Resource Center OLLibrary
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[1886 |
early in the spring, with the horse-car drivers and conductors
in New York; and they gradually extended, in one form or another,
to points as far west as Nebraska and as far south as New Orleans
(§ 377).
In many cases the
strikers demanded that the working day be shortened to eight
hours; in other cases, they asked an increase of wages. In Chicago
40,000 men left their employments, and the greater part of the
factories and workshops of the city were closed. Soon the men
engaged in handling freight at the different railway freight
houses in the city joined their fellow-workmen, and all movement
or delivery of goods came to a stop. An excited meeting was held
in Haymarket Square. The police, fearing a riot, ordered the crowd
to disperse. At that moment some one threw a dynamite bomb at the
police, which killed or wounded a large number of them. The
officers then charged on the crowd with their revolvers and
arrested the ringleaders of the mob. All but one were of foreign
birth. They belonged to a small but dangerous class calling
themselves anarchists.1
The object of the
anarchist is to overthrow all forms of government, either by
peaceable means, or -- as in the case of the men arrested at
Chicago -- by murder and the destruction of property. The
workingmen of Chicago, and throughout the country, expressed their
horror of such methods, and denounced the anarchists as enemies of
the interests of labor and of society. Four of the rioters were
tried, convicted of murder, and hanged.
390. Growth of Great
Corporations and "Trusts." From the time of which we are
speaking men engaged in every kind of work or enterprise have been
more and more inclined to form associations. We have seen in a
previous section (§ 388) how labor organized for
self-protection and to obtain shorter hours or higher wages.
In the same way
capitalists have united in forming companies for carrying on
business on a scale never before attempted.
The object sought by
these gigantic corporations and "trusts"2 is generally
to obtain more effective results, with less competition, at
smaller cost, and at larger profit to the stockholders.
1 Anarchists
(an'ark-ists).
2 Trusts: companies working together
for their common advantage.
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For instance, there were once many
individual men or small companies engaged in producing
coal oil. Now the Standard Oil Company (organized in
1881) controls most of the output of petroleum in the
United States, and directly or indirectly influences the
trade of the world in this important product. |
So,
too, "trusts" have been formed, having in the aggregate
many hundreds of millions of capital, for the manufacture
and sale of iron, steel, sugar, cotton-seed oil, tobacco,
india rubber, and other staple products.|
358 |
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[1886-1887 |
York (1886). The statue -- the largest of the kind ever made --
was presented to the United States by citizens of the Republic of
France, as a memorial of their friendly feeling toward the people
of this country, and as an expression of their confidence in the
stability of the American government.
The statue is of bronze, and represents the
goddess of Liberty holding a lighted torch, to show the way to
those who are seeking the shores of the New World.
392. Three Important Laws (the Presidential
Succession; Presidential Elections; Interstate Railways).
During President Cleveland's administration three very important
laws were passed by Congress.
The first law, the Presidential Succession Act
(1886), provided, in case of the death, removal, or disability of
both the President and the Vice President, that the Secretary of
State (followed, if necessary, by the other six members who then
constituted the Cabinet)1 should succeed to the office
of President.
The second law, the Electoral Count Act (1887),
laid down certain rules for counting the electoral votes, in order
to prevent all uncertainty and dispute in regard to the election
of the President, such as had occurred in the case of President
Hayes (§ 375).
The third law (1887), the Interstate Commerce
Act, was enacted for the purpose of regulating the charges made by
all railways which pass from one state to another, the object
being to secure fair and uniform rates both for passengers and
freight. Nearly twenty years later this law was supplemented and
strengthened by the Railway Rate Act (1906) (§ 431).
393. Summary. The principal events of
President Cleveland's administration were (1) the widely extended
labor strikes; (2) the anarchist riot in Chicago; (3) the growth
of labor unions and of great corporations; (4) the passage of
three important laws relating to the succession and the election
of the President and to interstate commerce.
1 The Cabinet
consists of (1) the Secretary of State; (2) the Secretary of the
Treasury; (3) the Secretary of War; (4) the Attorney-General; (5)
the Postmaster-General; (6) the Secretary of the Navy; (7) the
Secretary of the Interior; (8) the Secretary of Agriculture
(1889); (9) the Secretary of Commerce (1903); (10) the Secretary
of Labor (1913).
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1889] |
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BENJAMIN HARRISON (REPUBLICAN)1
394. Harrison's
Administration (Twenty-third President, 1889-1893); Opening of
Oklahoma; how Cities spring up in the Far West. In the center
of Indian Territory there was a large district called
Oklahoma,2 noted for its natural beauty and fertility.
In 1889 the United States purchased it from the Indians for the
white men who desired to make homes there.
On the 22d of April of that year some fifty
thousand persons were waiting impatiently on the borders of the
new country for President Harrison's signal giving them permission
to enter and take up lands in the coveted region. At precisely
twelve o'clock on that day the blast of a bugle announced that it
was open to settlement. Instantly an avalanche of "boomers" 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 5000,
with four daily papers and six banks. Since then the growth of
Oklahoma has been remarkable in numbers, in wealth, and in public
improvements.
395. Admission of Six New States; Our New
Ships of War; Woman Suffrage. In November (1889) the President
declared the four new states of Montana, Washington, North Dakota,
and South Dakota admitted to the Union. The next summer (1890)
Idaho and Wyoming were added, making a total at that date of
forty-four.
The power of the American nation manifests
itself not only on the continent but on the ocean. The old,
worn-out wooden
1 Benjamin Harrison
was born at North Bend, Ohio, in 1833; died in 1901. He was a
grandson of President W. H. Harrison (§ 282). Mr. Harrison
studied law, and opened an office at Indianapolis. In 1862 he
entered the Union army as a second lieutenant of Indiana
volunteers. Later he was commissioned colonel of the Seventieth
Indiana Regiment. Near the close of the war he received the title
of brigadier general of volunteers. In 1880 he was elected United
States senator. In 1888 he was elected President by the
Republicans (Levi P. Morton of New York, Vice President) over
Grover Cleveland of New York and Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, the
Democratic candidates. The chief political issue in the election
was the question whether the United States should adopt the
Democratic policy of a reduction of tariff, or that of protection
advocated by the Republicans.
2 Oklahoma is an Indian name meaning
the "Land of the Red Men."
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[1890 |
vessels which made up a large part of our navy have been
gradually replaced (since 1884) by a fleet of magnificent steel
war steamers, named generally after states and cities.1
Our new navy first showed its effective fighting power (1898) in
the war with Spain (§§ 415, 417). Nine years later a
great fleet of these vessels started on their famous cruise round
the world (§ 431).
Wyoming Territory
was the first admitted to the Union, since the adoption of the
Constitution, in which women could vote2 and hold
office the same as men (1870). Colorado (1893) followed her
example, and elected three women to the legislature. Utah, Idaho,
Washington, California, Arizona, Kansas, Oregon, and Nevada
appeared next on the list. Then came Montana which elected the
first woman to Congress.3 In 1919 there were fifteen
such states. Finally, on August 26, 1920, the Constitution of the
United States was amended and women throughout the entire country
were given the same right to vote that men have.
396. The New Pension Act; the Sherman Silver
Purchase and Coinage Act; the McKinley Protective Tariff.
Early in Harrison's administration Congress passed (1890) three
very important laws relating directly or indirectly to getting,
coining, or spending money. The first was the new Pension Act.
This added nearly 480,000 names to the list of "invalid soldiers"
or their widows, to whom the government pays a sum of money each
year. The whole number of pensioners, including a considerable
number added by our war with Spain, was (1916) about 750,000. They
draw more than $165,000,000 a year, or over $450,000 a day.
Many people still thought that we were not
buying silver enough (§ 379). For this reason Congress
repealed the law of 1877, and passed the Sherman Silver Purchase
and Coinage Act (1890). It directed the Secretary of the Treasury
to buy 4,500,000 ounces of silver, or more than 150 tons, every
month. Provision was
1 The total number
of vessels of war in the United States navy at the close of 1911
(including 26 first-class battleships) was 214; or, including
vessels of all kinds, in service, in course of construction, or
authorized, it was 381, In 1919 we had over 700 warships.
2 Women voted in New Jersey from 1800
to 1807. Partial woman suffrage exists in many states. Now, 1920,
all women can vote; see Nineteenth Amendment, page xxiv.
3 Miss Jeannette Rankin, Republican;
she took her seat in March, 1917.
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1890-1891] |
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made for coining a part of this into dollars.1 These
enormous purchases had the effect of raising the value of silver
for a brief period. But the price of the "white metal" soon began
to fall again. The government then found itself in a very
unpleasant predicament, for the more silver it piled up in the
Treasury vaults the more that silver shrank in value. A dollar
that was worth 81 cents, by weight, in 1890, soon dropped to 61
cents.
In the autumn Congress enacted the McKinley
Protective Tariff.2 Its main object was to protect
American products, such as wool, for example, and American
manufactures against foreign competition.
397. The Census of 1890; the Patent Office
Centennial; the Homestead Strike. The Centennial census of the
United States (1890) reported the total population at over
62,000,000. Since the first national census was taken in 1790 we
had gained more than 58,000,000 of people, and had taken
possession of the entire breadth of the continent, from ocean to
ocean.
The next spring (1891) the Patent Office at
Washington celebrated its hundredth birthday. It issued its first
patent (for making potash for the manufacture of soap) in 1790; by
1891 it had issued more than 450,000. These patents show that
American inventive genius has entered every field which thought
and skill can occupy. Our labor-saving machines are the most
wonderful in the world. They are driven by hand, by horse power,
by wind, water, steam, gas, and electricity, and they do so many
kinds
1 The Director of the
Mint stated that between 1873 and 1889 the value of the silver
dollar fell gradually from a fraction over 100 cents in 1873, to
about 72 cents in 1889. In 1890 it rose to 81 cents; in 1891 it
averaged 76 cents; in 1892, 67 cents; and in 1893, 61 cents. he
attributed the fall in value first to the fact that a number of
European countries, including Germany and Austria, had long since
ceased coining silver except for use as "change"; but secondly and
chiefly, because of the enormous increase in the amount mined. In
1873 the world's production of the "white metal" was $81,800,000;
by 1892 it had risen to $196,605,000, an increase of 140 per cent.
See "Report of the Director of the Mint" for 1893, pp. 21-26.
2 The McKinley Tariff contained
certain provisions (called Reciprocity or "Fair Trade" Measures)
which permitted some foreign articles to be admitted free of duty,
provided the country from which we imported them admitted American
products free. When the McKinley Tariff was repealed in 1894 the
Reciprocity Measures were repealed with it, but were later
reënacted. Just before his assassination in 1901, President
McKinley made a speech at Buffalo (§ 427) in which he
strongly advocated the policy of reciprocity.
