A NATIONAL BENEFACTOR 251 
little diminished. Reviving prosperity in the United States 
had restored his fortune, despite the serious loss due to Til- 
den’s defection. In particular he had made a large profit by 
helping to complete the Wabash Railway, of which he had 
been serving as president. 
Perhaps it was time to retire from active business and live 
on the several millions that his courage and initiative had 
brought him. Once before he had “retired”—in 1853 when 
he was thirty-three—but he had not been able to remain idle. 
Now he would be more content to play the observer and 
merely advise other men instead of leading them. 
He was still negotiating about a cable to Hawaii but was 
resolved to let others do the active work and worrying. Per- 
haps a good stimulus for that scheme would be the fulfillment 
of his old desire to take a trip around the world, starting by 
way of the Pacific. When he returned to New York, therefore, 
he resigned the Elevated and Wabash presidencies and put 
his business affairs in condition for a prolonged absence. Oc- 
tober, he believed, would be a favorable month for beginning 
the long trip. 
The coming political campaign, however, began to engage 
his attention, particularly because of his friendship with the 
Republican candidate for president, James A. Garfield. This 
self-made man had begun life as a canal-boy in the rough 
days when Ohio, where he was born, ranked as ‘“‘the West’; 
he had succeeded in attending Williams College and, entering 
politics, had become widely respected. Field decided to post- 
pone his trip until after the election, so that he could vote 
for Garfield and influence other votes in favor of the Repub- 
licans. 
He was able to exert some indirect influence a week before 
the election in a speech that he made at a banquet where he 
was the guest of honor. ‘This affair was a spontaneous expres- 
sion by friends and neighbors who wished to give him a “‘send- 
