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1878-1880

harm would have resulted, and our gold currency would have disappeared at once, leaving only silver in circulation. 19

From the silver bill the attention of the public was directed to the approaching day set for the resumption of specie payments, January 1, 1879. Fortunately for the country the work of preparing for this devolved upon a skilled financier, John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, who for years had served as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Many doubted to the last that resumption would be possible, but Sherman had been quietly gathering a supply of gold, and when the day came there was $134,000,000 on hand with which to redeem any of the greenbacks that might be presented. 20 Already, two weeks before, the premium on gold had disappeared and the confidence in the financial ability and integrity of the government was so great that few notes were now presented. From that day to this a greenback dollar has been worth as much as a gold dollar, although in reality it is but a promise of the government to pay at some future time.

During the summer of 1878 a yellow fever epidemic of unprecedented malignity swept over some of the Southern States, causing great loss of life, much suffering and general paralysis of business and industry. The disease made its appearance at New Orleans during the latter part of May and was traced to a steamer which arrived from Havana on the 23d of the month. The fever rapidly spread from house to house, until by August 20 the epidemic was declared by the Board of Health to be beyond control. Many towns and cities in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and other States were likewise afflicted. The greater part of the population of Vicksburg fled and it is estimated that as many as 15,000 of the inhabitants of Memphis did likewise. At one time scarcely 3,500 persons were left in Memphis, and of these one-third were fever-stricken. Altogether about 14,000 persons succumbed to the dread disease.21 The largest death rate was in Memphis, where 4,200 persons died. Next came New Orleans, with 3,977, and Vicksburg with 1,138. In some towns almost one-fifth of the population perished. From all parts of the country physicians and nurses tendered their services and many of them fell victims to the plague while bravely laboring at their

19 Laughlin, "Political Economy," p. 312.

20 John Sherman's "Recollections," vol. ii. p. 687.
21" Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia," 1878, p. 319.

1880-1881

posts of duty. Contributions amounting to more than $383,000 were sent to the stricken communities from various parts of the United States and Europe. In New Orleans the suffering were cared for by the Howard Association, a body of good Samaritans, which employed over one hundred physicians and furnished relief to 24,000 stricken persons. The pestilence reached its height on September II. Gloom hung like a pall over the city and the stillness of death reigned unbroken except for the clatter of unfollowed hearses and the hurrying hither and thither of nurses and physicians. Music was forbidden and the church bells were no longer rung. Business and trade had long since come to a standstill and there was hardly a thought of anything except for the dead or the dying. Finally with the appearance of the October frosts the ravages of the disease ceased and the most destructive epidemic in the history of the country came to an end.

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Chapter XXXIX

GARFIELD AND ARTHUR. 1881-1885

I

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1880; THE

66

GRANT MOVEMENT";

I

TRIUMPH OF GARFIELD

N 1880, as in 1876, there was no lack of candidates for the Republican nomination for President, and again the convention fell back upon a "dark horse." First among the candidates was General Grant, who, while probably not eager for the nomination himself, allowed his name to be proposed by some of his friends who wished to accord him the unprecedented honor of a third term. He had just returned from a remarkable tour around the world and was more than ever a hero. The rulers and statesmen of every important country on the globe had seemingly vied with one another in rendering his progress a continual ovation, and the honors bestowed upon him in foreign lands were probably greater than had ever before fallen to the lot of any American. The people of the United States felt a personal pride in the splendid reception which had been accorded to the ex-President abroad, and when he reached home, after an absence of nearly three years, he was welcomed after the manner of a returning hero. There was now a disposition to overlook and forget the mistakes of his administration and remember only his deeds as a soldier in the Civil War, while his absence had done much to soften whatever asperities had grown out of factional differences among his followers.

The leader of Grant's forces in the convention was Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York, the Republican dictator in that State and a devoted personal admirer of the ex-President, over whom he had wielded tremendous influence during his Presidency. He was ably supported by "Don" Cameron of Pennsylvania, who had succeeded to his father's power in that State, and also by Gen

1

1881

eral John A. Logan of Illinois, the most distinguished volunteer soldier of the Civil War on the northern side and a great favorite with the veterans throughout the country. But there were many among the Republican leaders who could not forget the scandals of Grant's second term and who realized that with him as a candidate it would be hard to meet the Democratic assaults. "There was a feeling," said the late Senator Hoar, "that the influence of unworthy politicians, which had been powerful with him during his second term, would be more powerful if he should go back to the Presidency with their aid." More important still was the unwritten law against third terms, and if it were disregarded in General Grant's case it might lead to dangers unforeseen in the future. The example set by Washington in this respect they felt was worthy to be followed for all time. Next to Grant, Blaine, who had come so near getting the nomination in 1876, was the most popular candidate, his popularity having increased during the four years since his defeat. There were many who felt that he had not only been unjustly but cruelly treated, and were eager to record their verdict of acquittal from the malignant charges which had been made against him since 1876. But there were many more who preferred a candidate against whom no charges rested and who would not therefore be a handicap to the party.2 Some of these preferred George F. Edmunds of Vermont, a man of eminent ability and long public service. And lastly there was John Sherman, who during the last four years had served as Secretary of the Treasury and had won great honor by the skill and success with which he had brought about the resumption of specie payments. The convention met at Chicago on June 2. Its action was largely the result of an old-time feud between Blaine and Conkling. Conkling was undoubtedly a brilliant man. He was handsome, always well and carefully dressed, and possessed remarkable oratorical power. But he was vain, imperious and dictatorial, frequently offensive in his manner, impatient of opposition and inclined to ride roughshod over those who opposed him. Blaine possessed far greater gifts of real statesmanship, was equally learned and imposing in presence, but not so highly gifted in the use of ornate language and entirely lacking in Conkling's swaggering assumption. The trouble between the two leaders dated

1 Hoar, "Autobiography of Seventy Years," vol. i. p. 385.
2 Ibid., vol. i. p. 385.

1881

back to April, 1866, when in the course of a debate Blaine denied Conkling's right to accept an appointment from the Secretary of War as Judge Advocate while at the same time serving as a representative in Congress.

A fierce war of words followed, and each, losing his temper, denounced the other in language which for biting sarcasm and vituperation was scarcely ever excelled on the floor of Congress. Blaine compared the New York Senator to a singed cat and a whining puppy, saying, "The contempt of that large-minded gentleman is so wilting, his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic overpowering turkey-gobbler strut has been so crushing to myself and to all the members of the House, that I knew it was an act of the greatest temerity for me to venture upon a controversy with him." From that day until Conkling died in 1888 he never spoke a word to Blaine, although they served fifteen years together in Congress. The rivalry of the two men for the leadership of the party led almost to a schism in its ranks. Conkling had defeated Blaine's nomination in 1876, and now that Conkling was doing all in his power to bring about Grant's nomination for a third term it was Blaine's turn to thwart Conkling by defeating Grant, to whom also he was honestly opposed. Conkling was present at the convention and took personal charge of the Grant movement. Fearing a "bolt" in the event of Grant's nomination, Conkling secured the adoption of a resolution by a vote of 719 to 3, pledging every delegate to vote for the nominee, whoever it might be. This done, Conkling demanded the adoption of the unit rule, by which the entire vote of each State is cast by a majority of the delegation, and also insisted that the delegates chosen by certain State conventions should be seated in preference to the contestants elected in the usual way by district conventions.

3 Crawford, "Life of James G. Blaine," p. 146. Conkling seemed to take special delight in annoying the Southern members. On one occasion he aroused Lamar of Mississippi, and went so far as to say that nothing but the rules of the Senate would restrain him from denouncing the senator as a blackguard and a coward. Lamar replied in explanation of a previous statement: "Mr. President, I have only to say that the senator from New York understood me correctly. I did mean to say just precisely the words and all that they imported. I beg pardon of the Senate for the unparliamentary language. It was very harsh; it was very severe; it was such as no good man would deserve and no brave man would wear." Conkling's discomfiture was a source of great satisfaction to Blaine. Many feared that Conkling would demand an apology of Lamar, but he never took any notice of the latter's castigation.- Mayes, "Life, Times, and Speeches of L. Q. C. Lamar,” p. 384.

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