ARTHUR, CHESTER A. 



37 



He also had a taste for the administration of 

 military affairs, and before the civil war was 

 Judge- Advocate of the Second Brigade of the 

 State militia. When Edwin D. Morgan became 

 Governor of New York, at the beginning of 

 1860, he appointed Mr. Arthur to the position 

 of engineer-in-chief on his staff, and he was 

 afterward made Inspector-General, and then 

 Quartermaster-General of the military forces 

 of the State, an office which he held until the 

 end of Governor Morgan's) term, at the close of 

 1863. He conducted the duties of his office 

 in equipping, supplying, and forwarding the 

 immense number of troops furnished by his 

 State, with such success that his accounts were 

 audited and allowed at Washington without 

 deduction, while those of some of the States 

 were reduced by millions of dollars. It has 

 also been said that while he had the giving of 

 many large and profitable contracts, and the 

 control of enormous purchases, with opportuni- 

 ties for making gains, which most men would 

 have regarded as legitimate, he never profited 

 a penny from the business under his charge, 

 and left the office of Quartermaster-General 

 poorer than when he took it. Presents offered 

 to him were promptly rejected, and, if sent, 

 returned. In 1862 there was a secret meeting 

 of " loyal Governors," to discuss measures for 

 providing troops, at which Mr. Arthur was 

 present by invitation, being the only person 

 taking part who was not the Governor of a 

 State. Many instances are related of the 

 notably vigorous administration of his military 

 office. 



In 1863 General Arthur returned to the prac- 

 tice of law, and built up a large business in 

 collecting claims against the Government. He 

 also drafted many important measures of 

 k'^i-Uition, and promoted their adoption both 

 at Washington and at Albany. For a short 

 time he was counsel of the New York Board 

 of Tax Commissioners. Meantime he took an 

 active part in local politics, and became known 

 for his skill as an organizer and manager. On 

 the 20th of November, 1871, he was appointed 

 by President Grant Collector of Customs at 

 the port of New York, an office to which ho 

 was reappointed in 1875. His second appoint- 

 ment was promptly confirmed by the Senate 

 without a usual reference to a committee. 

 President Hayes, after his accession to office in 

 1877, promulgated an order forbidding persons 

 in the civil service of the Government from 

 taking an active part in political management. 

 Mr. Arthur was at that time chairman of the 

 Republican Central Committee of New York 

 city, and Mr. A. B. Cornell, who held the 

 position of Naval Officer, was chairman of the 

 State Central Committee, of the same party. 

 Both gentlemen neglected to comply with the 

 President's order by resigning their party 

 positions, and were suspended from office in 

 July, 1878. An attempt had previously been 

 made to supersede General Arthur by remov- 

 ing him, and appointing his successor during 



the session of the Senate, but the appointment 

 was not confirmed. The successor appointed 

 after his suspension in July was confirmed in 

 office at the following session of the Senate. 

 Two special committees investigated Mr. Ar- 

 thur's administration of the Collector's office, 

 and reported nothing on which a charge of 

 official dereliction could be based. Both the 

 President and the Secretary of the Treasury, in 

 connection with his suspension, acknowledged 

 the purity of his official acts. A petition for 

 his retention in office, signed by all the judges 

 of the New York courts, most of the promi- 

 nent members of the bar, and nearly all the 

 importing merchants of the city, was sup- 

 pressed by Mr. Arthur himself. The only ac- 

 cusation made against him was that of dis- 

 regarding the President's order in respect to 

 active participation in political management. 

 In a letter to Secretary Sherman, he produced 

 figures showing that in the six years of his ad- 

 ministration as Collector of New York, re- 

 movals from subordinate offices amounted to 

 only 2f per cent of the whole number, 

 against an average of 28 per cent under his 

 three immediate predecessors, and that all 

 but two appointments in one hundred to im- 

 portant positions, commanding a salary of 

 $2,000 and more, had been made by promo- 

 tion from the lower grades of the service, on 

 recommendation of the heads of bureaus. His 

 reforms in the methods of conducting the busi- 

 ness of the office were generally acknowledged. 

 On retiring from the office of Collector of 

 the Port of New York, Mr. Arthur returned 

 to the practice of law in that city, and con- 

 tinued to take an active part in politics, con- 

 tributing materially to the nomination and 

 election of Mr. Cornell to the governorship of 

 the State. He was a zealous supporter of the 

 claims of General Grant to the Republican 

 nomination for the presidency in the Chicago 

 Convention of 1880, being closely associated 

 with Senator Conkling in the effort to secure 

 that result, as he had previously been in the 

 political affairs of the State of New York. 

 When the movement to nominate General 

 Grant was defeated, and Mr. Garfield was made 

 the candidate, Mr. Arthur was nominated for 

 the vice-presidency by acclamation, for the 

 purpose of enlisting the hearty support of the 

 Grant Republicans for the ticket, and securing, 

 if possible, the vote of New York. He took an 

 active part in the management of the canvass 

 which followed, especially in his own State, 

 acting as chairman of the Republican Central 

 Committee. He presided in the Senate during 

 the special session, which began on the 4th of 

 March, with dignity and general acceptance. 

 In the contest between the President and 

 Senator Conkling, in regard to appointments in 

 the State of New York, the Vice-President 

 took no part, but, after the resignation of the 

 New York Senators, he went to Albany and 

 actively participated in the effort to secure 

 their re-election. It was during this contest 



