HAYES 



2732 



HAYES 



HAYES' ADMINISTRATION 

 1877-1881 



General Use 



First Sffeet Sign ing the^^ ^P > T ' ~ ISeJan 



Electric Lighting. Pledge in the Fisheries Commission 

 1877 Great Temperance Award, 1878 



Movement 



1877, ^ 

 Withdrawal ^ 

 : of Troops from the South 



ured 



1879 



Treasury to buy not less than $2,000,000 or 

 more than $4,000,000 worth of silver bullion 

 each month and coin it into dollars at once. 



The President promptly vetoed the Bland- 

 Allison Act because the enormous and increas- 

 ing production of the Western mines was stead- 

 ily driving the price of silver downward. At 

 that time a silver dollar of 412% grains, the 

 weight fixed by the Act, would contain only 

 ninety cents' worth of silver, and the price of 

 silver was steadily declining. Hayes argued 

 that it would be a breach of faith to pay the 

 national debt in any coin worth less than that 

 which had been received from the sale of 

 bonds. Congress, however, did not agree with 

 the President. Some members claimed that 

 large purchases by the government would raise 

 the price of silver; others said that the coinage 

 of silver could alone satisfy the demand for 

 more and cheaper money; and still others 

 argued that a "cheap dollar," which cost the 

 government only ninety cents, would lower 

 taxation by enabling it to pay off the national 

 debt in silver. For these reasons Congress 

 passed the bill over the President's veto. 



.During Grant's administration Congress 

 passed an act providing for the resumption of 



specie payments on January 1, 1879. The act 

 was chiefly the work of John Sherman, whom 

 Hayes appointed Secretary of the Treasury. 

 No preparation for resumption had been made 

 before Sherman took office, but in 1877 he be- 

 gan to accumulate a gold reserve in the Treas- 

 ury. On January 1, 1879, the gold coin on 

 hand was more than enough to redeem all the 

 greenbacks likely to be presented. As soon as 

 everybody knew that the paper money could 

 be redeemed in gold, nobody was anxious to 

 make the exchange. Specie payments were 

 thus resumed without serious difficulty. 



Civil Service. President Hayes began his 

 administration with earnest efforts for the re- 

 form of the civil service. In many branches 

 competitive examinations for clerkships were 

 instituted, and in all branches political influ- 

 ence was less useful than it ever had been 

 before. The supposed right of Congressmen 

 to dictate who should be the Federal office- 

 holders in their states or districts was not rec- 

 ognized, although their advice was sometimes 

 asked. The President's independent attitude 

 found no favor among the politicians and most 

 Congressmen. Congress refused to provide for 

 the civil service commission which Hayes re- 



