Powers was absolutely hopeless. Bulgaria
Situation of was out of the war; Turkey was negotiating for sur-
ph0ew^sntral render; parts of Austria-Hungary were virtually in

revolt. A sudden Italian offensive resulted in the
absolute ruin of the Austro-Hungarian army and the capture
of 300,000 prisoners and 5,000 guns. The French, British,

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 475

Belgians, and Americans were pressing relentlessly after the
remnants of Ludendorff's beaten army, the "rifle strength" of
which had been reduced to less than 900,000 men. Foch was on
the point of launching in Lorraine a new offensive, which would
doubtless have gone through the German lines like water through
a sieve. An attempt to send out the German High Seas Fleet
had provoked a mutiny. Furthermore, the German "home
front" had broken down.

Before the end of September the Germans had realized that
they must make peace. Prince Maximilian of Baden succeeded
Count von Hertling as imperial chancellor. In a few days he
transmitted (October 4) through the Swiss Govern-
Asks for ment a request that President Wilson should invite
all the belligerents to send plenipotentiaries for the
purpose of opening peace negotiations. The note added that
Germany accepted "as a basis for peace negotiations" the pro-
gramme set forth by President Wilson in a speech he had made
to Congress on January 8, 1918, and in later pronouncements,
especially in a speech made on September 27. In his speech of
January 8 Wilson had set forth fourteen points he considered
essential to peace. In general, these points summarized the
terms Allied statesmen were demanding, but added some
others. They included a stipulation for "open covenants of
peace openly arrived at" and no secret diplomacy in future;
freedom of the seas in both peace and war; reduction of arma-
ments; impartial adjustment of colonial claims, with due regard
to the interests of the native inhabitants; evacua-
Poinu01" D tion °f a^ territory conquered by the Central Pow-
ers, with reparation and restoration for Belgium,
France, Serbia, etc. ; Alsace and Lorraine to be given to France ;
readjustment of the frontiers of Italy along lines of nationality;
the peoples of Austria-Hungary to be given opportunity for
autonomous development; the Dardanelles to be opened per-
manently as a free passage to the commerce of the world, and
the subject peoples in the Turkish Empire to be given an
opportunity for autonomous development; an independent
Poland; and the formation of a general association of nations

476 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

to safeguard the political independence and territorial integrity
of great and small states alike. In his speech of September 27
the President had dwelt in more general terms upon what he
considered the essentials of a just peace and had declared that
no peace could be made "by any kind of bargain or com-
promise with the Governments of the Central Empires. . . .
They have convinced us that they are without honor and do
not intend justice. They observe no covenants, accept no
principles but force and their own interest." To avoid further
bloodshed, the German Government also asked for an imme-
diate armistice.

A few days later the imperial chancellor announced changes
in the German system of government, and an effort was made
to convince the world that there had been a real transforma-

Chan es in t*on* ^^e C^an8es were designed to satisfy home
German demands and to persuade the world that the war
lords were no longer all-powerful. The world, how-
ever, displayed some skepticism as to whether the revolution
had been as thorough-going as Prince Max pretended.

In reply President Wilson queried (October 8) whether ac-
ceptance of his peace terms meant that Germany's "object in
entering into discussions would be only to agree upon the prac-
tical details of their application?" He also in-
quired "whether the imperial chancellor is speak-
ing merely for the military authorities of the em-
pire who have so far conducted the war." He further
informed Germany that he would not propose a cessation of
arms to the governments with whom the United States was
associated so long as the armies of Germany were upon their
soil.

The German Government responded that it accepted the
President's peace programme, and added that both it and
Austria-Hungary were ready to evacuate occupied
territory. It also stated that the existing govern-
ment had been "formed by conferences and in agree-
ment with the great majority of the Reichstag," and that the
chancellor, "supported in all his actions by the will of this

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 477

majority, speaks in the name of the General Government and
of the German people."

These interchanges aroused profound interest throughout the
world. In Berlin the people shouted "Peace at last," and even
strangers, meeting on the streets, would kiss one another and
shout peace congratulations. In the outside world wide differ-
ences of opinion developed. In some circles it was believed
that, realizing she was beaten, Germany was seeking to avoid
the consequences of defeat. Many people feared that the Presi-
dent, in his enthusiasm for peace, would be too lenient. The
almost universal opinion was that if the Germans desired an
armistice they should make a proposition to Field Marshal
Foch. A strong sentiment developed that the only terms
granted should be "Unconditional Surrender." Fresh devas-
tations in France and Belgium and new submarine atrocities
served to increase the demand for rigorous dealing.

In a note of October 14 the President stated that the condi-
tions of an armistice must be left to the military authorities.
He also quoted from a speech in which he had laid down, as one
of the terms of peace, "the destruction of every

An Armistice ,.. , ., , ,

a Matter for arbitrary power anywhere that can separately,
Authorities7 secretty> and of its single choice disturb the peace of
the world; or, if it cannot be presently destroyed,
at least its reduction to virtual impotency." He had referred,
of course, to the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs, and he now
stated that the passage quoted constituted "a condition prece-
dent to peace, if peace is to come by the act of the German
people themselves."

A week previously Austria-Hungary had made a similar pro-
posal for -an armistice and peace negotiations. The President
replied (October 19) that many things had happened since he
laid down his fourteen points, and that the principle of "au-
tonomy" for the Czecho-Slovaks and other subject peoples
could no longer serve as a basis of peace. The inference was
that only complete independence for these peoples would now
suffice.

In a third note, dated October 20, the German Government

478 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

defended its military and naval forces against charges of in-
humanity brought in the President's preceding communication,
and continued to insist that a real change in govern-
GemumNote ment had taken place, and that the offer of peace
and of an armistice had come from a government
"free from any arbitrary and irresponsible influence," and
"supported by the approval of an overwhelming majority of
the German people."

In a third answer (October 23) the President reiteiated that
the granting of an armistice lay within the province of the
military authorities, and he bluntly pointed out reasons why
w.. extraordinary safeguards must be demanded. He

Demands declared " that the nations of the world do not and
cannot trust the word of those who have hitherto
been the masters of German policy." He added that if the
United States "must deal with the military masters and the
monarchical autocrats of Germany, or if it is likely to have to
deal with them later in regard to the international obligations
of the German Empire, it must demand, not peace negotiations,
but surrender."

Meanwhile the Allied armies had pressed onward, and every
day the military situation from the Teutonic point of view had
grown more desperate. Field-Marshal von Hindenburg him-
Hindenbur sc^ reauzed the necessity of peace, and supported
for an the attempt to secure an armistice. A session of

the German war cabinet and of the crown council
took place in which the Kaiser and the Crown Prince partici-
pated. General Ludendorfif resigned, and on October 27 the
German Government once more informed President Wilson
that it represented the people and that the military powers
were subject to its authority. It closed by saying that it
awaited proposals for an armistice.

In the meantime the Allies had conferred with each other
regarding the terms of the armistice, and an agreement was
reached. On November 5 the President transmitted a final
note in which he stated that the Allies took exception to some
of the principles enunciated by him. For example, they must

CAMPAIGNS OF 1918 479

reserve to themselves complete freedom as to the subject of
"the freedom of the seas." They would also insist that the
, stipulation that "invaded territories must be re-

Allied stored as well as evacuated" must be interpreted

Amendments. ,, , . ... , , , _

to mean that compensation will be made by Ger-
many for all damage done to the civilian population of the
Allies and their property by the aggression of Germany by
land, by sea, and from the air." This last reservation was
very sweeping and was susceptible of very broad interpreta-
tion. The President closed by saying that on application to
Foch the Germans could secure the terms of armistice.

The Teutons were beaten. They had struck for "world
power or downfall" and had achieved the latter. Austria, her
army overwhelmed, had already signed an armistice in the
field on November 3. On the morning of Novem-
the TermsLntS ^er ^ German representatives appeared at Foch's
headquarters, which were in a railway train near
Rethondes, and the field-marshal whose genius had, hi four
months, transformed defeat into overwhelming victory, gave
them the terms of the armistice. The Germans had been pre-
pared by semiofficial communications for the stipulations as a
whole, but the concrete demands seemed to bring to them for
the first time the full realization of the extent of German
defeat.

The terms were severe, but not too severe. They included
the immediate evacuation of all invaded territory, the sur-
render of 5,000 cannons, 25,000 machine guns, 1,700 airplanes,
all the German submarines, and practically all the
Armistice, fighting forces of the German above-water navy.
November n, All of Germany west of the Rhine was to be occu-
pied by Allied troops, who were also to hold bridge-
heads at Mayence, Coblenz, and Cologne. A neutral zone ten
kilometers wide was to be drawn on the right bank of the
Rhine. A German courier carried the terms to the German
headquarters at Spa. A revolution had already broken out
in Germany. The Kaiser abdicated (November 10), and he
and the Crown Prince fled to Holland. At five o'clock A. M.,

480 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Paris time, on November n the armistice was signed, to take
effect at eleven o'clock A. M. that day. The Allied armies con-
tinued to fight up to the last minute of time. The Great War,
the most stupendous in history, was over.

As rapidly as possible the German forces were withdrawn
from France and Belgium. Allied troops followed them as
far as the Rhine. There were some delays in fulfilling other
terms of the armistice, but all the essential ones,
the Terms. together with some subsequently imposed, were
ultimately complied with. The submarines were
surrendered at intervals, and on November 21 the main force
of the German High Seas Fleet sailed over the North Sea and
surrendered to Admiral Beatty and the Allied armada off the
Firth of Forth. Included in that armada were some American
battleships. A surrender on so gigantic a scale had never
before occurred in naval history. "Der Tag" had come, but
the day brought no satisfaction to those who had toasted it.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE PEACE CONFERENCE

Six days before the end of hostilities the congressional elec-
tions took place in the United States. The campaign had been
one of the quietest in recent history, for a deadly plague of in-
Political fluenza had, to a large extent, prevented public
Campaign in meetings, and, furthermore, a strong desire existed
to avoid awakening party animosities lest they in-
terfere with the prosecution of the war. President Wilson him-
self had deprecated political discussion and had declared that
"politics is adjourned." There was, however, a decided current
of opposition to the party in power, and the Republican man-
agers quietly made the most of it. Republican speakers and
writers contended that their party had been more energetic
in carrying on the war than had the Democrats. They criti-
cised the alleged incompetence of the party in power, empha-
sized its failure to prepare for the conflict, and referred sarcas-
tically to the Democratic slogan of 1916, "He kept us out of
war." On October 24 President Wilson precipitated a more
active contest by issuing an appeal to the country asking that
if it approved his "leadership" and wished him to continue to
be its "unembarrassed spokesman" it should return "a Demo-
cratic majority to both the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives." He declared that the election of a Republican majority
in either house would be interpreted abroad as a "repudia-
tion of my leadership." He admitted that the Republicans
had been pro-war, but asserted that they were anti-administra-
tion and wished to take control away from him. Many
Democratic speakers and newspapers contended that a Re-
publican victory would encourage the Germans and would
prolong the war. Ex-Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, who were
now reconciled, issued a joint statement appealing to the coun-
try to elect a Republican Congress, while Republican speakers

481

482 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

and newspapers insisted that the Germans would derive cold
comfort from the success of a party of which Colonel Roosevelt
was the main leader. The truth was that, thanks to Foch's
soldiers, the German fighting power was at its last gasp and the
result of an American election could have no influence upon
the outcome of the struggle.

Speedy victory in the war was now a certainty, and victory
in war almost invariably results in political victory for the
party in power. But conditions were peculiar, and, rightly or
wrongly, the majority of Americans were dissatis-
Victory! " ^e(^ ^tn Democratic rule. The elections resulted
in a sweeping Republican victory. Out of thirty-
one governors elected twenty-one were Republicans. The
considerable Democratic majority in the Senate was trans-
formed into a Republican majority of two. The Republicans
won a majority in the House of over forty. Meyer London,
the Socialist representative in the old House, lost his seat, but
in Milwaukee Victor Berger, who was under indictment for
sedition, was elected.

For six years the Democrats had controlled the government,
and Wilson's wishes and policies had prevailed. After March
4, 1919, the Wilsonian predominance would be at an end, and
Democratic w^n RePubucan majorities in Congress, it was
Predominance certain that the next two years would witness bit-
ter struggles between the executive and legislative
branches. There would be searching investigations into the
management of the war, and the Republicans would participate
in the handling of the after-the-war problems.

The war had proved to be expensive beyond all precedent.
By April, 1919, the government in two years had expended
$30,700,000,000, which was about $4,000,000,000 in excess of
the expenditures of the national government from
penditures. Washington's day down to 1917, including all civil
expenses and the cost of all our other wars. For
a period of two years disbursements averaged $1,500,000 an
hour. In fact, even since the signing of the armistice the gov-
ernment had spent more than it had expended in the Civil

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 483

War. Eight billion eight hundred and fifty million dollars had
been advanced to our Allies, and further loans were subse-
quently made; part, though probably not all, of the loans
will doubtless be repaid. Great expenses still loomed ahead,
and a tax bill designed to raise $6,000.000,000 the first year
had just been passed.

The economic condition of almost the whole world was bad.
Some of the European belligerents had gone into debt to the
extent of half their national wealth. It was certain that for

many generations their people would stagger under
in Ferment, stupendous financial burdens. In fact, repudiation

seemed certain in some cases, and the Bolshevist
government in Russia had already taken that method of escap-
ing irksome obligations. The debt of the United States, though
enormous, could be paid, though it would require skilful man-
agement. But the immediate financial future of the country
gave thoughtful men much anxiety. Prices were high beyond
all precedent, as were also wages. The whole business of the
country was on stilts. It was doubtful whether it could be
lowered to a normal level without a catastrophe. The sudden
ending of the conflict had found the country as unprepared
for peace as the beginning had found it unprepared for war.
The closing of munition plants threw millions temporarily out
of work, and the return of discharged soldiers increased the labor
problem. The railroad situation was very bad, and, though
passenger and freight rates had been largely increased and busi-
ness had been exceptionally good, the cost of operation exceeded
the receipts by hundreds of millions of dollars. Never since
the Civil War had the United States faced so many difficult
problems of readjustment.

On November 18 it was officially announced that President
Wilson would himself attend the peace conference, which was
Wilson to Go to meet at Paris. The announcement created much
to the Peace discussion. Some critics asserted that it would be

illegal for him to leave the country, and in both
houses of Congress Republicans introduced resolutions to the
effect that the office of President would be vacated during his

484 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

absence. As a matter of fact, neither the Constitution nor
the laws limit the President in this matter, and, though a sort
of tradition had arisen that the President should not leave the
country, it had not always been observed. President Roose-
velt visited the Panama Canal during his administration,
though, to be sure, he went on an American war-ship and while
in the Canal Zone was on American territory. President Taft,
however, in his administration held a meeting with President
Diaz on Mexican soil. President Wilson continued to be chief
executive while abroad, but during his absence, in obedience to
a request on his part, Vice-President Marshall presided over
the cabinet meetings. Mr. Marshall did not, however, attempt
to exercise any other functions of the presidential office.

On November 29 it was announced that the representatives
of the United States at the conference would be the President
himself, Secretary of State Lansing, Henry White, former am-
bassador to France, Colonel Edward M. House, and
General Tasker H. Bliss. Opponents of the ad-
ministration criticised the make-up of the commis-
sion, alleging that some prominent Republicans should have
been given places on it, for, though White was a member of that
party, he was not high in its councils. Some members of the
Senate were also inclined to feel that that body, which is a
part of the treaty-making power, should have been represented.
The peace commission and a large corps of expert advisers
sailed from New York on December 4, on board the George
Washington, a former German liner, and reached Brest nine
days later. In France, and also in Italy and Eng-

land> both of which he visaed before the confer-
ence assembled, President Wilson was accorded a
popular reception rarely equalled in its enthusiasm, the homage
paid him being partly personal, partly a tribute to America.
During these visits he had an opportunity to meet and confer
with the statesmen of the three countries concerning the work
ahead.
Perhaps never before, and certainly not since the Congress of

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 485

Vienna, had there been a peace conference that was confronted
by so many complex problems. There was the question of the
lexit future peace of the world, that of reparation for
of Peace injuries done, new boundaries to be fixed, new na-
tions claiming independence and recognition, pun-
ishment of the guilty — all complicated questions regarding
which there were certain to be grave differences even between
the victors.

The victors proceeded on the assumption that the vanquished

should have no part in formulating the terms of peace. In

fact, representatives of the vanquished were not even allowed

to come to Paris until the terms were ready. The

V ictors Draw ^ '

up the real work of drawing up the terms was chiefly done

by the representatives of Great Britain, France, the
United States, Italy, and, to a lesser degree, Japan. The
weaker nations were allowed little real participation except in
matters directly affecting them, but all, great and small alike,
were accorded an opportunity to pass upon the completed
work.

The first great question to which the conference turned its

attention was that of inventing some means for preventing

future wars. The subject was one to which many men in all

civilized countries had devoted much attention.

Ine

Prevention The plan finally adopted may be said in a sense to

of Wur

have had its origin in the League to Enforce Peace,
a body formally organized in Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
in June, 1915, with William H. Taft as president. The pro-
gramme of the league had been approved by statesmen in most
of the warring nations, and President Wilson, in particular, had
become an ardent advocate of the general idea. It was largely
through his insistent advocacy that the matter was taken up
by the conference before what many considered the more im-
mediately pressing problem of bringing the existing war to an
end was solved. The attitude of other members of the con-
ference varied from enthusiastic support through various
shades of doubt to open hostility. Most seem to have been

486 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

somewhat skeptical as to the success of any plan that might
be adopted, but even many of the skeptics were willing that the
experiment should be made.

After months of discussion and amendment the conference
finally adopted a "covenant" based upon a plan submitted by
General Smuts, the representative of South Africa. The cov-
The Lea ue enant provided for the creation of a league of nations,
of Nations the main object of which was " to secure international

peace and security by the acceptance of obligations
not to resort to war." The machinery of the league was to
consist of an assembly, a council, and a permanent secretariat.
The assembly was to consist of representatives of members of
the league and was to meet at stated intervals, or from time to
time at the seat of the league, or at such other place as might
be decided upon. It was to deal with any matter within the
sphere of action of the league or affecting the peace of the
world. With a single exception, each power was to have one
vote in the assembly, and could not have more than three repre-
sentatives, but five of the British colonies were given member-
ship, so that the British Empire, as a whole, had six votes.

The council was to consist of representatives of the United
States, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, together
with four other members of the league. These four were to

be chosen from time to time by the assembly at

The Council. ....

its discretion. With the approval of the assembly,
the council might name additional members of the league, whose
representatives should be members of the council. The council
was to meet as occasion might require, and at least once a year.
At its meetings it might consider any matter within the sphere
of action of the league or affecting the peace of the world. At
meetings of the council each member of the league represented
on the council should have only one vote, but might have more
than one representative. Any member of the league not rep-
resented on the council should be invited to send a represen-
tative to sit as a member during the consideration of matters
especially affecting its interests.
A permanent secretariat was to be established at the seat of

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 487

the league, and was to consist of a secretary-general and such

secretaries and staff as might be required. The
Secretariat. ^rs^ secretary-general was to be named by the

peace conference. Thereafter he was to be ap-
pointed by the council with the approval of a majority of the
assembly.

The covenant recognized the importance of reducing national
armaments, and provided that the council should take account
of the geographical situation and circumstances of each state,

and formulate plans for such reduction for the con-
Annarnents° sideration and action of the several governments.

Such plans were to be subject to the reconsidera-
tion of the council each year. The members of the league un-
dertook to give full and frank information as to the scale of their
military and naval preparations.

Members of the league undertook to respect and preserve
Mutual as a8amst external aggression the territorial

Guarantee of integrity and political independence of all the

Territories. \ *

members.

Any war or threat of war, whether or not it immediately
affected members of the league, was to be considered a matter
of concern to the whole body, and the league was to take any
step deemed wise to safeguard the integrity of the
nations. In case such an emergency should arise,
the secretary-general, on the request of any member
of the league, could forthwith summon a meeting of the coun-
cil. Any member of the league should have the right to bring
to the attention of the assembly or the council any circumstance
which should threaten to destroy either the peace or the good
understanding of the nations.

All members of the league should agree that in case of a mis-
understanding likely to lead to a rupture they would submit
the matter either to arbitration or to an inquiry by the council,
and in no case resort to war until three months after

Arbitration. ,

the award by the arbitrators or the report by the
council. The members agreed, furthermore, that whenever
any dispute should arise which they might recognize as suitable

488 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

for submission to arbitration, and which could not be satisfac-
torily settled by diplomacy, they would submit the whole sub-
ject to arbitration.

The council should formulate and submit to the members

Permanent °^ ^ league plans for the establishment of a

Court of permanent court of international justice, which

should be competent to hear and determine any

dispute of international character.

In case any member of the league should resort to war in
disregard of its covenants, it should, ipso facto, be deemed to
have committed an act of war against all other members of
the league, which should undertake immediately
Boycott.'01 to bring it to terms by cutting off all relations, finan-
cially and otherwise, with the offending state. It
should also be the duty of the council in such case to recommend
to the governments concerned what forces of the league should
be contributed to be used to protect the league's covenants.

In case of a dispute between a member of the league and a
state not belonging to the league, or between states neither of
them members of the league, the state or states not members
states °^ *ke lea&ue should be invited to accept the obliga-

Outsidethe tion of membership in the league for the purpose
of such dispute upon such conditions as the council
might deem just. In case a state so invited should refuse, the
council might take such measures and make such recommenda-
tions as would prevent hostilities and would result in the peace-
ful settlement of the dispute.

One article of the covenant established a system of manda-
tories for the conquered German colonies. Another
and\abor.es bound the members of the league to secure fair con-
ditions of labor for men, women, and children.
Still another article, adopted to conciliate opposition in the
United States, was to the effect that nothing in the
Doctrine!1** covenant should "affect the validity of international
treaties of arbitration or regional understandings
like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of
peace."

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 489

Amendments to the covenant were to take effect when rati-
fied by all the members of the league whose representatives
composed the council, and by a majority of the members of
the league whose representatives composed the as-

Amendments. '

sembly. No such amendment should bind any
member of the league which refused to accept such amendment,
but in case of refusal it should cease to be a member of the
league.

In settling the terms of peace grave differences inevitably
developed between the victors. One of the most serious arose
over the disposition of the port of Fiume on the eastern Adriatic.
The Italian delegates claimed that under the prin-
Dispute. cipk °f self-determination Fiume must be assigned
to Italy because most of the inhabitants were
Italians. The Jugo-Siavs insisted, however, that the whole
region about Fiume must belong to them, because a majority
of the people outside the city were of their race, and also be-
cause they needed the city as a convenient outlet upon the
Adriatic. President Wilson strongly opposed the Italian claims,
and a quarrel developed which resulted in the temporary with-
drawal of the Italian delegates from the conference. Presently
the Italian poet and patriot, Gabriel d'Annunzio, with a force
of volunteers, seized Fiume in Garibaldian fashion and held
it for Italy. Thereafter the dispute dragged along for many
months.

Another serious controversy arose over the disposition of the
peninsula of Shantung, which had been redeemed from German
rule by Japanese and British forces in 1914. China claimed
that, as the original owner, Shantung should im-
mediately be handed back to her, but Japan de-
murred. Ultimately the conference, partly because
of secret treaties made during the war, accepted the Japanese
view. Japan was to restore the peninsula at some future time
to China, but she was to obtain railroads and other concessions,
including the right to make a settlement at Tsing-Tao, south
of Kiao-Chau. In many quarters the feeling existed that Japan
had been too grasping, and that her policy with regard to

490 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

Shantung afforded new evidence of her intention of transform-
ing China into a vassal state.

The completion of the treaty required so much time that it
was not until May 7 that the document was delivered to the
German delegates, who had been summoned to Paris for that
purpose. Its terms aroused great opposition in
Accepts7 Germany, and a cry was raised that the treaty
went beyond the "fourteen points" and the other
principles which, according to the agreement at the time of the
armistice, were to form the basis for negotiations. However,
the world knew that the terms were less severe than those
which Germany would have imposed upon her enemies had she
been victorious, and little heed was paid to German outcries
regarding "a peace of violence." The conference consented to
modify some of the terms, and then insisted that Germany
take the irreducible minimum. Rather than endure invasion,
the German National Assembly at last voted to accept.

The treaty is a document of about 80,000 words, but in this
book we need consider only the broader outlines. Germany
gave up her claims to all her colonies, ceded Alsace-Lorraine to
The France and a small district to Belgium, and on her

Territorial eastern border resigned much territory to the re-
created state of Poland. The port of Dantzig was
internationalized, while plebiscites were to be held in certain
Prussian districts to decide whether they would remain part of
Germany or would join Poland. Plebiscites for a similar pur-
pose were also to be held in districts of Schleswig to decide
whether the people wished to be reunited to Denmark. As
part compensation to France for the damage wrought to her
mines, the Sarre Basin, with its rich coal and iron mines, was
to be at the service of France for fifteen years, under inter-
national rule, after which the inhabitants were to decide upon
their political future.

The German army must be reduced to 100,000 men, including
officers, and conscription was to be abolished. In a region ex-
tending to fifty kilometers east of the Rhine all importation,
exportation, and nearly all production of war material was to

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 491

be stopped. One object of this stipulation was to safeguard
France against a future German invasion. The fortifications

of Heligoland must be destroyed, and the German
Terms0' navy was to ^e reduced to six battleships, six

light cruisers, and twelve torpedo-boats. Its per-
sonnel must not exceed 15,000 men, and it must have no
submarines. Germany was forbidden to build forts controlling
the Baltic and must open the Kiel Canal to all nations.

Germany accepted responsibility for damage done to the
Allied nations and their peoples, and agreed to reimburse all
damage done to civilians. She must within two years make

an initial payment of 20,000,000,000 marks, about
indemnities. $5,ooo,ooo,ooo, and must issue bonds to secure sub-

sequent payments. She must make good illegal
damage done to merchant shipping by submarines by turning
over a large part of her merchant fleet and building new ves-
sels. She must devote her economic resources to rebuilding
the devastated regions in France, Belgium, and elsewhere.
She also agreed to the trial of the former Kaiser and other
Germans for offenses against international morality and the
laws of war. Holland, however, subsequently declined to give
up the Kaiser, while the German Government, on the plea that
public sentiment would not permit the surrender of the alleged
offenders, obtained the concession that the accused should be
tried before a German federal court at Leipsic.

By treaties later concluded Bulgaria was forced to cede ter-
ritory and to pay an indemnity, while Austria-Hungary was
broken up. Parts of the Dual Empire were ceded to Italy,

Roumania, and Poland; Czecho-Slovakia and Hun-
ria- Sary Decame independent republics; the territory

Hungary, inhabited chiefly by Jugo-Slavs was combined with
Turkey.' Serbia and Montenegro into a Greater Serbia. Of
Austria there remained only a small state, of a few
thousand square miles, whose 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 people
were chiefly of German blood and whose form of government
was republican. In the negotiations regarding Turkey the
United States did not directly participate. The terms finally

492 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

handed to the Turkish representatives in May, 1920, reduced
the Sultan's domains to Constantinople and to part of Asia
Minor, and an international force is to be kept permanently
in the former. The Dardanelles and the Bosporus are neu-
tralized and passage through them is made free to all nations.
Arabia is to be independent; Mesopotamia and Palestine are
to be under British rule; Thrace and the region about Smyrna
under that of Greece; while France and Italy were given
spheres of influence in Syria and Anatolia, respectively. The
mandate over Armenia was offered to the United States.
President Wilson had said at Paris that the offer would be
accepted, but in this, as in some other matters, he promised
more than he could perform. A commission sent out by him
to Armenia estimated that acceptance would necessitate the
use of 59,000 troops as a police force and that five years' oc-
cupation would cost $756,000,000. Congress considered that
these and other objections outweighed humanitarian arguments,
and voted to reject the mandate.

Unfortunately the conclusion of the treaties did not bring
peace and prosperity to the world. At the time of the signing
of the German treaty a score of other wars, or conflicts amount-

The War m& to a state °^ war> were 5^ ragin8- Poland, for
Fever still example, was fighting the Ukrainians, the Ru-
thenians, the Germans, the Jugo-Slavs, and the Rus-
sian Bolsheviki. Poland, Ukrainia, Finland, and other por-
tions of the old Russian Empire had set up as independent states,
while in what remained a bitter struggle was being fought out
between the Botaheviki and their enemies.

The programme of Bolshevism gave the whole world reason
for apprehension. The movement failed in Germany and in
Austria, but it was dreaded even in the Allied countries. During
Th part of the peace conference the danger that Bol-

Menace of shevism would sweep over much of western Europe
caused more concern than the question of settling the
treaty of peace. In Italy, France, and even England economic
conditions were such that there was real danger that there
might be a social revolution, but all these countries, for the

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 493

time being at least, escaped the menace, partly, it is believed,
because of financial assistance rendered by the United States.

In the United States there was never any real danger that
such a movement would succeed, and yet attempts were actu-
ally made. The most serious effort was made in the city of
Seattle, but its courageous mayor acted so vigor-
United states, oiisly as speedily to suppress the agitation. Other
manifestations of a revolutionary spirit took the
form of attempts to murder a number of public men by means
of bombs. Several persons were killed or injured by the ex-
plosions, but among them there was no one of prominence.
Toward the end of 1919 the Department of Justice made public
the fact that a conspiracy had actually been formed to over-
turn the government and set up one on the Bolshevist model,
but the conspirators were chiefly foreigners and the movement
had no chance of success. A campaign to rid the country of
undesirable aliens resulted in the deportation of many of the
worst leaders.

Meanwhile an animated debate was taking place in the
United States over the league of nations. Practically all
Americans were eager to prevent war in the future, but many
Contest over doubted whether the league would secure that de-
the League sirable result. The issue was also confused by po-
litical considerations. Many Democrats forthwith
declared themselves favorable to the league without having
actually studied the covenant. Many Republicans took an
exactly contrary course. However, some Democrats opposed
the league, while a number of Republicans, the most notable of
whom was ex-President Taft, ardently favored it. Those who
opposed the league made much of the fact that it would in-
volve us in European affairs and meant throwing away forever
Washington's advice against entangling alliances. Many men
did not oppose the general idea of a league, but criticised various
features of the one proposed. Amendments adopted by the
peace conference removed some of these objections. The most
notable of these amendments was the one affirming the con-
tinued validity of the Monroe Doctrine.

494 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

To be ratified by the United States the treaty must receive
the votes of two-thirds of the senators voting upon it. A
majority of the senators were Republicans, and feeling in the

Senate against Wilson had come to be very bitter.
Tour"1' A contest between the President and a majority

of the Senate ensued, the leadership in the Senate
being taken by Senator Lodge of Massachusetts, chairman of
the committee on foreign relations. Early in September, 1919,
President Wilson set out on a tour of the country for the pur-
pose of rallying public sentiment in favor of the League with-
out amendments. He spoke to large crowds, but a number of
senators, including Johnson and Borah, who opposed the
League altogether, followed a few days behind him, speaking
at the same places, and they also were greeted by large crowds.
On his way back from the Pacific coast the President had an
apoplectic stroke and was forced to give up the rest of his tour.
For several months he was confined to the White House and
was able to see only a few persons and to consider only ex-
tremely important public questions. Meanwhile the mass of
the people were kept in ignorance of his exact condition.

For many weeks the struggle over the treaty dragged along
in the Senate. All amendments to the League of Nations
Covenant were voted down, but the committee of the whole

adopted fourteen "reservations" limiting America's
FaUsTreaty liability under the Covenant. President Wilson

strongly opposed the reservations, and a situation
developed which resulted (November, 1919) in the defeat of the
treaty by a vote of 55 to 39. Four Democrats voted for rati-
fication with reservations and 13 Republicans against ratifica-
tion. The special session of Congress then adjourned. Each
side to the controversy sought to throw the blame for the
failure upon the other. Meanwhile the United States continued
to be technically at war with Germany.

When Congress met in December the treaty was
A/tkJe x™ f again submitted to the Senate, and a new struggle

ensued. As in the special session, the main battle
raged over the reservation to Article X of the Covenant. This

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 495

article bound members of the League "to respect and pre-
serve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and
existing political independence of all members of the League."
On March 15, 1920, after days of debate, the Senate, by a
vote of 56 to 26, voted the following reservation to Article X:

The United States assumes no obligation to employ its military
or naval forces, its resources or any form of economic discrimina-
tion to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence
of any other country, or to interfere in controversies between na-
tions— whether members of the League or not — under Article X,
or to employ the military or naval forces of the United States under
any article of the treaty for any purpose unless in any particular case
the Congress, in the exercise of full liberty of action, shall by act or
joint resolution so declare.

Supporters of the reservation contended that it did little
more than reaffirm the Constitution of the United States,
which reserves to Congress the right "to declare war." But

President Wilson took the view that Article X must
Fafis^gain. not ^e touched. Of a milder reservation adopted

the previous autumn he had declared that it was
a "knife- thrust at the heart of the covenant," and he now re-
iterated the view that any reservation which sought "to deprive
the League of Nations of the force of Article X cuts at the
very heart and life of the covenant itself." In a letter addressed
to his party on January 8, 1920, he said that, if the treaty could
not be adopted as it stood, it should be submitted to a solemn
referendum at the coming election. Not all Democrats took
this view. William Jennings Bryan, for example, declared in
favor of compromise, and many Democratic senators refused
to support the Wilsonian stand. Fourteen joined the Re-
publicans in adopting the reservation, and 23 voted for the
ratification of the treaty with reservations, of which there
were 15 in all. The final vote on ratification (March 19, 1920),
counting pairs, stood: for ratification, 34 Republicans, 23
Democrats; against ratification, 15 Republicans, 24 Democrats.
The vote for ratification lacked seven of the necessary majority,
and thus the treaty again failed. A joint resolution declaring

496 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

the war at an end passed both houses in April and May but
was vetoed by the President.

In February a great political sensation was created by the
resignation from the cabinet of Secretary of State Lansing under
circumstances that were equivalent to his abrupt dismissal.

. 4. President Wilson, in letters to Lansing, seemed to

Resignation °'

of Secretary base his action mainly upon the fact that during
his illness Lansing "had frequently called the
heads of the executive departments of the government into
conference," intimating that he regarded such proceeding as
unconstitutional. It was believed by many people, however,
that Lansing's disapproval of some features of the peace treaty
was the real reason for his fall. Lansing defended his course
regarding the cabinet meetings in forceful terms and by a ma-
jority of the press was thought to have the better of the con-
troversy. He was succeeded by Bainbridge Colby, of New
York, a former Progressive. The incident served to emphasize
the fact that for months the President had been too ill to give
much attention to public business, and the question was seri-
ously raised as to when a President's "inability to discharge the
powers and duties" of the presidential office should devolve
the same upon the Vice-President. Fortunately considerable
improvement in President Wilson's health prevented the matter
from reaching a crisis.

At the same time that the official summary of the treaty had
been issued by the peace conference the following statement
had been made public:

In addition to the securities afforded in the Treaty of Peace,
the President of the United States has pledged himself to propose
to the Senate of the United States, and the Prime Minister of Great

Britain has pledged himself to propose to the Parlia-
Fran^e.t0 nient of Great Britain, an engagement, subject to the

approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to
come immediately to the assistance of France in case of unpro-
voked attack by Germany.

This agreement was designed to assure the French of future
protection against a German attempt at revenge, and to induce

THE PEACE CONFERENCE 497

them to forego demands for more radical peace terms. Great
Britain ratified the agreement, but up to June, 1920, President
Wilson had not submitted it to the Senate, nor does there
seem much likelihood that the Senate will ever accept it. The
President's enemies asserted that in this, as in some other mat-
ters, he promised too much. In France a feeling prevailed
that she had been left in the lurch, and the feeling was accen-
tuated by the failure of Germany to carry out some of the terms
of peace. In March an abortive uprising of German monarchists
was followed by revolts of a Bolshevist nature in parts of that
country. Under pretext of suppressing this last revolt the
German Government sent large bodies of troops into the Ruhr
district, which includes the famous Krupp works at Essen.
France declared this a serious breach of treaty agreements,
and, as a warning to Germany, seized the city of Frankfort and
other places beyond the Rhine.

Meanwhile hectic conditions prevailed in the United States.
Shortage of commodities of almost all kinds had soon stimulated
industry and solved the problem of unemployment, but prices
Lab soared to heights hitherto undreamed of, profiteers

Troubles and reaped rich harvests at the public expense, and
there was great unrest among laborers. Increased
prices provoked demands for increased wages and vice versa,
and no one could say when this pyramiding would end. Great
strikes among steel-workers, bituminous-coal miners, and rail-
way men deranged industry and threatened the welfare of the
country. It was clear that the question of industrial peace
was one of the most serious that confronted the country. Our
industrial society had become so complicated and the parts
so interdependent that it was possible for a comparatively
small minority of workers to bring want and misery to the
whole country.

CHAPTER XXIV

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY

THERE have been, as Voltaire long ago pointed out, certain
periods in the history of mankind in which the human spirit
has risen to unusual heights. In Greece there was the age of
Pericles, in Rome that of Augustus, in England that of Eliza-
beth, in France that of Louis XIV. There can be little doubt
that our own generation is living in a period which men in
future ages will look back upon as marking an epoch of unusual
interest and brilliance. We have beheld the discovery of ra-
dium and the X-ray; the invention of the telephone and the
talking-machine, of wireless telegraphy and the moving picture;
the application of electricity to rapid transit and to propelling
machinery; the submarine perfected and the air conquered by
the airplane; the last great geographical problems solved by
the discovery of the poles; unexampled expansion in higher
education and in material wealth; the emancipation of woman;
and we have experienced the greatest war in history. In nearly
all the manifestations of this wonderful age America has played
a part, and in many a leading part.

Let us consider first America's material progress. The cen-
sus of 1910 emphasized the fact that the nation had been trans-
formed in fifty years. Its area had increased more than 700,-

ooo square miles, and its population of 101,000,000,
Population, including Alaska and the insular possessions, was

almost treble the number who had welcomed peace
at the close of the great civil conflict. The number of inhabi-
tants per square mile in the United States proper had jumped
from 13 to 30.9, and the centre of population had shifted west-
ward from forty-eight miles east by north of Cincinnati to a
point within the limits of Bloomington, Indiana.

Wealth had multiplied even more rapidly than population.

498

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 499

In 1870 the total value of all property approximated $24,000,-

000,000 (gold) ; the average per-capita wealth was about $600.

In 1920 the national wealth was estimated at

Wealth.

$200,000,000,000, or even more, while the per-capita
wealth was three or four times that of 1860. Sight should not
be lost of the fact that the purchasing power of a dollar had
greatly declined, but, when all due allowance is made, the fact
remains that in no other country had there ever been such a
stupendous heaping up of material possessions.

The nation had prospered, yet not all its people had pros-
pered. One of the most alarming features of the times was
the tendency to concentration of wealth in a few hands. In
America, as in all other countries, there had been
Distribution, inequality in wealth, but never before such startling
extremes. When George Washington died, in 1799,
he was probably the richest citizen of the republic, yet his
estate fell below three-quarters of a million. For six decades
thereafter, though there were many men of wealth, there were
few men of great wealth. The Civil War produced a consider-
able crop of millionaires, and in the industrial expansion of the
next half-century vast fortunes sprang up like mushrooms after
a warm spring rain.

Since then individual fortunes have been piled up to heights
hitherto undreamed of, and with a rapidity so marvellous that
the beholder is reminded of Aladdin's wonderful lamp. The
fortune of the richest American of all is variously
estimated, but it is safe to assume that, including
the vast sums he has given away, he has amassed
more than $360,000,000, probably much more. The mind can
scarcely grasp what such a sum means. To acquire it by ordi-
nary means would take a long time. If Adam on the day of
his creation in the Garden had begun working for some gen-
erous employer at a salary of $200 a day and all expenses, in-
cluding those of his side-partner and the little Cains and Abels,
if he had lived and worked 300 days in every year until the
present time, if he had deposited every dollar in some vault
where neither rust could corrupt nor thieves break through and

500 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

steal, he would now, after the expiration of 6,000 years of unex-
ampled industry, be worth less than the sum acquired in a single
lifetime by our fellow citizen of Pocantico and Forest Hill.

It would be a great mistake to assume that most millionaires
have misused their wealth. Rockefeller has given away over
$300,000,000, mostly to higher education; Carnegie built li-
braries and peace temples, established a hero fund
Benefactions. anc^ a ^un<^ f°r pensioning college professors, and
before his death in 1919 his total benefactions also
exceeded $300,000,000. Other men of great wealth have given
immense sums to all manner of good causes and in other ways
have shown that they regarded themselves only as "stewards"
of their possessions. Nevertheless, thinking men could not
but deplore the fact that a few men can amass such incredible
wealth, while great numbers can scarcely secure a roof to shel-
ter them or clothes to hide their nakedness.

Some years before the Civil War the historian Macaulay
wrote to an American friend regarding American conditions:
"Your fate I believe to be certain, though it is deferred by a
physical cause. As long as you have a boundless
Prediction! extent of fertile and unoccupied land, your laboring
population will be far more at ease than the laboring
population of the Old World. ... [A day will come when]
wages will be as low and will fluctuate as much with you as with
us. You will have your Manchesters and Birminghams, and
in those Manchesters and Birminghams hundreds of thousands
of artisans will assuredly be sometime out of work. Then your
institutions will be fairly brought to the test."

Before the close of the last century events had already begun
to justify the great historian's remarkable prediction. Free
land, long the great solvent for poverty and social unrest, was
practically exhausted; Chicago and Pittsburgh and
other industrial centres had surpassed Manchester
and Birmingham; and, though wages, measured in terms of
money, were not so low as in England, they fluctuated more,
the cost of living was higher, and it was by no means uncom-
mon for even millions of artisans to be out of work. Already

105 Longitude 100 Wes

LJ,. POATES CO ,

105 Longitude 100 West

THE
UNITED STATES

In 102O

.Shonln j Territorial Orcwth
»nd IVntrn of Imputation

1790-1910
Center of Population

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 501

American institutions were being subjected to close scrutiny,
and voices were heard declaring that the old order must give
way to a new one, evolved to meet the changed conditions of a
new age.

In the '8o's and 'go's radicals like Henry George and Henry
D. Lloyd began to talk of the "plutocracy," and to cry out
against the dangers of " wealth against commonwealth." Grad-
ually discontent spread. For a score of generations
Battle* Anglo-Saxons had been travelling the stony road to

political equality, and in theory at least the goal
had been attained. But men were beginning to realize that
political equality was a poor thing unless through it they could
obtain something approaching equality of economic oppor-
tunity. Thus the old question of equality came to the front
again, but with a new face. Populism, progressivism, socialism,
Bolshevism, were all manifestations of this new struggle for
human rights.

Many plans were propounded for preventing the future
concentration of wealth, and for breaking up already existing
fortunes. The income taxes imposed by States and nation re-
sulted from the feeling that men of wealth should
Breaking up bear an extra share of public financial burdens.
Fortunes Inheritance taxes, whether State or federal, have
thus far been levied merely for the sake of raising
revenues; but some men — among them Andrew Carnegie,
Justice Brewer, Theodore Roosevelt, and Vice-President Mar-
shall— have advocated heavier taxes of this sort to break up
the great fortunes. Some believe that the amount of money
that can be transmitted to a descendant should be limited to a
comparatively small amount. According to their view we
should not fail to cherish the praiseworthy sentiment that has
an affectionate regard for the future welfare of those dear to
and dependent upon us, but this should not be done in such a
way as to tolerate a concentration of wealth that discourages
exertion and creates a class of drones who consume immense
quantities of wealth and contribute little or nothing to the
support of the race. Even to heirs themselves the bequest of

502 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

great wealth is likely, in the words of Carnegie, to prove an
"almighty curse." Inasmuch as probably about a fiftieth of
the wealth of the United States each year would become sub-
ject to taxes on inheritances exceeding $10,000, it is apparent
that herein lies an immense source of possible income and one
likely to be more and more used, especially now that the na-
tion's financial needs have been multiplied by the war.

During half a century many notable changes had taken place
in the distribution of population. Vast areas in the West that
in 1870 did not contain a single white inhabitant were now well
Distribution settled. Almost three-fourths of all the people,

of however, still lived in the region east of the Missis-

Population. ..1111 • •

sippi, although that region constituted less than a

third of the whole area. A third of the total population resided
in the six States of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Ohio, and Illinois, whose total area was only 204,-
822 square miles. Rhode Island, the smallest of all the States,
was also the most thickly populated, having an average of 508.5
persons per square mile; while arid Nevada, the least thickly
settled, had only .7 per square mile. It was, of course, natural
that the older States should be most thickly populated, but the
inequalities had been greatly increased by the fact that most
immigrants entere'd the land through eastern gateways. Lack-
ing money for a longer journey, millions of immigrants did not
penetrate far from tidewater. Though a large proportion were
accustomed to agricultural life and should have gone, there-
fore, to the broad reaches of the boundless West, most had to
settle down in the industrial regions of the East, thus adding to
the congestion of population in centres like New York City's
East Side.

At the close of the Civil War the United States was still
Increase of n^ily an agricultural country, though manufac-
Urban turing had made great progress. In 1870 only 20.9

Population. , , . * .. , . .

per cent of the population lived in towns of 2,500
or over. In the next four decades manufacturing made wonder-
ful strides and the urban population increased correspondingly,

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 503

rising to 46.3 per cent in 1910. In all, 42,623,383 people lived
in cities, or 4,000,000 more than the whole population in 1870.
In New England the urban dwellers outnumbered the rural
population by more than three to one. In the South, however,
the cities contained only 25.4 per cent of the inhabitants of that
section.

The rush to cities became so great that some rural localities
actually decreased in population. During the first decade of
the new century seventy-one of the ninety-one counties of Iowa

showed such a decrease. The tendency to rural
Problems. depopulation was so pronounced that a movement

was launched to counteract it, the slogan being
"Back to the farm !" President Roosevelt was one of the pro-
moters of this movement, and he appointed a special Country
Life Commission to investigate rural needs. Rural free de-
livery, telephones, better roads, better schools, more scientific
farming methods, and the automobile have done much to make
country life more attractive and profitable, and to transform
the mental outlook of farmers, many of whom in the past have
been too content to vegetate like their own potatoes, parsnips,
or pumpkins. The movement to the cities is, however, not yet
checked, and is stimulated by the fact that urban manufacturers
even of luxuries are able to pay higher wages than can rural
producers of necessities.

Immigration had attained such proportions that the very
blood of the nation was being changed by it. In prosperous
times the horde which in a single year poured into New York

harbor several times exceeded the total number of
?m^Kts°f Visigoths who in 376 crossed the Danube and began

the barbarian invasion of the Roman Empire.
Repeatedly the number of immigrants exceeded 1,000,000, the
greatest number being 1,285,349, in 1907. In the decade 1904-
14 more than 10,000,000 came in, which was about a third of
the total population in 1860. Great numbers, however, per-
haps almost a half, ultimately returned home.

In the early part of our period the tide that flowed through
Castle Garden was mostly made up of Irish, English, and Ger-

504 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

mans. In the 'yo's and '8o's other peoples began to turn their
faces westward in increasing numbers. Danes, Norwegians,
Their an(* Swedes made up much of the swarm that

Changing settled the wheat lands of the Northwest. Later

more southerly peoples — Poles, Magyars, Slovaks,
Russian Jews, Italians, Greeks, and Syrians — came flocking in,
and, when free land was practically exhausted, they herded for
the most part in congested centres of great cities and lowered
wages and the standard of living. In the period 1860 to 1910
the number of Austrians in the United States increased from
25,061 to 1,174,924; of Hungarians from a figure so small that
they were not enumerated to 495,609; of Italians from 11,677
to 1,343,125. On the other hand, there were more Irish-born
inhabitants in 1860 than in 1910. The number of German-born
sprang from 1,276,075 to 2,501,333, but in the later years immi-
gration from the Kaiser's domain greatly decreased, being only
27,788 in 1912. There were, in fact, in the United States 300,-
ooo fewer German-born in 1910 than in 1900.

The influx of immigrants tended not only to change the blood
of the nation but also its customs and even its religion. In no
section were such changes more marked than in New England.

Even in colonial times New York and Pennsylvania
Transforming had been meeting-grounds for many races, but New

England was settled almost wholly by Englishmen,

and even as late as 1800 probably 98 per cent of the
blood was English. But the sons and daughters of New Eng-
land followed Horace Greeley's advice to "go West." Their
places were taken by French Canadians and Irish, and later by
Italians and other southern Europeans, so that by 1910 two-
thirds of the people of Massachusetts were of foreign birth or
recent foreign extraction, while the same thing was true of over
half the population of all New England. It is one of the curious
ironies of history that the original settlers, the Puritans, fled
from overseas to escape the relics of "popery" in the Anglican
Church. They persecuted Antinomians, Baptists, and Quakers,
and when in Boston, in 1686, a clergyman of the Church of
England, under the protection of the King's agent, performed

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 505

the Episcopal service with the prayer-book and the usual ac-
cessories, it caused great scandal, and some of the people called
the clergyman "Baal's priest," while one of their own ministers
from his pulpit denounced the "praiers" as "leeks, garlic, and
trash." To-day New England is the most Catholic section of
the country, with the exception of the Mountain States, and in
1910 the Catholic inhabitants outnumbered the Protestants
two to one. Boston was a Catholic city. Its mayor and most
of its public officers were Catholics. The spires of a cross-
crowned cathedral rose high over the tower of the Old South
Church, and cassock-clad priests said their prayers within ear-
shot of the most sacred precincts of the Puritans.

As for New York City, which was cosmopolitan almost from
the beginning, it is a modern Babel. It contains more Jews
than ever lived in Jerusalem except during the feast of the

Passover, more persons of German extraction than
. inhabit any German city except Berlin, more

Italians than in Venice or Naples, more Irish than
reside in Dublin. There are more Cohens than Smiths in its
directory, and the Hebrew population about equals the native
stock, which in 1910 numbered less than 1,000,000 out of
4,800,000.

Opposition to foreigners was one of the cardinal principles
of the Know-Nothings in the '50*3, and from that time to this
warning voices were often raised against the danger of per-
Restriction niitting tne influx of immigrants to continue un-
of restricted. But Americans had long regarded their

country as a haven in which the oppressed could find
a home, and were loath to raise the bars. Furthermore, indus-
try desired cheap labor, and steamship companies made vast
sums transporting immigrants to American shores, while Catho-
lic influence was naturally against restrictions. Exclusion laws
were passed against the Chinese, and, beginning with 1882, a
series of acts debarred criminals, paupers, and certain other un-
desirables, forbade the importation of contract laborers, and
laid down other regulations. An act of 1907, passed under
Roosevelt, made entrance somewhat more difficult and also

506 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

created an immigration commission, which made an exhaustive
study of the problem and recommended further restrictions,
including a "literacy test." A bill providing such a test had
passed Congress in 1897 but was vetoed by Cleveland. New
bills to exclude illiterates were vetoed by Taft and Wilson,
but such a bill was finally passed over Wilson's veto late in
1917. Immigration had already greatly decreased as a result
of the war, so the new law has not yet received a thorough test,
but, though not very stringent, it will undoubtedly serve to
exclude many undesirables, particularly from southern Eu-
ropean countries and Russia. In the past more than half the
immigrants from those countries have been illiterates.

The most serious of all race problems is still that of the
negro, though relatively it is less serious than formerly. There
was a period in which alarmists pictured the African race as
reproducing so rapidly that it would swamp the
Problem™ white population. The census figures show, how-
ever, that this is not likely to happen. According
to the census of 1870, which was defective on this subject, the
total number of persons of African descent was 5,392,172. In
the next forty years the colored population increased to 9,827,-
763. In the same period the ratio of colored population com-
pared with the whole population decreased from 13.5 to 10.7 per
cent. In 1790 the negroes made up 19.3 per cent of the popula-
tion. The fact is that though the negro birth-rate is high, their
death-rate much exceeds that of the whit** race; furthermore,
their number is not increased to any extent by immigration.
On the other hand, the theory sometimes propounded that the
negroes will die out and disappear is also unlikely to be realized
— at least not within many centuries. It is true that pneumonia,
tuberculosis, and venereal diseases are alarmingly prevalent
among them; nevertheless, they continue to increase, and only
when their number becomes stationary or begins to decline will
it be reasonable to predict their ultimate extinction. However,
the pure African type is already rapidly disappearing. This is
due, in part, to white trespasses across the color line, though it

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 507

seems to be beyond question that direct infusion of white
blood into the race is relatively less than formerly. Mulattoes,
however, are constantly intermixing with the pure-blooded
blacks, and it is not improbable that in the course of a few
generations the genuine black will be as extinct as the dodo
and that this will result even should all sexual relations between
Caucasians and Africans cease. It is likely, however, that the
tendency known among anthropologists as "reversion to type"
will tend to keep the negroes in America decidedly Ethiopian
in features and characteristics.

From the point of view of geographical distribution the most
important changes taking place are slight tendencies toward
concentration in the "black belt" in the South, and toward
Geo a hical ^er(^ng m towns in all parts of the country but
Distribution especially in the North. In such States as Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Alabama, counties
in which the ratio of blacks to whites is five to one, or even eight
or nine to one, are not uncommon. But this state of affairs is
by no means a new development. In New England almost
92 per cent of all the negroes live in urban centres. In the
South the negroes are not moving townward quite so rapidly
as are their white neighbors. Their most sensible leaders ad-
vise them to stick to the soil and to avoid the more strenuous
competition of cities and the undesirable quarters into which
they are usually crowded. An influx of Southern negroes into
the North is constantly taking place, and this movement was
accelerated during the Great War because of the increased de-
mand for labor. However, despite this influx, the relative
rate of increase of the negro population in the North is slower
than in the South, for the death-rate in the North is abnormally
high, while the birth-rate is relatively low. Nearly nine-tenths
of the colored race is still concentrated in the sixteen former
slave States, and the negro continues to be in a special sense
"the Southerner's problem." His presence has tended to pre-
vent any considerable immigration of Europeans into the
South, and to keep that section mainly agricultural in occupa-
tion.

SoS THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

In spite of the "war amendments" the position of the negro
in the United States continues, generally speaking, to be one
of decided inferiority. In the South "Jim Crow laws" draw

the "color line" against him on trains, on street-
Position, cars, m schools, theatres, hotels, and other such

places. Economically, too, his position both in
the South and in the North is, generally speaking, one of de-
cided inferiority, though many members of the race have won
financial independence.

The negro's outlook for the future appears pessimistic or
optimistic, according to the angle from which the subject is
regarded. When we recall, however, that negroes as slaves

were generally thieves, that most had little more
Progress. conception of true family life than the beasts of the

field, that they were almost universally unable to
read or write, and that when they became freedmen they were
"turned loose naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky,"
we cannot escape the conclusion that in half a century they
have really made wonderful progress, economically, morally,
and mentally. Few people realize the number of decent, self-
respecting negroes who lead honorable lives, for unfortunately
we usually judge the white race by its great men and the black
race by its members who get into the police court. Despite
narrow-visioned opposition to negro education on the part of
many Southerners and some Northerners, two-thirds of the
race are now able to read and write, and there are tens of
thousands who have enjoyed the advantages of a college or
normal-school education. In 1910 negroes owned property of
a value estimated at $750,000,000, including 220,000 farms.
Among negroes there are two schools of opinion as to what
should be done concerning the assertion of their rights. One
school, the chief leader of which was Booker T. Washington,

takes the view that negroes should acquire property

an^ education, cultivate habits of thrift and sobriety,

and fit themselves for citizenship before becoming
too insistent in demanding their "rights." Washington himself
performed a great work in uplifting his people, and the inspira-

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 509

tion of his life will last for generations. The other school, of
which Doctor W. E. B. Du Bois is the foremost advocate,
holds that negroes should persistently demand every legal
and constitutional right. Some even advocate complete social
equality, including the right of intermarriage.

Southern whites are still determined that the negroes shall

remain strictly apart. Most still favor keeping them in an

inferior "place." Some would not even permit them to be

educated; others think they should be given the

Attitude of J . .

Southern sort of education that will make them economically
toward the efficient; only a comparative few realize that, just
Proble ^ ^° wn^te men» they need broad training that they

may develop leaders for their race. Fortunately
more and more Southerners are giving the great problem really
serious study; are asking themselves what should be done.
"How shall we take these ten millions of shiftless, improvident,
unmoral, inefficient child-men of an alien race and convert
them into desirable citizens?" writes a Southern educator.
"With individual exceptions, the negro population rests like a
great black blight upon the South. It can not be removed,
and the only chance is to train the race to do intelligent, honest
work — to be economically efficient. Booker Washington has
pointed the way, the one best both for the negroes and the
whites, but it is a big undertaking — one that makes every other
social problem of our people seem simple."

A historian ought not to suppress uncomfortable facts, and
it is undeniable that the treatment of negroes forms a blot on
America's fair fame. In parts of the South they are kept in
Race Riots a state °^ practical serfdom; in all cities they are
and herded into unsanitary districts; they are denied

Lynching. . . , ,

equal opportunities for advancement; and not in-
frequently they are maltreated and murdered by brutal mobs.
It is true that individual negroes, by fiendish assaults on white
women, now and then rouse white men to frenzy, but statistics
show that only about a fifth of the lynchings of negroes are be-
cause of the "usual crime." Burning at the stake is never
justifiable under any circumstances, and it is undeniable that

5io THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

in race riots scenes of horror have been enacted that are a dis-
grace to American civilization. Such scenes are sadly out of
place in a nation that proclaims itself the special champion of
liberty and justice, and which enlists in a crusade to make
"the world safe for democracy."

Perhaps the most encouraging sign of progress is the increas-
ing number of men of broad sympathies and vision who realize
the truth of Booker Washington's wise declaration that you can-
An not keep a man down in a ditch without staying

Encouraging in the ditch with him. Among the wisest men of
both races there seems to be a growing concensus
of opinion that the two races should be kept separate, that there
should be race distinctions but not race discrimination — or
oppression. Everything done to uplift the negro mentally and
morally tends also to uplift his white brother.

In colonial days and even later the use of strong drink was
almost universal. Ministers of the gospel openly drank with
members of their flock, and not infrequently "went under the

table with them." Even George Washington for
Problem"01 some years had a distillery on his plantation,

while Abraham Lincoln, as a grocery clerk, sold
whiskey over the counter like any other commodity. But
the evils of strong drink gradually aroused many thought-
ful people to the need of restricting or abolishing the traffic.
In the '5o's a strong anti-liquor wave swept over the coun-
try; and, largely as a result of the eloquence of Neal Dow,
one State, namely Maine, adopted permanent prohibitory
legislation. But the reforming impulse spent its force, and
for a generation prohibition seemed to make little concrete
progress, while its advocates were the butts of much ridicule.
Even many men who were not drinkers objected to prohi-
bition as "sumptuary legislation" that interfered with "per-
sonal liberty." Furthermore, the constant influx of immi-
grants, most of whom had been accustomed to the use of
intoxicants since childhood, helped to strengthen the opponent
of restriction. The manufacture and sale of distilled and malt

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 511

liquors and of wines came to be an immense and extremely
profitable industry employing hundreds of thousands of persons.
However, the agitators continued their work unceasingly.
Leaders of the old parties generally strove to keep the subject
out of politics. Despairing of persuading existing political or-
The ganizations to take up the cause, some of the more

Prohibition radical reformers, in 1872, as already described,

Movement. . ., • i -r» i «i • • mi

founded a national Prohibition party. Thereafter
this party entered every presidential contest, but it never car-
ried a single State, and its highest vote was only 270,710, polled
in 1892. However, it kept the subject agitated. Other power-
ful agents in the same work were the Women's Christian Tem-
perance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, both of which
waged unceasing battle against what they called the "Rum
Power." Gradually restrictive legislation, especially local-op-
tion laws, were put on the statute-books of all the States, while
before the end of the century Kansas joined Maine in the dry
column.

The liquor interests fought desperately to beat down prohi-
bition sentiment, and spent vast sums in influencing elections
and legislatures. In cities they employed all sorts of repre-
Growin hensible methods to prevent the enforcement of
Opposition Sunday-closing laws and other regulations, for it

was the policy of those behind the traffic to keep
territory as thoroughly "saturated" as possible. Theirs was
invariably a corrupting influence in politics, while many saloons
were operated in close co-operation with gambling-houses, the
white-slave traffic, and such evils. Gradually the very sordid-
ness of the liquor business antagonized millions, while millions
of others came to believe that the business involved a great
economic loss to society and ruined the lives of multitudes —
not only of drinkers themselves but of their wives and children.
An increasing number of business men came to see that drinkers
were, generally speaking, less dependable, less efficient, much
more likely to cause accidents than were non-drinkers, and
many business establishments adopted a policy of employing
only teetotalers or those practically so.

Si2 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

In the South, where drink was responsible for many horrible
crimes perpetrated by the negro population, prohibition found
particularly fertile soil, and in the first decade of the new cen-
tury several of the Southern States abolished the
Prohibition. sa^e °f intoxicants, though some permitted the im-
portation of liquor for individual use. Early in
1913 prohibition took a decided step forward by the enactment,
over President Taft's veto, of the Webb bill, forbidding the
shipment of liquor into a dry State in violation of a State law.
In consequence the stamping out of "boot-legging" and "blind
tigers" was rendered less difficult. At this time nine States,
namely, Maine, Kansas, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia,
Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, had
adopted State prohibition. The total population of these States
was 14,695,961, while more than 30,000,000 other persons re-
sided in districts made dry by local-option laws.

Thenceforth prohibition swept forward like a prairie fire.
By the end of 1917 twenty-six States had entered the dry
column. In that year Congress enacted a prohibitory law for
the District of Columbia, forbade the shipment
Prohibition. °f h'quor, except for medicinal purposes, into any
dry State, and submitted to the States a prohibition
amendment. The distillation of intoxicating beverages had
already been prohibited by the President as a war measure,
and brewers had been ordered to keep the alcoholic content of
their beer below 2^/2 per cent. Subsequently Congress enacted
a law under which the President proclaimed that after July i,

1919, the country should be "dry" until the end of the war.
Meanwhile the liquor interests had combined for a final stand.
But public sentiment constantly grew more hostile, and the
fact that breweries and distilleries were largely owned by per-
sons of German blood undoubtedly reacted unfavorably against
the traffic. Before the end of January, 1919, all but four of
Prohibition ^e States nac^ ratified the amendment, which pro-
Amendment vided that the manufacture and sale of intoxicants

for beverage purposes must cease after January 16,

1920. Legislation to carry the amendment into effect was

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 513

passed by Congress in the fall of 1919. As a forlorn hope the
liquor interests attacked the constitutionality of both the
amendment and of the act enforcing it, but, in a decision
handed down in June, 1920, the Supreme Court upheld
both.

It is certain that difficulty will be met with in enforcing pro-
hibition in some localities; it is equally certain that the aboli-
tion of the liquor traffic will result in a tremendous saving to

the American people. It is estimated that the total
Saving?" consumption of liquor in a single year exceeded

2,000,000,000 gallons, that the average consumption
for each man, woman, and child amounted to over 22 gallons,
and that the total cost to the consumer amounted to from
$1,500,000,000 to $2,000,000,000. The greater part of this
money was spent by working men, who could ill afford such
expenditure. Under prohibition much of this money will still
go for inutilities of one sort or another, but a vast deal of it will
go for the purchase of more food, clothing, school-books, and
shoes for wives and children.

Prohibition means the loss of large revenues to national and
local governments; it also means fewer paupers, fewer criminals,
fewer cases of insanity. Wherever prohibitory laws are en-
Other forced comparatively little use is found for jails and
Effects of workhouses. A jurist who was for many years a

police and criminal judge in one of the large cities
of the country estimates that fully 70 per cent of all cases that
came before him prior to the enactment of prohibition were
directly due to strong drink, while a large part of the remainder
were indirectly due to that cause.

In all ages woman has usually occupied a decidedly inferior
position in the world. In primitive society woman, being physi-
cally weaker than man, was condemned to do all the drudgery;
and when her lord and master felt so inclined he beat her with
his fists or war-club, and there was no "cop" or "bobby" to
say him nay. Man hunted, fished, fought, and sat about at
ease; while his mate performed all the real work, built the rude

514 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

shelters, gathered berries and nuts, brought in the game that
had been killed, tanned skins or wove clothing of bark or
fibre, and carried the household goods, the babies,
anc^ Per^aPs the weapons of her lord on the trail.

Woman in Even to-day among savage peoples women are often

Primitive . „ ,

Society. practically slaves. In New Britain, for instance,

they must do all the work, which is so hard that
they become prematurely old; and if they offend their hus-
bands they are in danger of being killed and eaten.

Among the Romans and a few other ancient peoples woman
occupied a reasonably high position, but after the break-up of

the Empire her position became decidedly less fa-

in Ancient vorable. The canon law condemned her to a posi-

and Mediaeval . ...,..,..

Times. tion of decided inferiority; many of the church

fathers, including the Apostle Paul, emphasized her
dangerous character; and in the minds of many holy and im-
peccable monks she was considered an ally of Satan him-
self.

By the time of the settlement of America woman's position

in England had improved somewhat. If a single woman of

mature age, her legal rights were almost equal to those of a

man, though she had no political rights and was at

In England.

a great disadvantage in the matter of inheritance.
A married woman, however, was virtually under the domination
of her husband, who enjoyed the right to chastise her for certain
offenses, even "with whips and clubs," a privilege of which
many a brutal Briton took full advantage. The husband had
an estate in any land belonging to his wife and might alienate
it without her consent; he was also entitled to take possession
of any movables that she owned on marriage or that might
subsequently come to her, and he could do with them as he
thought proper. Not until the last half of the nineteenth cen-
tury did Parliament annul the law giving the husband full own-
ership of his wife's property and permitting him to seize her
wages even after he had deserted her. As regards the marriage
bond and other matters, the law was all with the husband. No
English woman ever attempted to secure a divorce until 1801.

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 515

In colonial times woman's position in America was some-
what better than in the England of the corresponding period,
yet in 1848, seventy-two years after the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, the members of the first Woman's Rights
Woman's Convention, held at Seneca, New York, complained
Rights that "the history of man is a history of repeated

Convention, .... . , f ,

1848. injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward

woman, having in direct object the establishment
of an absolute tyranny over her"; that he has never allowed
her the right to share in the making of laws to which she must
submit; that "he has made her, if married, in the eyes of the
law, civilly dead"; that "he has taken from her all her right
in property, even to the wages she earns"; that she is com-
pelled to obey her husband as her master, " the law giving to
him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer
chastisement"; that "he has monopolized nearly all profitable
employments"; that he has given "to the world a different
code of morals for men and women"; and that "he has en-
deavored, in every way he could, to destroy her confidence in
her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her
willing to lead a dependent and abject life."

The woman's movement in America dates from this Seneca

convention, and the declaration of independence then issued

by such pioneers as Lucretia Mott, Mary N. McClintock,

Martha C. Wright, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

the'workof will stand as one of the landmarks of progress. It

courage m those days to enlist in such a move-
ment, for the prevailing attitude toward it was one
of derision, and ridicule is often harder to fight than force.
Newspapers headed their accounts of the convention with such
phrases as "Insurrection among the Women," and "Reign of
Petticoats," and declared that the convention was composed
of "divorced wives, childless women, and sour old maids." It
is significant that many women joined in the gale of laughter
at the expense of their own sex. To persuade such women to
take the movement seriously was to require generations of edu-
cational work — a task not yet completed.

516 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

When Harriet Martineau visited the United States in 1840
she found only seven kinds of work open to women — namely,
teaching, typesetting, household service, needlework, work in
book-binderies and cotton-mills, and keeping boarders. There
was not a single woman physician or lawyer, and it was not
until 1852 that a woman was ordained in the ministry, though
in the Quaker and Shaker sects they were permitted to exhort.
Woman's higher education was almost totally neglected un-
til Troy Seminary, the first institution for their higher education
that was aided by government funds, was founded in 1821.
„. , Twelve years later Oberlin, the first coeducational

Education college, opened its doors. Even as late as 1870 the
number of women college students was very small.
To-day more than 100 institutions devote their entire time
to such students. There are about 350 coeducational insti-
tutions of higher learning, including most of the Western
colleges and State universities; even conservative Harvard
and Columbia make provision for women students. In the
school year 1913-14 about 117,000 women and girls were at-
tending universities, colleges, and technological schools, and
about 11,000 received degrees.

Women have forced their way into almost every kind of work
and profession. In 1910 about 20 per cent of the persons em-
ployed in manufacturing were females of 16 or over, and there
were about 2,000 women journalists, 3,500 women
Professions, preachers, and 7,000 women doctors, besides im-
mense numbers in teaching, the civil service, com-
merce, and other pursuits. There were women mayors and wo-
men county clerks, and in 1916 a woman, Jeannette Rankin of
Wyoming, was elected a member of the federal House of Rep-
resentatives.

The transformations thus wrought tended to make women
less dependent on man and to increase their intelligence, but it
also brought many difficult moral and economic
Problems. problems, one of these being the minimum living
wage for female bread-winners. It was partly in
order to help solve these problems that the women were de-
manding the ballot.

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 517

Meanwhile the statutory discriminations against woman
were disappearing and she was even obtaining political rights.
In 1869 Wyoming Territory and in 1870 Utah Territory
granted the suffrage to women. Congress with-
drew the right in Utah in 1887, but equal suffrage

was incorporated into the constitutions of both
Utah and Wyoming when they attained statehood. In 1893
Colorado and in 1896 Idaho entered the equal-suffrage column.
Many other States also permitted women to vote in school and
other special elections. For a decade or more there was a lull
in interest, then a great impetus was given by the suffragette
agitation in England. Slowly the movement gained momentum,
and eastward resistlessly the course of suffrage took its way.
In 1912 the Progressives openly declared for it. The old parties
evaded the direct issue in 1912, but by 1916 most of their lead-
ers were beginning to see a "great light," and the platforms of
both declared for equal suffrage but favored enfranchisement
by State rather than federal action. By 1916 seven more States
— Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Nevada, Montana,
and Kansas — had conferred full suffrage rights on women, while
Illinois permitted them to vote for presidential electors and for
certain local officers. In 1917 the great State of New York
joined the procession, reversing a contrary verdict rendered
two years before.

In many other States, however, suffrage was defeated during
these years, and leaders of the movement sought eagerly to
secure nation-wide suffrage by federal action. As early as

1869 agitation had been begun in favor of the " Susan
Amendment B. Anthony amendment," which provided that the
thebsStes.t0 right to vote should "not be denied or abridged "on

account of sex." From about 1913 onward con-
stant pressure was maintained on Congress to submit this or
other amendments to the States. Some enthusiasts even re-
sorted to "picketing" the White House and to the use of other
extreme measures similar to those made familiar by their suf-
fragette sisters in England. Eaily in 1918 the suffrage amend-
ment passed the House of Representatives, but later in the year
it was defeated in the Senate, though a change of one vote

5i8 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

would have given it the necessary two-thirds. Finally, in the
extra session of 1919, the amendment was submitted to the
States. By April, 1920, it lacked only one State of the necessary
three-fourths.

Meanwhile Great Britain and other foreign countries have

conferred the suffrage on women, and it seems safe to predict

that the complete triumph of the cause will not be long delayed

in the United States, and that the last relics of

The Future.

woman s inequality will be swept from the statute-
books. It is certain that some of the results of suffrage will
prove disappointing to enthusiastic supporters; equally certain
that the United States will never return to the old inequality.

The full story of developments in education during the last
half-century would of itself require a bulky volume. The sys-
tem of public elementary education already in existence in the
North was expanded and improved and was further
Education?' developed in the South, where in some States its
existence prior to the war had been more or less
rudimentary. In many States the number of persons over ten
years of age unable to read and write had been reduced by 1910
to a fraction of i per cent; in South Dakota, Wyoming, and
Washington to only two-tenths of a per cent. Yet there were
in the United States more than 5,500,000 persons over ten years
of age who were illiterate. Over 2,000,000 of these were negroes,
1,650,361 were of foreign birth, and most of the rest were
Southern whites. The percentage of illiteracy was much the
highest in the South, rising as high as 7.9 per cent in Texas.

Comparatively speaking, secondary and higher education
made much greater strides than elementary education. The
public high school is almost wholly a development of the last
Secondar half-century, while the expansion of higher education
and Higher has been one of the marvels of the age. In 1920

Education. , , , ,

there were far more college graduates than there
were high-school graduates in 1865. Coeducation, which was
formerly hardly thought of, had almost become the general
rule. Few of the colleges of 1865 were much more than acad-
emies, while graduate work was hardly attempted at all. For

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 519

years thereafter students desiring to do advanced work were
obliged to go abroad for such training, most of them going to
Germany. But in time graduate faculties were developed in
American institutions, and now a number of our universities
equal, if they do not surpass, any others in the world. Public
appropriations and immense private gifts combined to produce
a total sum far exceeding any ever invested in higher education
in any other country.

Yet the last word had not been said regarding education in
any field. Fads followed one another almost as fast as fashions
change in feminine apparel, and the new ideas were not always

wiser than the old. But it was to be hoped that
Education, something permanent would ultimately develop

out of this constant state of flux. Observers often
became impatient with educational vagaries, but perfection is
rarely attainable in human affairs, and, when all was said, the
sum of educational results spelled the salvation of the republic.

Only a reading nation can govern itself, and Americans are
perhaps the greatest readers in the world. The development
of education, cheaper methods of making paper, especially out

of wood-pulp, improvements in printing-presses, the
Expansion invention of stereotype plates, of the monotype,
of the and of the linotype, all have combined with other

Business"8 causes vastly to increase the use of the printed word.

The expansion of advertising has transformed and
multiplied newspapers and magazines. In 1882 a single volume
of 1,442 pages sufficed for the titles of articles published up to
that time in the important magazines of the English-speaking
world. But so rapid was the development of magazines there-
after that the years 1905-9 alone required a book of 2,491
pages, and the greater part of this increase had been in America.
A mere list of the newspapers and magazines published in the
United States, together with a few facts concerning their char-
acter, management, and circulation, filled in 1917 more than
1,000 large, closely printed pages. Books, too, fell from the
press like autumn leaves, though, generally speaking, Americans
read newspapers and magazines rather than books. Of the

Sao THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

books in most demand, by far the greatest number were works
of fiction. Close observers said that automobiles and moving-
picture shows were tending to decrease reading of all kinds.

Notwithstanding the progress of education, the expansion

of publishing, and the vastly greater financial rewards of

authorship, creative literature had probably retrograded rather

than advanced. With the death in 1016 of Tames

Literature. .

Whitcomb Riley there disappeared from the literary

stage the only poet then living of large reputation, yet few critics
would assign him a place in the same rank with Lowell, Bryant,
Whittier, Longfellow, or even Holmes, all of whom were still
writing at the close of the Civil War. However, there were
many successful novelists, and some of distinguished merit, such
as William Dean Howells, Henry James, Winston Churchill,
Edith Wharton, Margaret Deland, James Lane Allen, Booth
Tarkington, John Fox, and Owen Wister, though it might be
doubted if any one of them would ultimately be given as high
a rank as Hawthorne, who died in the last year of the Civil
War. Of American writers of his day, Mark Twain probably
enjoyed the widest reputation, and it seems safe to predict
that he will have a place among the great humorists of all ages.
Theodore Roosevelt wrote many books on a great variety of
subjects. His style is vivid and picturesque, he lived and knew
the things of which he wrote, and he described better than any
other man of his time certain phases of American life which
will be of interest to future generations.

In imaginative literature decidedly the greatest progress was
made in the realm of the short story. Before the Civil War the
only short-story writers with a national reputation were Haw-
thorne and Edgar Allan Poe, who is generally
Story. ° credited with having created or at all events fixed
the principles of this order of composition. In the
next period the form was adopted by writers of such varied
talent as Henry James, Cable, Harris, Bunner, Edith Wharton,
Mary Wilkins Freeman, and many others, and so developed as
to make the short story the department of English literature
in which primacy of American achievement was undisputed.

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 521

In recent years a whole host of such writers have sprung up,
and some of them, such as Jack London, "O. Henry," Morgan
Robertson, and Richard Harding Davis, may be said to have
mastered their art to a degree that entitles them to classifica-
tion with their foremost predecessors. One has only to com-
pare the magazines of the '7o's and '8o's with those of the 'QO'S
and the new century to realize how wide-spread among our
authors has expertness in this branch of literature become.

In historical writing, if the subject be regarded as a science,
there has been a real advance. A great number of meritorious
monographs have been produced, while there has been much

publishing of original sources. Few recent his-
hTstory.0 torians, however, possess the literary gift, and from

this point of view the older writers must be given
the palm, though Fiske, McMaster, Mahan, Rhodes, and
Thayer have worthily upheld standards created by Prescott,
Motley, and Parkman. Though there is more studying of
history than formerly, few people, comparatively speaking, read
history for pleasure.

In other forms of art the most notable progress was made in
the cultivation of American taste rather than in the produc-
tion of great names. Generally speaking, Americans of the
D . Civil War period were deplorably backward in such

of Artistic matters, and travellers from abroad smiled at the

Taste

varied manifestations of American crudity in
painting, music, and architecture in spite of the tradition by
no means extinct of Alls ton, Stuart, and Copley and of our
excellent colonial building. But foreign travel, world's fairs,
and other influences opened to discerning eyes the compelling
power of the beautiful, and many Americans deliberately
set to work to correct our national deficiencies along artistic
lines. Art museums were established in many large cities, and
these helped to bring about a truly wonderful transformation.
With higher appreciation has come greater encouragement
to artistic endeavor, and much work of a high order, comparable
with that of contemporary Europe, has been done. In paint-

522 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

ing, Chase, Sargent, Lafarge, Abbey, and many others achieved

high reputations, but the most original American artist was

James A. McNeill Whistler, most of whose work,

Painting.

however, was done in Europe. In addition, many
artists won fame and fortune as illustrators, and we could
ill spare the spirited pictures of Frederic Remington, who
preserved for posterity certain phases of Western life — bronchos,
Indians, cowboys. In some respects, in fact, Remington was
the most distinctively American of all our artists. For the
higher forms of music we still look mainly to Europe, but there
have been many successful composers of popular music, while
"ragtime" — based on negro melodies — won favor of a sort, both
at home and abroad.

The most distinctive forms of American architecture were
the log cabin, the sod hut, and the sky-scraper, all of which were
more notable for utility than artistic merit. In 1865 there were

comparatively few really notable buildings in the

Architecture. * J

United States, but by 1919 the country contained
some of the finest "in the world. In the matter of domestic
architecture a wonderful transformation was wrought. Some
colonial homes were really beautiful, but in the Civil War period
there was a distinct retrogression in such matters. The war-
time millionaire was likely to build "for himself enormous
wooden mansions in many colors, surmounted by wooden cupo-
las and towers and battlements, and adorned with a maze of
wooden pillars representing what someone cleverly styled 'the
jigsaw renaissance,' while his lawn was adorned with cast-iron
statuary painted to resemble bronze." That age is now past,
and hi both town and country the traveller sees many mansions
and country estates in which the skill of architect and landscape-
gardener have combined to produce harmony of form and color
and give pleasure to the most critical eye. Even the homes of
the middle class are built and furnished with a taste almost
totally lacking fifty years ago.

In theoretical science great strides had been made, but
America still lagged somewhat behind Europe. In applied

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 523

science, however, Americans were unsurpassed, and the Yankee
still lived up to his old reputation as an inventor. Thomas A.
Edison, a veritable "wizard" in producing new de-
Science, vices, alone took out over goo patents for inven-
tions, including the incandescent light, the phono-
graph, and the kinetoscope, or moving-picture machine. Bell
produced the telephone, Browning automatic firearms, and
Holland and Lake perfected the submarine. In fact, there was
hardly a field of human endeavor in which American inventive
genius did not originate some device or improvement. The
adoption of these and foreign inventions did much to transform
life in many of its aspects. Merely to mention electric lights,
electric motors, telephones, and automobiles is sufficient to in-
dicate some of the revolutionary changes which half a century
of invention has produced.

But of all inventions of recent times the most spectacular

was the work of two brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright of

Dayton, Ohio. These young men, the sons of a bishop of the

.. , United Brethren Church, owned a small bicycle-

The Airplane.

repair shop, but they became interested in the sub-
ject of aviation and sought to invent a heavier-than-air flying-
machine. Other men of reputation — for example, Maxim in
England and Professor Langley of the Smithsonian Institution
in America — were also making experiments along the same
line; but people generally thought the problem insolvable, and
classed any one who tried to build a "flying-machine" as a
crank or lunatic. The Wright brothers, therefore, faced much
ridicule, but they did not give up, though at one time they
were so financially embarrassed that they were compelled to
accept assistance from a devoted sister.

The perseverance of genius finally had its reward, and on
December 7, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, on the sandy coast of North
Carolina, Wilbur Wright made the first successful
Triumph. man-flight in a heavier-than-air machine in his-
tory. His machine remained in the air less than
a minute, and flew less than three hundred yards, but the
possibility of flight had been proven and progress thereafter

524 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

was rapid. In November, 1904, he flew three miles in four
minutes and a half, and in October, 1905, he remained in the
air thirty-eight minutes and made a circular flight of twenty-
four miles. In 1909, taking with them improved machines,
the brothers visited Europe, where interest in aviation was
much more intense than in America, and were received as con-
quering heroes. Later they were accorded high honors in
America, and their home town made humble amends for once
having laughed at them. Unfortunately Wilbur Wright died
in 1912 before he could enjoy to the full his well-earned honors
and prosperity, but his brother continued the work. Thus far
their invention has found its chief place in war, but much use
will doubtless be made of it hi times of peace.

Another field in which Americans won fame was that of geo-
graphical discovery. In the early '7o's Henry M. Stanley, a
naturalized American, attracted world-wide attention by find-
ing Livingstone, the British missionary and ex-
Exploration. *,

plorer who had been lost to sight in the interior of

Africa. Later Stanley penetrated westward to the headwaters
of the Congo and followed that river to the sea, thus completing
the first crossing of the "Dark Continent." Yet later he
helped found the Congo Free State and rescued Emin Pasha.
Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, Lieutenant A. L. Greely, and
various others did notable work in Arctic exploration, but the
supreme achievement of all was that performed by Lieutenant
Robert E. Peary of the navy.

Peary first entered the field of Arctic exploration in 1886,
when he made a reconnoissance of the great Greenland "ice
cap." The work fascinated him, and for more than twenty

years he devoted himself to hyperborean explora-
Peary1 E ^on and to attaining the supreme goal of all Arctic

exploration, the North Pole. Among his achieve-
ments from 1891 to 1905 were the discovery of Melville Land
and Heilprin Land and the determination of the insularity of
Greenland, the northern point of which he named Cape Morris
K. Jesup, after one of the promoters of his work. In 1905 he

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 525

sailed northward in the stanch steamer Roosevelt, expressly
built for him by the Peary Arctic Club, and the next year, with
dog-sledges, passed all previous records and attained 87° 6'
north latitude, the "farthest north" ever reached up to that
time by man, or only 203 miles from the Pole. There he was
turned back by starvation and impossible seas of ice.

But Peary was not satisfied. The great ambition of his life
had not been realized. On July 6, 1908, therefore, he once
more set sail in the Roosevelt on his eighth Arctic quest. He
The Pole was t^ien ^ ty-two years old, and he knew that he
Reached, must succeed on this trip or leave the great prize

April 6, igog. . -. A ., , f

to younger men. But through years of experience
he had learned the best methods of Arctic travel — and fortune
smiled. The Roosevelt battled her way safely through the ice-
pack to Cape Sheridan, in Grant Land, and there the party
wintered. Early the next year the explorers, accompanied by
Eskimos, set out northward with dog-sledges over the frozen
sea. On April 6, 1909, after overcoming indescribable obstacles,
the foremost party, consisting of Peary, his faithful negro helper,
Matthew Henson, and four Eskimos penetrated to the boreal
centre and "nailed the Stars and Stripes to the Pole."

Some days before the Roosevelt reached Labrador and Peary
flashed his great news to civilized centres, the world was startled
by a cablegram from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands to the

effect that another American, Doctor Frederick A.

Cook> had reached the Pole on April 21, 1908, a

year before Peary. Many people were misled by
Cook's story, but it ultimately developed that he was a monu-
mental impostor, who had not only sought to deceive the world
with regard to discovering the Pole but had also falsely claimed
to have reached the top of Mount McKinley, the highest point
in North America. For a time the true discoverer's laurels
were somewhat dimmed by Cook's claim to priority, but pres-
ently the facts came out. The world then perceived that
Peary's heroic twenty years' quest had been crowned with de-
served success, and that he had won a passport to immortality.

526 THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES

At the time of entering the war against autocracy the republic

was by far the richest of nations, and, with the

Future? exception of Russia, the most populous of civilized

nations. The war served merely to increase its

material superiority over its rivals. Its shadow loomed ever

larger across the narrow world; there seemed no bounds to its

possible achievements.

In less than a century and a half America had grown from a
weak and thinly inhabited state into a leviathan among states.
It had disappointed the predictions of its enemies and sur-
passed the fondest hopes of its friends. Yet there were unlovely
aspects in its complicated life, which had drifted far from the
simplicity of earlier days. Not all the ideals of its founders
had been realized. Probably some of them never will be real-
ized, for perfection in human institutions is rarely found except
in dreams. Some features of its development had taken forms
not contemplated by the "Fathers"; it may be that the
"Fathers" would not be proud of some of the results of their
handiwork. Yet, despite obvious blemishes, it is doubtful
whether in any other country human beings have ever attained
so high a degree of material well-being, political and intellectual
liberty, and general happiness.

But the future will not all be easy sailing. The very vast-
ness of the republic has increased the difficulty of its problems.
The interests of section clash with section, and those of class
with class, and the task of reconciling these diverse interests
taxes the ingenuity of statesmen. The very government it-
self has grown so complicated that sometimes it seems almost
on the point of breaking down. The war has proved expensive
beyond all past imaginings, and a vast debt has been incurred
which future generations must help to bear. The high cost of
living, social and economic discontent, and the contagion of
the world-wide ferment have created a spirit of unrest that
causes grave concern. But, unlike the Russians, Americans
have had long years of experience in self-government, and it
is improbable that they will swing far from safe moorings.

A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY 527

In times like these it is well for men to reflect that institutions
are constructed slowly, and that it is much easier to tear down
than to build up. To that which is good in our institutions
we should hold fast with a firm grip, for it is the priceless heritage
of all the ages.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

The following list does not purport to be an exhaustive bibli-
ography. Readers desiring to investigate yet further should con-
sult J. N. Lamed, Literature of American History (1902); Chan-
ning, Hart, and Turner, Guide to the Study and Reading of American
History (1912); and the bibliographies in vols. 22-27 of The Ameri-
can Nation : a History (28 vols., 1903-1918), edited by A. B. Hart.
The proceedings and debates in Congress for the years 1865-1873
are in the Congressional Globe, and from 1873 onward in the Con-
gressional Record. Presidential messages are printed in J. D.
Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presi-
dents (10 vols., many editions). Much of value can be gleaned from
the American (after 1875, Appleton's) Annual Cyclopedia (1861-
1902) and from contemporary periodicals. In seeking material in
magazines the student should, of course, consult Poole's Index to
Periodical Literature (1882 and many supplementary volumes) and
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1910- ).

CHAPTER I— THE AFTERMATH OF WAR

W. A. Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic (1907), chaps.
I-II; one" of the best short books about the Reconstruction period.
J. W. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution (1902), chaps. I-II;
particularly valuable on the legal and political aspects of the period.
J. F. Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850
to the Final Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877 (7 vols.,
1893-1906), vol. V, pp. 344-465, 556-560; contains one of the most
complete accounts of Reconstruction. E. P. Oberholzer, A History
of the United States since the Civil War (i vol., pub. 1917), vol. I,
chap. II; covers the period 1865-1868, and is in some respects the best
book on these years. W. L. Fleming, Documentary History of Recon-
struction (2 vols., 1906-1907), vol. I, pp. 9-102, 315-383; contains much
valuable original material, and the editor supplies interpretative com-
ment and a list of references. C. H. McCarthy, Lincoln's Plan of Re-
construction (1901), sets forth exhaustively Lincoln's Reconstruction
policy. Sidney Andrews, The South since the War (1866), was written
by a Northern newspaper correspondent who investigated Southern con-
ditions. Mrs. Roger A. Pryor, Reminiscences of Peace and War (1904),
contains an interesting account of post-bellum conditions in the South
from the standpoint of the wife of a prominent Southerner. Similar in
character are Mrs. C. C. Clay, A Belle of the Fifties (1904); Susan D.

529

530 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Smedes, Memorials of a Southern Planter (igoo); and Myra M. Avary,
Dixie after the War (1906). Philip A. Bruce, The Rise of the New South
(1905), is especially valuable on the economic side. G. W. Williams,
History of the Negro Race in America (2 vols., 1883), gives a negro's
view of his race's history.

CHAPTER II— PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S PLAN OF
RECONSTRUCTION

Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic, chap. Ill and pp.
55-59. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution, chap. III.
Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, vol. V,
pp. 516-540, 555. Oberholzer, A History of the United States since the
Civil War, vol. I, chap. I. Fleming, Documentary History of Recon-
struction, vol. I, pp. 105-117, 273-312, 163-196. James Schouler,
History of the United States, 1783-1877 (7 vols., 1913), vol. VII, pp.
1-47. James G. Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress (2 vols., 1884-1886),
vol. II, pp. 1-15, 34-50, 56-111 ; partisan and not always accurate, but
often useful and suggestive because written by a prominent participant
in many of the scenes described. S. S. Cox, Three Decades of Federal
Legislation (1885), pp. 346-364; the work of a prominent Democrat
and forms a good antidote to Elaine's history. D. M. DeWitt, The
Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1903), contains a history
of the Johnson administration and is perceptibly hostile to the radicals.
Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles (3 vols., 1911); the author was
a member of Johnson's cabinet, and he sets down unreservedly the
happenings from day to day as well as his own opinions. For some of
the speeches on the Reconstruction question see Alexander Johnston
and James A. Woodburn, American Orations (new ed., 1897, 4 vols.),
vol. IV, pp. 129-148.

CHAPTER III— CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL

Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic, chaps. IV-VII.
Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution, pp. 42-206. Rhodes,
History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, vol. V, pp.
541-625. Oberholzer, A History of the United States since the Civil
War, vol. I, chaps. Ill, VII. Fleming, Documentary History of Recon-
struction, vol. I, pp. 118-153, I97~24°i 397 ff- Blaine, Twenty Years of
Congress, vol. II, pp. 111-384. Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legis-
lation, pp. 365 ff. Schouler, History of the United States, vol. VII, pp.
47-1 23. DeWitt, The Impeachment and Trial of A ndrew Johnson. S. W.
McCall, Thaddeus Stevens (1899), is short but worth consulting. More
exhaustive is J. A. Woodburn, The Life of Thaddeus Stevens (1913).
W. D. Foulke, Life and Public Service of Oliver P. Morton (2 vols., 1899) ;
a good biography of one of the most forceful figures of the period.
Frederic Bancroft, William H. Seward (2 vols., 1900); the best bi-
ography of Seward. The student will also find material of value in
F. W. Seward, Seward at Washington (1891). Carl Schurz, The Remi-

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 53 1

niscences of Carl Schurz (3 vols., 1907-1908), contains an account of the
author's Southern investigations. E. L. Pierce, Memoirs and Letters
of Charles Sumner (4 vols., 2d ed., 1894). Senate Executive Documents,
3Qth Cong., ist Sess.: No. 2 contains reports of Schurz and Grant on
Southern conditions; No. 43 contains that of Truman. See also John-
ston and Woodburn, American Orations, vol. IV, pp. 149-188.

CHAPTER IV— MEXICO, ALASKA, AND THE
ELECTION OF 1868

Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic, pp. 124-135, 151-
163. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution, pp. 206-213, 299~
303. Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850,
vol. VI, pp. 179-213. Oberholzer, A History of the United States since
the Civil War, vol. I, chap. VIII. Elaine, Twenty Years of Congress,
vol. II, pp. 385-421. Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation, pp.
617-624. Schouler, History of the United States, vol. VII, pp. 123-143.
Bancroft, William H. Seward. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles
Sumner. Edward Stanwood, A History of the Presidency (new ed., 2
vols., 1916), vol. I, chap. XXIII; contains an account of every presi-
dential election down to 1916. H. H. Bancroft, History of Mexico (6
vols., 1883-1888), vol. VI, pp. 1-332, contains an account of French
intervention in Mexico. See also Percy F. Walker, The French in
Mexico (1914). J. B. Moore, A Digest of International Law (8 vols.,
1906); a valuable compilation, contains an account of the French in-
terference in Mexico. F. Bancroft, William H. Seward, vol. II, chaps.
XL, XLII, describes the course of the American Government with re-
gard to the French in Mexico, and deals also with the purchase of
Alaska. The career of Grant down to his presidency is best told in his
Personal Memoirs (2 vols., 1886), and in Hamlin Garland, Ulysses
Grant (1898). For the financial issues of the campaign consult D. R.
Dewey, Financial History of the United States (1903 and many later
editions); W. C. Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks (1903); and Hugh
McCulloch, Men and Measures of Half a Century (1888), written by
Johnson's secretary of the treasury.

CHAPTER V— THE FRUITS OF RECONSTRUCTION

Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic, chaps. XI, XIII,
XIV, XVI, XVII. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution, chaps.
XI-XII. Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of
1850, vol. VI, pp. 236-243; VII, pp. 74-174. Fleming, Documentary
History of Reconstruction, vol. II, pp. 1-404. Schouler, History of the
United States, vol. VII, pp. 144-154, 168-178, 243-261. Cox, Three
Decades of Federal Legislation, pp. 451-577. J. S. Pike, The Prostrate
State (1874), is a Northern man's description of the lurid carnival of
misrule in South Carolina. H. A. Herbert, editor, Why the Solid
South ? (1890); a collection of essays by various authors dealing with

the Reconstruction period in the South; very partisan but worth con-
sulting. Under the general oversight of Professor W. A. Dunning of
Columbia, a number of valuable monographs dealing with Reconstruc-
tion in individual States have been written. Among these are J. A.
Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi (1901); W. L. Fleming, Civil
War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905); J. G. de R. Hamilton,
Reconstruction in North Carolina (1914); Charles W. Ramsdell, Recon-
struction in Texas (1910). Walter Allen, Governor Chamberlain's Ad-
ministration in South Carolina (1888), defends in great detail the career
of the last carpet-bag governor of South Carolina; while J. S. Reynolds,
Reconstruction in South Carolina (1905), treats the whole reconstruction
period in that State from the standpoint of a Southern partisan. The
story of the Ku-Klux movement is told by J. C. Lester and D. L.
Wilson, Ku-Klux Klan, Its Origin, Growth, and Disbandment (new ed.
edited by W. L. Fleming, 1905); an excellent short account is given
in W. G. Brown, The Lower South in American History (1902), chap. IV.

CHAPTER VI— FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE LIBERAL
REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT

Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic, pp. 163-173, 190-
202. Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850,
vol. VI, pp. 343-377, 412-440. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Con-
stitution, pp. 264-268, 305-327. Elaine, Twenty Years of Congress,
voi. I, pp. 458-536. Stanwood, A History of the Presidency, vol. I,
chap. XXIV. Schouler, History of the United States, vol. VII, pp. 161-
168, 194-220. J. B. Moore, History and Digest of the International Arbi-
trations to Which the United States has been a Party (6 vols., 1898); a
valuable compilation which contains a full account of the Alabama
claims. On this subject the student will also do well to consult C. F.
Adams, "The Treaty of Washington," in Lee at Appomattox, and Other
Papers (1902) ; J. C. B. Davis, Mr. Fish and the Alabama Claims (1895),
written by the American agent at Geneva; and John Morley, Life of
Gladstone (3 vols., 1903), vol. II, pp. 393-413. Schurz, Reminiscences,
vol. Ill, pp. 338-353, contains a sketch of the origin of the Liberal Re-
publicans. W. A. Linn, Horace Greeley (1903), tells the life story of
the Liberal Republican and Democratic candidate. George S. Bout-
well, Reminiscences of Sixty Years (1902), was written by a member of
Grant's cabinet. Albert B. Paine, Thomas Nast, His Period and His
Pictures (1904), contains an account of the fight against the Tweed Ring,
and of the campaign of 1872.

CHAPTER VII— THE END OF AN ERA

Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic, chaps. XV-XXI.
Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution, chap. XIII. Stanwood,
A History of the Presidency, chap. XXV. Fleming, Documentary His-
tory of Reconstruction, vol. I, pp. 405-455; Schouler, History of the

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 533

United Stales, vol. VII. Rhodes, History of the United States from the
Compromise of 1850, vol. VII, pp. 1-73, 175-291. Cox, Three Decades
of Federal Legislation, pp. 636-668. Elaine, Twenty Years of Congress,
vol. II, pp. 537-589- C. R- Williams, Life of Rutherford B. Hayes (2
vols., 1914). John Bigelow, Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., 1895), contains
a long account of the campaign of 1876. The various aspects of that
campaign are set forth exhaustively in P. L. Haworth, The Hayes-
Tilden Election (1906). For further material concerning the New
South and the race problem the student may consult E. G. Murphy,
Problems of the Present South (1904) ; J. L. Mathews, Remaking the Mis-
sissippi (1909); E. A. Alderman and A. C. Gordon, Life of J. L. M.
Curry (1911); Ray S. Baker, Following the Color Line (1908); G. S.
Merriam, The Negro and the Nation (1906); Thomas N. Page, The
Negro, the Southerner's Problem (1904); W. E. B. Dubois, The Souls of
Black Folk (1903); Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (1901);
H. W. Grady, The New South (1890) ; Bruce, The Rise of the New South.

CHAPTER VIII— THE PASSING OF THE WILD WEST

F. L. Paxson, The Last American Frontier (1910), contains in small
compass some of the salient aspects of the passing of the Wild West.
Katherine Coman, Economic Beginnings of the Far West (1911), an ex-
cellent work but containing comparatively little material on the period
after the Civil War. F. J. Turner, Significance of the Frontier in Ameri-
can History (in American ' Historical Association's Annual Report for
1893), an essay which did much to promote the study of Western his-
tory. J. P. Davis, Union Pacific Railway (1894), the best account of
the building of the first transcontinental. E. V. Smalley, The Northern
Pacific Railroad (1883), tells the story of the Northern Pacific. Ober-
holzer, A History of the United States since the Civil War, vol. I, chaps.
V-VI ; a good summary of Western conditions at the end of the Civil
War. Richard I. Dodge, The Plains of the Great West (1877), written
by an army officer who spent many years on the border; an absorbing
book on the "Wild West" at the time it was passing into history.
Indian campaigns in the West are described in Nelson A. Miles, Personal
Recollections and Observations (1896); George A. Custer, My Life on
the Plains (1874); Philip H. Sheridan, Personal Memoirs (1888); Henry
Carrington, Ab-sa-ra-kti^~Land of A/ttawcrg (1878), contains a history of
the Indian wars from 1865 to 1878, and also a description of frontier
life; John F. Finerty, Warpath and Bivouac (1890), by a correspondent
who witnessed some of the campaigns against the Sioux. The best ac-
count of the Custer massacre is given by Captain E. S. Godfrey in his
article "Custer's Last Battle," in Century Magazine, vol. 43 (1892), pp.
358-384. The "Story of the West Series," edited by Ripley Hitchcock,
deals in a popular way with salient features of Western life; among the
volumes may be mentioned C. H. Shinn, Story of the Mine (1896); Cy
Warman, Story of the Railroad (1903) ; and Emerson Hough, The Story of
the Cowboy (1897). Theodore Roosevelt, Ranch Life and the Hunting
Trail (1888, etc.), embodies some of the author's own experiences.

534 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Robert P. Porter, The West from the Census of 1880 (1882), is a con-
venient resum£. Hubert H. Bancroft, West American Historical Series
(39 vols., 1875-1887), deals mainly with an earlier period of Western
history, but some of the volumes are of value on our epoch. Seymour
Dunbar, A History of Travel in America (4 vols., 1915), contains much
interesting material on the history of transport problems in the West,
and also on the Indian question. See also Henry Inman, The Old
Santa Fe Trail (1898).

CHAPTER IX— AN INTERLUDE

Edwin E. Sparks, National Development, 1877-1885 (1907), covers
in more extended form the same period as this chapter. James F.
Rhodes, History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley, 1877-1896
(1918), chaps. I-X; a volume that continues the story from the point
where the author's larger work stops. Williams, Life of Rutherford B.
Hayes, vol. II, chaps. XXVII-XXXII. John W. Burgess, The Admin-
istration of Rutherford B. Hayes (1915). Stanwood, History of the Pres-
idency, chaps. f-XXVI-XXVII. Edward Stanwood, James G. Elaine,
(1905). On the spoils system the student will find material in C. R.
Fish, Civil Service and the Patronage (1905) ; Lyon G. Tyler, Parties and
Patronage (1888); James Bryce, The American Commonwealth (1893),
vol. II, chap. LXV; Dorman B. Eaton, Government of Municipalities
(1899); George W. Curtis, Orations and Addresses (3 vols., 1893), vol.
II, p. 477; Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt : an Autobiography
(1913), chap. V; J. A. Woodburn, The American Republic and Its
Government (1903); and Edward Gary, George William Curtis (1895).
On the Chinese question see George F. Seward, Chinese Immigration in
Its Social and Economical Aspects (1881); Richard Mayo-Smith, Emi-
gration and Immigration (1890); J. A. Whitney, Chinese and the Chinese
Question (1888). On financial questions see Dewey, Financial History
of the United States ; A. D. Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance
(1898); A. S. Bolles, Financial History of the United States (3 vols.,
1883-1886); F. W. Taussig, Tariff History of the United States (1905);
J. Laurence Laughlin, Bimetallism in the United States (1897). John
Sherman, Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate, and Cabinet
(2 vols., 1895), contains much valuable material on political and
financial questions.

CHAPTER X— THE CHANGING ORDER

Sparks, National Development, especially chaps. II-V, XVIII.
Rhodes, History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley, pp. 13-
97, gives a detailed account of the railway strike of 1877, and of the
Molly Maguires. On the labor question see also T. V. Powderly,
Thirty Years of Labor (1889), written by the head of the Knights of
Labor in this period; C. D. Wright, "An Historical Sketch of the
Knights of Labor," in Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. I (1887),

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 535

pp. 137-168; M. A. Aldrich, "The American Federation of Labor," in
American Economic Association's Economic Studies, vol. Ill (1898), no.
4; R. T. Ely, The Labor Movement in America (1890); John Mitchell,
Organized Labor (1903). On the development of American industries
see J. M. Swank, History of the Manufacture of Iron (1897); W. J.
Mitchell, Story of American Coals (1897); T. M. Young, The American
Cotton Industry (1903); M. T. Copeland, The Cotton Manufacturing
Industry of the United States, in Harvard Economic Studies, vol. VIII
(1912). See also Edward W. Bryce, Progress of Invention in the Nine-
teenth Century (1900). The rise of the first trust is traced in detail
in Ida Tarbell, History of the Standard Oil Company (2 vols., 1904), a
work widely read at the time of its publication. A shorter and more
friendly account is G. H. Montague, Rise and Progress of the Standard
Oil Company (1903). On the railroads consult F. H. Dixon, State Rail-
road Control (1896); B. H. Meyer, Railway Legislation in the United
States (1903); A. T. Hadley, Railroad Transportation (1890); and
Frank H. Spearman, The Strategy of Great Railroads (1904). C. D.
Wright, The Industrial Evolution of the United States (1895), is help-
ful but inadequate. Richard T. Ely, Studies in the Evolution of Indus-
trial Society (1903), throws much light upon the subjects considered
in this chapter. Katherine Coman, Industrial History of the United
States (1905), is an excellent but brief book. The stirrings of industrial
and social discontent appear in Henry George, Progress and Poverty
(1879), a famous treatise advocating the "single tax" on land; in
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward (1888), a widely read novel; and
in The Breadwinners (1884), published anonymously but written by
John Hay.

CHAPTER XI— THE RETURN OF THE DEMOCRACY

Rhodes, History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley, chaps.
XI-XIII. H. T. Peck, Twenty Years of the Republic (1906), chaps.
I-II, IV; a readable but not always trustworthy volume. Davis R.
Dewey, National Problems (1907), chaps. I-VIII, especially strong as
regards economic questions. Many of Cleveland's public utterances
are given in G. F. Parker, Writings and Speeches of Graver Cleveland,
(1892). Grover Cleveland, Presidential Problems (1904), deals mainly
with his second administration. On the tariff question see Taussig,
Tariff History of the United States ; and Edward Stanwood, American
Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century (2 vols., 1903). On the
railway question see Meyer, Railway Legislation in the United States ;
E. R. Johnson, American Railway Transportation (1903); and W. Z.
Ripley, Railway Problems (1907). An account of the trial of the
Chicago anarchists is given in Frederick T. Hill, Decisive Battles of the
Law (1907), pp. 240-268. Matilda Gresham, Life of Walter Quintan
Gresham (2 vols., 1920), purports to give an "inside" account of the
Republican convention of 1888 and of some phases of the campaign,
but should be used with caution. See also Stanwood, History of the
Presidency, vol. I, chaps. XXVIII- XXIX.

536 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

CHAPTER XII— THE SECOND HARRISON

Rhodes, History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley, chaps.
XIV-XVH. Dewey, National Problems, chaps. IX-XV. Peck,
Twenty Years of the Republic, chaps. V-VI. Stanwood, History of the
Presidency, vol. I, chaps. XXVIII-XXX; and S. B. McCall, The Life
of Thomas Brackett Reed (1914), chaps. X-XV. On the tariff question
consult Taussig, Tariff History of the United States ; and Stanwood,
American Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century. On the trust
question see A. M. Walker, History of the Sherman Law (1900); J. W.
Jenks, The Trust Problem (1900); Tarbell, History of the Standard Oil
Company ; and Henry D. Lloyd, Wealth against Commonwealth (1898).
Robley D. Evans, A Sailor's Log (1901), contains an account of the
Chilean difficulty; the author was in command of the Baltimore. For
a first-hand description of Samoan affairs see Robert Louis Stevenson,
A Footnote to History : Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa (1891). Mary
H. Krout, Hawaii and a Revolution (1899), and E. J. Carpenter, Amer-
ica in Hawaii (1898), describe the overthrow of Liliuokalani's power.
On this and other diplomatic questions consult also John W. Foster,
American Diplomacy in the Orient (1903), and J. B. Henderson, Ameri-
can Diplomatic Questions (1901). For the rise of Populism see F. L.
McVey, The Populist Movement, in American Economic Association
Studies, vol. I (1896), no. 3.

CHAPTER XIII— HARD TIMES AND FREE SILVER

Rhodes, History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley, chaps.
XVHI-XX, Dewey, National Problems, chaps. XIV-XX. Peck,
Twenty Years of the Republic, chaps. VII-XI, and McCall, The Life of
Thomas Brackett Reed, chaps. XVI-XIX. Theodore E. Burton,
Financial Crises and Periods of Industrial and Commercial Depression
(1902), contains an account of the chief periods of depression down to
1902. H. Vincent, The Story of the Commonweal (1894), is a history of
the Coxey movement. W. J. Ashley, The Railroad Strike of 1894
(1895), deals with the chief labor trouble of the period, and analyzes
the report made by a federal commission which investigated the strike.
For the injunction issue see W. H. Dunbar, Government by Injunction, in
American Economic Association Studies, vol. Ill (1898), no. i; and
F. J. Stimson, Modern Use of Injunctions, in Political Science Quarterly,
vol. X, pp. 189-202. On the Hawaiian question consult Krout, Hawaii
and a Revolution ; Carpenter, America in Hawaii ; Henderson, Ameri-
can Diplomatic Questions ; Foster, A merican Diplomacy in the Orient.
President Cleveland's Presidential Problems contains a detailed defense
of his bond-issue policy, and also of his course with regard to Venezuela.
On the latter subject see also W. F. Reddaway, The Monroe Doctrine
(1898). Gresham, Life of Walter Quintan Gresham, defends Gresham's
course as secretary of state. On the currency question the free-silver
view was set forth in a popular way in W. H. H. Harvey, Coin's Financial
School (1894). A reply to it was published in Horace White, Coin's

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 537

Financial Fool ; or the Artful Dodger Exposed (c. 1896). Less partisan
discussions will be found in A. B. Hepburn, History of Coinage and Cur-
rency in the United States (1903); J. L. Laughlin, History of Bimetallism
in the United States (4th ed., 1897); and H. B. Russell, International
Monetary Conference (1898). Bryan's view of the election of 1896 is
set forth in his The First Battle (1897). The story of how McKinley
was nominated and elected is told in Herbert Croly, Marcus Alonzo
Hanna (1912), and in C. S. Olcott, The Life of William McKinley (2
vols., 1916). See also Stanwood, History of the Presidency, vol. I, chap.
XXX.

CHAPTER XIV— THE WAR WITH SPAIN

Latane1, America as a World Power (1907), chaps. I-IV. Peck,
Twenty Years of the Republic, chap. XIII. The diplomacy of the war
is set forth in French E. Chadwick, The Relations of the United States
and Spain ; Diplomacy (New York, 1909), an exhaustive book; and
E. J. Benton, International Law and Diplomacy of the Spanish-American
War (1908). For naval aspects see George Dewey, Autobiography of
George Dewey (1903); John D. Long, The New American Navy (2 vols.,
1904) ; A. T. Mahan, Lessons of the War with Spain (1899) ; W. S. Schley,
Forty-five Years under the Flag (1904); R. D. Evans, A Sailor's Log
(1901); and French E. Chadwick, The Relations of the United States and
Spain ; the Spanish-American War (1911). The last is, upon the whole,
the most adequate treatment of naval events, and is almost equally
authoritative on the military side. For other books dealing with the
campaigns on land see R. H. Davis, The Cuban and Porto Rican Cam-
paigns (1898), written by a war correspondent; Joseph Wheeler, The
Santiago Campaign (1898), by a prominent actor in the campaign; and
Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders (1899), an extremely vivid and
picturesque work. See also Roosevelt's Autobiography (1913), chap.
VII.

CHAPTER XV— "IMPERIALISM"

Latan6, America as a World Power, chaps. V-X. Peck, Twenty Years
of the Republic, chap. XIV. A vivid account of the war against the
Filipinos will be found in Frederick Funston, Memories of Two Wars
(1912), written by the officer who captured Aguinaldo. Dean C.
Worcester, The Philippines : Past and Present (2 vols., new ed., 1914),
is by an author who was familiar with the islands before the American
period and who subsequently was a member of the Philippine Commis-
sion; it favors the retention of the islands. James A. Leroy, The Ameri-
cans in the Philippines (2 vols., 1914), is a work of high merit, but the
death of the author found it uncompleted. Charles E. Elliott, The
Philippines (2 vols., 1917), was written by a former justice of the Phil-
ippine Supreme Court, and is especially good on the institutional side.
Arguments against retaining the islands will be found in Carl Schurz,
The Policy of Imperialism (1899); George F. Hoar, No Power to Con-
quer Foreign Nations and Hold Their People against Their Will (1899), a

538 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

pamphlet; Edward Atkinson, Cost of War and Warfare from 1899 to
1902 (1902); James H. Blount, The American Occupation of the Phil-
ippines (1912); and Maximo M. Kalaw, The Case for the Philippines
(1916), a plea for independence by a native writer. W. F. Willoughby,
Territories and Dependencies of the United States (1905), contains a de-
scription of the organization of governments in the insular possessions.
See also Carl Crow, America and the Philippines (1914), and F. C.
Chamberlin, The Philippine Problem (1913). A summary of affairs
in the insular possessions is given in Annual Reports of the Secretary of
War, 1890-1903, published in a single volume. See also Leo S. Rowe,
The United States and Porto Rico (1904). For the election of 1900
consult Edward Stanwood, A History of the Presidency, vol. II, chap. I.
On China and the "open door " consult Thayer, Life of John Hay (2 vols.,
1915), vol. II, chap. XXVI. W. A. P. Martin, Siege of Pekin (1900),
tells the story of the Boxer movement from the standpoint of a mission-
ary. For the career of McKinley in these years and his death see Olcott,
Life of William McKinley, and Croly, Marcus Alonzo Hanna.

CHAPTER XVI— "BIG BUSINESS" AND THE PANAMA

CANAL

Peck, Twenty Years of the Republic, chap. XV. Latane, America as
a World Power, chaps. IX-XVI. Stanwood, History of the Presidency,
vol. II, chap. II. In his A utobiography Roosevelt tells the story of his
life in an interesting way, and deals with many aspects of his adminis-
tration. There have been many other biographies of Roosevelt, most
of them uncritical. See F. E. Leupp, The Man Roosevelt (1904); J. A.
Riis, Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen (1904); J. L. Street, The Most
Interesting American (1915); C. G. Washburn, Theodore Roosevelt; the
Logic of His Career (1916); and W. R. Thayer, Theodore Roosevelt:
an Intimate Biography (1919). Much light on the events of these
years is thrown by Theodore Roosevelt and His Time — Shown by His
Own Letters, edited by Joseph B. Bishop, in Scribner's Magazine, be-
ginning September, 1919. On the trust and railroad questions see B.
H. Meyer, History of the Northern Securities Case (1906); John Moody,
The Truth about the Trusts (1904); Gilbert Montague, The Trusts of
To-day (1904); Tarbell, History of the Standard Oil Company, H. S.
Haines, Problems in Railroad Regulation (1911); W. Z. Ripley, Rail-
roads : Rates and Regulation (1912); Frederick N. Judson, The Law of
Interstate Commerce and Its Federal Regulation (1906); and William H.
Taft, The Anti-Trust Act and the Supreme Court (1914). Documentary
History of American Industrial Society (n vols., 1910-1911), edited by
John R. Commons and others, is a valuable storehouse of information
concerning industrial matters, labor, etc. On the Panama Canal con-
sult, Willis F. Johnson, Four Centuries of the Panama Canal (1906);
M. W. Williams, Anglo-American Isthmian Diplomacy, 1815-1915
(1916); Forbes Lindsay, Panama and the Canal To-day (new ed., 1913);
L. Hutchinson, The Panama Canal and International Trade Competition
(1915); E. R, Johnson, The Panama Canal and Commerce (1916).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 539

C. Lloyd Jones, The Caribbean Interests of the United States (1916), is
sufficiently indicated by its title. On this subject see also F. A. Ogg,
National Progress (1918), chaps. XIV-XV. An account of foreign
affairs' in Roosevelt's "first" term is given in Thayer's Hay, vol. II,
chaps. XXVIII-XXXII. Chapter XXVIII deals with the "German
Menace," and tells the story of Roosevelt's Venezuelan ultimatum;
a detailed statement on the last subject by Roosevelt himself is printed
in the appendix.

CHAPTER XVII— ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND" TERM

Ogg, National Progress, chaps. I-IX. Stanwood, History of the Presi-
dency; vol. II, pp. 141-212. The best general work on conservation
is Charles R. Van Hise, The Conservation of Natural Resources of the
United States (1910). See also C. E. Fanning, Selected Articles on Con-
servation of Natural Resources (1913); Gifford Pinchot, The Fight for
Conservation (1911); Roosevelt, Autobiography, chap. XI; and P.
L. Haworth, America in Ferment (1915), chaps. II— HI. On the
trust problem see references cited for preceding chapter. On the
trouble with Japan consult K. K. Kakawami, American- Japanese
Relations (1912); Sidney L. Gulick, The American- Japanese Prob-
lem (1914); H. A. Millis, The American Japanese Problem (1914);
and Amos S. and Suzanne Hershey, Modern Japan (1919), chap. XVII.
See also biographies of Roosevelt cited for preceding chapter.

CHAPTER XVIII— THE NEW WEST

Paxson, The Last American Frontier, chap. XXII. Sparks, National
Development, chaps. XV-XVI. Joseph Schafer, A History of the Pacific
Northwest (new ed., 1918), pp. 240-307. On Reclamation see R. P.
Teele, Irrigation in the United States ; a Discussion of Its Legal, Eco-
nomic, and Financial Aspects (1915); W. H. Olin, American Irrigation
Farming (1913); W. E. Smythe, The Conquest of Arid America (1900
and later eds.). The last tells the history of reclamation from the
standpoint of a leader in the movement. For a short account see F. A.
Ogg, National Progress, pp. 107-113. On Alaska consult A. W. Greely,
Handbook of Alaska (1909); and Report of Alaska Railroad Commission
(1913)-

CHAPTER XIX— THE REVOLT OF THE PROGRESSIVES

Ogg, National Progress, chaps. IX-XI. F. W. Taussig, The Tariff
History of the United States (6th ed., 1914), contains a discussion of the
Payne-Aldrich Act. I. M. Tarbell, The Tariff in Our Times (1911),
tells the story of the tariff question from the Civil War onward, and is
strongly anti-protectionist. The controversies over conservation can
best be studied in the files of such periodicals as The Outlook, Collier's
Weekly, and The Review of Reviews. See also Pinchot's Fight for Con-
servation. On our changing institutions see Herbert Croly, The Promise

540 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

of American Life (1909), advocates a stronger nationalism and is a book
of much distinction; Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism (1910);
Frank J. Goodnow, Social Reform and the Constitution (1911), emphasizes
the cramping effects of a written constitution; W. L. Ransom, Majority
Rule and the Judiciary (1912), deals with alleged reactionary tendencies
of the courts; Walter E. Weyl, The New Democracy (1912), a notable
book that is strongly progressive in tone; Nicholas M. Butler, Why
Should We Change Our Form of Government ? (1912), is a conservative's
view of our institutions. On "direct government" see E. P. Ober-
holzer, The Referendum, Initiative, and Recall in America (new ed., 1911);
D. F. Wilcox, Government by All the People (1912); W. B. Munro (ed.),
The Initiative, Referendum, and Recall (1912), contains articles by Roose-
velt, Woodrow Wilson, and others; C. A. Beard and B. E. Schultz
(eds.), Documents on the State-Wide Initiative, Referendum, and Recall
(1912); A. H. Eaton, The Oregon System (1912); J. D. Barnett, Opera-
tion of the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall in Oregon (1915). Inter-
esting governmental experiments in Wisconsin are described in Charles
McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea (1912). Recent experiments in city
government are set forth in E. S. Bradford, Commission Government in
American Cities (1912). On the rise of progressivism see S. J. Duncan-
Clark, The Progressive Movement (1913); Herbert Croly, Progressive
Democracy (1914); Weyl, The New Democracy ; William E. Walling,
Progressivism and After (1914), a Socialist's view; and B. F. DeWitt,
The Progressive Movement (1915). On election of 1912 consult files of the
magazines, The American Year Book for 1912, and The New Interna-
tional Year Book for 1912. Some of Roosevelt's speeches are gathered
in his Progressive Principles (1913). The gist of those by Wilson may
be found in The New Freedom (1913), edited by W. B. Hale. For the
life of Wilson see H. J. Ford, Woodrow Wilson, the Man and His Work
(1915); and W. B. Hale, Woodrow Wilson ; the Story of His Life (1912).
On the campaign see also Haworth, America in Ferment, chaps. XIV-
XV; and Robert M. LaFollette, Autobiography (1913), strongly anti-
Roosevelt. The various platforms are given in Stanwood, History of
the Presidency, vol. II, appendix.

CHAPTER XX— THE "NEW FREEDOM" AND
"WATCHFUL WAITING"

Ogg, National Progress, chaps. XII-XXI. On the Underwood Act
see F. W. Taussig, The Tariff Act of 1913, in Quarterly Journal of Eco-
nomics, vol. XXVIII, 1-30; H. P. Willis, "The Tariff of 1913," in
Journal of Political Economy, vol. XXII, pp. 1-42, 105-131, 218-238;
H. R. Mussey, "The New Freedom in Commerce," in Political Science
Quarterly, vol. XXIX, pp. 600-625. O° tne Federal Reserve Act see
H. P. Willis, "The New Banking System," in Political Science Quarterly,
vol. XXX, pp. 591-617; O. M. W. Sprague, "The Federal Reserve
Banking System in Operation," in Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol.
XXX, pp. 627-644; T. Conway and E. M. Patterson, The Operation of
the New Bank Act (1914); and H. P. Willis, The Federal Reserve (1915).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 54*

On the trust question consult W. H. S. Stevens, "The Trade Commis-
sion Act," in American Economic Review, vol. IV, pp. 840-856; W. H.
S. Stevens, "The Clayton Act," in American Economic Review, vol. V,
PP- 38-54; A. A. Young, "The Sherman Act and the New Anti-Trust
Legislation," in Journal of Political Economy, vol. XXIII, pp. 201-220,
305-326, 417-436; E. D. Durand, The Trust Problem (1915); and W. H.
S. Stevens, Unfair Competition (1917). A good description of Mexico
under Diaz is given in P. F. Martin, Mexico of the Twentieth Century
(2 vols., 1907); more sensational is J. K. Turner, Barbarous Mexico
(4th ed., 1914); C. W. Barren, The Mexican Problem (1917), deals
largely with economic questions; Mrs. E. L. O'Shaughnessy, A Diplo-
mat's Wife in Mexico (1916), consists of letters written from the Ameri-
can embassy in 1913-14; R. Batchelder, Watching and Waiting on the
Border (1917), describes patrol work along the Mexican frontier. See
also John Reed, Insurgent Mexico (1914). Of the vast number of books
and pamphlets dealing with the Great War only a comparatively few are
of any real value. Several helpful collections of diplomatic documents
on the origin of the war have appeared, among them being J. B. Scott
(ed.), Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European
War (2 vols., 1916). See also E. C. Stowell, The Diplomacy of the Great
War of 1914 (1915). A useful book on the origins of the conflict is
W. S. Davis, The Roots of the War (1918). Of German propagandist
books designed to influence American opinion good examples are Hugo
Miinsterberg, The War and America (1914); and E. von Mach, What
Germany Wants (1914). J. M. Beck, The Evidence in the Case (1914),
weighs the conflicting testimony and decides against Germany. The
course of the war can be followed in the files of Current History and other
magazines. Of the many histories Frank H. Simonds, History of the
World War (5 vols., 1915-1920), is one of the most illuminating. A.
F. Pollard, A Short History of the Great War (1920), is a good brief
account. America's lack of preparedness is discussed in F. L. Huide-
koper, The Military Unpreparedness of the United States (1915). Pleas
for preparedness are made in Theodore Roosevelt, America and the
World War (1915); Francis V. Greene, The Present Military Situation
in the United States (1915); and Leonard Wood, Our Military History,
Its Facts and Fallacies (1916). Light on our diplomatic relations with
Germany is thrown in J. W. Gerard, My Four Years in Germany (1917),
and the same author's Face to Face with Kaiserism (1917). A detailed
history of those relations is given in John B. McMaster, The United
States in the World War (2 vols., 1918-1920), vol. I, chaps. I-XII.
President Wilson's course in foreign affairs is defended in E. E. Robin-
son and V. J. West, The Foreign Policy of Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1917
(1917), which contains his speeches on foreign affairs and some of the
chief diplomatic papers; and by George Creel, Wilson and the Issues
(1916). Wilson's course is severely criticised in Theodore Roosevelt,
America and the World War (1915), and Fear God and Take Your Own
Part (1916); in Munroe Smith, "American Diplomacy in the European
War," in Political Science Quarterly, vol. XXXI, pp. 481-518; and in
Addresses of Elihu Root on International Subjects (1916), pp. 427-447.

542 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Materials for the Study of the War (1918), compiled by Albert E. McKin-
ley, contains selections from President Wilson's addresses, a topical
outline of the war, prepared by S. B. Harding, statutes relating to the
war, and other features, including a bibliography. For the election
of 1916 consult magazines and newspapers, The American Year Book
for 1916, and The New International Year Book for 1916.

CHAPTERS XXI-XXII— AMERICA AND THE GREAT WAR

For America's part in the Great War we are still largely dependent
upon newspaper and magazine accounts. The student may consult
the files of such magazines as Current History, The Outlook, The Review
of Reviews, The Independent, The World's Work, and The Literary Digest.
Extended accounts are given in The American Year Book for 1917 and
1918, and The New International Year Book for 1917 and 1918. McMas-
ter, The United States in the World War, and Simonds, History of the
World War, are both meritorious. John S. Bassett, Our War with Ger-
many (1920), is a short account, containing comparatively little about
military operations. Of the more "popular" histories may be men-
tioned Francis A. March, History of the World War (1919); and Richard
J. Beamish and Francis A. March, America's Part in the World War
(1919). Robert R. McCormick, The Army of 1918 (1920), was written
by a member of Pershing's staff. E. Alexander Powell, The Army Be-
hind the Army (1919), deals with America's war preparations in an
interesting but uncritical way. Frederick Palmer, America in France
(1918), brings the story of American participation down to the early
stages of the battle of the Meuse. The same author's Our Greatest
Battle (1919) describes the American drive down the Meuse Valley to
Sedan. E. C. Peixotto, American Front (1919), is sufficiently indicated
by its title. ,F. Maurice, How the War Was Won, or the Last Four
Months (1919), was written by a former director of military opera-
tions of the British General Staff. William F. Sims, The American Navy
in the War (1920), is a judicious account of American naval participa-
tion by the admiral in charge. General Pershing's final Report is given
in Current History for January and February, 1920. Erich von Luden-
dorff, My War Memories (2 vols., 1919), gives a German version of the
war, and is written by the real German commander-in-chief during the
last two years. It lacks frankness and also minimizes America's part
in the final outcome.

CHAPTER XXIII— THE PEACE CONFERENCE

For the Peace Conference we are even more dependent upon news-
paper and magazine accounts. The student may consult the files of
the magazines mentioned under the preceding heading, also The Ameri-
can Year Book for 1919 and The New International Year Book for 1919.
E. B. Krehbiel (compiler), Paris Covenant for a League of Nations (1919),
contains an analytical summary of the covenant and the text in full.
Stephen P. Duggan, League of Nations (1919), contains the covenant

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 543

in an appendix. Viscount Grey, E. S. Talbot, Sir Julian Corbett, and
others, The League of Nations (1919), is a collection of essays setting
forth the views of a number of prominent Englishmen. Economic
aspects of the treaty are discussed in J. L. Garvin, Economic Founda-
tions of Peace (1919), and John M. Keynes, The Economic Consequences
of the Peace (1920); the last was written by the representative of the
British treasury at the Peace Conference, and severely criticises the
treaty. E. J. Dillon, The Inside Story of the Peace Conference (1920),
is very critical of the completed work.

CHAPTER XXIV— A GOLDEN AGE IN HISTORY

Of general works dealing with contemporary conditions one of the
most valuable is James Bryce, The American Commonwealth (revised
ed., 2 vols., 1910), perhaps the most notable book ever published about
America. H. G. Wells, The Future in America (1906), is thought-pro-
voking. Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life (1909), is a
book of much merit. See also E. A. Ross, Changing America (1912);
Hugo Munsterberg, The Americans (1904); John G. Brooks, As Others
See Us (1908); P. L. Haworth, America in Ferment (1915); and Peck,
Twenty Years of the Republic, chap. XVI. On the concentration of
wealth see Charles B. Spahr, The Present Distribution of Wealth in the
United States (1896); Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
(1899); Max West, The Inheritance Tax (revised ed., 1908); Andrew
Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth (1900); Frederic Mathews, Taxation
and the Distribution of Wealth (1914); R. T. Ely, Studies in the Evolu-
tion of Industrial Society (1903) ; Gustavus Meyers, History of the Great
American Fortunes (3 vols., 1911); and W. I. King, The Wealth and In-
come of the People of the United States (1915). On the subject of immi-
gration H. P. Fairchild, Immigration (1913), takes a strong stand in
favor of restriction; F. J. Warne, long a student of the problem in an
official capacity, also advocates restriction in The Slav Invasion (1904),
and The Immigrant Invasion (1913). Emily G. Balch, Our Slavic Fellow
Citizens (1911), is more favorable to immigration; while Isaac A. Hour-
wich's Immigration (1912) seems written to combat exclusion tendencies.
In The Immigrant Tide (1909), and in On the Trail of the Immigrant
(1907), E. A. Steiner, himself foreign-born, tells in readable fashion the
story of the experiences of incomers in search of a home. The Promised
Land (1912), by the Russian Jewess Mary Antin (Mrs. A. W. Grabau),
is a romantic account of the author's own experience. Sidney L.
Gulick, The American- Japanese Problem (1914), and H. A. Millis, The
Japanese Problem in the United States (1915), are sufficiently described
by their titles. On the race problem see Ray S. Baker, Following the
Color Line (1908); Thomas Nelson Page, The Negro, the Southerner's
Problem (1904); Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (1901); G.
T. Stephenson, Race Distinctions in American Law (1910); W. E. B.
Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903); and The Negro's Progress in
Fifty Years, a collection of articles by several authors, in Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science for September, 1913.

544 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Tuskegee Institute publishes annually a survey of race progress in
The Negro Year Book. On the woman's movement see Eugene A.
Hecker, A Short History of Woman's Rights (1910); Susan B. Anthony
and Ida Husted Harper, History of Woman's Suffrage (4 vols., 1881-
1902); William I. Thomas, Sex and Society (1907); James N. Taylor,
Before Vassar Opened (1914), an account of the early days of feminine
education in America; Annie M. MacLean, Wage-Earning Women
(1910); and Edith Abbott, Women in Industry (1910). Admiral Peary
tells the story of his final triumph over obstacles in The North Pole
(1910). See also his Nearest the Pole (1907), and Northward Over the
Great Ice (1898).

INDEX

Abbott, Josiah G., member of electoral
commission, 91.

A. B. C. Conference, meeting of, 391.

Adams, Charles F.f American arbitrator
at Geneva, 68; considered for presi-
dency by Liberal Republicans, 69-70.

Adamson Eight-Hour Act, passed, 415;
held constitutional, 422.

Aguinaldo, Emilio, leads Filipino revolt
against Spain, 248-249; Dewey aids,
249; declares independence of the
islands, 258; fights Americans, 250-
261; captured, 266-267.

Airplane, invention of, 523.

Airplane scandal, 442-444.

Alabama claims, failure of Johnson's
attempt to settle, 41; arbitrated, 66-
68; mentioned, 70.

Alaska, purchased, 42; boundary dis-
pute settled, 200; development of,
348-35°; attempt to control natural
resources of, 354.

Aldrich, Nelson A., investigates cur-
rency and banking problems, 335;
opposes Roosevelt, 338.

Aldrich-Vreeland Act, passed, 335.

Alger, Russell A., candidate for presi-
dential nomination in 1888, 178-179;
secretary of war, 232; unequal to his
task, 239; "whitewashed" but re-
signs, 255.

Altgeld, John P., pardons three anar-
chists, 173; protests against use of
troops in strike of 1894, 215.

American Federation of Labor, rise of,
174.

Amnesty Act, passed, 62.

Anarchists, at Chicago, 172-173.

A ncona, sinking of, 408.

Andrew, John A., indorses Johnson's
plan, 18; opposes negro suffrage, 23.

Anthracite coal strike, account of, 289-
291.

Anti-Imperialists, account of, 262.

Apaches, wars against, in.

Arabic, sinking of, 407-408.

Argonne Forest, battle of, 472-473.

Arid region, extent of, 344; transforma-
tion of, 345-347-

"Armed neutrality," Wilson favors
policy of, 420; he finds it inade-
quate, 422.

"Arm-in- Arm Convention," meeting of,
29.

Arthur, Chester A., removed by Hayes,
126; nominated for vice-presidency,
134; elected, 136; succeeds to presi-
dency, 138; course of, 138; seeks
nomination in 1884, 141-142.

Australian Ballot System, adoption of,
183.

Austria-Hungary, complications with,
406-409; ships of, seized, 433; war
declared against, 450; beaten by
Italians, 465, 474; asks for peace
discussions, 471, 477; broken up, 491.

Aztec, sunk, 425.

Babcock, 0. E., trial of, 80.

Baker, Newton D., secretary of war, 410;
opposes accepting the Roosevelt vol-
unteers, 433; his department at-
tacked, 441-444.

Ballinger, Richard A., controversy with
Pinchot, 354.

Baltimore, affair of the, 196-197.

Bancroft, George, writes Johnson's first
message, 21.

Bayard, Thomas F., member of elec-
toral commission, 90; seeks presi-
dential nomination in 1880, 135; can-
didate for presidential nomination in
1884, 143; secretary of state, 165;
American minister to Great Britain,

221.

Belgium, neutrality violated, 396, 397.
Belknap, W. W., impeachment of, 80-

81.
Bellamy, Edward, publishes Looking

Backward, 171.

Belleau Wood, taken by Americans. 463.
Benteen, Captain, in battle of the Little

Bighorn, 107-108.

S4S

546

INDEX

Berger, Victor L., elected to Congress
by Socialists, 362; sentenced to
prison for seditious utterances, 452;
re-elected in 1918, 482.

BernstorS, Count von, instigates vio-
lence in United States, 406; notifies
Lansing of unrestricted submarine
warfare, 418; is given his passports,
420.

Beveridge, Albert J., champions Federal
Child Labor Bill, 330; opposes Payne-
Aldrich Bill, 353; speech at Progres-
sive convention, 373; a Progressive
leader, 374.

Black Codes, described, 16-18; arouse
Northern resentment, 19.

"Black Friday," account of, 63-64.

Black Kettle, defeated by Custer, 104.

Blaine, James G., quoted regarding
election of A. H. Stephens, 21; at-
tacks Jefferson Davis, 61; baits
Southern congressmen, 81 ; the " Mul-
ligan Letters," 82; seeks Republican
nomination in 1876, 82-83; in 1880,
133-134; secretary of state under
Garfield, 137-138; resigns, 139;
nominated for presidency in 1884,
142; opposition of reformers to, 143;
defeated, 144-145; criticises Cleve-
land's tariff message, 177; declines to
run in 1888, 178-179; secretary of
state, 184; reciprocity plan, 191; ac-
tivities as secretary of state, 193-199;
resignation and death, 202; men-
tioned, 276; attempts to obtain
modifications of Clayton-Bulwer
treaty, 302.

Blair, Francis P., Democratic vice-
presidential candidate in 1868, 45.

Bland- Allison Act, passed, 130-131.

Blount, James H., investigates Hawaiian
revolution, 217-218.

Bolsheviki, seize control in Russia, 428,

454-
Bolshevism, obtains control in Russia,

428; the menace of, 492; uprisings in

Germany, 497.
Booth, John W., shot, 3.
Bone, Adolph E., secretary of the navy,

47-
Boston Advertiser, opposes Blaine in

1884, 143.
Boston Herald, opposes Blaine in 1884,

143-
Bouresques, taken by Americans, 463.

Boutwell, George S., represents House
in trial of Johnson, 35; in Grant's
Cabinet, 47; sells gold to break
"corner," 63; mentioned, 76.

Boxers, uprising of, 274-275.

Bozeman Road, opening of, arouses
Indian antagonism, 103; closed, 105.

Bradley, Joseph P., appointed to su-
preme bench, 64; course of, as mem-
ber of electoral commission, 91.

Bristow, Benjamin H., becomes secre-
tary of the treasury, 77; prosecutes
whiskey ring, 79-80; candidate for
Republican nomination for the presi-
dency, 82-83.

Brown, B. Gratz, elected governor of
Missouri, 69; candidate for vice-
presidency in 1872, 70-71.

Bryan, W. J., attacks Cleveland, 212-
213; speaks at Chicago convention,
227-229; nominated for presidency
by Democrats and Populists, 229;
defeated, 230-231; attitude toward
peace treaty of 1898, 252; makes
"imperialism" a campaign issue,
262; defeated in campaign of 1000,
263-266; supports Parker, 3 1 1 ; nom-
inated and defeated in 1908, 337;
criticises Taft's appointment to
Supreme Court, 365; in Democratic
convention of 1912, 371-373; secre-
tary of state, 380-381; arbitration
policy, 383-387; proposal regarding
foodstuffs, 400; attitude in Lusilania
case, 404-405; resigns, 405; opposes
preparedness, 409; favors compro-
mise on treaty issue, 495.

Buffaloes, their importance to Indians,
108-109; range and numbers, 109;
extinction, no-iii.

Bull Moose, popular name for Progres-
sives, 374; their call, 375.

Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, part in revolt
of Panama, 304-305.

Burchard, Samual D., his famous allit-
eration, 145.

Burlingame Treaty, modified, 132.

Butler, Benjamin F., part of, in im-
peachment of Johnson, 34-35; nom-
inated by Greenbackers in 1884, 86;
quoted regarding Republican tactics
in Louisiana in 1876, 88; quoted re-
garding Hayes's Southern appoint-
ments, 128.

INDEX

547

California, progress of, 118-119, 342-
344-

Calvo Doctrine, see Drago Doctrine.

Canadian Reciprocity, failure of, 363.

Cannon, Joseph G., candidate for presi-
dential nomination, 336; opposes
Roosevelt, 338; revolt against, 359-
360.

Cantigny, American victory at, 462-
463-

Carey Act, passed, 345.

Carlisle, John G., attempts to maintain
gold reserve, 211-212.

Carlota, wife of Maximilian, tragic fate
of, 40.

Carnegie, Andrew, cablegram regarding
candidates in 1888. 179; strike at his
works, 205 ; his company enters steel
trust, 284; his benefactions, 500; fa-
vors inheritance tax, 501.

Carpet-Baggers, lead negroes, 38, 53,
SS-S6; gradually lose control, 62;
final fall of, 92-93.

Carranza, Venustiano, Mexican leader,
390; quarrels with Villa, 391; pro-
tests against Pershing's expedition,
394; downfall and death, 394.

Cassin, sunk, 439.

Cervera, Rear-Admiral, cherishes no
illusions regarding Spain's naval
strength, 241-242; sails for Cuba,
243; blockaded at Santiago, 244:
defeated, 247.

Chamberlain, Daniel H., career as
governor of South Carolina, 50-00.

Chamberlain, George E., criticises
management of the war, 441-442.

Chandler, William E., in election of
1876, 87.

Chandler, Zachariah, calls on Johnson,
3; Republican manager in 1876, 87.

Chase, Samuel P., gives oath to John-
son, 2 ; presides at impeachment trial,
35; seeks presidential nomination in
1868, 43; stand in legal-tender cases,
64.

Chateau-Thierry, Americans fight in
region of, 462-463.

Cheyennes, war against, 104.

Chicago Tribune, on black codes, 19.

Child labor, in South, 97-98; legisla-
tion against, 330.

Chile, controversy with, 196-197.

China, immigration question, 131-133,
136; "open door "in, 273-274; Boxer

uprising, 274-275; enters Great War,
425; dissatisfaction over Shantung,
489-490.

Chinese exclusion, 131-133.

Churchill, Winston, writes Coniston,
326; a leading novelist, 520.

Cipher despatches, published, 128; in
campaign of 1880, 135-136.

Civil Rights Act of 1875, passed, 62.

Civil Rights Bill, passed over veto, 27.

Civil Service reform, movement in
favor of, 126-127; in campaign of
1880, 133-134; triumph of, 139-140;
under Cleveland's first administra-
tion, 166-168; under Harrison, 185-
186; under Roosevelt, 279-282;
under Wilson, 381-382.

Clark, Champ, speaker, 363; candidate
for presidential nomination, 371-373;
re-elected speaker, 423; opposes
conscription, 432.

Clarkson, J. S., a spoilsman, 185-186.

Clayton Act, passed, 385.

Clayton-Bulwer convention, abrogated,
300, 302.

Clemenceau, Premier, like a hero out
of Plutarch, 459, favors brigading
American troops with the British and
French, 461.

Cleveland, Grover, nominated for
presidency in 1884, 143; career of,
143-144; elected, 145; inaugurated,
164; Cabinet, 163-164; carriage 'of,
165; policy of, regarding civil ser-
vice, 1 66; appoints members of Inter-
state Commerce Commission, 171;
vetoes pension bills, 174-175; "Rebel
Flag Order," 176; urges tariff reform,
176-177; renominated, 177; in cam-
paign of 1888, 180; asks recall of
Sackville-West, 180; attempts to
maintain gold reserve, 212-213; in-
terferes in railroad strike, 215; names
Gresham secretary of state, 216;
Hawaiian policy, 217-218; Venezue-
lan policy, 218-222; elected, 204-
205; attends Colombian Exposition,
208; mentioned, 208; secures repeal
of Sherman Silver-Purchase Act, 209;
defects as a leader, 210; dissatisfied
with Wilson Bill, 211, 218-222; not
indorsed by Democratic convention
in 1896, 226-227; course toward
Cuban revolt, 236-237; lull in trust
formation under, 282; Roosevelt's

INDEX

secret plan to appoint to head of
commission to investigate anthracite
coal strike, 291 ; supports Parker, 311;
sets apart forests, 331; vetoes immi-
gration bill, 506; retires from presi-
dency in 1889, 184; renominated in
1892, 202-203.

Cleveland, Rose, mistress of the White
House, 165.

Clifford, Justice, member of electoral
commission, 91.

Cockburn, Alexander, dissents from
Alabama award, 68.

Colby, Bainbridge, becomes secretary
of state, 496.

Colfax, Schuyler, nominated for vice-
presidency, 43; elected, 45.

Colombia, treaty with, regarding Pan-
ama Canal, 303; rejects treaty, 304;
Panama revolts from, 305-307; com-
pensatory treaty with, fails in Senate,
388.

Colombian Exposition, description of,
206.

Colorado, settlement of, 120.

Commerce Court, short and stormy
career of, 365.

Conkling, Roscoe, seeks Republican
nomination for presidency, 82-83;
attempts to secure third term for
Grant, 133-134; opposes Hayes, 126-
127; quarrel with Garfield, 137; op-
poses Elaine in 1884, 144.

Conscription Act, passed, 431-432.

Conservation, account of, 331-334.

Cook, Frederick A., claims to have dis-
covered North Pole, 525.

Cooper, Peter, nominated for presidency
by Greenbackers, 85.

Corporations, rise of, 150.

Cortelyou, George B., manages Re-
publican campaign in 1904, 313, 315.

Country Life Commission, created, 334.

Cowboy, the part of, in the opening of
the West, 116.

Cox, J. D., forced from Cabinet, 69.

Cox, S. S., quoted, 55.

Coxey's Army, account of, 213-214.

Credit Mobilier, history of, 78-79;
mentioned, 136.

"Crime of 1873," a name for demone-
tization of silver, 130.

Cristobal Colon, in Spanish-American
War, 241; at Santiago, 244; sunk,
247.

Crook, General, defeated by Sioux, 106;
successes against Apaches, in.

Cuba, complications regarding, 65,
revolt of 1895, 235; American atti-
tude toward, 235-239; United States
intervenes in, 239; pacified, 252-254:
reciprocity with, arranged, 294, in-
tervention in, 321; declares war on
Germany, 425.

Cummins, Albert B., candidate for
presidential nomination, 336; helps
form progressive movement, 366;
candidate for presidential nomina-
tion, 369; supports Roosevelt, 375.

Cunningham claims, controversy over,
354-

Curtis, George W., advocates civil
service reform, 126; opposes Blaine
in 1880, 143.

Custer, George A., victory on Washita
River, 104; defeat and death, 106-
108.

Dakota, settlement of, 121-122.

Danish West Indies, attempts to pur-
chase, 42; bought, 388.

Daughters of the Confederacy, mer
tioned, 98.

Davis, David, dissents from majorit
opinion in Hepburn vs. Griswold, 64;
a Liberal Republican, 69; refuses
be a member of electoral commissior
91.

Davis, Henry G., nominated for vie
presidency, 310-311.

Davis, Jefferson, seeks to continue
war; accused of complicity in Lin-
coln's death, 3; imprisonment and
release, 13; mentioned, 52; attacke
by Blaine, 61; sentiment regardir
the Union, 98.

Dawes Act, passage of, 111-112.

Day, William R., secretary of state
251; heads peace delegation, 251.

Debs, Eugene V., leads railroad striker
in 1894, 214-215; serves term ir
prison, 215-216; nominated for
presidency by Social Democrats, 265;
by Socialists in 1904, 314; in 1908,
337; sentenced to penitentiary fo
sedition, 452.

De Lesseps, Ferdinand, attempts to
Panama Canal, 300-302.

De Lome, Dupuy, writes insulting lette
regarding McKinley, 238.

INDEX

549

Democratic parly, in campaign of 1868,
43-45; how Louisiana was carried
by, in 1868, 55; in campaign of 1872,
70-72; victory of 1874, 79; in cam-
paign of 1876, 84-92; the "Solid
South," 94-96; denunciation of
Hayes, 127; weakened by cipher
despatch revelations, 128; struggle
with Hayes over federal election laws,
129; in campaign of 1880, 135-136;
in campaign of 1884, 143-145; in
campaign of 1888, 177-182; regains
popular favor in 1890, 192; in cam-
paign of 1892, 202-205; reaction
against in 1894, 216, in campaign
of 1896, 226-231; in campaign of
1900, 262-266; in campaign of 1004,
310-315; in campaign of 1008, 337-
338; gains control of House of Rep-
resentatives in 1910, 362; in cam-
paign of 1912, 371-378; retains con-
trol in 1914, 392; in campaign of
1916, 414-417; loses control of Con-
gress in 1918, 481-482.

Denmark, attempt to purchase West
India possessions of, defeated by sena-
torial opposition, 42; purchase con-
summated, 388.

Department of Commerce and Labor,
created, 294.

Dependent Pension Bill, vetoed, 175;
enacted, 187.

Depew, Chauncey M., candidate for
presidential nomination in 1888,
178-179.

Dewey, George, victory of Manila Bay,
242-243; awaits troops, 248; on
tragedy of Filipino war, 261; on first
Philippine Commission, 267; talked
of for presidential nomination, 264;
in readiness to go to Venezuela, 295-
296.

Diaz, Porfirio, fall of, 388-389.

Dingley Tariff Act, passed, 233-234.

Dole, Sanford B., heads Hawaiian
government, 200; defies Cleveland,
217.

"Dollar diplomacy-," mentioned, 387.

Douglass, Frederick, quoted regarding
treatment of freedmen, 9.

Drago Doctrine, discussed, 297-298.

Du Bois, W. E. B., leader of radical
negro school, 509.

Dudley, W. W., connection with
"blocks of five" scandal, 182.

Dumba, Constantino, alleged statement
regarding Lusitania note, 404-405;
instigates violence in United States,
406; recall demanded, 407; his ac-
tivities given as a reason for declaring
war on Austria-Hungary, 450.

Dunning, William A., discovers author-
ship of Johnson's first presidential
message, 21.

Durell, E. H., issues restraining order in
favor of Louisiana radicals, 56.

Eaton, Dorman B., draws up Pendle-
ton Act, 139; appointed Civil Service
Commissioner, 140.

Edmunds, George B., member of elec-
toral commission, oo; seeks nomina-
tion for presidency in 1880, 133; in
1884, 142.

Edmunds Act, prohibits polygamy in
the Territories, 140.

Education, progress of, 518-519.

El Caney, battle of, 246.

Electoral commission, creation and
work of, 90-92.

Electoral Count Act, passed, 168.

Elkins Act, passed, 294.

English, William E., Democratic can-
didate for vice-presidency in 1880,

^136.

Erdman Act, passed, 292.

Evarts, William M., represents John-
son in impeachment trial, 35; attor-
ney-general, 36; secretary of state,
125; comment of, on a "dry" dinner,
126.

Fairbanks, Charles W., nominated for
vice-presidency, 310; candidate for
presidential nomination in 1008, 336;
seeks presidential nomination in 1916,
412; nominated for vice-presidency,
413-

Falaba, sinking of, 401-402.

Federal Reserve System, created, 384-
385-

Federal Trade Commission, 385.

Ferry, Thomas W., president pro
tempore of Senate in 1876, 89; an-
nounces election of Hayes and
Wheeler, 92.

Fessenden, William P., chairman of
Senate Committee on Reconstruc-
tion, 20; votes in favor of Johnson
in impeachment trial, 36.

55°

INDEX

Fetterman massacre, described, 103.

Field, Justice, member of electoral com-
mission, gi.

Fifteenth Amendment, submitted to
States, 45; some States compelled to
ratify, 52; ratified, 52; Southern op-
position to, 53; mentioned, 71; at-
tempts to avoid, gs, g6.

Fish, Hamilton, secretary of state, 47;
course regarding Cuban revolt, 65;
negotiates Treaty of Washington,
67.

Fisk, James, attempts to "corner"
gold, 63.

Fiume, dispute over, 489.

Fleming, Walter L., quoted, 4.

Florida, Democratic attempt to "re-
deem," in 1876, 86; dispute concern-
ing election, 88, 91.

Foch, Ferdinand, in first battle of the
Marne, 426; allied commander-in-
chief, 458-459; urges that Americans
be brigaded with French and British,
460; Italian victory lifts load off his
shoulders, 465; begins counter-offen-
sive, 467-468; his strategy, 46g;
orders attacks in Asia and the Bal-
kans, 470; ready to begin a new of-
fensive, 475; public feeling that Ger-
mans should ask him for armistice,
477; grants armistice, 479.

Folk, Joseph W., fights grafters, 326.

"Force Bill," failure of, 186-187.

Forest reserve, account of, 331-332.

Forsyth, George A., beats off Indian
attack, 104.

Foster, John W., as secretary of state
favors annexation of Hawaii, 201.

Fourteen Points, laid down by Wilson,
475-476; Allied amendments to, 479.

Fourteenth Amendment, submitted to
States, 27; its provisions, 27-28;
rejected by most of Southern States,
32; ratified, 38; mentioned, 71; at-
tempts to avoid, gs; not enforced as
regards Southern representation, g6.

France, intervenes in Mexico, 39; at-
tempts to intervene in behalf of
Spain, 23g; in World War, 3gs, 3g8,
417, 426-428, 432, 434, 436-439;
campaigns of 1918 in, 454-480; at
peace conference, 484-486, 400-492,
494-497.

Freedmen, the question of their

status, i; behavior of during war.
6-7; unrest among, 7; desire of, for
education, 8; unwillingness to work,
8; expect "forty acres and a mule,"
9; bureau formed to protect, 10;
position of, under Black Codes, 16-
18; Sumner's attitude toward, 22;
Stevens desires to give them suffrage
and financial aid, 23; Schurz's re-
port upon their condition, 25; Civil
Rights bill passed but vetoed, 27;
their standing under Fourteenth
Amendment, 27-28; crimes against,
30; active in forming new constitu-
tion, 36-37; active in government of
South, 38, 48-62.

Freedmen's Bureau, mentioned, 8;
established, 10; bill to extend its life
vetoed, 25; life of extended, 28.

Frelinghuysen, F. T., member of elec-
toral commission, 90.

Friars land question, settled, 270.

" Frightfulness," German policy of,
396, 400.

Funston, Frederick, helps Cubans, 236;
captures Aguinaldo, 266; at Vera
Cruz, 391.

Fur seals, controversy over, 198-199.

Gardner, Augustus P., champions pre-
paredness, 409.

Garfield, Harry S., as federal fuel ad-
ministrator shuts down industry,
446-447.

Garfield, James A., member of electoral
commission, oo; nominated for
presidency, 134; career of, 135;
elected, 136; quarrels with Conkling,
137; assassinated, 138; mentioned,
282.

Garfield, James R., a Progressive leader,

374-

Geary Act, passed, 132-133.

George, David Lloyd, favors appoint-
ment of Foch, 458; quoted, 460, 461.

George, Henry, publishes Progress and
Poverty, 148, 171, 501.

Gerard, James G., quoted, 404-405;
warns government that submarine
warfare will be renewed, 412; noti-
fied that unrestricted submarine
warfare will begin, 418; on German
expectations, 419.

German-American Alliance, opposes
Roosevelt in 1916, 414.

INDEX

Germany, controversy with, over
Samoa, 193-196; attempts to inter-
vene in Spain's behalf, 239; and
Chinese affairs, 273-275; Venezuelan
debt dispute with, 294-297 ; prepara-
tions in America, 297; strikes for world
power, 395; American complications
with, 396-41 2 ; makes peace proposal,
417; declares unrestricted submarine
warfare, 418; reasons for so doing,
419; diplomatic relations with broken,
420; overtures of, to Mexico, 420-
421; war declared upon; 423-425;
account of war against, 425-480;
peace treaty with, 483-497.

Geronimo, an Apache chief, 100, in.

Gettysburg, fiftieth anniversary of,
celebrated, 99.

Gibbon, General, leads force against
Sioux, 106, 108.

Glass-Owen bill, passed, 384-385.

Godfrey, George A., writes account of
the Custer massacre, 107.

Goethals, George W., in charge of
building Panama Canal, 308; resigns
from shipping board, 434; brought
back into government service, 442.

Gold reserve, attempts to maintain, 207,
211-213; provision concerning, in
Gold Standard Act, 233.

Gold Standard Act, passed, 233.

Gorgas, George W., chief sanitary officer
at Panama, 307-308; testifies regard-
ing lack of hospital equipment, 442.

Gould, Jay, attempts to "corner"
gold, 63-64; helps give dinner to
Blaine, 145.

Grady, Henry, tribute of, to fidelity of
slaves, 6; quoted regarding Southern
conditions at end of the war, 10-11;
quoted regarding "New South," 96-
97-

Grand Army of the Republic, activity
in obtaining pensions, 175; hostility
to Cleveland, 176.

"Grandfather clause," a loophole for
poor and illiterate whites, 95; held
unconstitutional, 96.

Granger Cases, decided, 160.

Granger Laws, passage and character,
159-160.

Grangers, rise of, 159; many join
Populists, 192.

Grant, Ulysses S., captures Lee, i;
mentioned, 7; on Southern conditions,

25; temporary secretary of war, 34;
sends Sheridan to Mexican border,
40; nominated for presidency, 43;
elected, 45; career of, 46-47; his
Cabinet, 47-48; secures modification
of Tenure-of -Office Act, 48; inter-
venes in Louisiana, 56; sends troops
to South Carolina to suppress Ku
Klux, 60-6 1 ; declares for sound
money, 63; criticised for course at
time of "Black Friday" flurry, 64;
appoints two new justices, 64; at-
tempts to annex Santo Domingo, 64-
65; attitude toward Cuban revolt,
65; message regarding Alabama
claims, 66; falls into hands of poli-
ticians, 68; discontent with, 69;
renominated and re-elected, 70-73;
course regarding greenbacks, 76-77;
corruption under, 77-81; opens Cen-
tennial Exposition, 81; talk of a third
term for, 82; sends troops to South
Carolina, 86-87; firm course at time
of disputed election, oo; witnesses
secret inauguration of Hayes, 93; In-
dian policy of, 105; effort to nominate
in 1880, 133-134.

Great American Desert, old idea con-
cerning, 344.

Great Britain, participates in Mexican
intervention, 39; the Fenian move-
ment, 41; the Alabama claims, 41,
66-68; part of, in Samoan quarrel,
193-196; attitude in Venezuelan dis-
pute, 218-222; friendly attitude in
Spanish-American War, 239, 250;
Hay's note to, concerning "open
door," 273; part of, in Venezuelan
debt dispute, 294-296; consents to
abrogation of Clayton-Bulwer con-
vention, 300, 302; blockades Ger-
many, 399; Bryan proposes that she
permit foodstuffs to enter Germany,
400; part of. in Great War, 426 etseq.;
in peace conference, 484 et seq.

Great Reconstruction Act, passed, 33.

Great War, embarrasses Denmark finan-
cially, 388; outbreak of, 395; respon-
sibility for, 395; complications re-
sulting from, 396-412, 417-421;
United States enters, 422-425; his-
tory of, 425-480; peace negotiations,
481-496.

Greeley, Horace, signs Jefferson Davis's
bond, 13; active in Liberal Republi-

552

INDEX

can movement, 69; a candidate for
the presidency in 1872, 70-72; de-
feated, 72; death of, 73; mentioned,
314; advises young men to "go
West," 504.

Greenback party, history of, 86; men-
tioned, 129.

Greenbackers, many join Populists, 192.

Greenbacks, in campaign of 1868, 42-45.

Gresham, Walter Q., candidate for
presidential nomination in 1888, 178-
179; secretary of state, 216; his
course regarding Hawaii, 217-218;
death of, 220.

Guiteau, Charles J., assassinates Gar-
field, 138.

Gulflight, sinking of, 401-402.

Hague Conference, Roosevelt wishes
to call second, 320.

Hague Tribunal, Venezuelan debt dis-
pute referred to, 297, 320; Pious
Fund case referred to, 320.

Haig, General, calls upon his men to
stand firm, 457 ; his great victory, 468.

Haiti, protectorate over, 388.

Hancock, Winfield S., in command of a
Southern military district, 34; candi-
date for presidential nomination, 43-
44; nominated for presidency, 135;
defeated, 136.

Hanna, Marcus A., delegate to Republi-
can convention of 1880, 142; sketch
of, 224; manages McKinley's cam-
paign in 1896, 224-225; senator,
232; writes trust plank in Republican
platform of 1900, 263; manages
campaign, 265; favors Panama route
for a canal. 303; death of, 309.

Harper's Weekly, Nast cartoons Gree-
ley in, 71; crusade against Tweed, 74;
Nast's cartoons of 1876 in, 86;
quoted regarding Wilson, 386.

Harriman, E. H., contributes to Re-
publican campaign fund in 1904, 314-
315; career of, 342-343.

Harrison, Benjamin, nominated for
presidency, 178-179; elected, 181-
182; inaugurated, 184; cabinet of,
184; and civil service, 185; sends
ultimatum to Chile, 196; soothes
Italian pride, 197; inherits fur seal
controversy, 198; favors annexation
of Hawaii, 199-201; renominated,

201-202; defeated, 205; sets apart
national forests, 331.

Hawaii, revolution in, 200; attempt to
annex, 201; Cleveland administra-
tion reverses our policy, 217; an-
nexed, 218.

Hawkins, General, leads charge at San
Juan, 246.

Hay, John, ambassador to Great Brit-
ain, 250; secretary of state, 251;
"open door policy," 273-274; and
Boxer revolt, 275; aids Roosevelt,
294; course in Venezuelan debt dis-
pute, 295-296; secures abrogation of
Clayton-Bui wer convention, 302; ne-
gotiates treaty with Colombia, 303;
on proposed Panama revolt, 304; in-
structs American consul to recognize
de facto government of Panama, 306;
on Roosevelt, 312; death of, 318; a
great diplomatist, 319; negotiates
arbitration treaties, 321; seeks to buy
Danish West Indies, 388.

Hay Act, passed, 410.

Hayes, Lucy Webb, introduces a "dry"
r6gime, 125-126.

Hayes, Rutherford B., nominated for
presidency, 82-84; career of, 84; in
election of 1876, 87-92; inaugurated,
93; settlement of Southern problem,
94~9S» Cabinet of, 125; on the
Roman punch, 126; favors civil ser-
vice reform, 126-127; removes
Arthur and Cornell, 126; Democratic
attacks upon, 127; contest with op-
position in Congress, 129; unrest
under, 131; does not seek renomina-
tion, 133; quoted regarding Harrison,
201; on American policy toward an
Isthmian canal, 301.

Haymarket Riot, account of, 173.

Hendricks, Thomas A., seeks Demo-
cratic presidential nomination in
1868, 43; in 1876, 85; nominated for
vice-presidency in 1876, 85; seeks
nomination for presidency in 1880,
135; nominated for vice-presidency
in 1884, 143; elected, 145; death of,
1 68.

Hepburn Act, passed, 327.

Hepburn vs. Griswold, case of, decided,
64.

Hill, David B., alleged treachery in 1888,
181; opposes renomination of Cleve-
land in 1892, 202-203; against in-

INDEX

553

come tax, 210; in Democratic con-
vention of 1896, 227; on Bryan's
nomination, 229; manages Parker's
campaign for nomination, 310.

Hill, James J., helps form Northern Se-
curities Company, 289; career of,
342-343-

Hindenburg, Marshal von, victories
against Russia, 426; strategic retreat,
436; favors an armistice, 478.

Hindenburg Line, Germans retire to,
436; Allies attack in 1917, 437; Ger-
mans driven back to, 469; battle of,
471-472-

Hoar, E. R., attorney-general, 48; forced
out of Cabinet, 69.

Hoar, George F., on negro education,
52; member of electoral commission,
00; in Republican convention of 1880,
134; on Harrison's repellent manner,
185; opposes retaining Philippines,
252.

Hobart, Garret A., nominated for vice-
presidency, 225; death of, 263.

Hobson, Richmond P., attempts to
block mouth of Santiago harbor, 244-
245-

Hoffman, John T., a creature of Tweed,
74-

Holden, William W., appointed pro-
visional governor of North Carolina,
IS-

Holleben, Herr von, Roosevelt's ultima-
tum to, 296.

Homestead Law, passage and effect, 118.

Homesteader, the part of, in opening
of the West, 117.

Hoover, Herbert C., appointed federal
food administrator, 445.

House, Edward M., mysterious missions,
417; delegate to peace conference,
484.

Howard, Oliver O., head of Freedmen's
Bureau, 10.

Huerta, Victoriano, seizes power in
Mexico, 389; trouble with United
States, 390-391; falls, 391.

Hughes, Charles E., elected governor of
New York, 326; candidate for presi-
dential nomination in 1908, 336; ap-
pointed associate justice, 364; nom-
inated for presidency, 412-413; in
campaign, 414-415; defeated, 416;
investigates airplane scandal, 443.

Hunton, Eppa, member of electoral
commission, 91.

Idaho, settlement of, ni.

Immigration, account of, 503-506.

Income tax, enacted, 210-211; held
unconstitutional, 211; in Underwood
Act, 384; increased, 449.

Independent National party, see Green-
back party.

Indianapolis Sentinel, gives term mug-
wump, 143.

Indian Territory, becomes State of Okla-
homa, 112.

Indians, the problem of, at close of Civil
War, 100-101; mistreatment of, 101-
102; character of, 102; wars against,
102-108, in; present status, m-

112.

Industrial peace, problem of, 291-292.

Industrial Revolution mentioned, 355;
transforming effect of, 147-151.

Industrial Workers of World, disloyal
acts of, 452-453.

Inflation bill, vetoed by Grant, 77.

Ingersoll, Robert G., presents Blaine's
name to Cincinnati convention, 83.

Initiative, adopted in some States, 356-
358.

Insular cases, decided, 270.

Interstate Commerce Commission,
created, 170; members appointed,
171; membership and powers in-
creased, 327.

Interstate Commerce Law, passed, 170-
171.

Iron, history of industry in the United
States, is:-i53.

Irrigation, development of, 344-347.

Italians, defeated in 1917, 450, 454; re-
pulse Austrian drive, 465; great vic-
tory of, 474.

Italy, quarrel with, over New Orleans
lynching, 197; desires Fiume, 489.

Itata, case of, 196.

Jacob Jones, sunk, 439.

Japan, policy of, regarding China, 273-
274; controversy with, over school
and immigration questions, 322-323;
renewal of difficulties with, 388; Ger-
man overtures to, 420; obtains its
demands regarding Shantung, 489-
490.

554

INDEX

Jay Cooke and Company, failure of, 76.

Jennings, Louis J., crusade against
Tweed Ring, 74.

"Jim Crow" laws, character of, 62, 508.

Joffre, Joseph, wins first battle of the
Marne, 426; succeeded by Nivelle,
437; visits United States, 438.

Johnson, Andrew, career and character
of, 2-3; his accession welcomed by the
radicals, 3; denounces treason and
threatens punishment of traitors, 3;
change in policy of, 13-14; quarrels
with Schurz, 24; transmits reports
of Schurz and Grant, 25; vetoes
Freedmen's Bureau bill, 25; his
Washington's birthday speech, 26;
develops his policy, 18-19; protests
against election of A. H. Stephens, 21;
vetoes Civil Rights bill, 27; his
friends and enemies in campaign of
1866, 29; his "swing around the
circle," 31; defeated, 31; his powers
restricted, 32; impeachment of, 34-
36; retirement and death, 46; men-
tioned, 48.

Johnson, Hiram, Progressive nominee
for vice-presidency, 374; re-elected
governor, 393; in campaign of 1916,
416.

Johnson-Clarendon Convention, re-
jected, 41.

Joint Committee on Reconstruction,
formed, 20; its plans, 27-28.

Jones, George, crusade against Tweed
Ring, 74.

Juarez, opposes the French, 40.

Kaiser's battle, account of, 455-457.

Kearneyism, account of, 131-132.

Kellogg, William P., Republican
governor of Louisiana, 56.

Kern, John W., nominated for vice-
president, 337.

Kipling, Rudyard, quoted, 261.

Klondike, discovery of gold in, 349.

Knights of Labor, history of, 161-162;
in railroad strike of 1886, 172; weak-
ened by failure of strikes supported
by, 174.

Knox, Philander C., brings suit against
Northern Securities Company, 289;
candidate for presidential nomina-
tion, 336; secretary of state, 351.

Ku Klux Act, passed, 60; held uncon-
stitutional, 61.

Ku Klux Klan, origin and objects, 49-
51; activities of, 59-61; an issue in
campaign of 1872, 72.

Labor, strike of 1877, 146-147; effect
of Industrial Revolution upon, 147-
151; rise of trades unions, 161-162;
unrest of, 171; strikes of 1886, 172-
173; strike of 1894, 214-215; injunc-
tion grievance, 215-216; anthracite
coal strike, 200-291; problem of in-
dustrial peace, 291-292; Adamson
Act, 415, 422; problem of, at end of
Great War, 483, 497.

La Follette, Robert M., candidate for
presidential nomination in 1908, 336;
candidate for presidential nomina-
tion in 1912, 366-369; attacks
Roosevelt, 375; one of the "wilful
men," 421; opposes declaration of
war on Germany, 425.

La Guasima, battle of, 246.

Lamar, L. Q. C., secretary of the in-
terior, 164.

Lansing, Robert, becomes secretary of
state, 405; says America is draw-
ing near the verge of war, 418; a rep-
resentative at the peace conference,
484; resigns from Cabinet, 495-496.

Lawson, Thomas W., publishes account
of "the System," 325-326.

Lawton, Henry W., commands at battle
of El Caney, 246; killed in battle
with Filipinos, 260.

League of Nations, origin of, 485-486;
covenant of, 486-489; controversy
over, in the United States, 493-496.

League to Enforce Peace, origin oi, 485.

Legal-tender cases, account of, 64.

Liberal Republican party, formed, 69;
nominates Greeley, 70-71.

Liberal Republicans, rise of, 69-70;
most support Hayes, 84.

Liberty loans, floating of, 447-449.

Liberty motor, account of, 443-444.

Liliuokalani, deposed, 200; failure of
attempt to restore, 217-218.

Lincoln, Abraham, assassinated, 2; his
murder hardens hearts of Northern
people, 3; plan of reconstruction, 5-
6; mentioned, .13, 14, 19; attitude
toward negro suffrage, 23; comment
of, on Chase's desire for presidency,

INDEX

555

43; reconstruction policy had he
lived, 03; mentioned, 336.

Literature, development of, 520-521.

Lloyd, Henry D., warns country of
menace of the plutocracy, 501.

Lodge, Henry C., delegate to Republi-
can convention in 1884, 142; ul-
timately supports Elaine, 143; leads
fight against treaty, 4Q3.

Logan, John A., in impeachment trial of
Johnson, 35; mentioned, gi; nom-
inated for vice-presidency, 142.

London, Meyer, elected to Congress,

393-

Long, John D., secretary of the navy,
232, 241.

"Long Drive," described, 117.

Louisiana, Lincoln establishes recon-
struction government in, 5; this
government recognized by Johnson,
14; constitutional convention in, 36-
37; under Carpet-Bag rule, 54-56;
Democratic attempt to "redeem" in
1876, 86; contest regarding election,
88, gi; downfall of Carpet-Bag
government in, g2-g3; plan adopted
in, for suppressing negro vote, gs;
revolt in, against sugar schedule of
Underwood bill, 383.

Louisiana Lottery Company, legislation
aimed at, 187.

Loyal League, see Union League.

Ludendorff, Erich von, prepares for
great offensive, 455; his system, 468;
resigns, 478.

Lusilania, sinking of, 402-403; con-
troversy with Germany over, 404-
408; mentioned, 427.

Macaulay, Thomas B., prediction re-
garding America, 500.

Madero, Francisco I., assassinated,
389-

Mahan, Alfred T., an adviser in Span-
ish-American War, 241, 255.

Maine, blown up, 238.

Malietoa, deposed by Germans, 194;
restored, 195.

Marshall, Thomas R., nominated for
vice-presidency, in igi2, 373; in igi6,
414; presides over Cabinet meetings
during Wilson's absence in Europe,
484; favors inheritance tax, 501.

Maximilian, his career in Mexico, 30-40.

Maximilian, Prince, becomes German
chancellor, 475; negotiates for an
armistice, 475~47g.

McAdoo, W. G., Cabinet member, 381;
appointed director-general of rail-
roads, 445.

McClure's, takes lead in exposure of
corruption in business and politics,
325-

McCormick, Cyrus H., his reaper has-
tens settlement of the West, 122.

McEnery, John, claims Louisiana gover-
norship, 56.

McKinley, William, delegate to Republi-
can convention of 1884, 142; his tariff
bill, igo-igi; defeated for re-elec-
tion, ig2j criticises Cleveland's tariff
message, 177; nominated for presi-
dency, 224-226; elected, 231; inau-
gurated, 232; calls special session of
Congress, 233; improved business
conditions under, 234; course in re-
gard to Cuba, 23O-23g; asks Congress
to intervene in Cuba, 23g; hesitates
regarding Philippines, 251; relations
with Alger, 255; decides to retain
Philippines, 257-258; proclamation
regarding, 259; re-elected, 262-266;
establishes civil government in Philip-
pines, 267-268; speech at Pan-
American Exposition, 275-276; as-
sassinated, 276; place in history, 276-
277; news of death reaches Roosevelt,
278; rapid formation of trusts under,
282; sets apart forests, 331.

McKinley Tariff bill, passed, igo-igi;
effects of, ig2, 207; denounced by
Democratic platform of i8g2, 203;
mentioned, 224, 234.

McPherson, Edward, omits calling
names of claimants from seceded
States, 20.

Meuse, battle of, 472-473.

Mexico, French intervention in, 30-40;
revolution in, 388-389; complications
with, 38g-3gi, 393~39S; German
overtures to, 420.

Miles, Nelson A., in wars against Sioux
and Apaches, 108, 1 1 1 ; commands in
Porto Rico, 248.

Miller, S. F., dissents in Hepburn vs.
Griswold, 64; member of electoral
commission, 91.

Miner, part of, in the opening of the
West, 116.

556

INDEX

Mississippi, rejects Thirteenth Amend-
ment, 16; Black Code of, 17, 19; votes
down new constitution, 37; con-
tinues under military rule, 38; read-
mitted, 52; escapes from Carpet-Bag
rule, 62; adopts "understanding
clause," 95.

Mitchell, John, leads coal strikers, 290.

"Molly Maguires," account of, 146;
mentioned, 161.

Monroe Doctrine, and Venezuelan con-
troversy, 220, 224; in Venezuelan
debt dispute, 295; Roosevelt corol-
lary to, 299.

Montana, settlement of, 121.

Montojo, Admiral, defeated by Dewey,
242.

Morey letter, a canard in election of
1880, 136.

Morgan, J. P., Jr., attempt to murder,
407.

Morgan, J. P., Sr.t sale of bonds to,
212-213; forms Steel Trust, 284;
helps form Northern Securities Com-
pany, 289.

Morton, Levi P., nominated for vice-
presidency, 179; mentioned for presi-
dency in 1896, 223.

Morton, Oliver P., mentioned, 18; at
first opposes negro suffrage, 23;
seeks Republican nomination for pres-
idency, 82-83; member of electoral
commission, 90.

Motley, John L., recalled from English
mission, 65.

Muck-rakers, era of, 325-326.

Muenter, Erich, attempts to murder
J. P. Morgan, Jr., 407.

Mugwumps, rise of, 143.

Murchison letter, story of, 180-181.

Napoleon III, his Mexican venture,

39-4°-
Nast, Thomas, cartoons Greeley, 71-

72; fight against Tweed Ring, 74; his

cartoons in campaign of 1876, 86.
National Parks, creation of, 123-124.
"Naturalization clause," adopted in

Louisiana, 95.
Nebraska, sunk, 406.
Negroes, deprived of political power in

South, 94-96; status to-day, 506-510,

See also Freedmen.
Nevada, early history of, 119-120.

"New Freedom," a Wilsonian watch-
word, 377, 382.

New Nationalism, advocated by Roose-
velt, 361-362, 367.

New Orleans riot, described, 30; men-
tioned, 31.

New South, rise of, 96-99.

New West, development of, 341-350.

New York Evening Post, opposes Blaine
in 1884, 143.

New York Nation, on Greeley's nomina-
tion by the Democrats, 71.

New York Sun, applies term Mug-
wumps to Republican bolters, 143.

New York Times, crusade against
Tweed, 74; holds election of 1876 in
doubt, 87; opposes Blaine in 1884,
143-

New York Tribune, publishes the cipher
despatches, 128.

Newell, Frederick H., director of rec-
lamation work, 346.

Newlands, Francis G., fathers Reclama-
tion Act, 294, 346.

Nicaragua, protectorate over, 387-388.

Nicaragua Canal, attempt to construct,
302-303.

Northern Pacific Railroad, mentioned,
76; building of, 121-122.

O'Conor, Charles, nominated for presi-
dency by a Democratic faction, 71;
opposes Tweed, 75.

Oklahoma, story of, 112.

O'Leary, Jeremiah, offensive letter to
Wilson, 415.

Olney, Richard, course in Venezuelan
dispute, 220-221.

"Open-door" policy, established by
Hay, 273-274.

Oregon, contest regarding, in 1876, 87,
91.

Oregon, mentioned, 240; voyage of, 243,
302; at Santiago, 247.

Overman bill, passed, 442.

Pale Faces, see Ku Klux Klan.

Palma, Thomas Estrada, provisional
President of Cuba, 235; President,
254; revolt against, 321.

Palmer, John M., nominated for presi-
dency by Gold Democrats, 229.

Panama, revolt of, 304-305; cedes
Canal Zone, 306.

Panama Canal, story of, 300-309.

INDEX

557

Pan-American Congresses, account of,
324-325-

Pan-American Exposition, McKinley
attends, 275-276.

Panics, of 1873, account of, 76-77; of
1893, 207 et seq.; periodicity of, 208;
of 1907, 335; of 1914-15, 397-

Parker, Alton B., nominated for presi-
dency, 310-3 1 1 ; defeated, 3 13-3 1 5 .

Parker, John M., joins Progressives,
375; candidate for vice-presidency,
413-

Patrons of Husbandry, see Grangers.

Pauncefote, Julian, negotiates with
Ulney regarding arbitration and Ven-
ezuela, 221; negotiates with Hay re-
garding Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 302.

Paxson, Frederic L., quoted, 119, 121.

Payne, Henry B., member of electoral
commission, 91.

Payne-Aldrich Act, passed, 353.

Peace Commission, treats with In-
dians, 105.

Peary, Robert E., discovers the North
Pole, 524-525-

Peck, H. T., quoted, 164.

Pelton, W. T., connection with cipher
despatches, 128.

Pendleton, George H., candidate for
presidential nomination, 43-44.

Pendleton Act, passage of, 139.

Pensions, Cleveland vetoes many
private bills, 174-175; Dependent
Pension bill vetoed, 187; becomes a
law, 187.

People's party, see Populists.

Perdicaris, Ion, release obtained, 319.

Pershing, John J., leads expedition
into Mexico, 394; commands in
Europe, 438-439; offers troops to
Foch, 469; helps plan counter-offen-
sive, 468; captures St. Mihiel salient,
469-470; his drive down the Meuse,
472-474.

Persia, sinking of, 408.

Petroleum, rise of industry in the
United States, 153-158.

Philippines, Dewey leads fleet against,
242-243; native rebellion in, 248-
249; conquest of, 250; in peace ne-
gotiations, 251-252; description of,
358; McKinley decides to hold, 257-
258; insurrection in, 258-261, 266-
267; in campaign of 1900, 262-266;
establishment of civil government in,

267-272; American policy toward,
272-273.

Phillips, Wendell, denounced by John-
son, 26, 31.

Pierpont, Francis H., loyal governor of
Virginia, 5; bis government recog-
nized, 14.

Pike, James S., quoted regarding South
Carolina, 57-58.

Pinchot, Gifford, activities as conserva-
tionist, 331-334; mentioned, 346;
controversy with Ballinger, 354;
meets Roosevelt in Italy, 360; a
Progressive leader, 374.

Pious Fund of the Californias, referred
to Hague tribunal, 320.

Platt, Thomas C., resigns from Senate,
137; claims that he was promised
secretaryship of treasury, 184-185;
brings about Roosevelt's nomination
for the vice-presidency, 263-264.

Platt Amendment, imposed on Cuba,
253; effect of, 254; intervention
under, 321.

Pop-gun bills, mentioned, 383.

Populists, rise of, 192-193; in cam-
paign of 1892, 203-205; committed
to Free Silver, 223; indorse Bryan in
1896 and 1900, 229, 265; vote in
1904, 314; appear for last time, 338.

Porto Rico, invasion of, 148; acquired,

254-
Potter Committee, investigates election

of 1876, 127-128.
Powderly, Terence V., head of Knights

of Labor, 161.

Powell, James, defeats Indians, 103-104.
Powell, John W., report on arid region,

344-345-

Presidential Succession Act, passed, 168.

Primary elections, adopted in many
States, 356-358; in campaign of 1912,
368-369.

Proclamation of Emancipation, validity
of, in doubt, 6.

Progressives, a wing of Republicans.
352-359; revolt against Cannonism,
359-36o; movement begins to take
definite form, 366; pre-convention
fight in 1912, 367-370; party formed,
373-374; in campaign, 375~378;
question of their future, 378-379; in
campaign of 1914, 391-393; conven-
tion of 1916, 412-413; party disap-
pears, 412; most support Hughes, 416.

558

INDEX

Prohibition, victory of, 510-513.
Prohibition party, sketch of, 73.
Publishing, expansion of, 519-520.
Pullman strike, account of, 214
Pure Food Law, passage of, 327.

Quay, Matthew S., admits buying
sugar stock, 211: candidate for presi-
dential nomination, 223.

Railroads, rapid expansion of, in
period following Civil War, 75-76;
consolidation of, 158-159; evils in
management of, 159-160, 169-171;
passage of Interstate Commerce Law,
170-171; strike of 1886, 172; rebates
forbidden, 294, 327; Adamson Act
passed, 415; renewed difficulties,
423-424; government takes control
of, 445-446.

Rankin, Jeannette, elected to Congress,
417.

Rawlins, John A., secretary of war, 48;
influences Grant to recognize Cuban
belligerency, 65.

Recall, adopted in some States, 356-
358; Roosevelt favors recall of judi-
cial decisions, 368, 370.

Reclamation Act, passed, 293, 345-346.

Reclamation Service, work of, 346.

Reed, Thomas B., speaker of the House,
186; re-elected speaker in 1897, 233;
seeks presidential nomination, 224-
225; resigns, 262.

Reed, Walter, discovers that yellow
fever is carried by mosquitoes, 253.

"Reed Rules," adoption of, 186.

Referendum, adopted in some States,
356-358.

Reno, Major, in battle of the Little Big-
horn, 107.

Republican party, radical faction
pleased with Johnson, but soon
change attitude, 3, 18; fears of, as to
increased political strength of South,
21 ; in campaign of 1866, 20-31;
in campaign of 1868, 42-43, 45; loses
control of South, 62, 93-94; in cam-
paign of 1872, 69-72; defeated in
1874, 79- in campaign of 1876, 81-
92; party dissensions under Hayes,
126-127; cipher-despatch disclosures
aid, 128; in campaign of 1880, 133-
136; party troubles under Garfield,
137-138; loses control of House of

Representatives in 1882, 141- in cam-
paign of 1884, 141-145; in campaign
of 1888, 177-182; attempts to pass
"Force Bill," 186; reaction against
in 1890, 192; in campaign of 1892,
201-205; regains popular favor in
1894, 216; in campaign of 1896, 223-
231; in campaign of 1000, 262-266;
in campaign of 1904, 309-315; in
campaign of 1908, 336-338; a rift in
ranks of, 338; the progressive revolt,
352-379; a revival, 392-393; in
campaign of 1916, 412-417; victori-
ous in 1918, 481-482.

Resumption Act, passed, 79; carried
out, 129-130.

Revells, Hiram R., senator from
Mississippi, 52.

Rhodes, James Ford, quoted, 29, 64,
76, 94.

Richardson, W. A., inflates currency,
76-77; disgraced, 77.

"Rifle Clubs," activity in South Caro-
lina in election of 1876, 86.

Rockefeller, John D., career of, 156-
158; rapidity with which he ac-
quired wealth, 499-500; his bene-
factions, 500.

Roman Nose, defeated by Colonel
Forsyth, 104.

Roosevelt, Theodore, quoted regarding
effect of Spanish-American War upon
sectional feelings, 98-99; a rancher
in the West, 117; delegate to Republi-
can convention of 1884, 142; ulti-
mately supports Blaine, 143; activ-
ity as civil service commissioner, 185-
186; quoted, 231; mentioned, 198;
assistant secretary of the navy, 232;
prepares navy for war with Spain,
241; helps organize Rough Riders,
245; leads charge at San Juan, 246-
247; nominated for vice-presidency,
263-264; in campaign, 265 ; succeeds
to presidency, 278; career and
character, 278-279; policy regarding
appointments, 279-280; the Booker
Washington episode, 280-281; takes
up the trust problem, 288-289;
course in coal strike, 290-291; at-
tempts to destroy his popularity fail,
292-293; aided by many Democrats,
293; forces Kaiser to back down in
Venezuelan debt dispute, 294-296;
quoted, 298; course regarding Pan-

INDEX

559

ama Canal, 302-300; nominated in
1004, 300-310; elected, 312-316;
statement regarding third term.
317; his theory of the presidency,
317-318; his vigorous foreign policy,
319; belief in "preparedness," 320;
practical peace policy, 320-321; ends
Russo-Japanese War, 321; intervenes
in Cuba, 321-326; policy in Japanese
dispute, 322-323; sends fleet around
the world, 324; his moral leadership,
325-327; helps to obtain pure-food
legislation, 327: and Hepburn Act,
327-328; his trust recommendations,
328; attitude toward social justice,
329-330; efforts in behalf of conserva-
tion, 321-334; his reforming activities
arouse antagonism, 335; selects Taft
to carry out his policies, 336; breach
with Standpatters, 338; a great
American, 339-340; promotes rec-
lamation work, 345-346; goes to
Africa, 352; return, 360-361; ad-
vocates a "New Nationalism," 361-
362; believes Sherman Act defective,
365; seeks renomination, 367-368;
in pre-convention fight, ^68-369;
his supporters nominate him inform-
ally, 371; nominated by Progressive
party, 375; denounced by Republi-
cans, 376; wounded, 377; runs sec-
ond. 378; arbitration treaties men-
tioned, 383; Caribbean policy men-
tioned, 387; champions prepared-
ness, 409; visits Canal Zone, 484;
favors inheritance tax, 501 : appoints
Country Life Commission, 503; as
an author, 520.

Root, Elihu, secretary of war, 255;
becomes secretary of state, 319; ne-
gotiates arbitration treaties, 321; at-
tends Pan-American conference at
Rio Janeiro, 324; presides over Re-
publican convention of 1912, 370;
notifies Taft of his renomination,
376; seeks presidential nomination
in 1916, 413.

Rose, Sir John, negotiates Treaty of
Washington, 67.

Rough Riders, mentioned, 98; forma-
tion of, 245; in Santiago campaign,
246-247.

Russia, sells Alaska, 42; revolution in,
428; makes peace, 454; repudiates
debts, 483.

Sackville-West, Lionel, taken in by
"Murchison letter," 180-181.

"Salary Grab," account of, 79.

Salisbury, Lord, demurs against re-
calling Sackville-West, 181; attitude
in fur-seal controversy, 199; course
in Venezuelan dispute, 219-221.

Samoa, controversy with Germany re-
garding, 193-195; part of islands an-
nexed to United States, 195.

Sampson, William T., commands North
Atlantic Fleet, 243; bombards San
Juan, 244; commands fleet off San-
tiago 244-247.

San Diego, sunk, 439.

San Juan, battle of, 246-247.

"Sanborn contracts," scandal of, dis-
credits Secretary Richardson, 77.

Santiago, campaign of, 244-248.

Santo Domingo, attempt to annex, 65;
debts of, cause United States to take
control of finances, 298-299; pro-
tectorate over, mentioned, 387.

Scalawags, lead negroes, 38, 53, 57.

Schley, W. S., commands Flying Squad-
ron, 243; at Santiago, 244, 247.

Scho field, J. M., in command of a South-
ern military district, 33; secretary of
war, 36.

Schurz, -Carl, investigates Southern
conditions, 24;- his report, 24-25;
active in Liberal Republican move-
ment, 69-70; a member of Hayes's
Cabinet, 125; opposes Elaine in
1884, 143-

Schwab, Charles M., directs American
shipbuilding, 440.

Second Enforcement Act, passed, 60.

Service, Robert, quoted, 349.

Seventeenth Amendment, adopted, 364.

Sewall, Arthur, Democratic nominee for
vice-presidency in 1896, 229.

Seward, William H., magnanimity of,
13; buys Alaska, 42; quoted regard-
ing effect of McCormick's reaper, 122;
attempts to buy Danish West Indies,
42, 388.

Seymour, Horatio, Democratic presi-
dential candidate in 1868, 45.

Shafter, William R., in command at
Santiago, 245-247.

Shantung, controversy over, 489.

Sheridan, Philip, on New Orleans riot,
30; appointed to command one of
five Southern military districts, 33;

56o

INDEX

removed, 34; on Mexican border,
40; mentioned, 66; conducts war
against Cheyennes, 104.

Sherman, James S., nominated for vice-
presidency, 336; renominated, 371.

Sherman, John, mentioned, 66, 83;
secretary of the treasury, 125; carries
out resumption, 130; seeks presiden-
tial nomination in 1880, 133-134;
in 1888, 178-170; name given to sil-
ver act, 1 88; to antitrust act, i8g;
secretary of state, 232; resigns, 251.

Sherman Antitrust Act, passed, 189;
evaded, 190; practically a dead
letter, 287; prosecutions under, be-
gun, 289; Roosevelt recommends its
amendment, 328; defective, 365;
amended, 385.

Sherman Silver-Purchase Act, passed,
187-188; effect of, 207; repealed,
209, 211.

Sickles, Daniel E., in command of a
Southern military district, 33; re-
moved, 34.

Silver question, rise of, 130-131;
Sherman Silver-Purchase Act, 187-
188; act repealed, 209; agitation of
subject in Cleveland's second adminis-
tration, 211-212, 216, 222-224; in
campaign of 1896, 225-231; gold
made standard of value, 231-232;
in campaign of 1900, 262-264; con-
troversy over, in Democratic con-
vention of 1904, 310-311.

Sims, William S., commands fleet oper-
ating abroad, 434-435.

Sinclair, Upton, exposes horrors of meat-
packing plants, 326-327.

Sioux, wars against, 103-108.

Sitting Bull, his fame, 100; in war of
1876, 105-108; death of, 108.

Sixteenth Amendment, adopted, 364.

Social Democrats, party formed by, 265;
name of, changed to Socialist party,

314-

Socialist Labor party, sketch of, 265.

Socialists, party formed by, 265; vote
of, in 1904, 314; in 1908, 337~338;
in 1912, 378; in 1916, 417; attitude
toward Great War, 452.

"Solid South," always Democratic, 94.

South Carolina, Democratic attempts
to "redeem" in 1876, 86; dispute re-
garding election, 87-88, 91; fall of
Carpet-Bag government in, 92-93.

South Improvement Company, rise and
fall, 157-

Southern Unionist convention, meets at
Philadelphia, 30.

Spain, participates in Mexican inter-
vention, 39; American relations with,
during Cuban revolt of 1868-78,
65-66; Cuban revolt against, 235-
239; war with United States, 230-
256.

Spanish-American War, helps to close
breach between North and South, 98;
history of, 231-256.

Springfield Republican, opposes Blaine
in 1884, 143.

St. Mihiel salient, captured, 469-470.

Stalwarts, a Republican faction, 127,

133, 134, 137-

Stanbery, Henry, resigns from Cabinet
to defend Johnson, 35; Senate re-
fuses to ratify his reappointment, 36.

Standard Oil Company, origin, 157-
158; changes in form of, 190; cam-
paign contribution of, 314-315;
suits against, 238; ordered broken up,

329, 365-

Standpatters, oppose Roosevelt, 338;
ring in Congress overthrown, 359-
360.

Stanton, Edwin M., opposes Johnson,
31; Tenure-of-Office Act designed
to protect, 32; suspended by John-
son, 33-34; resigns, 36.

Stanton, Elizabeth C., a leader of the
woman's movement, 515.

Star Route frauds, unearthed, 137-138.

Steel, development of the industry
sketched, 151-153.

Steel Trust, see United States Steel
Corporation.

Stephens, Alexander H., elected to
Senate, 21-22.

Stevens, John L., part in Hawaiian re-
volt, 200-201, 218.

Stevens, Thaddeus, opposes Johnson's
reconstruction plan, 18; his resolu-
tion for appointment of joint com-
mittee on reconstruction, 20; atti-
tude toward South, 22-23; de-
nounced by Johnson, 26, 31; part in
impeachment of Johnson, 35.

Stevenson, Adlai E., removes post-
masters, 167; nominated for vice-
presidency in 1892, 203; nominated
for vice-presidency in 1900, 264.

INDEX

Stewart, Alexander T., nominated for
secretary of treasury, 47.

Stone, William J., a pro-German, 405;
one of the "wilful men," 421; opposes
declaring war on Germany, 425.

Strong, William, appointed to Su-
preme Bench, 64; member of elec-
toral commission, 91.

Sumner, Charles, opposes Johnson's re-
construction plan, 18; his warning
against political purposes of South,
2i ; character and theories of, 22;
denounced by Johnson, 26; attitude
on Alabama claims, 41, 66; efforts
of, to secure Civil Rights Act, 63;
deposed from chairmanship of com-
mittee on foreign relations, 65.

Supplementary Reconstruction Acts,
passage of, 33.

Sussex, attack upon, 411; mentioned,
417.

Swayne, N. H., dissents in Hepburn vs.
Griswold, 64.

Taft, Charles P., aids his brother's
political aspirations, 336.

Taft, William H., work of, in Philip-
pines, 268; becomes secretary of
war, 319; goes to Cuba, 321; on
trust decisions, 329; nominated for
presidency, 336; elected, 337-338;
favors government building rail-
ways in Alaska, 350; inaugurated,
351; Cabinet of, 351-352; difficult
task, 352; praises Payne-Aldrich
Act, 353; dismisses Pinchot, 354;
loyal to conservation, 354-355; his
misfortune, 359; interest in Roose-
velt's attitude toward, 360-361; ap-
points a tariff board, 362; advocates
reciprocity with Canada, 363; vetoes
"pop-gun" tariff bills, 363; con-
structive achievements under, 364;
fills vacancies in Supreme Court, 364-
365; opposition to, 365-367; in pre-
convention fight, 368-370; "re-
nominated," 371; defends his nom-
ination, 376; defeated, 377-378;
mentioned, 384; Mexican policy of,
389; issues appeal for election of a
Republican Congress, 481; meets
Diaz on Mexican soil, 484; helps
form League to Enforce Peace, 485;
favors League of Nations, 493; vetoes

immigration bill, 506; vetoes Webb
bill, 512.

Tamasese, set up by Germans, 194.

Tammany Hall, controlled by Tweed
Ring, 74; hostile to Cleveland, 145,
181.

Tarbell, Ida, writes history of Standard
Oil Company, 325.

Tariff, an issue in 1880, 136; act of
1883, 141; in campaign of 1884, 142-
144; Cleveland makes it an issue,
177; the Mills bill, 177; chief issue in
campaign of 1888, 180-181; McKin-
ley Act passed, 190-191; effect of
act, 192, 207; in campaign of 1892,
203; passage of Wilson bill, 210-211;
Dingley Act, 235; revision of, pledged
by Republicans in 1008, 337; Taft
appoints a tariff board, 362; "pop-
gun" bills vetoed, 363; in campaign
of 1912, 364, 374, 377.

Teller, Henry M., bolts Republican con-
vention, 225-226.

Tenure-of -Office Act, passed, 32; John-
son wishes to test its constitutional-
ity, 34-36; amended, 48; repealed,
167.

Terry, A. H., purges Georgia Legis-
lature, 52; in Sioux war, 106, 108.

"The Hostiles," a band of warlike In-
dians, 105.

Thirteenth Amendment, ratification of,
6, 16; political effect of, 21; bill to
carry into effect, 27; mentioned, 71

Thomas, Lorenzo, designated as secre-
tary of war, 34.

Thornton, Sir Edward, negotiates
Treaty of Washington, 67.

Thurman, A. G., member of electoral
commission, 90; candidate for presi-
dential nomination in 1880, 135;
mentioned for presidential nomina-
tion in 1884, 143; nominated for vice-
presidency in 1888, 177.

"Tidal Wave of 1874," account of, 79.

Tilden, Samuel J., opposes Tweed, 75;
nominated for presidency, 85; career
of, 85; in campaign of 1876, 86-03;
declares he was cheated out of the
presidency, 127; and cipher des-
patches, 128; not a candidate in
1880, 135; mentioned, 143; recom-
mends Manning for Cleveland's
Cabinet, 165.

562

INDEX

Tillman, Benjamin R., attacks Cleve-
land, 227.
Tobacco Trust, decision against, 328-

329, 365-

Trader, part of, in opening of the West,
116.

Trapper, part of, in opening of the
West, 116.

Treaty of Washington, negotiated, 67.

Trusts, rise of, 157-158; Sherman Anti-
trust Act passed, 188-189; act
evaded, 100; rapid formation of, 282-
283; evils of, 283-286; arguments tor,
286-287; Antitrust Act practically a
dead letter, 287; Roosevelt takes up
the problem, 288-289; Northern Se-
curities case, 289; rush to form
ceases, 293; Roosevelt's trust rec-
ommendations, 328; Standard Oil
and Tobacco Trust cases, 329; new
legislation under Wilson, 385-386.

Tweed, William M., story of his career,

74-75-

Tweed Ring, rise and fall, 74-75; men-
tioned, 87.

"Understanding Clause," adopted in
Mississippi to eliminate negro vote, 95.

Underwood, Oscar, chairman com-
mittee on ways and means, 363;
candidate for presidential nomination.
371-372.

Underwood Act, passed, 383-384; act
declared a failure by Republicans,
414.

Union League, operations in South, 51.

Union Pacific Railroad, building of,
114-115.

United States Steel Corporation, formed,
284-285.

Vatcrland, taken over and used as a

troop-ship, 433-434.
Venezuela, controversy with Great

Britain over, 218-222; controversy

over debts owed by, 294-296.
Victory loan, floating of, 449.
Villa, Francisco, Mexican leader, 390;

quarrels with Carranza, 391; raids

Columbus, 393; American expedition

against, 394.
Villard, Henry, part of, in building

Northern Pacific Railroad, 122.
Virgin Islands, bought, 388.

Wade, Benjamin F., calls on Johnson, 3 ;
opposes Johnson's reconstruction
plan, 1 8.

Warmoth, H. C., goes over to conserva-
tives, 56.

Washburne, Elihu B., secretary of state
and minister to France, 47.

Washington, Booker, his work, 280;
leader of one school of negro opinion,
508; quoted, 510.

Washington, George, quoted regarding
aims of American farmers, 162-163;
realized need of conserving natural
resources, 331; mentioned, 336.

"Watchful Waiting," Wilson's policy
toward Mexico, 389, 390.

Watson, Thomas E., nominated for
vice-presidency by Populists, 230.

Watterson, Henry, speech regarding
Tilden's claims, oo.

Weaver, James B., nominated by
Greenbackers in 1880, 86; by Popu-
lists in 1892, 203; his vote, 205.

Webb bill, passed, 512.

West, see Wild West and New West.

Weyler, Valeriano, cruel policy in
Cuba, 235, 237.

Wheeler, Joseph, in Spanish-American
War, 240; at Santiago, 246-247.

Wheeler, W. A., nominated for vice-
president in 1876, 84; declared
elected, 92.

Whiskey Ring, prosecution of, 80.

White, Edward D., appointed chief
justice, 364.

White, William A., quoted, 223.

White Brotherhood, see Ku Klux Klan.

White Camelia, a secret organization
similar to Ku Klux Klan, 49; opera-
tions in Louisiana, 55.

Whitney, William C., secretary of the
treasury, 165.

Whittier, John G., quoted, 123.

Wild West, passing of, described, 100-
124.

Wiley, Harvey W., chief chemist of
Department of Agriculture, 327.

William II, tells German soldiers to
behave like "Huns," 275; responsible
for Great War, 395; assumes nominal
command, 455; quoted regarding
Allied lack of unified command, 458;
participates in session of war cabinet,
478; flees to Holland, 479; Holland
refuses to surrender, 491.

INDEX

563

Wilson, Henry, nominated for vice-
president, 70; elected, 72; death of, 89.

Wilson, James, long term as secretary
of agriculture, 351.

Wilson, Woodrow, mentioned, 198;
policy toward Philippines, 271-272;
reverses his attitude toward federal
child-labor legislation, 330; nomi-
nated for presidency, 371-373; sketch
of, 373; in campaign, 376-377;
elected, 377-378; inaugurated, 380;
Cabinet, 380-381; attitude toward
civil service, 381-382; his "New
Freedom," 382; addresses Congress
in person, 383; his programme, 383-
386; his leadership, 386; Caribbean
policy, 387; policy toward Colombia,
388; Mexican policy, 388-390; 393-
395; neutrality policy, 396-397;
"too-proud-to-fight" speech, 403-404;
Lusitaniu notes, 404-406; demands
recall of Dumba, Boy-Ed, and Von
Papen, 407; attitude toward "pre-
paredness," 404-411; Roosevelt's
criticisms of, 413; re-elected, 414-416;
eagerness to play r&le of peacemaker,
417-418; peace overtures of, 418;
German opinion of him, 419; asks for
"armed neutrality," 420; his course
discussed, 421; calls special session
to consider international situation,
422; war message, 423-425; secures
conscription act, 431-432; declines
Roosevelt's services, 433; sends
Pershing to Europe, 438; criticised,
441-442; authorizes investigation of
airplane situation, 443; appoints
Hoover food administrator, 445; ap-
points McAdoo director-general of
railroads, 445-446; approves shutting
down of industry during coal crisis,
446; approves War Revenue Act, 449;
asks for declaration of war on Austria-
Hungary, 450; approves espionage
act, 451; favors unified command, 458;
consents to brigading of American

troops with French and British, 461;
his "fourteen points," 475; negotia-
tions with Germans, 476-478; ap-
peals for Democratic Congress, 481;
his predominance ended, 482; goes
to peace conference, 483-484; favors
League of Nations, 485 ; quarrels with
Italy, 489; controversy with Senate,
4Q3~496; asks for Lansing's resigna-
tion, 495-496; immigration bill
passed over his veto, 506; prohibition
proclamation of, 512.

Windom, William, secretary of the
treasury, 184; favors increased use
of silver, 188.

Woman's movement, account of, 514-
519-

Woman suffrage, progress of, 517-518.

Wood, Leonard, helps organize Rough
Riders, 245; governor of Cuba, 253-
254; champions preparedness, 409;
Plattsburg plan, 432.

Woodford, Stewart L., minister' to
Spain, 237, 239.

Worcester, Dean C., on Philippine
commissions, 267-268; quoted, 269.

Workingman's Party of California, op-
poses Chinese immigration, 131.

Wonnley Conferences, account of, 92.

Wright, Orville, an inventor of the air-
plane, 523-524.

Wright, Wilbur, an inventor of the air-
plane, 523-524-

Wyoming, settlement of, 121.

Yellowstone National Park, created,
123.

Zimmermann, Alfred, does not consider
Lusitania protest seriously, 404-405;
attempts to embroil Mexico and Japan
with the United States, 420; notifies
Gerard that unlimited submarine war-
fare will begin, 418; says Wilson is for
peace and nothing else, 419; makes
overtures to Mexico, 420.

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"JTY

AA 000868305

3 1205 00212 3212