Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/121

 ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 93 Jersey. Postmasters-General, John A. J. Cres- well, of Maryland; Marshall Jewell, of Connecti cut; James A. Tyner, of Indiana. Attorneys- General, Ebenezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts; Amos T. Akerman, of Georgia; George H. Wil liams, of Oregon; Edwards Pierrepont, of New York; Alphonso Taft, of Ohio. Secretaries of the interior, Gen. Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio; Columbus Delano, of Ohio; Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan. During President Grant s administrations the taxes had been reduced over $300,000,000, the national debt over $450,000,000, the interest on the debt from $160,000,000 to $100,000,000; the bal ance of trade had changed from $130,000,000 against this country to $130,000,000 in its favor; the reconstruction of the southern states had been completed; the first trans-continental railroad had been finished ; all threatening foreign complications had been satisfactorily settled; and all exciting na tional questions seemed to have been determined and removed from the arena of political contests. Gen. Grant, while president, exhibited the same executive ability as in the army, insisting upon a proper division of labor among the different branches of the government, leaving the head of each department great freedom of action, and hold ing him to a strict accountability for the conduct of the affairs of his office. He decided with great promptness all questions referred to him, and sug-