Volume V Part 11 (1/2)
For a long time after their settlement in the ”Great American Desert,”
as it was then called, Mormons repudiated United States authority.
Gentile pioneers and recreant saints they dealt with summarily, witness the Mountain Meadow ma.s.sacre of 1857, where 120 victims were murdered in cold blood after surrendering their arms.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City.
Anti-polygamy bills were introduced in Congress in 1855 and 1859. In 1862 such a bill was made law. Seven years later the enforcement of it became possible by the building of a trans-continental railroad and the influx of gentiles drawn by the discovery of precious metals in Utah. In 1874 the Poland Act, and in 1882 the Edmunds Act, introduced reforms.
Criminal law was now much more efficiently executed against Mormons. In 1891 the Mormon officials pledged their church's obedience to the laws against plural marriages and unlawful cohabitation.
America was quick and generous in her response to the famine cry that in 1891 rose from 30,000,000 people in Russia. Over a domain of nearly a half million square miles in that land there was no cow or goat for milk, nor a horse left strong enough to draw a hea.r.s.e. Old grain stores were exhausted, crops a failure, and land a waste. Typhus, scurvy, and smallpox were awfully prevalent. To relieve this misery, our people, besides individual gifts, despatched four s.h.i.+p-loads of supplies gathered from twenty-five States. In values given New York led, Minnesota was a close second, and Nebraska third. America became a household word among the Russians even to the remotest interior.
CHAPTER V.
THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION
[Ill.u.s.tration: Large parade.]
Columbian Celebration, New York, April 28, 1893.
Parade pa.s.sing Fifth Avenue Hotel.
[1892-1893]
The thought of celebrating by a world's fair the third centennial of Columbus's immortal deed antic.i.p.ated the anniversary by several years.
Congress organized the exposition so early as 1890, fixing Chicago as its seat. That city was commodious, central, typically American. A National Commission was appointed; also an Executive Committee, a Board of Reference and Control, a Chicago Local Board, and a Board of Lady Managers.
The task of preparation was herculean. Jackson Park had to be changed from a dreary lakeside swamp into a lovely city, with roads, lawns, groves and flowers, ca.n.a.ls, lagoons and bridges, a dozen palaces, and ten score other edifices. An army of workmen, also fire, police, ambulance, hospital, and miscellaneous service was organized.
Wednesday, October 21 (Old Style, October 12), 1892, was observed as Columbus Day, marking the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus's discovery. A reception was held in the Chicago Auditorium, followed by dedication of the buildings and grounds at Jackson Park and an award of medals to artists and architects. Many cities held corresponding observances. New York chose October 12th for the anniversary. On April 26-28, 1893, again, the eastern metropolis was enlivened by grand parades honoring Columbus. In the naval display, April 22d, thirty-five war s.h.i.+ps and more than 10,000 men of divers flags, took part.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Three small s.h.i.+ps.]
Pinta, Santa Maria, Nina, Lying in the North River, New York.
The caravels which crossed from Spain to be present at the World's Fair at Chicago.
Between Columbus Day and the opening of the Exposition came the presidential election of 1892. Ex-President Cleveland had been nominated on the first ballot, in spite of the Hill delegation sent from his home State to oppose. Harrison, too, had overcome Platt, Hill's Republican counterpart in New York, and in Pennsylvania had preferred John Wanamaker to Quay. But Harrison was not ”magnetic” like Blaine. With what politicians call the ”boy” element of a party, he was especially weak. Stalwarts complained that he was ready to profit by their services, but abandoned them under fire. The circ.u.mstances connected with the civil service that so told against Cleveland four years before, now hurt Harrison equally. Though no doubt sincerely favoring reform, he had, like his predecessor, succ.u.mbed to the machine in more than one instance.
The campaign was conducted in good humor and without personalities.
Owing to Australian voting and to a more sensitive public opinion, the election was much purer than that of 1888. The Republicans defended McKinley protection, boasting of it as sure, among other things, to transfer the tin industry from Wales to America. Free sugar was also made prominent. Some cleavage was now manifest between East and West upon the tariff issue. In the West ”reciprocity” was the Republican slogan; in the East, ”protection.” Near the Atlantic, Democrats contented themselves with advocacy of ”freer raw materials ”; those by the Mississippi denounced ”Republican protection” as fraud and robbery.
If the platform gave color to the charge that Democrats wished ”British free trade,” Mr. Cleveland's letter of acceptance was certainly conservative.
Populism, emphasizing State aid to industry, particularly in behalf of the agricultural cla.s.s, made great gains in the election. General Weaver was its presidential nominee. In Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, and Wyoming most Democrats voted for him. Partial fusion of the sort prevailed also in North Dakota, Nevada, Minnesota, and Oregon. Weaver carried all these States save the two last named. In Louisiana and Alabama Republicans fused with Populists. The Tillman movement in South Carolina, nominally Democratic, was akin to Populism, but was complicated with the color question, and later with novel liquor legislation. It was a revolt of the ordinary whites from the traditional dominance of the aristocracy.
In Alabama a similar movement, led by Reuben F. Kolb, was defeated, as he thought, by vicious manipulation of votes in the Black Belt.
Of the total four hundred and forty-four electoral votes Cleveland received two hundred and seventy-seven, a plurality of one hundred and thirty-two. The Senate now held forty-four Democrats, thirty-seven Republicans, and four Populists; the House two hundred and sixteen Democrats, one hundred and twenty-five Republicans, and eleven Populists.