Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/232

 190 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS sity of national well-being. In all these characters he was the friend of learning, and would probably ask no other epitaph than the tribute of a friend, who said that, &quot;among the public men of his era, none had higher qualities of statesmanship and greater culture than James A. Garfield.&quot; Garfield s speeches are almost a compendium of the political history of the stirring era between 1864 and 1880. Among those worthy of special mention, on account of the importance of the sub jects or the attractive and forcible presentation of them, are the following: On the Enrolling and calling out of the National Forces (January 25, 1864) ; on the Reconstruction of the Southern States (February, 1866; on Civil-Service Reform, in the congress of 1870 and other congresses; on the Currency and the Public Faith (April, 1874) ; on the Democratic Party and the South (August 4, 1876), of which a million copies were distributed as a campaign document; the speech in opposition to the Wood bill, which was framed to break down the protective tariff (June 4, 1878) ; the speeches on Revolution in Congress (March 4 and April 4, 1879) ; on Congressional Nullification (June 10, 1879) ; on Treason at the Polls (June 11, 1879) ; and on the Democratic Party and Public Opinion (October 11, 1879). Among his speeches in con gress, less political in character, were that on the National Bureau of Education (June 8, 1866) ; a