Page:The Republican Party (1920).djvu/98



The administration of Garfield and Arthur, from 1881 to 1885, was marked with comparatively little party rivalry, but the important laws enacted were Republican measures, and were often passed by that party in the face of strong Democratic opposition. For example, the Civil Service Reform bill, which became law on January 16, 1883 and which fully established the merit system in the public service on its present foundation, although it bore the name of a Democratic statesman, was supported chiefly by Republicans and was opposed by practically none but Democrats. Thus in the Senate all the five votes against it were cast by Democrats, while in the House 101 Republicans, 49 Democrats and 5 Independents voted for it, and only 7 Republicans but 39 Democrats and one Independent against it. There were enacted by the Republican government, also, laws for the suppression of polygamy and for the regulation of Chinese immigration.

The Presidential campaign of 1884 was participated in by the usual number of ephemeral minor parties. There were two Prohibition conventions, a Greenback convention, an Anti-Monopoly convention, and an Equal Rights orfor [sic] Woman Suffrage convention which nominated Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood for the presidency. The Democratic convention nominated Grover Cleveland of New York and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, on a platform devoted largely to denunciation