CHAPTER XXXIII. THE BLAND SILVER BILL-YELLOW FEVER-RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS-THE CHINESE- A T the first regular session of the Forty-fifth Congress, a bill known as the "Bland Silver Bill" was passed, on the 21st of February, 1878. The President returned it to the House of Representatives on February 28th, with his objections; but, on the same day, it was passed by both Houses over his veto, and it became a law. It provided for the coinage of silver dollars of the weight of 412 grains, and that the rate of coinage should be at least $2,000,000 a month, and not more than $4,000,000. That coinage has gone on at the minimum rate, and now (1885) the vaults of the United States Treasury are overloaded with silver coin. During the summer and fall of 1878 the yellow fever prevailed as a fearful epidemic in the region of the Lower Mississippi River from Memphis to New Orleans. In his annual Message to Congress the President called the attention of that body to the necessity for investigating the causes of the epidemic; and on the 5th of December the Senate appointed a committee to act in the matter, with one from the House of Representatives, and appropriated $50,000. On the first of January, 1879, a most important event occurred-it was the resumption of specie payments by the National Government and the Banks, after a suspension of about eighteen years. There was very strong and persistent opposition to the measure on the part of the opponents of the administration, and efforts were made in Congress to defeat it. The authorization of the circulation of silver coin by Act of Congress, in January, 1875, prepared the way for resumption. As the time approached for resump tion, the opponents became louder prophets of evil. They predicted greater prostration of business, and the impossibility of meeting the enormous demand for coin on the day fixed for resumption, and afterwards. The premium on gold, however, continually diminished, and paper money was at par value in December, 1878. For some weeks private business houses had been paying out gold. Notwithstanding these indications, the Government Sub-Treasuries and the Banks employed an increased clerical force to assist in the labors of the first of January. These clerks were not needed. At the closing hour the Banks had more gold in their vaults than at the opening. Resumption had been imperceptibly effected. Its salutary influence was immediately felt. From the first day of resumption, business began to revive, and the tide of prosperity throughout the whole country has continued to rise higher and higher. On the Pacific Coast a strong prejudice against the Chinese immigrants had been created, chiefly by other foreign-born persons, because of their alleged monopoly of labor at reduced prices. The matter was brought to the attention of Congress, and a bill to restrict Chinese immigration passed both Houses in the winter of 1879. It restricted the number of Chinese passengers in one voyage to fifteen. The President vetoed the bill. The opposition majority in Congress resolved to defeat, by means of legislation, the operations of the law authorizing the use of United States troops to keep the peace at the polls where candidates for National offices were to be voted for. The employment of United States Marshals for the same purpose was also opposed. The method resorted to for effecting their purpose caused very exciting debates in Congress. They burdened every appropriation bill with a "rider," or conditions requiring that United States troops should not be allowed at any election in any State, and that the Marshals should not interfere in any elections. So persistent were the opposition members in their methods, that they seemed determined to clog the wheels of Government unless their measures were adopted. The Forty-fifth Congress expired without passing the usual appropriation bills, and this failure in duty caused the necessity for calling a session of the Forty-sixth Congress. They were summoned to meet on March 18, 1879. They did so, and passed appropriation bills with obnoxious "riders," which were vetoed by the President. This extraordinary session lasted until July 1st. Failing to pass the vetoed bills over the President's veto, they were shorn of their obnoxious appendages, and were passed and approved by the President. There was a remarkable and comparatively sudden exodus of colored people from the States on the Lower Mississippi in 1879. The reason for the movement was alloged to be a denial of the exercise of civil rights to the CHAP. XXXIII. QUESTION OF FEMALE SUFFRAGE. 1789 negroes, to which they had a constitutional right, and their oppressions in various ways at the hands of the white people. The earlier emigrants and the larger number went to Kansas. Later a considerable number went to Indiana. A committee was appointed by the Senate to investigate the causes of the movement. Their report was not very satisfactory. They declared that the causes were partly political and partly pecuniary. There was a sudden outbreak of hostility to the white people by the Ute tribe of Indians in Colorado in the early autumn of 1879. The movement was fierce and desperate, and created great alarm throughout a considerable portion of this new State. The barbarians murdered N. C. Meeker, the Indian agent at White River. Major Thornburgh, of the United States Army, was sent with a force to suppress the hostile movement; and in a battle with the Utes at Milk Creek, on September 29th, he and ten of his command were slain. For six days the rest of his force were surrounded by Indians, but being intrenched it held out until succor arrived. The outbreak ended almost as suddenly as it was begun. The subject of the equality of men and women in law and society as well as in nature, is engaging the attention of statesmen, publicists, and the people generally, more and more as the years move on. The chief topic of discussion now is the conferring upon women the right to exercise the elective franchise. In some States this has been done in a slight degree. The most significant action yet taken in the matter was the introduction in both Houses of Congress, in January, 1880, of the following joint resolution proposing a Sixteenth Amendment to the National Constitution: “ARTICLE 16. The right of suffrage in the United States shall be based on citizenship, and the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of sex, or for any reason not really applicable to all citizens of the United States. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." The year 1880 was the "Presidential year," and both the great political parties as well as smaller organizations, began early to make preparations for the quadrennial contest for the coveted prize of the Presidency of the Republic. In the month of June the several political parties each held a National Convention to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States. In this movement the Republican party first appeared. Its chosen representatives assembled in convention at Chicago, Illinois, on June 2d, 1880. They nominated James Abram Garfield, of Ohio, for President, and Chester Allan Arthur for Vice-President of the Republic. The National (“Greenback") Party held a convention at Chicago on the 9th of June, 1880, and nominated John B. Weaver, of Iowa, for President, and Benjamin J. Chambers, of Texas, for Vice-President. This ticket had a large following in the Labor Party. The Prohibition National Convention assembled at Cleveland, Ohio, on June 17, 1880, and nominated Neal Dow, of Maine, for President, and A. H. Thompson, of Ohio, for VicePresident. On June 22d the Democratic National Convention assembled at Cincinnati, and nominated General Winfield Scott Hancock, of the United States Army, for President, and William H. English, of Indiana, for VicePresident. There were also Anti-Masonic candidates for President and Vice-President. General John W. Phelps, of Vermont, was named for the office of President, and G. C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, for Vice-President. The Republican and Democratic parties, the only hopeful contestants in the field, made an energetic struggle for the prize from June until November. The Republican platform adopted at Chicago affirmed that the National Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and that out of a league of States it made a sovereign nation: that the work of popular education is left to the several States, but that the National Government should aid that work so far as the Constitution gives it power; that the Constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law respecting the establishment of any religion, and recommended an amendment to the Constitution forbidding any State appropriation of public funds for the support of sectarian schools; that no further grants of the public domain be made to any corporation; that the improvement of water-courses and harbors is a duty belonging to the National Government, but that further subsidies to private persons or corporations should cease; and that judicious laws should be made concerning Chinese immigration. In the preamble to the platform the Convention took a brief retrospective glance at the history of the Republican party during the last twenty years. They said: "Without resorting to loans it has, since the war closed, defrayed the ordinary expenses of Government besides the accruing interest on the public debt, and disbursed annually over $30,000,000 for soldiers' pensions. It has paid $888,000,000 of the public debt, and by refunding the balance at lower rates has reduced the annual interest charge from nearly $151,000,000 to less than $89,000,000. All the industries of the country have revived, labor is in demand, wages have increased, and throughout the entire country there is evidence of a coming prosperity greater than we have ever enjoyed." The Democratic platform declared opposition to centralization of power in the National Government; that Church and State ought to be separate, and common schools fostered and protected; "Home Rule" and honest CHAP. XXXIII. GARFIELD ELECTED PRESIDENT. 1791 money should prevail; that a tariff for revenue only should be laid; that the military should be subordinate to the civil power; and that a thorough reform in the civil service should be made. They declared that the administration of President Hayes was "the representative of conspiracy only"; denounced the election laws which provided against violence and fraud at the polls through the watchfulness of United States Marshals; and demanded a reform which "shall make it forever impossible for a defeated candidate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains upon the people,” and in "making places in the civil service a reward for political crime." They declared against monopolies of every kind; and they demanded a revision of the treaty with China, so as to provide that no Chinese should ever come to our shores, "except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, and therein carefully guarded." They concluded the manifesto by saying: "We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of a Democratic Congress, which has reduced the public expenditure $10,000,000 a year; upon the continuation of prosperity at home and the National honor abroad; and above all, upon the promise of such a change in the adminis tration of the Government as shall insure a genuine and lasting reform in every department of the public service." After a most exciting canvass and months of anxious suspense endured by earnest men engaged in the conducting of the various industries of the country, the election, in November, 1880, resulted in the choice of James A. Garfield for President, and Chester A. Arthur for Vice-President of the Republic. The result gave a wonderful forward impulse to business of every kind. During the last session of the Forty-sixth Congress, which expired on the 4th of March, 1881, the most important business transacted, excepting the passage of the usual appropriation bills, was the adoption of a bill by the Senate providing for a new apportionment of Congressional representation under the census of 1880, and a new refunding bill by both Houses. The first-named bill increases the number of members of the House of Representatives from 293 to 319. The ratio is increased 131,425 under the census of 1870, to 154,769 under the census of 1880. The House of Representatives did not act upon this bill. The new funding bill fixed the rate of interest at three per cent. a year. One section of the bill was regarded as so hostile to the interests of the National Banks, which are closely allied to the business interests of the country of every kind, and so perilous to the advancing prosperity of the Nation, that the President, on the 3d of March, 1881, vetoed it, and no further action on the subject was taken. |