Therefore, for a long time people could not buy as much with a greenback dollar as with a gold dollar. But as the nation kept growing stronger, and easily obtained vast sums of money every year as taxes or as custom-house duties, there was a gradual increase of confidence in its ability to redeem the paper money. After a time, the man who held a greenback found that he was able to purchase with it at the stores very nearly as much as though he carried with him only gold coin. Consequently, the difference between these two kinds of money became very small, and even this difference was at last removed by an act of Congress. The Federal Treasurer was ordered, after January 1, 1879, to exchange all greenbacks for gold specie, dollar for dollar, whenever any one asked for such an exchange. This action of the Government was called the "resumption of specie payments." It immediately restored our national credit to a sound condition. For just as soon as people knew that they could get gold for their greenbacks any moment they asked for it, there ceased of course to be any distinction in value between a dollar in paper and a dollar in specie. 377. Captain Eads's Mississippi jetties. The currents of the Mississippi River and of its great tribu- or A MISSISSIPPI RIVER STEAMBOAT Boats of this type, having a light draft, are used on the river for transporting both passengers and freight great current is divided among all these, it slows down, and then the material which it carries sinks to the bottom and forms great sand bars. By 1875 the bars had become so large as to interfere with navigation. Deep-draft boats could with difficulty float over them, and channels were kept open only by continual and costly dredging. In that year Congress voted money for carrying out a proposal of Captain Eads, a St. Louis engineer,1 for putting a stop to this continual obstruction and expense. Eads's plan was to narrow the channel at South Pass, which is one of the outlets of the river, by building along its sides artificial banks or "jetties." His object was to force the current to go through that channel more swiftly than it had gone before; then, he said, the sand would be carried out with a rush to the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where it would give no more trouble. This was a bold and magnificent idea, worthy of a great engineer. When he was able to put it in practice, it proved entirely successful. After 1879 there was no further difficulty with the sand bars, and New Orleans could then easily be reached by large trans-Atlantic steamers.2 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 1. What was the cause of the disputed claim to the presidency in 1876? What would prevent a similar dispute now? (See page 423.) 2. Why was President Hayes's withdrawal of the troops from the South an act of courage? Name other similar acts of moral courage on the part of our Presidents. 3. What race questions have confronted the people of the United States? Use a map in this discussion. 4. Why is a paper dollar at present of as much value as a gold or silver dollar? 5. Explain by means of blackboard drawings the Mississippi jetties. What is the "deep waterways" movement? 6. Make an outline of the chapter. COMPOSITION SUBJECTS I. Imagine that you are a Southerner. Write a letter to President Hayes, thanking him for the withdrawal of the troops. 2. Let each of five members of the class describe an event of importance in connection with the history of the Mississippi River. 1 He was the builder of the first steel arch bridge across the Mississippi at that city. 2 Eads secured a channel thirty feet deep over a sand bar that before this improvement had only about eight feet of water above it. In later years Southwest Pass was improved in a similar manner. CHAPTER XLI GARFIELD'S AND ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATIONS: CIVIL SERVICE REFORM, AND THE NEW SOUTH 1881-1885 378. The assassination of President Garfield. James A. Garfield followed Hayes as President.1 But he had been in office only a few months when he was shot by a disappointed and half-crazy office-seeker, and died in the following September. A few hours after the President's death he was succeeded by the Vice-President, Chester A. Arthur.2 379. Civil service reform. One of the most important reforms in the history of the United States Government was brought about during Arthur's Administration. For about fifty years it had been the practice of party leaders to reward the men who had in various ways aided the party to get into office, by giving them positions in the civil service. Usually when a new President came into power, the men holding positions of this sort were discharged and new and untrained persons were put in their places. There were serious disadvantages in this so-called "spoils system ": (a) Changes were so frequent that few of the Government's employees had time to become skillful in their work. 1 Garfield was born in a lonely log cabin in Ohio in 1831. During his youth and early manhood he was very poor, and at one time earned his living by driving the horses of a canal-boat. But after this experience on the towpath he contrived to get an education and graduated from Williams College. He served with distinction in the Civil War and became a major-general. In the midst of the war he was elected to the Federal House of Representatives, and afterwards was a Federal Senator. 2 Arthur was born in Vermont in 1830. After graduating from Union College he was a lawyer in New York City, but in the early years of the Civil War also acted as quartermaster-general of the volunteers from New York State. For several years he was at the head of the New York Custom-House (1871-78). He was elected Vice-President in 1880. He died in 1886. There was, indeed, little encouragement for them to acquire skill, for they were liable soon to lose their places. (b) The public business was not likely to be well done, for few of the officeholders took much pride in their work. They had been appointed because they were successful in politics, not because they were well fitted to perform the tasks for which the Government paid them salaries. It was a wasteful and unsatisfactory way JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD of doing the work of the nation. (c) The President, Senators, Representatives, and other leaders of the party in power were continually being annoyed by men who wanted Federal positions-"office-beggars," as they were called. The leaders should have spent their time in performing the important duties of their own offices; instead of that, a large share of their attention was taken up by these hangers-on.1 Under Presidents Grant and Hayes attempts were made to improve the methods of selecting persons for the civil service; but the attempts were not successful. The assassination of President Garfield, however, by a disappointed office-beggar, called public attention very strongly to the evils of the old system. Accordingly, in 1883, a Civil Service Reform Act was adopted. This provided for a board of commissioners to examine applicants for some of the classes of positions and to decide whether or not they were competent to fill them. After that, the chief officials were obliged to select their assistants from among those persons who had passed such examinations. An assistant 1 When the war broke out President Lincoln ought to have been able to spend every wakeful moment of his time in attending to public business. Instead of that he was bothered by office-beggars almost every hour of the day. He said that he felt "like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house that he cannot stop to put out the fire that is burning at the other.' chosen in this way could not be discharged by his chief so long as he acted properly and did his work well. In our time nearly all classes of government employees are placed under this law. The result has been a great improvement over the old system. The chief officials no longer spend much of their time in listening to appeals from office-hunters. At the same time the efficiency of the employees has been increased. And what is also important, every American citizen has now an equal chance with every other citizen to hold a government position, provided he is fitted for it. A like reform has also been adopted in the civil service systems of several of our States and large cities. 380. Reduction in postage. In the same year as the beginning of civil service reform (1883) came a much-welcomed reduction in the rate of postage. During the early years of the Republic a letter weighing not more than half an ounce was carried by the Government at charges varying from six to twenty-five cents, according to the distance. Little by little these rates were lowered until only three cents were charged for a letter of that weight to all parts of the United States, near or far. This rate was maintained for a long time. The law of 1883 reduced the price to two cents. Two years later came a still further benefit. Instead of half an ounce one might thereafter send a full ounce weight for the two-cent stamp. Our letters are now taken at this low rate to every American possession, no matter how far distant, as well as to Cuba, Mexico, Canada, and Great Britain; also, under certain conditions, to Germany. 381. The New South and its prosperity. The first shipment to Europe of American cotton was made in 1784, from Charleston, South Carolina, to Liverpool. The onehundredth anniversary of this event was celebrated in 1884 at New Orleans in a great Cotton Centennial Exposition. It was really an exhibition of all the industries of the South, and attracted many thousands of visitors.1 1 In 1881 there had been a celebration at Yorktown, Virginia, of the onehundredth anniversary of the surrender of the British army under Lord Corn |