Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-18

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spechhcdliS carry, out winch might be inn
plieu to 1t.
1t did not matter to Hamilton that he
was invading Jefferson's domain i'm the
matter of foreign policy. Hamilton acted
as If he was premier. not Secretary of the
Treasury. Daily he and Jefferson were
pltted against each other. Daily there
was a tie when the men voted on a meas
ure. Knox supported Hamilton and RAN
doiph supported Jefferson. Nearly al
ways Washington decided as Hamilton
voted
The labor Hamilton did in the first ad.
ministration of Washington was prodig-
ious. Where he got his mastery Of finance
is as great mystery where he got his
mastery Of literary style, of law, of the
various other departments in which he
showed such genius. Surely he did not
learn finance in the three years in Cru
gers store in the West Indies His post
was the hardest under the government
The currency was in disorder. CONNER
cial credit had ceased to exist The ma
ton was bankrupt. He had to devise a
method by which the debt Of the nation
would be paid, create a machine, find
and train servants. and. hardest of all,
furnish revenue for immediate needs He
did 1t. Not only that, but he insisted
that every dollar owed by the nation or
the states should be paid by a dollar He
had the debts of the various states as
sumed by the general government. and he
rejected with scorn the proposition to re-
pudiate some of it because there had
been rank and outrageous speculation in
it by which the original creditors had
been robbed of their due Better, said he.
to pay every dollar Of it no matter how
dishonesty the spectators acted, than
have the slightest stain on the nations
honor or credit. Nor would he listen to a
suggestion of compromise.
In four years he brought the nations
credit to SO high standard that he was
able to obtain a loan for the government
in Holland at per cent. Only enc other
nation on earth could get it at so low Il
rate. and that nation was England. He
established the Bank of the United States
and started the first great period of pros
perity through it. His financial brochures
are models today.
In manufactures he advocated sys-
tenn of governmental bounty to aid in
FAINT Industries. He may be termed the
father of the protective tariff.
Everything he did while I'm the cabinet
was against strong opposition. Most of
the time Congress was hostile. \ good
deal Of the time he was subject to the
most vicious attack. He was accused of
dishonesty and various other crimes.
Nothing checked him. He worked steadily
and used every means to strengthen the
central government and reduce the power
Of individual states. The decisions OF
Chief Justice Marshall of the Supreme
Court aided him greatly.
= i
When he left the cabinet. after five
years of service, the Constitution was a
far more powerful instrument than when
it came into being. His will had done
much to make it strong. But while Ham,
ilton was gazing spirit and force to the
Constitution he was arousing bitter an
tagOnisms Party feeling was stirred to
a high pitch. France was i'm the convul-
sions of revolution. Soon revolutionary
or republican France was at war with
England. The sympathies of the Amer
lean people were with France. The peo-
pie still considered the old alliance with
King Louis to he III force. They had
not ceased. either. to hate the British.
Hamilton had no sympathy with the
revolutionists When Citizen Genet came
here as French ambassador and gave let
tiers of marque to American ships to act
as French privateers he promptly forced
Jefferson to demand his recall
AS a statesman Hamilton was magnifi-
cent. but as a politician he was failure.
He left the cabinet because he was deeply
in debt, and had to wipe out those obli-
cations and provide for his family. But
out of office he almost was as powerful
as in. Washington summoned him many