ARTHUR, CHESTER ALAN. 



43 



were her counsel in a lawsuit, ancT as the re- 

 sult the right of colored people to ride in the 

 street-cars was established. 



At the beginning of the civil war in 1861, 

 Mr. Arthur, who had been engineer-in-chief 

 on the staff of Gov. Morgan, with the rank of 

 brigadier-general, became acting quartermas- 

 ter-general. In 1862 he was inspector-general 

 of New York troops in the field. On June 28 

 of that year, he acted as secretary for the 

 meeting of Governors of the loyal States, held 

 at the Astor House, in New York city. The 

 result of the meeting was a recommendation to 

 President Lincoln to call for troops. When the 

 300,000 volunteers were asked for, Gen. Arthur 

 resigned his office of inspector, and was again 

 made quartermaster-general. Six months later, 

 when Gov. Morgan was succeeded by Gov. 

 Seymour, he went out of office, and won from 

 his Democratic successor high praise for the 

 condition in which the department was found. 

 He says : " I found, on entering on the dis- 

 charge of my duties, a well-organized system 

 of labor and accountability, for which the 

 State is chiefly indebted to my predecessor. 

 Gen. Chester A. Arthur, who by his practical 

 good sense and unremitting exertion, at a pe- 

 riod when everything was in confusion, re- 

 duced the operations of the department to a 

 matured plan, by which large amounts of 

 money were saved to the Government, and 

 great economy of time secured in carrying out 

 the details of the same." 



For the next ten years Gen. Arthur prac- 

 ticed his profession, the first four years with 

 Henry G. Gardner, the next five alone, and then 

 he formed a copartnership under the firm-name 

 of Arthur, Phelps, and Knevals. 



During all this time he took an active inter- 

 est in politics, and in 1871 was appointed, by 

 President Grant, Collector of the Port of New 

 York. At the close of a four years' term in 

 that office he was renominatedj and confirmed 

 the same day, the Senate waiving the form of 

 referring the appointment to a committee, a 

 courtesy previously shown only to ex-Senators. 

 He had been in office nearly seven years when 

 President Hayes asked for his resignation, and, 

 at the same time, offered him a foreign ap- 

 pointment. The civil - service rules were in 

 force, so that Collector Arthur's removal could 

 not be made except for cause. A committee 

 had been previously appointed to investigate 

 the management of the Custom - House, and 

 they had presented several criticisms ; but 

 Gen. Arthur refused to resign, and called for 

 a further committee of investigation. Two 

 such were appointed, and both reported that 

 nothing on which a charge of official unfaith- 

 fulness could be based had been discovered. 

 A petition was framed, requesting his reten- 

 tion in office, and signed by all the judges of 

 the New York courts, and most of the men 

 prominent at the bar or in mercantile life in 

 New York City ; but it was suppressed by 

 Mr. Arthur. The President and the Secretary 



of the Treasury were obliged to withdraw all 

 accusations except that of active participation 

 in politics, Mr. Arthur sympathizing with the 

 Grant or third-term wing of the Republicans. 

 The letter of defense written by the collector 

 opens as follows : " The essential elements of 

 a correct civil service I understand to be : first, 

 permanence in office, which of course prevents 

 removals except for cause ; second, promotion 

 from the lower to the higher grades, based upon 

 good conduct and efficiency ; third, prompt and 

 thorough investigation of all complaints, and 

 prompt punishment of all misconduct. In this 

 respect I challenge comparison with any de- 

 partment of the Government under the present 

 or under any past national Administration. I 

 am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this 

 statement on any fair investigation." Then 

 follows an array of figures, which proved that 

 the removals for all causes had been only 2f 

 per cent, against an annual average of 28 per 

 cent, under the three previous Administrations, 

 and 24 per cent, before that time. In making 

 promotions, the uniform practice was to raise 

 men from the lower to the higher grades, and 

 all but two appointments in one hundred, to 

 salaries of $2,000 and over, had been so made. 

 Gen. Arthur also showed that the expense of 

 collecting had been, during previous Adminis- 

 trations, fo of one per cent., and during his 

 T 6 2 o of one per cent. ; yet, six months later, he 

 was removed. In the Republican National 

 Convention that met in Chicago in 1880, Mr. 

 Arthur was a delegate at large. When James 

 A. Garfield had been nominated for President, 

 the New York members presented Arthur's 

 name for the second place on the ticket. The 

 suggestion was well received at once, and af- 

 ter one ballot the choice was made unanimous. 

 On the death of President Garfield, Sept. 19, 

 1881, Mr. Arthur succeeded to the presidency. 

 It was a time of great excitement and gloomy 

 prediction. Before President Garfield was shot, 

 the two New York Senators, Conkling and 

 Platt, had resigned their seats, after having ap- 

 pealed to the President to withdraw a nomina- 

 tion that was obnoxious to them, the appeal 

 being headed by Vice-President Arthur him- 

 self, who even went to Albany to help the 

 Senators in an effort to obtain justification by 

 a re-election, but without success. The emer- 

 gency of President Garfield's death brought 

 out Gen. Arthur's best abilities, and as he took 

 the oath of office the new President ceased so 

 completely to be the partisan, that the mut- 

 tered disaffection died away, and the nation 

 settled down into confidence and ultimate ad- 

 miration. His inaugural (which may be found 

 in the "Annual Cyclopsedia " for 1881, page 

 847) was not more reassuring than his effort 

 to realize it was sincere. The verdict upon 

 his Administration was almost universally fa- 

 vorable. The scholarly, Christian gentleman in 

 private and social life, he was also the wise 

 statesman, and the dignified and representative 

 American, who held broad and conscientious 



