A NATIONAL BENEFACTOR 253 
Conn., where he was born. But one ought to be erected in 
this city, and, if possible, on the very spot where he died. ‘That 
spot you have, I understand, ascertained to be at or very 
near the armory of the Seventh Regiment. What an inspira- 
tion would a monument there be to our young soldiers! 
There ought to be inscribed on it his own immortal words: 
‘I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.’ 
If the New York Historical Society will obtain permission to 
have a monument erected there, I will, with pleasure, bear 
the whole expense.” 
Election day was November 2. Field succeeded in sending 
a number of voters to the polls to vote for Garfield, who was 
elected. The next morning at the early hour of four o’clock, 
he left in a special car for San Francisco. As a former railroad 
president and a power in Wall Street, he was shown every 
courtesy. People everywhere knew his name and had seen 
pictures of the bearded Yankee who had given the world an 
Atlantic cable and New York “a street railway that ran up in 
the air.” At San Francisco he sailed for Japan. 
The trip across the Pacific demonstrated to him the im- 
mense distances of that ocean as compared with the moderate 
span from Newfoundland to Ireland. Even after making stops 
at various islands, there would be enormous difficulties, he 
could see, in such a long cable laid in such deep water. He 
realized that the line would eventually be laid, but perhaps 
not in his lifetime. 
Much as he needed such a change and rest as the trip gave 
him, the monotonous expanses of water made him restless and 
he wondered what was going on back in the city of the elevat- 
ed railway. Such a feeling was not conducive to leisurely 
sightseeing in Oriental lands like Japan, China, the Malay 
States, and India. As many other Americans have done, he 
surveyed the conventional tourist sights in a somewhat absent- 
minded mood. 
One of the pleasantest features of the trip was the cordial- 
