Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-09-09
JAMES A. GARFIELD, OF OHIO.

close among the foremost of the victo-
rious generals of the Republic.
He was appointed on the Military
Committee, under the Craftsmanship of
General Schenck, and was OF great serv-
| ice in carrying through the measures
which recruited the armies during tie
closing years of the war. At the same
time he began course of severe study
of the subjects of finance and political
economy, going home every evening to
his modest lodgings in Thirteenth ST.,
with his arms full of books borrowed
from the Congressional Library. He
soon took rank in the House as ready
and forcible debater, hard worker, and
diligent, practical legislator. His sup
erior knowledge used to offend some of
his less learned colleagues at first.
They thought him bookish and pedantic
until they found how solid and useful
was his store of knowledge, and how
pertinent to the business in hand were
the draft IS he made upon it. His genial
personal ways soon made him many
warm friends in Congress. The men of
brains in both houses and in the De-
partments were not long in discovering
that here was fresh, strong intellectual
force that was destined to make it's
mark upon the politics of the country.
They sought his acquaintance, and
before he had been long in Washington
he had the advantage of the best society
of the Capital.
In 1864 General Garfield was renom-
mated without opposition and re-elect-
ed by an increased majority. He served
on the Committee of Ways and Means,
which was very much in the line of his
tastes and studies. He favored a moder-
ate protective tariff, and steady reduc
ton of taxation and Government ex-
penditures. In 1866 few of his con-
stituents living in the Mahoning Valley,
an iron producing district, opposed his
denomination on the ground that he did
not favor as high tariff on iron as they
wanted. The convention was over
whelmingly on his side, however, and in
after years he succeeded in convincing
his opponents that a moderate duty,
affordinga sufficient margin for protee-
ton, was better for their interests than
high prohibitory rate. In his third
term he was Chairman of the Committee
on Military Affairs and had plenty of
work in remodeling the Regular Army
and looking after the demands of the
discharged soldiers for pay and bounty,
of which many had been deprived by
the red-tape decisions of the Govern
ment accounting officers.
A SPLENDID FINANCIAL RECORD.
Again reelected in 1868, General
Garfield was appointed chairman of
the Banking and Currency Committee,
and during the same Congress did most
Of the hard work of the Committee on
the ninth census. His financial views,
always sound, and based upon the firm
foundation of honest money and I'M
sullied National honor, had now be-
come strengthened by his studies and
investigations, and he was recognized
as the best authority in the House on
the great subjects of the debt and the
currency. His record in the legislation
concerning these subjects is without a
flaw. No man in Congress made more
consistent and unwavering fight against
the paper money delusions that -four
ished during the decade following the
war. and in favor of specie payments
and the strict fulfllment of the Nations
obligations to it's creditors. His speech
es became the financial gospel of the
Republican party.
In 1871 General Garfield was made
Chairman of the Committee on Appro-
priations, and held the post until the
Democrats got control Of the House in
1875. In that important position he
largely reduced the expenditures of
the Government, and thoroughly re-
formed the system Of estimates and ap
preparations, providing for closer &C
countability on the part of those who
spend the public money, and a clear
knowledge on the part of those who
vote it of what it is used for.
LEADERSHIP OF THE HOUSE.
When James G.. Blaine went to the
Senate, in 1877, jhe mantle of Republi-
can leadership in the House was by
common consent placed upon Garfield,
and he has worn it ever since. In Jan
uary last he was elected to the Senate,
to the seat which will be vacated by
Allen G.. Thurman on the 4th of March,
| 1881. He received the unanimous vote
of the Republican caucus, an honor
never given to any other man of any
party in the State of Ohio.
As leader in the House, he is more
cautious and less dashing than Blaine,
and his judicial turn of mind makes
him too prone to look for two sides of
question for him to be an efficient
partisan. When the issue fairly touches
| his convictions. however, he becomes
thoroughly aroused and strikes tremeD-
dous blows. Blaine's tactics were to
continually harrass the enemy by sharp
shooting surprises and picket firing.
Garfield waits for an opportunity to de-
liver a pitched battle, and his general