way to prevent the passage of the bill. The measure as proposed was repugnant to capitalists and bondholders as a class. These forces at length prevailed, and though the bill was passed by Congress, the President returned it with his objections, and the measure failed. The question of refunding was thus carried over to the next administration.

At the end of his presidential term General Grant with his family and a company of personal friends set out to visit the countries of Europe and Asia. The party left Philadelphia in May of 1877. The event immediately demonstrated the fact that General Grant was regarded by the world as one of the most important personages of modern times. His procession from place to place became a constant pageant, such as was never before accorded to a private citizen of any nation of the earth. The journey of the exPresident was first through the principal cities of England, and afterwards to Belgium, Switzerland, Prussia and France. The company then made a brief stay in Italy, and from thence went by voyage to Alexandria, thence to Palestine, and afterwards to Greece. In the following year the General returned to Italy, and passed the summer in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He then visited Austria and Russia, but returned for the winter to the south of France and Spain. In January of 1879 the party embarked for the East. The following year was spent in India, Burmah, Siam, China and Japan. In the fall of that year the company reached San Francisco, bearing the highest tokens of esteem which the nations of the Old World could bestow on the honored representative of the New.

The census of 1880 was conducted under the skillful superintendency of Professor Francis A. Walker, who had already directed the census of the previous decennium. More than ever before was the astonishing progress of the United States now revealed and illustrated. The population

had increased to 50,152,866, showing an increase for the decade of a million inhabitants a year. The population of the State of New York had risen to more than five millions. Nevada, least populous of the States, showed an enumeration of 62,265. Of the increment of population 2,246,551 had been contributed by immigration, of whom about eighty-five thousand annually came from Germany. The number of cities having a population of over a hundred thousand had increased in ten years from fourteen to twentyfive. The center of population had moved westward to a point near the city of Cincinnati.

It was at this time, namely, in 1880, that the current of the precious metals turned once more towards America. In that year the imports of specie exceeded the exports by more than seventy-five million dollars. Meanwhile abundant crops had followed in almost unbroken succession, and the overplus of American products had gone to enrich the country and to stimulate those fundamental industries upon which the nation rests.

The necrology of this epoch shows many distinguished names. Among these may be mentioned Senator Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, who, after battling for years against the encroachments of paralysis, died at his home in Indianapolis, November 1st, 1877. The great poet William Cullen Bryant, now at the advanced age of eighty-four, passed away on the 12th of June, 1878. On the 19th of December, in the same year, the illustrious Bayard Taylor, recently appointed American Minister to the German empire, died suddenly at Berlin. On the 1st of November, 1879, Senator Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan, one of the founders of the Republican party, died, after a brief illness in Chicago. On the 24th of February, 1881, another Senator, Matthew H. Carpenter, of Wisconsin, after a long sickness at Wash ngton City, passed away.

CHAPTER XL.

GARFIELD was the twentieth President of the United States. He was born at Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19th, 1831. He was left in infancy to the care of his mother and the rude surroundings of a backwoods home. There he found the rudiments of an education. Further on in youth he served as a pilot on a canal boat plying the Ohio and Pennsylvania canal. At seventeen he entered the high school in Chester, and in his twentieth year became a student at Hiram College. In that institution he was chosen as an instructor until 1854. He then went to Williams College, and from that institution was graduated with honor. Returning to Ohio, he was first a professor and afterwards president of Hiram College. This position he gave up to become a soldier at the outbreak of the Civil War. In the meantime he had studied law, imbibed a love for politics and been elected to the Senate of Ohio.

As a soldier Garfield rose through the grades of Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel and Brigadier-General, to become Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans. In that relation he bore a distinguished part in the battle of Chickamauga. While still in the field he was elected by the people of his home district to the House of Representatives, in which body he served continuously for seventeen years. In 1879 he was elected to the Senate of the United States; but before entering upon his duties was nominated and elected to the Presidency.

The inaugural address of March 4th, 1881, was a paper of high grade. A retrospect of American progress was given. The country was congratulated on its rank among the nations. The topics of politics were reviewed, and the policy of the incoming executive defined with clearness and precision. The public-school system of the United States was defended. Some kind words were spoken for the South, as if to assuage the heartburnings of the Civil War. The maintenance of the National Bank system was recommended, and the equal political rights of the Black Men of the South advocated.

The new cabinet was constituted as follows: Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, of Maine; Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, of Minnesota; Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois; Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt, of Louisiana; Secretary of the Interior, Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa; Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania; Postmaster-General, Thomas L. James, of New York. The nominations were at once confirmed, and the new administration was established in office.

Now arose the great question of a Reform of the Civil Service. This matter had been handed down from the administration of Hayes, under whom efforts had been made to introduce better methods of selecting persons for the appointive offices of the government. The real issue was and has always been-whether the choice of the officials of the government should be made on the ground. of the character and fitness of the candidates, or on the principle of distributing political patronage to those who had best served the party; whether men should be promoted from the lower to the higher grades of official life and retained according to the value and proficiency of their services, or whether they should be elevated to positions in

proportion to their success in carrying elections and maintaining the party in power.

The members of Congress held strongly to the old order of things, being unwilling to give up their influence over the appointive power. To them it seemed essential that the spoils should belong to the victors. President Hayes had attempted to establish the opposite policy, but near the close of his term had been driven from the field. The Republican platform of 1880 vaguely indorsed civil service reform, and some expectation existed that Garfield would attempt to promote that policy; but the rush of office-seekers at the beginning of his term was overwhelming. Washington City was thronged by the hungry horde who had "carried. the election"; and all plans and purposes of reform in the civil service were crushed out of sight and trampled under feet of men.

This break from the declared principles of the party was soon followed by a serious political disaster. A division arose in the Republican ranks threatening disruption to the organization. Two wings of the party appeared, nicknamed respectively the "Half-breeds " and the "Stalwarts." The latter faction, headed by Senator Roscoe Conkling, of New York, had recently distinguished itself by supporting General Grant for a third term in the Presidency. The Half-breeds regarded James G. Blaine, now Secretary of State, as their leader, supported and indorsed as he was by the President. The Stalwarts claimed their part of the spoils, that is, of the appointive offices of the government. The President, however, leading the professed reform element in politics, insisted on naming the officers in the various States independently of the wishes of the Congressmen therefrom.

This policy brought on a crisis. The collectorship of customs for the port of New York, being the best appointive office in the gift of the government, was contended for by