Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/187

 HAYES

HAYES

election for Rutherford Birchard Hayes and the electoral vote as decided by the electoral commis- sion, March 2, 1877, 185 for Hayes and Wheeler and 184 for Tilden and Hendricks. The house of representatives on March 3, 1877, voted declaring that Mr. Tilden had been elected President, but the senate did not concur. Rutherford B. Hayes was sworn into office as the nineteenth President of the United States, privately at 7 p.m., Satur- day, March 3, 1877, and he was publicly inaugu- rated before the National capitol, Monday, March THE white: ri'''j;E

5, 1877, it having been rumored that Mr. Tilden had taken the oath of office in New Y'ork city, on Saturday. March 3. President Hayes appointed as his cabinet, William M. Evarts of New York, secretary of state; John Sherman of Ohio, secre- tary of the treasury; George W. McCrary of Iowa, secretary of war; Carl Schurz of Missouri, secretary of the interior; Richard W. Tiiompson of Indiana, secretary of the navy; David McK.Key of Tennessee, postmaster-general, and Cliarles Devens of Massachusetts, attorney-general. He at once proceeded to satisfy the intelligent, sub- stantial and influential citizens of the southern states by withdrawing the Federal troops from the states and leaving the local government to the voice of the people in the two disputed states then under a dual government. The troops were withdrawn from the state house at Columbia, S.C, April 10, 1877, and Wade Hampton, Demo- crat, was acknowledged to be the duly elected governor; and from the state house of Louisiana, April 20, 1877, and Francis T. Nichols, Democrat, was recognized as governor. This course while heartily approved by the Democrats was severely criticised by the Republicans, who thus lost the votes of the southern states. In the appointment to office, with the exception of his naming a few members of the Louisiana returning-board, his policy was to regard the viesvs of the advocates of civil service and his appointments were gener- ally very acceptable. Competitive examinations were instituted and applications were considered irrespective of partisan control. On May 5, 1877, he called an extra session of congress to meet Oct. 15, 1877, to make necessary appropriations for the support of the army. In July, 1877. he

suppressed the railroad riots caused by the strike of 100,000 employees, on application for help from the governors of West Virginia, Maryland, Penn- sylvania and Illinois, by sending U.S. troops to the several points of disturbance, after issuing his proclamation ordering the rioters to disperse. In his message to congress, Dec. 3, 1877, he con- gratulated the country on the peaceable and pros- perous condition of affairs in the Southern states; recommended the payment of government bonds in gold; favored the limited coinage of silver; insisted that the constitution imposed upon the executive the sole duty and responsibility of the selection of Federal officers and recommended that congress make a suitable appropriation for the use of the civil service commissica; and recommended the passage of laws to protect the forests on lands of the United States. His recom- mendations were all disregarded by congress. He vetoed the "silver bill" passed by both houses, on the ground that the commercial value of the silver dollar was then eight or ten per cent less than its nominal value and that its use in the payment of debts already contracted would be an act of bad faith. The bill was passed over his veto by over a two-third majority. In his annual message of Dec. 1, 1879, he congratulated the country on the return to specie payment, the great revival in business, and the refunding of the public debt at a lower rate of interest. He urged upon congress the suspension of silver coin- age fearing that the cheaper coin would eventu- ally become the sole standard of value. He recommended the retirement of U.S. notes with the capacity of legal tender in jjrivate contracts, it being his '' firm conviction that the issue of legal-tender paper money based wholly upon the authorit}^ and credit of the government except in extreme emergencies is without warrant in the constitution and a violation of sound financial principles " and again urged for an appropriation for the civil service commission, pointing out the advantages of the system. The changes in his cabinet were: in the war department by the resignation of Secretary McCrary in December, 1879, to accept an appointment as jud^^e of the U.S. circuit court, and the appointment of Al- exander Ramsey of Minnesota, as secretary of war to fill the vacancy; in the post-office depart- ment by the resignation of Postmaster-General Kay in May, 1880, to accept the office of U.S. judge for the eastern and middle districts of Tennessee, and the appointment in August, 1880, of Horace Maynard of Tennessee as postmaster- general in his stead; and in the navy department by the resignation of Secretary Thompson in 1881, to become chairman of the American com- mittee of the Panama canal company, and the appointment of Nathan Goff , Jr. , of West Virginia