| Show i FIVE MINUTE CHATS ABOUT OUR presidents by JAMES MORGAN THE SECOND HARRISON 1833 august 20 benjamin harrison born at north bond ohio 1852 graduated from miami college ohio 1861 65 colonel and brevet ted brigadier general in the civil war 1881 7 in the united states cenate 1888 elected president 1889 march 4 inaugurated the twenty third president at the age of fifty five 1892 defeated for reelection re election 1901 march 13 death of benjamin harrlson harrison at indianapolis aged sixty seven I 1 I 1 I 1 10 administration BENJAMIN proved to be only an intermission ter between the two acts of the cleveland drama history gives but a passing glance tit at the one president whose predecessor became its his successor who had to give up the presidential chair to the man he took it from although harrison had more brains than cleveland cleveland had a lar larger ar nature and that Is what counts most in the leadership of men notwithstanding benjamin harrison aas as the grandson of ft a president in whose housa hobia he was naas born ills his rather father was poor and the boy was brought up plainly graduating from a small ohio college leg ge harrison harrisnn married at twenty the girl to hom lie he engaged himself at N ir I 1 IT 1 9 1 U rae 4 M A 4 A benjamin harrison elgh eighteen ten and they went to housekeeping in a little three room cottage in indianapolis ile he was not ad admitted to the bar until after his marriage and the first money lie he ever made was as a court crier at a day later on he helped out his lean practice with his salary as clerk of the supreme court chui coui t of the state then came the civil war in which he served gallantly as a colonel and marched with sherman to the soft sea afterward lie he rose to a high and prosperous rank in the practice of law tile the only political office harrison eor ener held before his election to the presidency was a seat in the senate defeated for reelection election re to that body in ili the tie year before lie he was elected president he left washington with no thought that lie he would soon return as president elect and lie frankly described himself as a dead luck duck the only candidate that the lie rank find file of the republicans wanted to nominate in was maine but he was not well and lie refused to make a content for the nomination at last lie he cabled from scotland take ilar anon aed and the convention indifferently tool took him alie more notable events of the I 1 tartile alson administration the mckinley tariff net act the silver act which more thin than doubled the purchase of that metal by the treasury the sherman Slier mau law on the subject of trusts the dependent pension act and the first pan american congress hardly belong in this little story be because caule none done of them originated natell with the president himself ile he did not rise to leadership aud and congress took the reins all the while he sat in the white house in cold aloofness ric with the cry of god help the surplus the republicans gave the country in administration the first billion dollar congress the appropriations for the two year term rising to that unprecedented total to the popular protest speaker deedre heed retorted this Is a billion dollar country but the country did not feel rich enough to pay the higher tariff rates of the act that law waa passed only seven sevell beks before the congressional elections in 1890 of course anyone who had anything to soli sell seized upon the to mark up prices the slimp ilaine ping women rose in their fury nt the higher coi of living and the voters over lie me the republican majority in the honc that was le ite 1010 forerunner 11 cr of a sull hlll coter r mical oNer overturn turn lit ii the president vivi Onri in n aw tin ar 1 i rr ier ii 11 afi g clort kl ort cl ralli CLEVELAND CAME BACK 1833 1893 march 4 grover cleveland inaugurated a second time aged fifty live five may a great panic began july 1 cleveland went under surgical operation for cancer oct 30 the silver act m r pealed 1894 july 4 cleveland sent cent troops to chicago to inter henein railroad strike aug 27 the wilson gor man tariff became law without presidents signature 1895 feb 7 cleveland made arrangement with ath J P morgan and others for protection of gold reserve dec 17 tent sent in his venezuela message 1908 1909 june 24 cleveland died at princeton N J aged seventy one ROVE mt CLEVELAND had bad no more than left the presidency in defeat and aad settled down to the practice of law in new york city than it was seen that he was still almost as much the leader of 0 the democratic party as finhen hen lie he was in etc ati white house in the four years sears of his retirement he seldom saw party leaders yet so strong was the reaction against the republicans and aad so loud the call for him in 1892 that he returned in triumph to the white house one of the periodical panics of tho the century smote the country with a financial find and industrial paralysis in 3 ISM only two months after the inauguration augu ration As usual the party in power caniz canclin lit the blame fad a ad day after day a leading republican newspaper shouted in gleeful headlines another bank gone democratic Democrat iel 1 As the first means of restoring ng confidence fi cleveland called a special session of congress for the purpose of having it repeal the M act of the harrlson harrison administration the nest day he submitted himself to the surgeons knife for the removal of a cancerous ulcer which had appeared in the roof of his mouth month ills grave physical condition was concen concealed led from the panicky mind of the public rind and the operation was performed in the closest secrecy aboard a yacht as it steamed slowly up the east river oft off new york not un tit many years had passed was it known that when congress assembled he faced it with a rubber jaw under the pressure of the president the silver act was repealed but only after a bitter struggle which left I 1 the he democratic party hopelessly split the passage of a tariff bill divided the party still more it was ivas such a lobby made logrolling log rolling measure that cle cleveland ve refused to sign it but let it become law without his sigua signature ture after that tte the democrats went down in defeat in the congressional elections of 1894 in the depth of our domestic troubles the president sent his famous venezuelan message to congress in it he announced that the british government had rejected nil all our appeals for the arbitration of a land dispute which it was pressing in south america find and he boldly proposed that we ourselves should decide the question qu estloa and ana proceed to enforce the decision stocks tumbled lie be adlong in london and new york and there was much wild talk on both sides of the atlantic but the president confidently reassured his troubled private secre av A 4 4 grover cleveland tary tills this does not fact mean war it means arbitration and that was the outcome of till all tile the hubbub Clev elands outburst of plain speaking had the effect of aNak awakening ening the english people as never before to the value of american friendship and tt it opened a 0 new nev era in the relations of tile two twi governments Clev elands hardest har dost longest battle in his second administration was for the gold I 1 standard almost a alone ion e lie he I 1 upheld I 1 pl I 1 el d it through four yen years abandoned by most of the democrats arid unaided by t the ie gold ald in congress who were of hurting the party with the silver people sofij light wl 11 by jamal iorgu Mor gu |
