small the force, they succeeded in restoring order without bloodshed — in fact, without meeting with any resistance, while the state militia in many instances had bloody encounters with the rioters, sometimes with doubtful result.
In his first annual message, 3 Dec., 1877, President Hayes congratulated the country upon the results of the policy he had followed with regard to the south. He said: “All apprehension of danger from remitting those states to local self-government is dispelled, and a most salutary change in the minds of the people has begun and is in progress in every part of that section of the country once the theatre of unhappy civil strife; substituting for suspicion, distrust, and aversion, concord, friendship, and patriotic attachment to the Union. No unprejudiced mind will deny that the terrible and often fatal collisions which for several years have been of frequent occurrence, and have agitated and alarmed the public mind, have almost entirely ceased, and that a spirit of mutual forbearance and hearty national interest has succeeded. There has been a general re-establishment of order, and of the orderly administration of justice; instances of remaining lawlessness have become of rare occurrence; political turmoil and turbulence have disappeared; useful industries have been resumed; public credit in the southern states has been greatly strengthened and the encouraging benefit of a revival of commerce between the sections of country lately embroiled in civil war are fully enjoyed.” He also strongly urged the resumption of specie payments. As to the difficulties to be met in this respect he said: “I must adhere to my most earnest conviction that any wavering in purpose or unsteadiness in methods, so far from avoiding or reducing the inconvenience inseparable from the transition from an irredeemable to a redeemable paper currency, would only tend to increased and prolonged disturbance in values, and, unless retrieved, must end in serious disorder, dishonor, and disaster in the financial affairs of the government and of the people.” As to the restoration of silver as a legal tender, which was at the time being agitated, he insisted that “all the bonds issued since 12 Feb., 1873, when gold became the only unlimited legal-tender metallic currency of the country, are justly payable in gold coin, or in coin of equal value”; and that “the bonds issued prior to 1873 were issued at a time when the gold dollar was the only coin in circulation or contemplated by either the government or the holders of the bonds as the coin in which they were to be paid.” He added: “It is far better to pay these bonds in that coin than to seem to take advantage of the unforeseen fall in silver bullion to pay in a new issue of silver coin thus made so much less valuable. The power of the United States to coin money and to regulate the value thereof ought never to be exercised for the purpose of enabling the government to pay its obligations in a coin of less value than that contemplated by the parties when the bonds were issued.” He favored the coinage of silver, but only in a limited quantity, as a legal tender to a limited amount. He expressed the fear “that only mischief and misfortune would flow from a coinage of silver dollars with the quality of unlimited legal tender, even in private transactions. Any expectation of temporary ease from an issue of silver coinage to pass as a legal tender, at a rate materially above its commercial value, is, I am persuaded, a delusion.” As to the reform of the civil service, he reiterated what he had said in his letter of acceptance and inaugural address, and insisted that the constitution imposed upon the executive the sole duty and responsibility of the selection of Federal officers who, by law, are appointed, not elected; he deprecated the practical confusion, in this respect, of the duties assigned to the several departments of the government, and earnestly recommended that congress make a suitable appropriation for the civil-service commission, to be made immediately available. He also recommended efficient legislation for the work of civilization among the Indian tribes, and for the prevention of the destruction of the forests on lands of the United States.
The recommendations thus made by President Hayes were not heeded by congress. No appropriation was made for the civil-service commission: on the contrary, the dissatisfaction of Republican senators and representatives with the endeavors of the administration in the direction of civil-service reform found vent in various attacks upon the president and the heads of departments. The nomination of one of the foremost citizens of New York for the office of collector of customs at that port was rejected by the senate. The efforts of the administration to check depredations on the timber-lands of the United States, and to prevent the destruction of the forests, were denounced as an outlandish policy. Instead of facilitating the resumption of specie payments, the house of representatives passed a bill substantially repealing the resumption act. A resolution was offered by a Republican senator, and adopted by the senate, declaring that to restore the coinage of 412½-grain silver dollars and to pay the government bonds, principal and interest, in such silver coin, was “not in violation of the public faith, nor in derogation of the rights of the public creditor.” A “silver bill” passed both houses providing that a silver dollar should be coined at the several mints of the United States, of the weight of 412½ grains, which, together with all silver dollars of like weight and fineness coined theretofore by the United States, should be a full legal tender for all debts and dues, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract, and directing the secretary of the treasury to buy not less than two million dollars' worth of silver a month, and cause it to be coined into dollars as fast as purchased. President Hayes returned this bill with his veto, mainly on the ground that the commercial value of the silver dollar was then worth eight to ten per cent. less than its nominal value, and that its use as a legal tender for the payment of pre-existing debts would be an act of bad faith. He said: “As to all debts heretofore contracted, the silver dollar should be made a legal tender only at its market value. The standard of value should not be changed without the consent of both parties to the contract. National promises should be kept with unflinching fidelity. There is no power to compel a nation to pay its just debts. Its credit depends on its honor. A nation owes what it has led or allowed its creditors to expect. I cannot approve a bill which in my judgment authorizes the violation of sacred obligations.” But the bill was passed over the veto in both houses by majorities exceeding two thirds. During the same session the house of representatives, which had a Democratic majority, on motion of Clarkson N. Potter, of New York, resolved to institute an inquiry into the allegations of fraud said to have been committed in Louisiana and Florida in making the returns of the votes cast for presidential electors at the election of 1876. The Republicans charged that the investigation was set on foot for the purpose of ousting Mr. Hayes from the presidency and
