A Short History of the United States Part 57

_d_. What were the chief difficulties in the way of reconstruction?

_e_. What are the important duties of citizens? Why do you select these?

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

_a_. Impeachment of Johnson.

_b_. The Chicago fire.

_c_. Civil Service Reform.

_d_. Industrial activity in the South.

SUGGESTIONS

The importance of the topics treated in Part XIV can hardly be overestimated. The opportunities to impress the pupils with their public duties are many and important. Reconstruction should be broadly treated and not discussed in a partisan spirit. It is better to dwell on our duties to the negroes than to seek out Northern blunders and Southern mistakes. In connection with the amendments the whole question of the suffrage can be discussed in the responsibility devolving upon the voter fully set forth. Questions of munic.i.p.al organizations also arise and can be ill.u.s.trated by local experience.

XV

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1889-1900

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Scribner's _Popular History_, V, 579-659; McMaster's _School History_, chs. x.x.xiv, x.x.xv.

Home Readings.--Any short, attractive account of the Spanish War.

CHAPTER 44

CONFUSION IN POLITICS

[Sidenote: Benjamin Harrison elected President, 1888.]

464. Benjamin Harrison elected President, 1888.--In 1888 the Democrats put forward Cleveland as their candidate for President. The Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. Like Hayes and Garfield, he had won renown in the Civil War and was a man of the highest honor and of proved ability. The prominence of the old Southern leaders in the Democratic administration, and the neglect of the business interests of the North, compelled many Northern Republicans who had voted for Cleveland to return to the Republican party. The result was the election of Harrison and of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

[Sidenote: The McKinley tariff, 1890.]

[Sidenote: Reciprocity.]

465. The McKinley Tariff, 1890.--One of the questions most discussed in the campaign of 1888 was the reform of the tariff. There seem to have been two sets of tariff reformers. One set of reformers proposed to reform the tariff by doing away with as much of it as possible. The other set of reformers proposed to readjust the tariff duties so as to make the protective system more consistent and more perfect. Led by William McKinley, the Republicans set to work to reform the tariff in this latter sense. This they did by generally raising the duties on protected goods. The McKinley Tariff Act also offered reciprocity to countries which would favor American goods. This offer was in effect to lower certain duties on goods imported from Argentina, for instance, if the Argentine government would admit certain American goods to Argentina on better terms than similar goods imported from other countries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON.]

[Sidenote: Gold and Silver]

[Sidenote: Sherman Silver Law.]

466. The Sherman Silver Law, 1890.--In the Civil War gold and silver had disappeared from circulation. But after the close of the war a gradual return was made to specie payments. In the colonial days the demand for silver, as compared with the demand for gold, outran the supply. The consequence was that silver was constantly becoming worth more in comparison with gold. In the nineteenth century the supply of silver has greatly outstripped the demand, with the result that silver has greatly declined in value as compared with gold. In 1871 the government decided to use silver for small coins only, and not to allow silver to be offered in payment of a larger sum than five dollars. This was called the "demonetization of silver." In 1878 a small but earnest band of advocates of the free coinage of silver secured the pa.s.sage of an act of Congress for the coinage of two million silver dollars each month. The silver in each one of these dollars was only worth in gold from ninety to sixty cents. In 1890, Senator John Sherman of Ohio brought in a bill to increase the coinage of these silver dollars which, in 1894, were worth only forty nine cents on the dollar in gold.

[Sidenote: Business depression.]

[Sidenote: Cleveland elected President, 1892.]

467. Election of 1892.--One result of this great increase in the silver coinage was to alarm business men throughout the country.

Business constantly declined. Every one who could lessened his expenses as much as possible. Mill owners and railroad managers discharged their workers or reduced their wages. Harrison and Cleveland were again the Republican and Democratic candidates for the presidency. As is always the case, the party in power was held to be responsible for the hard times. Enough voters turned to Cleveland to elect him, and he was inaugurated President for the second time (March 4, 1893).

[Sidenote: Scarcity of money.]

[Sidenote: Repeal of the Sherman Law.]

[Sidenote: Wilson tariff.]

468. Silver and the Tariff.--In the summer of 1893 there was a great scarcity of money. Thousands of people withdrew all the money they could from the banks and locked it up in places of security. But Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Law and put an end to the compulsory purchase of silver and the coinage of silver dollars. This tended to restore confidence. The Democrats once more overhauled the tariff. Under the lead of Representative Wilson of West Virginia they pa.s.sed a tariff act, lowering some duties and placing many articles on the free list.

[Sidenote: Chicago Exhibition, 1893.]

469. The Chicago Exhibition, 1893.--The four hundredth anniversary of the Columbian discovery of America occurred in October, 1892.

Preparations were made for holding a great commemorative exhibition at Chicago. But it took so long to get everything ready that the exhibition was not held until the summer of 1893. Beautiful buildings were erected of a cheap but satisfactory material. They were designed with the greatest taste, and were filled with splendid exhibits that showed the skill and resources of Americans, and also with the products of foreign countries. Hundreds of thousands of persons from all parts of the country visited the exhibition with pleasure and great profit. No more beautiful or successful exhibition has ever been held.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FISHERIES BUILDING, WORLD'S FAIR, CHICAGO.]

[Sidenote: William McKinley.]

[Sidenote: W.J. Bryan.]

[Sidenote: McKinley elected President, 1896.]

470. Election of 1896.--In 1896 the Republicans held their convention at St. Louis and nominated William McKinley of Ohio for President. They declared in favor of the gold standard, unless some arrangement with other nations for a standard of gold and silver could be made. They also declared for protection to home industries. The Democrats held their convention at Chicago. The men who had stood by Cleveland found themselves in a helpless minority. William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska was nominated for President on a platform advocating the free coinage of silver and many changes in the laws in the direction of socialism. The Populists and the Silver Republicans also adopted Bryan as their candidate. Now, at last, the question of the gold standard or the silver standard was fairly before the voters. They responded by electing McKinley and a Republican House of Representatives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM MCKINLEY.]

[Sidenote: The Dingley tariff, 1897.]

471. The Dingley Tariff, 1897.--The Republicans, once more in control of the government, set to work to reform the tariff in favor of high protection. Representative Dingley of Maine was chairman of the committee of the House that drew up the new bill, and the act as finally pa.s.sed goes by his name. It raised the duties on some cla.s.ses of goods and taxed many things that hitherto had come in free. Especially were duties increased on certain raw materials for manufactures, with a view to encourage the production of such materials in the United States. The reciprocity features of the McKinley tariff (P. 383) were also restored.

CHAPTER 45