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factories and mines had to stop, and railway lines reduced the number of their workmen; consequently, large numbers of people were thrown out of employment. Very soon the country seemed to be filled with men who had nothing to do. Many of them could no longer buy enough food and clothing for their families, and there was much intense suffering in every part of the land.

395. Railway and coal strikes. This unfortunate situation was during the next year (1894) made still worse by great strikes, chiefly by coal-miners and railway men. They demanded more wages and fewer working hours than the employers were willing to grant. The worst trouble was at Pullman, a few miles from Chicago, in the shops where sleeping-cars are made. The strike of the three thousand workmen employed there was followed by a "sympathetic strike" on eleven railways centering in Chicago. The purpose of this was to prevent these lines from using Pullman cars. Almost every railway in the West and the South was "tied up." Great quantities of meat, butter, fruits, and other perishable goods were spoiled because they could not be shipped. For three weeks it was almost impossible to travel either out of or to Chicago, and a large amount of railway property was destroyed by rioters. Trade in several large Western cities was at a standstill, factories were closed because they could not get material, and virtually every body suffered some sort of inconvenience. But the blow fell heaviest on the thousands of unemployed people who now had no money to buy food, clothing, or shelter. The effect on the country was almost as disastrous as the panic of the year before. Finally, President Cleveland sent Federal soldiers to Illinois to protect the mail cars and to stop the interference with interstate commerce. This ended the trouble. During those three eventful weeks, however, the manufacturers, the railroads, and the workmen had lost over $7,000,000 in property destroyed and wages unpaid.1

1 In the spring of 1894 several hundred unemployed men gathered in Ohio from as far west as San Francisco. They called themselves "Coxey's Army,"

396. International arbitration. In the midst of the World's Fair and the panic of 1893 came the peaceful settlement of a long-standing dispute between the United States and Great Britain. When we bought Alaska we supposed that our ownership extended over all of Bering Sea, whose islands are at certain seasons of the year frequented by valuable fur-bearing seals. But when these animals left the islands and swam out into the open sea, they were killed in such great numbers by foreign seal-hunters that it began to look as though they would soon be exterminated. Therefore, United States cruisers captured the vessels and fur cargoes of as many such intruders as possible. The foreigners protested, however, that we had no right to do this; they said that our authority did not extend beyond a limit of three miles out from shore. Great Britain, indeed, demanded that we return all furs and vessels that our officers had taken from the Canadian hunters.

The two countries very sensibly agreed to refer the matter to a commission composed of representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and NorwaySweden. It was decided by this body that while the United States had no right to close all of Bering Sea to the sealhunters of other nations, it could insist on having the animals hunted only in the proper season and by rules that would prevent their extermination. It was far better to have this matter settled in a friendly way than to go to war over it. The verdict pleased Great Britain, for now we could no longer molest foreign sailors; and Americans were also satisfied, for they had only desired to protect the seals from thoughtless hunters.

But it was found that even this arrangement was not sufficient. There were still so many seals secretly caught in

because led by a man named Jacob S. Coxey, and marched over the mountains to Washington, where about five hundred of them arrived on May Day. The banners that they carried denounced all capitalists, and declared that they were going to petition Congress to provide work for everybody at good wages. But Congress paid no attention to the "army" and it soon disbanded.

the open sea by British, Russian, Japanese, and American hunters that each year the herds grew smaller and smaller. Finally, in July, 1911, during President Taft's Administration, a treaty was signed between all four nations by which no fur seals are to be killed in the open waters of the North Pacific Ocean, including the seas of Bering, Okhotsk, Kamchatka, and Japan.

During Cleveland's second Administration another serious dispute arose between this country and Great Britain, but it also ended peacefully. Venezuela and Great Britain had for a half-century been quarreling over the boundary between the former country and the latter's colony of British Guiana. Great Britain seemed inclined to take advantage of her strength and to establish the boundary where it pleased her. But Cleveland declared that under the Monroe Doctrine we could not possibly allow a European nation to domineer over an American republic. He insisted that the British Government should arbitrate with Venezuela and put a stop to the unfortunate quarrel. At first Great Britain flatly refused to do this; whereupon the President himself appointed a commission to determine the true boundary. For a time there was much fear both in England and America that a war might result from this action. But Great Britain finally agreed (1897) to the proposed arbitration with Venezuela, and the affair ended without any further trouble.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

1. Review former panics, and note in what respects the causes of all were similar. (See "Panics in the Index.)

2. What event in Cleveland's second Administration showed the authority of the National Government? Make a list of the events in Colonial and Revolutionary history which gradually brought about the establishment of the Union; then make a list of events beginning with Washington's Administration, which established the supremacy of the Union of the States.

3. Recall another instance of arbitration between Great Britain and the United States. (See "Arbitration" in the Index.) Why should peace exist between the two nations?

4. Some of the great questions before the people in Cleveland's second Administration are still public questions. Name them. 5. Make an outline of the chapter.

COMPOSITION SUBJECTS

1. One of Columbus's descendants visits the fair at Chicago. Write a letter which he might have written to a relative in Spain about his visit.

2. Write a brief argument justifying President Cleveland in sending the troops to Chicago during the strike.

CHAPTER XLV

MCKINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION: THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR,

AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSION

1897-1901

397. The Dingley Tariff. The majority of American voters were not quite satisfied with the Wilson Tariff, that had been adopted by the Democrats. The Republicans again offered to give to our manufacturers increased protection, and succeeded in electing

their presidential candidate, William McKinley,1 to succeed President Cleveland.

In the first year of the McKinley Administration (1897), Congress, which was also controlled by the Republicans, adopted the Dingley Tariff Bill. This increased the duties on many imports, and took from the free list wool and several other articles that had been placed there by the Wilson Tariff.

[graphic]

WILLIAM MCKINLEY

398. National prosperity, and Greater New York. The ill effects of the panic of 1893 and of the labor disturbances that followed it, had by this time almost wholly disappeared. During McKinley's term of office the prosperity of the United States was much talked about throughout the entire world. American-made hardware, tools, sewing-machines,

1 McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843, and as a youth taught a country school. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the Union army as a private, in the regiment in which Rutherford B. Hayes (afterwards President) was a major. McKinley, being a good and brave soldier, gradually rose to be a major himself. When the war was over he became a lawyer, and in 1876 was elected a member of Congress. In 1890 he introduced the McKinley Tariff Bill.

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