five cents in bank-notes. For nearly eighteen years neither the banks, nor the government, nor any private person would give a dollar in gold for a paper dollar; and the "promise to pay," upon the paper dollar seemed to mean very little. But the difference grew gradually less and less and finally, on the 1st of January, 1879, specie payments were resumed; and ever since that time any one who has a dollar in paper can obtain for it a gold or silver dollar at any time without any difficulty.

prosperity

nation.

Another evidence of prosperity is to be found in the Increased increased industry of the nation. In 1878 this country of the imported one-third less goods from abroad than in 1873, and this was partly because the people had learned to produce the same things themselves. Formerly almost every watch used in America was made in Europe; now the American watches rival European watches in the markets on the other side of the ocean. Formerly we imported a great deal of certain products of industry, such as medicines, perfumery, combs, soap, writing-paper, glassware, musical instruments, carriages, and furniture; now we supply ourselves almost wholly with these things, and send many of them abroad. Formerly the greater part of our cutlery and tools came from Sheffield in England; now American knives and tools are sold in Sheffield at a price lower than those made there. Between 1873 and 1878 our importation of foreign cottons. and woollens fell off one-half; that of manufactured steel fell to one-third of what it had been; that of railroad iron to one-fifth of what it had been; that of carpets to one-tenth of what it had been; and all this time the exportation of provisions, especially of beef and grain, went on growing greater and greater. Before the aboli

Decline in our ship

ests.

tion of slavery it was supposed that without slave labor there could be no cotton crop; but more cotton is now raised and exported by the aid of free labor than was ever the case under slavery.

All branches of industry have gradually flourished more ping inter- and more, except that of ship-building and ship-owning: the American nation has never to this day regained the prosperity that it once had in these ways. This came partly from the war, when foreign commerce under American flags almost stopped; and partly from the change from wooden to iron vessels. America has great advantages for building wooden vessels, but European nations, especially England, have great advantages for building iron vessels; so that all the great steamers which now cross the Atlantic are built and owned in Europe. It is hoped that at some time and in some way our old com

mercial prosperity will be

restored. Until this is done it cannot be claimed that the welfare of the nation in business matters is in all respects complete.

In the national election of 1880 the Republicans nominated James A. Garfield of Ohio for president, and Chester A. Arthur of New York for vice-president. The Democrats nom

inated Winfield S. Hancock of New York for president, and William H. English of Indiana for vice-president; and the "Greenback" party and several smaller parties

twentieth

also made nominations. The Republican candidate was elected by a decided majority of electoral votes, so that there was none of the bitter feeling which had been left by the previous election. President Garfield was inaug- The urated March 4, 1881, and there was a general feeling of president. hopefulness and prosperity, when the nation was startled by a great shock. On July 2, 1881, while waiting for a train in the railway-station at Washington, President Garfield was shot and mortally wounded by an unknown stranger named Charles J. Guiteau. The President was at once taken to the White House, where he lingered between life and death for many weeks, amid the anxiety of the whole people.

ety of the

During all this period the courage and patience The anxishowed by the sufferer, and also by his heroic wife, people. were so great as to command peculiar respect and admiration. Day by day the telegraphic reports sent out by the physicians were read with the deepest interest, not only throughout the United States, but all over Europe. The state of the President's pulse, of his digestion, the temperature of his body, the condition of his mind, all these things were reported by telegraph to anxious multitudes day by day. After eleven weeks of suffering the President died (Sept. 19, 1881) at Elberon, New Jersey, whither he had been removed; and then the mourning was universal. The story of his life was Respect told again and again,—how he had risen from the posi- memory. tion of a poor boy, through long and faithful service in the camp and in Congress, to the presidency of the na tion. He seemed at the time of his death to be as well known and as much honored in Europe as in America ; and in England especially his death created a feeling

paid to his

The assas

sin of the

that showed itself through all classes of society. Five hundred different British societies and corporations passed resolutions in his honor; the English court went into mourning; and Queen Victoria, after repeated messages of sympathy to Mrs. Garfield, sent a wreath of honor to be placed upon his coffin.

His death was not the result of any conspiracy, nor president. did it proceed, like Lincoln's, from any political hostility; it was the act of one misguided man, who was angry at being refused an office. This fact created a new desire to have some better system of appointments to office, so that the president need not, as now, be responsible for them all. The murderer was tried and suffered death, although his counsel tried to prove that he was insane at the time of the assault.

The twenty-first president.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

Vice President Arthur succeeded to the presidency, taking the oath of office at New York (Sept. 20, 1881), and again, more formally, two days after, at Washington. For the first time in twenty years the inaugural address contained no reference to the Southern States as a distinct part of the nation. This signified that the long sectional contest, growing out of slavery, was at an end. Whatever evils might be left for the American people to deal with, the greatest evil was overcome. The nation was reunited,

and was at peace with all the world.

219 electoral

President Arthur served out his term of office, during which time the nation was at peace and no new States were added to the Union. For the presidential election of 1884, the Republican National Convention nominated James G. Blaine of Maine as President, and John A. Logan of Illinois as Vice-President; while the Democratic convention nominated Grover Cleveland of New York and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana. The Democratic candidates received votes, and their opponents but 182; so that the Republican party was defeated, after twenty-four years of power. Candidates were also nominated, at this election, by the prohibitory temperance party, and by the "citizens'" or "greenback" party, but these obtained no electoral votes. President Cleveland was inaugurated March 4, 1885, with Mr. Hendricks

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND.

Inaugura tion of President

as Vice-President, who, however, died Nov. 25, 1885. Cleveland After his death, a law was passed by Congress, providing that in case of the deaths of both President and Vice-President, the Secretary of State should be the successor to the Presidency. A law had been previously passed, known as the "Civil Service Act," under which the appointments to certain offices should thenceforth be made by competitive examination; the object of this law being to diminish arbitrary changes. in office and secure greater permanence.