Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

received disabilities resulting from service. The President urged that if former Union soldiers and sailors suffered from disability for any cause, they should receive pensions. The origin of disability, he said, was often difficult, and in many cases impossible to establish. There were, moreover, many men who, having been under arms for three or four years, were justly entitled to pensions for that reason alone. By the act of June 27, 1890, which Congress passed in accordance with this recommendation, allowing pensions to soldiers or sailors who had served 90 days or more, and who had subsequently become invalided for any cause except their own vicious habits, the value of the pension roll rose $58,000,000 in three years; from $72,052,143 on June 30, 1890, to $130,510,179 on June 30, 1893.

Force Bill.-A bill for whose passage the President was very solicitous was that giving the Federal authority power to supervise State elections, in order that the entire negro vote might be cast and correctly counted in the South, as contemplated in the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution. It was urged against this measure that it would tread on State rights; that it was a political expedient for getting Republican votes from Democratic territory; that it would intensify and solidify sectional feeling, constitute a second Federal "carpet-bag" régime, and by again binding together in unified resentment the South against the North, work grave public mischief. The President, however, with the inflexible conscientiousness that was characteristic of him, continued to demand that the Constitution be complied with, whether or not it was practically expedient; and thereby he is said to have shown himself abler as a moralist and logician than a statesman and man of affairs. Notwithstanding a Republican schism and a solid Democratic opposition, the President insisted in his four annual messages that the national government should interfere in southern elections. His reasons were unanswerable in law and in "pure reason." Starting from the undisputed premise that in the South the negroes were by various devices deprived of any effectual exercise of the political and of many of the civil rights guaranteed them by the Federal law, the President reached the unavoidable conclusion that "the colored man should be protected in all his relations to the Federal government, whether as litigant, juror, or witness in our courts, as an elector for members of Congress, or as a peaceful traveler upon our interstate railways." Following the President's recommendations, bills were introduced in Congress; but their progress was delayed and retarded in committees, and they were finally shelved when an alliance was made known between the Democrats and a group of western Republicans, by which the latter were to vote against the Force Bill in return for the help of the former in obtaining silver legislation. The defeat of the attempt to secure for the negro the rights given him under the Constitution, coming, as the defeat did, after prolonged discussion and agitation, was generally considered as tantamount to an admission by the North that a mistake had been made in conferring those rights upon the negro. So far as legislation was concerned the subject was definitely dropped, the South being inferentially given to understand that within reasonable limits no bar would be placed upon its readjusting for itself its "peculiar problem."

Other Affairs of the Administration.-If the position of President Harrison on the matter of civil service did not entirely please reformers, it appeared to please his party leaders no better. "Honorable party service," said the President, "will certainly not be esteemed by me a disqualification for public office, but it will in no case be allowed to serve as a shield of official negligence, incompetency, or delinquency." To the letter and spirit of this statement the President kept with much exactness. While he paid numerous party debts, the politicians generally found him cold upon the subject of gaining unfair advantage through patronage dispensation, and they disliked him accordingly. In appointments to the bench, moreover, the President practically disregarded all partisan considerations, taking care only that both parties and all sections of the country should be ably represented.

Throughout his administration, President Harrison consistently advocated the increase of the navy. In his inaugural, he said: "Judged by modern standards, we are practically without coast defenses. The security of our coast cities should not rest altogether in the friendly disposition of other nations. There should be a second line wholly in our own keeping." In this respect the President agreed with President Arthur and President Cleveland, and urged that the work of steel naval construction initated by them should be carried on with greater rapidity. The policy of the administration of President McKinley to develop American commerce with Central and South America, China, and Japan, and to subsidize American vessels for this purpose, was also definitely outlined by President Harrison, who saw great and growing possibilities in trade with those countries. The attitude of the United States toward Great Britain's apparent determination to take over "without the advice or consent of any other nation," territory generally considered to belong to Venezuela, and President Cleveland's famous message to Congress upon that subject in 1895, were both foreshadowed by President Harrison, who said, in Decem

[blocks in formation]

ber, 1891: "I should have been glad to announce some favorable disposition of the boundary dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela. This government will continue to express its concern at any appearance of foreign encroachment in territories long under the administrative control of American states."

The last distinguishing act of the President's administration was his endeavor, upon the overthrow of the monarchy of Hawaii at the initiative of the American residents, to obtain from the Senate the ratification of a treaty annexing Hawaii. The Senate, however, did not ratify the treaty in the few days intervening between February 15 and the President's retirement from office on March 4, and on March 9 President Cleveland withdrew the treaty and appointed a special commissioner to examine the conditions under which it had been sent from Hawaii. As this commissioner reported that "beyond all question the constitutional government of Hawaii had been subverted with the active aid of the United States representative to Hawaii," President Cleveland would not re-submit the treaty to the Senate, but endeavored instead, though unsuccessfully, to restore Queen Liliuokalani to power. With the accession of President McKinley in 1897, the Hawaiian policy of President Harrison was again adopted and the islands were formally annexed in 1898.

Failure of Reelection and After Years.-Taken as a whole, the administration of President Harrison was not marked by party harmony; and this, perhaps, as much as anything else, was the cause of his failure to be reelected. All during his term he was dogged with the charge of being "cold"; so cold that "his political advisers rode in ice wagons," that "grass would not grow on the White House grounds," and that "the Church of the Covenant, though afire, was safe enough as long as it held the President's pew." The fact availed him nothing that "when his friends were assailed and needed his support, his sympathy became a wall of granite around them." The important political consideration was, "he was hard to get along with," inflexible in his "convictions," and "obtuse on matters of every-day political expediency." On June 4, 1892, three days before the National Republican Convention met, James G. Blaine resigned from the cabinet and announced himself as a candidate for the presidency. But at that time Mr. Blaine was broken in health, his political following was largely dissipated, and the movement to nominate him could not but be abortive. William McKinley, who, it was thought, might easily have been nominated, absolutely refused, out of loyalty to the President, to consider such a proposition. Mr. Harrison, therefore, was renominated on the first ballot. In the November elections he was defeated by Grover Cleveland, the electoral vote being 277 to 145. After his retirement Mr. Harrison gained steadily in repute and prestige. He was the principal counsel for Venezuela before the Anglo-Venezuelan Boundary Arbitration Commission at Paris in 1899, and was appointed by President McKinley a member of the Hague Arbitration Commission. Relieved from the burdens and prejudices of office, he appeared at once to broaden in many ways, and the people at large, in view both of his well-known integrity and the disinterested position he occupied, were prepared to defer to and widely quote any statements he might make on current topics. Like Senator Hoar, Mr. Harrison took sharp exception to President McKinley's colonial policy, and like Senator Hoar, he considered, nevertheless, that the Republican administration should be sustained in the elections of 1900. After President McKinley's reelection, Mr. Harrison was more outspoken upon the administration's Eastern policy, and his objections to it, as stated in his writings, were widely quoted.

On October 20, 1853, Mr. Harrison married Miss Caroline Lavinia Scott, daughter of the Rev. John W. Scott, and sister of ex-Judge John N. Scott, a practicing attorney of Indianapolis. He had by her two children, Russell and Mary, who afterward became the wife of Robert J. McKee, of New York. In October, 1892, Mrs. Harrison died, during the heat of the presidential campaign. In April, 1896, Mr. Harrison was married to Mrs. Mary Scott Lord Dimmock, his first wife's niece, by whom he had one daughter.

HARRISON, HENRY BALDWIN, former governor of Connecticut, died at New Haven, October 29, 1901. He was born at New Haven, September 11, 1821, and graduated at the head of his class at Yale University in 1846. He was admitted to the bar, and in 1854 was elected to the State senate. During his service he drafted the Personal Liberty Bill, which resulted in the practical nullification of the Fugitive Slave Law. Mr. Harrison helped to organize the Republican party in 1856, and in 1865 he was elected to the first of his four terms in the State assembly. As a Republican he was elected governor in 1884.

HART, JAMES MACDOUGALL, American landscape painter, died in Brooklyn, N. Y., October 23, 1901. He was born at Kilmarnock, Scotland, May 10, 1828, and was brought by his parents to the United States in 1830. He studied landscape painting at Düsseldorf in 1850-53. In 1859 he was made a member of the Academy of Design, in the council of which he served for a number of years. His best work was in landscapes, including cattle, and among his well-known pictures are: "The

[blocks in formation]

Drove at the Ford" (in the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington); "At the Brookside" (in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City); and "In the Autumn Woods" (Sayles Memorial Hall, Providence, R. I.).

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass., founded 1636, is the oldest, most influential, and still the largest of American educational institutions. Its student enrollment in 1901 was the largest in its history, showing a total of 5,576 in all departments. The teaching staff numbered 475, exceeding that of any other American institution, though its ratio of teachers to students, I to II, is higher than in several other universities, notably Johns Hopkins, where it is 1 to 5. The year 1901 was marked by no special event, unless it was the great advance made by the medical school. From having the least satisfactory financial support of any of the professional schools a few years ago, it now can claim the best. Early in the year Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan signified his intention of supplying three of the much-needed buildings, at a cost, including buildings and lands, of more than $1,000,000. Late in the year came the gift of $1,000,000 from Mr. John D. Rockefeller as an endowment. In 1901, which was the last year that a candidate could enter the medical school without a bachelor's degree, the attendance considerably increased, though the relatively, large numbers dropped at mid-year brought the attendance to the normal point. During the year the School of Veterinary Medicine was closed on account of lack of support, both in students and in funds. This is the first time that the university has ever been compelled to abandon a department of instruction once adopted by it. For some time the faculty has been considering the redefinition of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, to the intent that the college course might be shortened to a three-years' term for the average student, without any material reduction of the standards. Many other institutions are merely waiting for Harvard to take the lead in this much-needed reform. While the facultry adopted no definite revision, they presented a clear statement of the present practices with regard to recommending for the degree candidates who have been in residence less than four years. Under this practice, any young man of industry and fair ability can obtain the degree in three years, if he makes, rather early in his course, an intelligent plan for accomplishing that object. In respect to the higher degrees, President Eliot calls attention to the long period required for the Doctorate, and to the fact that the average age of those taking the degree is 27 years, indicating an unnecessary expenditure of time at some period in the educational career. The position is also taken that the standards for the doctor's thesis are too high for a man of the maturity and experience that the candidate would have should the degree be taken at a proper age. As usual, the president's report is one of the most valuable educational documents of the year, many of the points discussed, as college athletics, research, and library reorganization, being mentioned in the article Universities and Colleges (q.v.). The additions to the library during the year were 16,000. In 1901 an extraordinary number of buildings were under construction for the university, namely, the Nelson Robinson, Jr., Hall for Architecture, the Semitic Museum, the Simkins Laboratory, Pierce Hall, and the Harvard Union. The total expenditure for these buildings was over $820,000. For the endowment of the Robinson Hall of Architecture, $300,000 was also given. There was a net increase for the year of over $500,000 in the endowment funds, which now amount to over $13,000,000.

HARVEY, Rev. MOSES, Canadian scientist and author, died at St. Johns, N. F., September 3, 1901. He was born at Armagh, Ireland, in 1820, and was educated for the ministry at the Royal College, Belfast. For eight years (1844-52) he was pastor of a church at Maryport, Cumberland, England, and went from there to St. Andrew's Free Church, at St. Johns, where he stayed until 1878, when he retired from active church work. In recognition of his scientific research, he was in 1886 elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of England, and in 1891 a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1873 Dr. Harvey discovered the giant cuttle-fish, Archethuthis Harveyi, now in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. His writings include: Lectures on the Harmony of Science and Revelation (1856); A Text-Book of Newfoundland History (1890); and Newfoundland as It is in 1894. HATCH, JOHN PORTER, major-general U. S. V., died in New York City. April 12, 1901. He was born at Oswego, N. Y., January 9, 1822, and graduated at West Point * in 1845. He served throughout the Mexican War, being brevetted twice for gallantry, and during the first year of the Civil War was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers in the Union army. He held command of a brigade under General Banks in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, and at the close of the war had attained the rank of major-general of volunteers and brevet brigadier-general in the regular service. Continuing in the service, he was retired in 1886 with rank of colonel.

HATZFELDT-WILDENBURG, Count von, PAUL MELCHIOR HUBERT GUSTAV, German diplomat, died in London, November 22, 1901. He was born in 1831, and was educated in law at the universities of Bonn and Berlin. Entering the diplo

[graphic][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »