Chapter DXII: Section 2: The Congress shall have power to enforce this (2)

"For months before the inauguration, the embarrassment which
threatened Garfield was foreseen by the country." The
inevitable outbreak of hostilities occurred the moment that
the President made a nomination in New York which was
distasteful to the arrogant Senator from that State, Roscoe
Conkling, who imperiously led the Stalwart forces. This
happened upon the presentation of the name of William H.
Robertson for Collector of the Port of New York. In order to
force a division in the Republican party upon the quarrel
between himself and President Garfield, Senator Conkling
resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States and
presented himself to the Legislature of New York as a
candidate for re-election. He counted, without doubt, upon an
easy triumph, expecting to be returned to Washington, bearing
the mandate of his party, so to speak, and humbling the
President into submissive obedience to his behests. He was
disappointed; his re-election was defeated; but the furious
contest which went on during some weeks, engendered bitter
passions, which had their effect, no doubt, in producing the
awful tragedy that soon ensued. By the end of June the clamor
of the strife had greatly subsided; the Senate had adjourned,
and the weary President made ready to join Mrs. Garfield at
Long Branch, where she was just recovering from a serious
illness. "On the morning of the 2d of July … the President
made ready to put his purpose into execution. Several members
of the Cabinet, headed by Secretary Blaine, were to accompany
him to Long Branch. A few ladies, personal friends of the
President's family, and one of his sons, were of the company;
and as the hour for departure drew near they gathered at the
depot of the Baltimore and Potomac Railway to await the train.
The President and Secretary Blaine were somewhat later than
the rest. … When the carriage arrived at the station at
half-past nine o'clock, the President and Mr. Blaine left it
and entered the ladies' waiting-room, which they passed
through arm in arm. A moment afterwards, as they were passing
through the door into the main room, two pistol shots suddenly
rang out upon the air. Mr. Blaine saw a man running, and
started toward him, but turned almost immediately and saw that
the President had fallen. It was instantly realized that the
shots had been directed with fatal accuracy at the beloved
President. Mr. Blaine sprang toward him, as did several
others, and raised his head from the floor. … A moment after
the assassin was discovered … and, in the middle of B Street,
just outside of the depot, was seized by the policemen and
disarmed. A pistol of very heavy caliber was wrenched out of
his hand, and it became clear that a large ball had entered
the President's body. The assassin gave his name as Charles
Jules Guiteau. … [He] was found to be a mixture of fool and
fanatic, who, in his previous career, had managed to build up,
on a basis of total depravity, a considerable degree of
scholarship. He was a lawyer by profession, and had made a
pretense of practicing in several places—more particularly in
Chicago. … In the previous spring, about the time of the
inauguration, he had gone to Washington to advance a claim to
be Consul-General at Paris. … Hanging about the Executive
Mansion and the Department of State for several weeks, he
seemed to have conceived an intense hatred of the President,
and to have determined on the commission of the crime." The
wounded President lingered for eighty days, during which long
period of suffering there were many alternations of hope and
fear in his case. He died on the 19th of September. His
assassin was tried and executed for the crime, though much
doubt of his sanity exists. The Vice-President, Chester A.
Arthur, became President for the remainder of the term.

_J. C. Ridpath,
Life and Work of James A. Garfield,
chapters 12-13._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1882.
Passage of the Edmunds Bill, to suppress Polygamy in Utah.

See UTAH: A. D. 1882-1893.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1883.
Passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Bill.

See CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM IN THE UNITED STATES.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1884.
Financial Disasters.

"The month of May, 1884, concludes the prosperous period which
followed the crisis of 1873. During this period the most
gigantic speculations in railroads occurred; the zenith of the
movement was in 1880, and as early as 1881 a retrograde
movement began, only to end in the disasters in question. The
decline in prices had been steady for three years; they had
sunk little by little under the influence of a ruinous
competition, caused by the number of new lines and the
lowering of rates, but above all through the manipulations by
the managers on a scale unexampled until now.
{3581}
In connection with the disasters of May, 1884, the names of
certain speculators who misused other people's money, such as
Ward, of Grant & Ward; Fish, President of the Marine Bank; and
John C. Eno, of the Second National Bank, will long be
remembered. General Grant, who was a silent partner in Ward's
concern, was an innocent sufferer, both in fortune and
reputation."

_C. Juglar,
Brief History of Panics,
pages 102-103._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1884.
The Twenty-fifth Presidential Election.
Appearance of the Independents or "Mugwumps."

James G. Blaine, of Maine, and General John A. Logan, of
Illinois, nominated at Chicago, June 3, were the Republican
candidates for President and Vice President, in the election
of 1884. The Democratic National Convention, held, likewise,
at Chicago, July 8, put forward Governor Grover Cleveland, of
New York, as its candidate for President, with Thomas A.
Hendricks, of Indiana, for Vice President. General Benjamin F.
Butler, of Massachusetts, and General A. M. West, of
Mississippi, received double nominations, from the National or
Greenback party and an Anti-Monopoly party (so-called) for
President and Vice President, respectively; while the
Prohibitionists put in nomination John P. St. John, of Kansas,
and William Daniel, of Maryland. The election was an
exceedingly close one, its result turning upon a plurality of
only 1,149 in New York, by which that state was given to
Cleveland, with its 36 electoral votes, securing his election.
The total popular vote counted as follows: Cleveland,
4,874,986; Blaine, 4,851,981; Butler, 175,370; St. John,
150,369. The electoral vote was divided between Cleveland and
Blaine, 219 for the former and 182 for the latter.

_E. McPherson,
Hand-book of Politics, 1884 and 1886._

_Annual Cyclopœdia, 1884._

"At the presidential election of 1884 a section of the
Republican party, more important by the intelligence and
social position of the men who composed it than by its voting
power, 'bolted' (to use the technical term) from their party,
and refused to support Mr. Blaine. Some simply abstained,
some, obeying the impulse to vote which is strong in good
citizens in America, voted for Mr. St. John, the
Prohibitionist candidate, though well aware that this was
practically the same thing as abstention. The majority,
however, voted against their party for Mr. Cleveland, the
Democratic candidate; and it seems to have been the
transference of their vote which turned the balance in New
York State, and thereby determined the issue of the whole
election in Mr. Cleveland's favour." This group "goes by the
name of Mugwumps. … The name is said to be formed from an
Indian word denoting a chief or aged wise man, and was applied
by the 'straight-out' Republicans to their bolting brethren as
a term of ridicule. It was then taken up by the latter as a
term of compliment; though the description they used formally
in 1884 was that of 'Independent Republicans.' … The chief
doctrine they advocate is … the necessity of reforming the
civil service by making appointments without reference to
party, and a general reform in the methods of politics by
selecting men for Federal, State, and municipal offices, with
reference rather to personal fitness than to political
affiliations."

_J. Bryce,
The American Commonwealth (3d edition, revised),
chapter 56, with foot-note (volume 2)._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1885-1888.
Termination of the Fishery Articles of the Treaty of Washington.
Renewed controversies.
The rejected Treaty.

See FISHERIES, NORTH AMERICAN: A. D. 1877-1888.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1886-1893.
The Bering Sea controversy and arbitration.

"Four serious international controversies have arisen out of
the rival claims of Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and the
United States to the shores and waters of the northwest coast
of the continent of North America. The first of these was in
consequence of an attempt of the Spanish Government, in 1790,
to prevent the British from trading with the natives of that
coast. It was settled by the Nootka Sound Convention of
October 28, 1790, by which the subjects of both powers enjoyed
equal privileges of trade to all points not already occupied.
The second controversy was the result of an attempt of Russia
in 1821 to prohibit England and the United States from trading
anywhere north of the 51st parallel, or to approach within 100
Italian miles of the coast. Both governments energetically
protested and secured treaties in 1824 and 1825, by which they
retained the right of fishing and of landing on unoccupied
points of that coast. The third controversy was as to the
division of the coast between Great Britain and the United
States, Spain having by the treaties of 1824 and 1825 accepted
the parallel of 54° 40' as her southern boundary. The rival
claims of the two remaining powers, after long diplomatic
discussion, were settled by the treaty of July 17, 1846,
according to which the parallel of 49° was made the dividing
line. By the treaty of March 30, 1867, with Russia, all the
dominions and claims of that country on the continent of North
America and the outlying islands thereof were transferred to
the United States. A further, and still pending, controversy
arose in 1886 through the seizure by United States vessels of
Canadian vessels engaged in the taking of seals in waters not
far distant from the Aleutian Islands. The claim of the United
States was that it had acquired from Russia exclusive rights
in Behring Sea, at least with regard to seal fishing. The
British Government representing the Canadians denied that
there could be any exclusive rights outside three miles off
shore. By an agreement of February 29, 1892, the question has
been submitted to arbitration," the arbitrators to give "a
distinct decision" upon each of the following five points:

"1. What exclusive jurisdiction in the sea now known as the
Behring's Sea, and what exclusive rights in the seal fisheries
therein, did Russia assert and exercise prior and up to the
time of the cession of Alaska to the United States?

2. How far were these claims of jurisdiction as to the seal
fisheries recognized and conceded by Great Britain?

3. Was the body of water now known as the Behring's Sea
included in the phrase 'Pacific Ocean,' as used in the treaty
of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, and what rights, if
any, in the Behring's Sea, were held and exclusively exercised
by Russia after said treaty?

{3562}

4. Did not all the rights of Russia as to the jurisdiction and
as to the seal fisheries in Behring's Sea east of the water
boundary, in the treaty between the United States and Russia
of the 30th of March, 1867, pass unimpaired to the United
States under that treaty?

5. Has the United States any right, and if so, what right, of
protection or property in the fur-seals frequenting the
islands of the United States in Behring's Sea, when such seals
are found outside the ordinary three-mile limit?"

_American History Leaflets,
number 6._

The arbitrators to whom these points of the question were
submitted under the treaty were seven in number, as follows:
Justice John M. Harlan, of the Supreme Court of the United
States, and Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama, appointed by
the United States; Rt. Hon. Lord Hannan, and Sir John S. D.
Thompson, Prime Minister of Canada, appointed by Great
Britain; Senator Baron Alphonse de Courcelles, formerly French
Ambassador at Berlin, appointed by the French government;
Senator Marquis E. Visconti Venosta, appointed by the Italian
government; and Judge Mons. Gregers Gram, Minister of State,
appointed by the government of Sweden. The Court of
Arbitration met at Paris, beginning its sessions on March 23,
1893. The award of the Tribunal, signed on the 15th of August,
1893, decided the five points submitted to it, as follows:

(1) That Russia did not, after 1825, assert or exercise any
exclusive jurisdiction in Bering Sea, or any exclusive rights
in the seal fisheries;

(2) that no such claims on the part of Russia were recognized
or conceded by England;

(3) that the body of water now known as Bering Sea was
included in the phrase "Pacific Ocean," as used in the treaty
of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, and that no
exclusive rights of jurisdiction in Bering Sea or as to the
seal fisheries there were held or exercised by Russia after
the treaty of 1825;

(4) that all the rights of Russia as to jurisdiction and the
seal fisheries in Bering Sea east of the water boundary did
pass unimpaired to the United States under the treaty of March
30, 1867;

(5) that the United States has not any right of protection or
property in the fur seals frequenting the islands of the
United States in Bering Sea, when such seals are found outside
the ordinary three-mile limit.

Mr. Morgan alone dissented from the decision rendered on the
first and second points, and on the second division of the
third point. Justice Harlan and Mr. Morgan both dissented on
the fifth point. On the fourth point, and on the first
division of the third, the decision was unanimous. These
points of controversy disposed of, the Arbitrators proceeded
to prescribe the regulations which the Governments of the
United States and Great Britain shall enforce for the
preservation of the fur seal. The regulations prescribed
prohibit the killing, capture or pursuit of fur seals, at any
time or in any manner, within a zone of sixty miles around the
Pribilov Islands; prohibit the same from May 1 to July 31 in
all the part of the Pacific Ocean, inclusive of Bering Sea,
which is north of 35° north latitude and eastward of the 180th
degree of longitude from Greenwich till it strikes the water
boundary described in Article I. of the Treaty of 1867 between
the United States and Russia; and following that line up to
Bering Straits; allow only sailing vessels, with licenses, to
take part in fur seal fishing operations, and forbid the use
of nets, firearms and explosives, except as to shot guns
outside of Bering Sea. As promulgated, the Award bore the
signatures of all the Arbitrators.

_The Behring Sea Arbitration:
Letters to The Times._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1887-1888.
Tariff Message of President Cleveland.
Attempted revision of the Tariff.
Defeat of the Mills Bill.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES): A. D. 1884-1888.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1888.
The Twenty-sixth Presidential election.

President Cleveland was nominated for re-election by the
Democratic National Convention, held at St. Louis, June 5,
with Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, for Vice President. The
Republican Convention, at Chicago, June 19, named Benjamin
Harrison, of Indiana, for President, and Levi P. Morton, of
New York, for Vice President. At Indianapolis, May 30, the
Prohibition party had already put in nomination General
Clinton B. Fisk, of New Jersey, and John A. Brooks, of
Missouri, for President and Vice President, respectively. The
Union Labor Party, convening at Cincinnati, May 15, had
nominated Alson J. Streeter, of Illinois, and Charles E.
Cunningham, of Arkansas; the United Labor Party, a rival
organization, had put forward Robert H. Cowdrey, of Illinois,
and William H. T. Wakefield, of Kansas; and still another
labor ticket had been brought forward in February, at
Washington, where an organization calling itself the
Industrial Reform party, put Albert E. Redstone, of
California, and John Colvin, of Kansas, in nomination. At Des
Moines, Iowa, May 15, the National Equal Rights party had
named a woman for the Presidency, in the person of Mrs. Belva
Lockwood, of Washington, with Alfred H. Love, of Philadelphia,
named for Vice President. Finally, in August, an organization
attempting to revive the American Party of former days,
convening at Washington, presented James L. Curtis, of New
York, for President, and James R. Greer of Tennessee (who
declined the honor) for Vice President. In the ensuing
election, the popular vote was distributed as follows:
Cleveland 5,540,329;
Harrison, 5,439,853;
Fisk, 249,506;
Streeter, 146,935;
Cowdrey, 2,818;
Curtis, 1,591.

Notwithstanding the greater number of votes cast for Cleveland
(his plurality being 100,476), Harrison was chosen President
by the electoral votes, receiving 233. while 168 were given
for Cleveland.

Appletons Annual Cyclopœdia, 1888,
pages 773-782, and 799-828.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1889-1890.
The opening of Oklahoma.
The Johnstown Flood.
The Pan-American Congress.
Admission of seven new States.

"In the centre of Indian Territory there is a large district
called, in the Indian language, Oklahoma, or the 'Beautiful
Land.' This tract was finally purchased from the Indians by
the United States, early in 1889. On the 22d of April, of that
year, some 50,000 persons were waiting impatiently on the
borders of Oklahoma for President Harrison's signal, giving
them permission to enter and take up lands in the coveted
region. At precisely twelve o'clock noon, of that day, the
blast of a bugle announced that Oklahoma was open to
settlement. Instantly an avalanche of human beings rushed
wildly across the line, each one eager to get the first
chance. Towns made of rough board-shanties and of tents sprang
up in all directions. The chief of these were Oklahoma City
and Guthrie. At the end of four months, the latter had a
population of about 5,000, with four daily papers and six
banks; and arrangements, doubtless since completed, were being
made to start a line of street cars, and light the city with
electricity.
{3583}
A week after the opening of Oklahoma, the centennial
anniversary of the inauguration of Washington, and of the
beginning of our government under the Constitution, was
celebrated in New York City [April 29-May 1]. … In a little
less than a month from that occasion, the most terrible
disaster of the kind ever known in our history occurred (May
31, 1889) in Western Pennsylvania. By the breaking of a dam, a
body of water forty feet high and nearly half a mile in width
swept down through a deep and narrow valley. In less than
fifteen minutes, the flood had traversed a distance of
eighteen miles. In that brief time, it dashed seven towns out
of existence, and ended by carrying away the greater part of
Johnstown. The whole valley at that place was choked with
ruins; at least 5,000 persons lost their lives, and property
worth ten million dollars was utterly destroyed. In the autumn
(October 2, 1889), representatives of the leading governments
of Central and of South America, together with the Republic of
Mexico, met representatives chosen by the United States in a
conference or congress held at Washington. The object of the
congress was to bring about a closer union of the Americas,
for purposes of trade, and of mutual advantage. The delegates
spent six weeks in visiting the principal commercial and
manufacturing cities of the United States. They then returned
to Washington, and devoted the greater part of the remainder
of the year and part of 1890 to the discussion of business."

_D. H. Montgomery,
Leading Facts of American History,
sections 390-392._

"An act to provide for the division of Dakota into two States,
and to enable the people of North Dakota, South Dakota,
Montana, and Washington, to form constitutions and State
governments … was approved by President Cleveland, February
22, 1889. This act provided that the Territory of Dakota
should be divided on the line of the seventh standard
parallel. … On the 4th of July, 1889, the four conventions
assembled-for North Dakota at Bismarck, for South Dakota at
Sioux Falls, for Montana at Helena, and for Washington at
Olympia."

_F. N. Thorpe,
Recent Constitution-making in the United States
(Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, September, 1891)._

Acceptable constitutions having been framed and adopted in the
several proposed new states, North Dakota and South Dakota
were admitted to the Union by proclamation of President
Harrison, November 3, 1889, Montana, November 8, and
Washington, November 11, in the same year. "Early in the
session of the fifty-first Congress, Wyoming presented her
claims for Statehood, asking for admission to the Union under
the Constitution of September, 1889, which was adopted by the
people on November 5 following. The bill for admission passed
the House of Representatives on March 27, 1890, passed the
Senate on June 27, and received the President's signature on
July 10. By its terms Wyoming became a state from and after
the date of the President's approval." Idaho had previously
been admitted, by a bill which received the President's
signature on the 3d of July, 1890.

_Appletons' Annual Cyclopœdia, 1890 and 1889._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1890.
McKinley Tariff Act.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES); A. D. 1890.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1890.
The Eleventh Census.

Total population 62,622,250 (exceeding that of 1880 by
12,466,467, classed and distributed as follows;

North Atlantic division.

White. Black. Maine. 659,263 1,190 New Hampshire. 375,840 614 Vermont. 331,418 937 Massachusetts. 2,215,373 22,144 Rhode Island. 337,859 7,393 Connecticut. 733,438 12,302 New York. 5,923,952 70,092 New Jersey. 1,396,581 47,638 Pennsylvania. 5,148,257 107,596

Total 17,121,981 269,906

South Atlantic division. Delaware. 140,066 28,386 Maryland . 826,493 215,657 District of Columbia. 154,695 75,572 Virginia. 1,020,122 635,438 West Virginia. 730,077 32,690 North Carolina. 1,055,382 561,018 South Carolina. 462,008 688,934 Georgia. 978,357 858,815 Florida. 224,949 166,180

Total 5,592,149 3,262,690

North Central division. Ohio. 3,584,805 87,113 Indiana. 2,146,736 45,215 Illinois. 3,768,472 57,028 Michigan. 2,072,884 15,223 Wisconsin. 1,680,473 2,444 Minnesota. 1,296,159 3,683 Iowa. 1,901,086 10,685 Missouri. 2,528,458 150,184 North Dakota. 182,123 373 South Dakota. 327,290 541 Nebraska. 1,046,888 8,913 Kansas. 1,376,553 49,710

Total 21,911,927 431,112

South Central division. Kentucky. 1,590,462 268,071 Tennessee. 1,336,637 430,678 Alabama. 833,718 678,489 Mississippi. 544,851 742,559 Louisiana. 558,395 559,193 Texas. 1,745,935 488,171 Oklahoma. 58,826 2,973 Arkansas. 818,752 309,117

Total 7,487,576 3,479,251

Western division. Montana. 127,271 1,490 Wyoming. 59,275 922 Colorado. 404,468 6,215 New Mexico. 142,719 1,956 Arizona. 55,580 1,357 Utah. 205,899 588 Nevada. 39,084 242 Idaho. 82,018 201 Washington. 340,513 1,602 Oregon. 301,758 1,186 California. 1,111,672 11,322

Total 2,870,257 27,081

Grand Total. 54,983,890 7,470,040

{3584}

In addition the census shows 107,475 Chinese, 2,039 Japanese,
and 58,806 civilized Indians, making a total of 62,622,250, as
stated above.

Immigration in the preceding decade rose to 5,246,613 in the
total arrivals, 1,462,839 being from the British Islands and
3,258,743 from other European countries. In the single year
ending June 30, 1890, the immigrants arriving from Europe
numbered 443,225 (273,104 males, 170,121 females), of whom
57,020 were from England; 53,024 from Ireland; 12,041 from
Scotland: 92,427 from Germany; 22,062 from Hungary: 11,073
from Poland; 33,147 from Russia: 51,799 from Italy; 29,632
from Sweden; 11,370 from Norway; 9,366 from Denmark; 6,585
from France.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1890-1893.
The Silver Bill and its effect.
Financial Panic.
Extra Session of Congress.
Repeal of the Sherman Act.

"The act of July 14, 1890 [known as the Sherman Act], repealed
the silver act of 1878, and so brought to a close the precise
experiment tried under that measure. … But the new act … is
even more remarkable than that of 1878. It is unique in
monetary history. It provides that the Secretary of the
Treasury shall purchase each month at the market price four
and a half million ounces of silver bullion. In payment he
shall issue Treasury notes of the United States, in
denominations of between one dollar and one thousand dollars.
These Treasury notes, unlike the old silver certificates, are
a direct legal tender for all debts, public or private, unless
a different medium is expressly stipulated in the contract.
They differ from the silver certificates in another respect;
they are redeemable either in gold or silver coin, at the
discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. The indirect
process of redemption which, as we have seen, was applied to
the silver certificates, is replaced for the new notes by
direct redemption. The avowed object is to keep the silver
money equal to gold, for it is declared to be 'the established
policy of the United States to maintain the two metals at a
parity with each other on the present legal ratio, or such
ratio as may be provided by law.' The act of 1878 is repealed;
but the coinage of two million ounces of silver into dollars
is to be continued for a year (until July 1, 1891). Thereafter
it is directed that only so many silver dollars shall be
coined as may be needed for redeeming any Treasury notes
presented for redemption. Practically, this means that the
coinage shall cease; redemption in silver dollars will not be
called for. The coinage of silver dollars accordingly was
suspended by the Treasury on July 1, 1891; a change which was
the occasion of some vociferous abuse and equally vociferous
praise, but which in reality was of no consequence whatever.
The monthly issues of the new Treasury notes vary, like those
of the old silver certificates, with the price of silver. But
the new issues vary directly with the price of silver, while,
as we have seen, the old issues varied inversely with the
price. The volume of Treasury notes issued is equal to the
market price of four and one half million ounces of silver. If
silver sells at $1. 20 an ounce, the monthly issue of notes
will be $5,400,000; if at $1.00 an ounce, $4,500,000. For a
month or two after the passage of the act, the price of silver
advanced rapidly, and at its highest, in August, 1890, touched
$1.21. But the rise proved to be but temporary. After
September a steady decline set in, and continued almost
without interruption through the rest of 1890, through 1891,
and through 1892. The year 1891 opened with silver at a price
of about $1.00 an ounce; by the close of the year the price
had fallen to about 95 cents. In 1892 a still further and more
marked decline set in, and by the close of the year the price
had gone as low as 85 cents."

_F. W. Taussig,
The Silver Situation in the United States,
chapter 6._

"On June 5 [1893] President Cleveland publicly declared his
purpose to call an extra session of Congress to meet in the
first half of September for the consideration of the country's
financial conditions, which seemed critical. On the 26th of
June the authorities of India closed the mints in that empire
to the free coinage of silver. The signs of a panic
immediately multiplied and four days later appeared the
president's proclamation summoning Congress to meet in extra
session August 7. The call was based on the 'perilous
condition in business circles,' which was declared to be
largely the result of a 'financial policy … embodied in unwise
laws, which must be executed until repealed by Congress.' The
issue of this proclamation was the signal for much excitement
among the Populists and in silver-producing circles. Silver
conventions were held in Denver, July 11, and in Chicago,
August 2, in which addresses were made and resolutions adopted
denouncing with much energy any proposition to repeal the
Sherman Act without some provision for the free coinage of
silver, and claiming that the existing financial crisis was a
deliberately devised scheme of British and American bankers,
with President Cleveland as their ally, to bring about the
exclusion of silver from use as money. The president's
message, presented to the houses August 8, brought the
question before Congress. The message embodied an exposition
of what Mr. Cleveland considered the evils of the Sherman Act,
concluding with an earnest recommendation that its purchase
clause be immediately repealed. While still holding that
tariff reform was imperatively demanded, the president
considered that it should be postponed to action on the silver
law. In Congress the silver men, without reference to party
lines, took an attitude of energetic resistance to any project
for unconditional repeal of the purchase clause."

_Political Science Quarterly, December, 1893._

In the House, the resistance was soon overcome by strong
pressure of unmistakable public opinion, and the repeal was
carried on the 28th of August. In the Senate the Silver
faction proved so much stronger that it blocked the bill until
the end of October, indifferent to the ruinous effect which
this action was having on the business and the industries of
the country. In September, while the fate of the bill remained
in doubt, the "Banker's Magazine" reported that the doubt had
"aggravated the money stringency, until it absolutely became
impossible for the great majority of business men to obtain
the necessary funds, or credit to transact their affairs. In
this respect, probably, no panic within the memory of the
present generation has been so severe; and yet, it has been
the least violent for one so universal and protracted. But it
is the collapse that follows an acute attack of disease, which
leaves its victim prostrated, after the crisis has been passed,
and which must precede ultimate recovery, by giving time to
restore exhausted strength. …
{3585}
This was different from most panics this country has
experienced, inasmuch as it was strictly an artificial one,
caused by bad legislation, rather than general financial kite
flying, while commercial affairs were seldom, if ever, on a
sounder or safer basis, from the fact that they had, for a
long time, been more free from speculation, with but few
exceptions, than for years. Hence it has been the financial
machinery by which commerce is transacted, rather than
commerce itself, that has been deranged; and, for this reason,
trade will revive much more rapidly when this artificial
pressure is removed, than it has revived after former panics,
which were either purely financial, or commercial, or both, as
the result of wild speculation and general inflation of
prices."

_H. A. Pierce,
A Review of Finance and Business
(Banker's Magazine, September, 1893)._

The repeal measure was finally carried in the Senate, becoming
law by the President's signature November 1, when a slow
recovery of business confidence began, much retarded and
disturbed, however, by the uncertainty attending expected
action of Congress on tariff and currency questions.

See, also, MONEY AND BANKING: A. D. 1848-1893.

ALSO IN:
_L. R. Ehrich,
The Question of Silver,
page 23._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1892.
Chinese Exclusion Act.

A bill "to absolutely prohibit the coming of Chinese persons
into the United States," reported by Mr. Geary, of California,
was passed by the House, April 4, 1892, yeas 179, nays 43, 107
not voting. In the Senate, a substitute, going little further
than to continue the then existing laws for the regulation of
Chinese immigration, was reported from the Committee on
Foreign Relations and adopted. The two bills were referred to
a Conference Committee, with the result that a compromise
measure, slightly modified from the House bill, was passed by
both branches of Congress, on the 3d and 4th of May, and
signed by the President on the 5th. It continues former laws
for ten years. It directs "that any Chinese person or person
of Chinese descent when convicted and adjudged under any of
said laws to be not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the
United States," shall be removed to China, or to such other
country as he may prove to be a subject or citizen of. It
declares that any such person under arrest "shall be adjudged
to be unlawfully within the United States, unless such person
shall establish, by affirmative proof, … his lawful right to
remain in the United States"; and that any such person
"convicted and adjudged to be not lawfully entitled to be or
remain in the United States shall be imprisoned at hard labor
for a period of not exceeding one year, and thereafter removed
from the United States, as hereinbefore provided." The act
denies bail, on an application for a writ of habeas corpus, by
a Chinese person seeking to land in the United States. It
requires all Chinese laborers who were within the limits of
the United States at the time of the passage of the act, and
who were entitled to remain, to obtain certificates of
residence, from district collectors of internal revenue, and
orders the deportation of those who had failed to do so at the
expiration of one year. This extraordinary measure of
exclusion has been commonly known as the "Geary Act."

_E. McPherson,
Hand-book of Politics, 1892._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1892.
Settlement of the Alaskan Boundary.

A convention between the governments of the United States and
Great Britain was entered into and ratifications exchanged in
August, 1892, providing for a coincident or joint survey, "as
may in practice be found most convenient," to determine the
boundary line between Alaska and the Canadian provinces.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1892.
Controversy with Chile.
Warlike Presidential Message.

See (in Supplement) CHILE.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1892.
First commissioning of a Papal Delegate.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1892.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1892.
The Twenty-seventh Presidential Election.

Five parties presented candidates in the presidential election
held November 8, 1892—namely: the Democratic, the Republican,
the People's, or Populist, the Prohibitionist, and the
Socialistic Labor. The nominees of the Democratic Party were
Grover Cleveland, for President, and Adlai E. Stevenson, for
Vice President; of the Republican Party, Benjamin Harrison and
Whitelaw Reid, for President and Vice President, respectively;
of the Populist Party, James B. Weaver and James G. Field; of
the Prohibition Party, John Bidwell and James B. Cranfill; of
the Socialistic Labor Party, Simon Wing and Charles H.
Matchett. The dominant Issues in the canvass were the tariff
question and the silver question. "The Democrats named no
electoral tickets in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota,
and Wyoming, but voted for the people's party electors with
the object of taking those States away from the Republicans.
They put out an electoral ticket in Nevada, but still voted
mostly for the Populist electors. In North Dakota also there
was a partial fusion between the Democrats and the People's
party, and in Minnesota a part of the Weaver electoral ticket
was accepted by the Democrats. In Louisiana there was a fusion
of the Republicans and the People's party, each nominating
half of the 8 electors. In Alabama there was a fusion of some
of the Republicans with the People's party. In Texas a
Republican ticket called the Lily White was set up, which
differed from the regular ticket. In Michigan a new electoral
law, which was declared constitutional by the United States
Supreme Court on October 17, 1892, provided for the separate
election of a Presidential elector in each Congressional
district, and in consequence the electoral vote of the State
was divided. In Oregon the name of one of the four electors on
the People's ticket was also placed on the Democratic ticket.
… The total popular vote cast was reported as 12,154,542," of
which Cleveland received 5,556,553; Harrison, 5,175,577;
Weaver, 1,122,045; Bidwell 279,191; Wing, 21,191. The
electoral votes of the States were cast as follows: Cleveland,
277; Harrison, 145; Weaver, 22; giving Cleveland a clear
majority of 110.

_Appletons' Annual Cyclopœdia, 1892._

"The most striking feature of the elections was the great
losses of the Republicans in the West. Illinois and Wisconsin
went Democratic by large majorities, California and Ohio were
very close, and Colorado, Idaho, Kansas and Nevada chose
Populist electors. The Democrats carried all the Northern
states generally regarded as doubtful, viz., Connecticut, New
York and Indiana, but they nearly lost Delaware.
{3586}
An unusual incident of the result was the division of the
electoral votes in several states, owing to the closeness of
the popular vote. Thus in Ohio one Cleveland elector and in
Oregon one Weaver elector was chosen, the others being
Republican; and in California and North Dakota Mr. Harrison
secured single votes in the same way. From the conditions of
fusion between the Democrats and Populists in the last-named
state, it resulted that one of her three electoral votes was
given to each of the three candidates. In Michigan, under the
district method of choosing electors recently established,
Harrison got nine votes and Cleveland five."

_Political Science Quarterly, June, 1893._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1893.
Abandonment of Polygamy by the Mormons.

See UTAH: A. D. 1882-1893.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1893.
Revolution in the Hawaiian Islands and proposed annexation.

See HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1894.
The Wilson Tariff Act.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES): A. D. 1894.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1894.
The Strike at Pullman.
The Coxey Movement.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1894.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1894-1895.
Provision for the admission of Utah as a State.

On the 17th of July, 1894, the President, by his signature,
gave effect to a bill which provides for the admission of Utah
to the Union as a State. The admission, however, cannot become
a completed fact before the later part of the year 1895, since
the bill provides for the holding of a convention in March,
1895, to frame a constitution for the proposed new State, and
for submitting such constitution to the people at the election
in November, 1895.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1895.
The Status of Civil-service Reform.
Commissioner Roosevelt's Review.

"In 1883 the civil service law was established at Washington,
and in the larger post-offices and custom-houses throughout
the country, taking in a total of some 14,000 employees. The
great extensions since have all taken place during the last
six years, a period which happens to include my own term of
service with the Commission, so that I write of them at first
hand. In 1889 the railway mail service was added, in 1893 all
the free delivery post-offices, and in 1894 all the smaller
custom-houses and the internal revenue service. Other
important but smaller extensions have been made, and the
larger offices have grown, so that now about 50,000 employees
are under the protection of the law. There are, of course, and
there always must be in a body so large, individual cases
where the law is evaded, or even violated; and as yet we do
not touch the question of promotions and reductions. But,
speaking broadly, and with due allowance for such
comparatively slight exceptions, these 50,000 places are now
taken out of the political arena. They can no longer be
scrambled for in a struggle as ignoble and brutal as the
strife of pirates over plunder; they no longer serve as a vast
bribery chest with which to debauch the voters of the country.
Those holding them no longer keep their political life by the
frail tenure of service to the party boss and the party
machine; they stand as American citizens, and are allowed the
privilege of earning their own bread without molestation so
long as they faithfully serve the public. The classified
service, the service in which the merit system is applied, has
grown fast. It is true that the outside service where the
spoils theories are still applied in all their original
nakedness, has grown only less fast. The number of offices
under the government has increased very rapidly during the
last twenty years; but the growth of the classified service
has been even more rapid, so that a constantly increasing
percentage of the whole is withdrawn from the degrading grasp
of the spoils system. Now, something like a quarter of all the
offices under the federal government in point of numbers,
representing nearly a half in point of salaries, has been put
upon the basis of decency and merit. This has been done by the
action of successive Presidents under the law of 1883, without
the necessity of action by Congress. There still remain some
things that can be done without further legislation. For
instance, the labor force in the navy yards was put on a merit
basis, and removed from the domain of politics, under
Secretary Tracy. This was done merely by order of the
Secretary of the Navy, which order could have been reversed by
his successor, Secretary Herbert. Instead of reversing it,
however, Secretary Herbert has zealously lived up to its
requirements, and has withstood all pressure for the weakening
of the system in the interests of the local party machines and
bosses. It is unsafe to trust to always having Secretaries of
the Navy like Messrs. Tracy and Herbert. The Civil Service
Commission should be given supervision over the laborers who
come under the direction of Cabinet officers. Indeed, all the
laboring force and all the employees of the District of
Columbia employed by the federal government should be put
under the Commission. When this has been done, and when a few
other comparatively slight extensions have been made, all that
can be accomplished by the unaided action of the executive
will have been accomplished. Congress must then itself act by
passing some such bill as that of Senator Lodge in reference
to fourth-class postmasters; by passing some bill in reference
to the consular service on the outlines of that suggested by
Senator Morgan (but giving power to the Civil Service
Commission itself in the matter); and then by providing that
all postmasters and similar officers shall hold office during
good behavior, including as well those nominated by the
President and confirmed by the Senate as those appointed by
the President alone. Of all the offices under the federal
government, not one in a hundred can properly be called
political."

_T. Roosevelt,
The Present Status of Civil Service Reform
(Atlantic, February, 1895)._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1895.
President Cleveland's Special Message on
the condition of the National Finances.

In a special message to Congress, on the 28th of January,
1895, President Cleveland renewed an earnest appeal which be
had made at the opening of the session, for legislation to
correct the mischievous working of the existing currency
system of the country. The condition of the national finances,
produced by unwise laws, was set forth clearly in this
message, as follows: "With natural resources unlimited in
variety and productive strength, and with a people whose
activity and enterprise seek only a fair opportunity to
achieve national success and greatness, our progress should
not be checked by a false financial policy and a heedless
disregard of sound monetary laws, nor should the timidity and
fear which they engender stand in the way of our prosperity.
{3587}
It is hardly disputed that this predicament confronts us
to-day. Therefore, no one in any degree responsible for the
making and execution of our laws should fail to see a
patriotic duty in honestly and sincerely attempting to relieve
the situation. … The real trouble which confronts us consists
in a lack of confidence, widespread and constantly increasing,
in the continuing ability or disposition of the Government to
pay its obligations in gold. This lack of confidence grows to
some extent out of the palpable and apparent embarrassment
attending the efforts of the Government under existing laws to
procure gold, and to a greater extent out of the impossibility
of either keeping it in the Treasury or canceling obligations
by its expenditure after it is obtained. The only way left
open to the Government for procuring gold is by the issue and
sale of its bonds. The only bonds that can be so issued were
authorized nearly twenty-five years ago, and are not well
calculated to meet our present needs. Among other
disadvantages, they are made payable in coin, instead of
specifically in gold, which, in existing conditions, detracts
largely and in an increasing ratio from their desirability as
investments. It is by no means certain that bonds of this
description can much longer be disposed of at a price
creditable to the financial character of our Government. The
most dangerous and irritating feature of the situation,
however, remains to be mentioned. It is found in the means by
which the Treasury is despoiled of the gold thus obtained
without canceling a single Government obligation and solely
for the benefit of those who find profit in shipping it abroad
or whose fears induce them to hoard it at home. We have
outstanding about five hundred millions of currency notes of
the Government for which gold may be demanded, and, curiously
enough, the law requires that when presented and, in fact,
redeemed and paid in gold, they shall be reissued. Thus the
same notes may do duty many times in drawing gold from the
Treasury; nor can the process be arrested as long as private
parties, for profit or otherwise, see an advantage in
repeating the operation. More than $300,000,000 in these notes
have already been redeemed in gold, and notwithstanding such
redemption they are all still outstanding. Since the 17th day
of January, 1894, our bonded interest-bearing debt has been
increased $100,000,000 for the purpose of obtaining gold to
replenish our coin reserve. Two issues were made amounting to
fifty millions each—one in January and the other in November.
As a result of the first issue there was realized something
more than $58,000,000 in gold. Between that issue and the
succeeding one in November, comprising a period of about ten
months, nearly $103,000,000 in gold were drawn from the
Treasury. This made the second issue necessary, and upon that
more than fifty-eight millions in gold was again realized.
Between the date of this second issue and the present time,
covering a period of only about two months, more than
$69,000,000 in gold have been drawn from the Treasury. These
large sums of gold were expended without any cancellation of
Government obligations or in any permanent way benefiting our
people or improving our pecuniary situation. The financial
events of the past year suggest facts and conditions which
should certainly arrest attention. More than $172,000,000 in
gold have been drawn out of the Treasury during the year for
the purpose of shipment abroad or hoarding at home. While
nearly one hundred and three millions of this amount was drawn
out during the first ten months of the year, a sum aggregating
more than two-thirds of that amount, being about sixty-nine
millions, was drawn out during the following two months, thus
indicating a marked acceleration of the depleting process with
the lapse of time. The obligations upon which this gold has
been drawn from the Treasury are still outstanding and are
available for use in repeating the exhausting operation with
shorter intervals as our perplexities accumulate. Conditions
are certainly supervening tending to make the bonds which may
be issued to replenish our gold less useful for that purpose.
… It will hardly do to say that a simple increase of revenue
will cure our troubles. The apprehension now existing and
constantly increasing as to our financial ability does not
rest upon a calculation of our revenue. The time has passed
when the eyes of investors abroad and our people at home were
fixed upon the revenues of the Government. Changed conditions
have attracted their attention to the gold of the Government.
There need be no fear that we can not pay our current expenses
with such money as we have. There is now in the Treasury a
comfortable surplus of more than $63,000,000, but it is not in
gold, and therefore does not meet our difficulty. I can not
see that differences of opinion concerning the extent to which
silver ought to be coined or used in our currency should
interfere with the counsels of those whose duty it is to
rectify evils now apparent in our financial situation. They
have to consider the question of national credit, and the
consequences that will follow from its collapse. Whatever
ideas may be insisted upon as to silver or bimetallism, a
proper solution of the question now pressing upon us only
requires a recognition of gold as well as silver, and a
concession of its importance, rightfully or wrongfully
acquired, as a basis of national credit, a necessity in the
honorable discharge of our obligations payable in gold, and a
badge of solvency. … While I am not unfriendly to silver, and
while I desire to see it recognized to such an extent as is
consistent with financial safety and the preservation of
national honor and credit, I am not willing to see gold
entirely banished from our currency and finances. To avert
such a consequence I believe thorough and radical remedial
legislation should be promptly passed. I therefore beg the
Congress to give the subject immediate attention. In my
opinion the Secretary of the Treasury should be authorized to
issue bonds of the Government for the purpose of procuring and
maintaining a sufficient gold reserve and the redemption and
cancellation of the United States legal-tender notes and the
Treasury notes issued for the purchase of silver under the law
of July 14, 1890. We should be relieved from the humiliating
process of issuing bonds to procure gold to be immediately and
repeatedly drawn out on these obligations for purposes not
related to the benefit of our Government or our people.
{3588}
The principal and interest of these bonds should be payable on
their face in gold, because they should be sold only for gold or
its representative, and because there would now probably be
difficulty in favorably disposing of bonds not containing this
stipulation. … The Secretary of the Treasury might well be
permitted, at his discretion, to receive on the sale of bonds
the legal-tender and Treasury notes to be retired, and, of
course, when they are thus retired or redeemed in gold they
should be canceled. These bonds under existing laws could be
deposited by national banks as security for circulation; and
such banks should be allowed to issue circulation up to the
face value of these or any other bonds so deposited, except
bonds outstanding bearing only 2 per cent interest, and which
sell in the market at less than par. National banks should not
be allowed to take out circulating notes of a less
denomination than $10, and when such as are now outstanding
reach the Treasury, except for redemption and retirement, they
should be canceled and notes of the denomination of $10 and
upward issued in their stead. Silver certificates of the
denomination of $10 and upward should be replaced by
certificates of denominations under $10. As a constant means
for the maintenance of a reasonable supply of gold in the
Treasury our duties on imports should be paid in gold,
allowing all other dues to the Government to be paid in any
other form of money. I believe all the provisions I have
suggested should be embodied in our laws if we are to enjoy a
complete reinstatement of a sound financial condition." The
President's recommendations were not acted upon. The silver
interest in Congress defeated all measures introduced for the
purpose and left the situation unchanged. The Government was
forced to a new issue of bonds under the old act, for the
replenishing of its gold reserve.

----------UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: End--------

UNITED STATES BANK.

See MONEY AND BANKING: A. D. 1791-1816, 1817-1833;
and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1833-1836.

UNITED STATES CHRISTIAN COMMISSION.

See SANITARY COMMISSION.

UNITED STATES CONGRESS.

See CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL.

See BRAZIL: A. D. 1889-1891.

UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA.

See COLOMBIAN STATES.

UNITED STATES PRESIDENT.

See PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION.

See SANITARY COMMISSION.

UNITED STATES SENATE.

See SENATE, THE AMERICAN.

UNIVERSITIES.

See EDUCATION;
also VERMONT, VIRGINIA and WISCONSIN UNIVERSITIES,
and (in SUPPLEMENT) BROWN, MINNESOTA, and TULANE.

UNIVERSITY EXTENSION.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS &c.;
A. D. 1873-1889, and 1887-1892.

UNKIAR-SKELESSI, Treaty of (1833).

See TURKS: A. D. 1831-1840.

UNSTRUTT, Battle of the (1075).

See SAXONY: A. D. 1073-1075.

UPCHURCH POTTERY.

The Upchurch marshes, on the Medway, above Sheerness, were the
site of extensive potteries in the time of the Roman
occupation of Britain, and remains of the ware manufactured
are abundant in the neighborhood.

_Thomas Wright,
The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon,
chapter 8._

UPPER HOUSE.

See LORDS, BRITISH HOUSE OF.

UPSALA, Battle of (1520).

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1397-1527.

UPSAROKAS, OR CROWS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.

UR OF THE CHALDEES.

"The Ur Kasdim, i. e. 'Ur of the Chaldæans' in the Hebrew
Scriptures, is the modern Mug-heir, southeast of Babylon; on
clay-tablets discovered in the ruins of this place we find
cuneiform symbols, which are to be read as Uru."

_M. Duncker,
History of Antiquity,
book 2, chapter 1._

URARDA ARARAT.

See ALARODIANS.

URBAN II., Pope, A. D. 1088-1099.

Urban III., Pope, 1185-1187.

Urban IV., Pope, 1261-1264.

Urban V., Pope, 1362-1370.

Urban VI., Pope, 1378-1389.

Urban VII., Pope, 1590, September 15 to September 27.

Urban VIII., Pope, 1623-1644.

URBARIUM, of Maria Theresa, The.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1849-1859.

URBINO: Annexation to the States of the Church (1631).

See PAPACY: A. D. 1605-1700.

URGENDJ, Destruction by the Mongols.

See KHUAREZM: A. D. 1220.

URICONIUM, VIROCONIUM.

An important Roman town in Britain, extensive remains of which
have been unearthed at modern Wroxeter. It was the station of
the 14th legion.

_J. C. Anderson,
The Roman city of Uriconium._