Administration of Garfield and Arthur, 1881-1885.
JAMES A. Garfield, twentieth President of the United J States, was born at Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. He was left in infancy to the sole care of his mother and to the rude surroundings of a backwoods home. In boyhood he served as a driver and pilot of a canal boat plying the Ohio and Pennsylvania canal. At the age of seventeen he attended the High School in Chester, was afterwards a student at Hiram College, and in 1854 entered Williams College, from which he was graduated with honor.
James A. Garfield.
2. In the same year, Garfield returned to Ohio, and was made first a professor and afterwards president of Hiram College. This position he held until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he left his post to enter the army. In the service he rose to distinction, and while still in the field was elected by the people of his district to the lower house of Congress. In 1879 he was elected to the United States Senate, and hard upon this followed his nomination and election to the presidency. American history has furnished but few instances of a more steady and brilliant rise, from the poverty of an obscure boyhood, to the most distinguished elective office in the gift of mankind.
The "Spoils System."
3. On the 4th of March, 1881, President Garfield delivered his inaugural address, and the new administration entered upon its course with omens of an auspicious future. But its prospects were soon darkened with political difficulties. A division arose in the ranks of the Republican party. The two wings of the Republicans were nicknamed the "Stalwarts" and the "Half-Breeds": the former, headed by Senator Conkling of New York; the latter, led by Mr. Blaine, Secretary of State, and indorsed by the President himself. The Stalwarts claimed the right of dispensing the appointive offices of the Government, after the manner which had prevailed for many preceding administrations; the President, supported by his division of the party, insisted on naming the officers in the various States according to his own wishes.
4. The chief clash between the two influences in the party occurred in New York. The collectorship of customs for the port of New York is the best appointive office in the Government. To fill this position the President nominated Judge William Robertson, and the appointment was antagonized by the New York senators, Conkling and Platt, who, failing to prevent the confirmation of Robertson, resigned their seats, returned to their State, and failed of a reelection.
Assassination of Pres. Garfield.
5. A few days after the adjournment of the Senate in June, the President, in company with Secretary Blaine and a few friends, entered the railroad depot at Washington to take the train for Long Branch, New Jersey. A moment afterwards he was approached by a miserable miscreant, who, unperceived, came within a few feet of the company, drew a pistol, and fired upon the Chief Magistrate. The shot struck the President in the back, and inflicted a dreadful wound. The bleeding chieftain was borne away to the executive mansion, and the wretch who had committed the crime was hurried to prison. For eighty days the stricken President lingered between life and death, bearing the pain and anguish of his situation with a fortitude and heroism rarely witnessed among men; but at half-past ten on the evening of September 19th, the anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga, his vital powers suddenly gave way, and in a few moments death closed the scene.
President Arthur Installed.
6. On the day following this deplorable event, Vice-president Arthur took the oath of office in New York, and repaired to Washington. Chester A. Arthur was born in Vernon, Franklin County, Vermont, October 5, 1830. He was of Irish descent, and was educated at Union College, from which institution he was graduated in 1849. For awhile he taught school in his native State, and then came to New York City to study law. During the civil war he was Quartermaster-General of the State of New York. After 1865 he returned to the practice of law, and in 1871 was appointed Collector of Customs for the port of New York. This position he held until July, 1878, when he was removed by President Hayes. Again he returned to his law practice, but was soon called by the voice of his party to be a standard-bearer in the Presidential canvass of 1880.
Chester A. Arthur.
7. The administration of President Arthur proved to be uneventful. The government pursued the even tenor of its way, and the progress of the country was unchecked by calamity. Several important scientific inventions were perfected about this time, and several great public works completed.
Scientific Inventions.
8. One of the best examples of the application of scientific discovery to the affairs of every-day life is that of the Telephone. It has remained for our day to discover the possibility of transmitting or reproducing the human voice at a distance of hundreds or even thousands of miles. By means of a simple contrivance, a person in one part of the country is able to converse with friends in another part, as if face to face. The invention of this wonderful instrument is to be credited to Professor A. Graham Bell, of Massachusetts, and Elisha P. Gray, of Chicago. It should be mentioned, also, that Professor A. C. Dolbear, of Tufts College, and the great inventor, Thomas A. Edison, have succeeded in the production of telephonic instruments.
9. Another recent invention is the Phonograph. It is the nature of the phonograph to receive and retain the wave-lines and figures of sound, whether of the human voice or some other sound, and by an ingenious contrivance to reproduce those sounds as if they were the original utterance. It is to be regretted that thus far the phonograph has proved to be of little or no practical utility.
10. But perhaps the greatest invention of the age is the Electric Light. About 1870 it was first proposed to use electricity for practical illumination. Long before this time the possibility of electric lighting had been shown by the philosopher Gramme, of Paris. About the same time the Russian scientist, Jablokoff, also succeeded in converting electricity into light. It remained, however, for the great American inventor, Thomas A. Edison, to remove the difficulties in the way of electric lighting, and to make the invention practical. The systems produced by him and others are rapidly taking the place of the old methods of illumination.
Great Public Works.
11. Among the great public works may be mentioned the East River Bridge, joining New York with Brooklyn, which was opened with appropriate ceremonies on the 24th of May, 1883. This structure is the largest of the kind in the world, being a suspension bridge, with a total length of 5,989 feet. The span from pier to pier is 1,595 feet; and the estimated capacity of resistance is 49,200 tons. The engineer under whose direction the great bridge was constructed was Mr. John A. Roebling, who may properly be regarded as the originator of wire suspension bridges. Though he did not live to see the completion of the work which he had planned, the same was taken up and finished by his son, scarcely less noted than his father.
12. The recurrence of the birthday of Washington, 1885, was noted for the completion of the great monument, erected at the Capital, in honor of the Father of his Country. The cost of the completed structure was about $1,500,000. The shaft of the monument, exclusive of the foundation, is 555 feet in height, being 30 feet higher than the cathedral of Cologne, and 75 feet higher than the pyramid of Cheops.
13. In the last year of Arthur's administration the command of the army of the United States was transferred from General William T. Sherman to General Philip H. Sheridan. The former eminent soldier, having reached the age at which, according to Act of Congress, he might retire from active service, availed himself of the provision, and laid down the command which he had so long and honorably held. Nor could it be said that the new General, to whom the command of the American army was now given, was less a patriot and soldier than his eminent predecessor.
Disappearance of Political Issues.
14. During this administration there was a gradual obliteration of those sharply defined issues which for a quarter of a century had divided the two great political parties. Partisan animosity in some measure abated, and it was with difficulty that the managers were able to direct the people in the political contest of 1884. The issue most clearly defined was that of tariff and free trade, and even this, when much discussed, tended to break up both the existing political organizations.
15. During the year 1883 many distinguished men were named for the presidential office. The first national convention was that of the Greenback-Labor party, held at Indianapolis, in April of 1884. By this party, General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, and A. N. West, of Texas, were put in nomination. The Republican convention met on the 3d of June, in Chicago, and, after a session of three days, closed its labors by the nomination of James G. Blaine, of Maine, and General John A. Logan, of Illinois. The Democratic convention met in the same city, on the 9th of July, and chose for its standard-bearers Grover Cleveland, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. The result showed that the Democratic party had drawn to its banners a majority of the American people. Cleveland and Hendricks were elected, receiving 219 ballots in the Electoral College, against 182 votes which were cast for Blaine and Logan.