labor of Thomas Alva Edison, who spent weeks and months

making experiments and searching for the secret, 1879

that we are indebted for the beautiful incandescent

lights which rival gas in our homes.

1878

584. The Bland Silver Bill. - Not long after the passage of the bill which demonetized silver, rich silver mines were discovered in Nevada and other places; and so much of it was produced that its value, as compared with that of gold, was soon greatly decreased. Many wished to see the silver dollar restored to its place in the currency, and Congress passed the Bland Silver Bill. It provided for the coinage of a silver dollar of 412 grains, making it a legal tender; and it instructed the Treasury Department to coin not less than $2,000,000 and not more than $4,000,000 each month. President Hayes vetoed the bill; but it was passed by a two thirds vote.

585. Yellow Fever. A fearful epidemic of yellow fever desolated the Mississippi valley from New Orleans to Memphis, and the country along the Gulf coast. People 1878

fled from their homes, and whole cities were almost deserted; but there were everywhere persons who nobly remained with the sick and the dying. Liberal contributions were sent to the fever-stricken districts from people North and South. The disease increased and spread, and was stopped only with the frost. About seven thousand deaths were reported. It is now known that such scourges can be prevented by sanitary and quarantine regulations.

586. Resumption of Specie Payments. Up to this time, paper money, that is, United States notes, had been in general use. These notes were called "greenbacks" from the color of the design printed upon the back. The Secretary of the Treasury announced that he would be ready to pay gold for United States notes on the 1st of January, 1879. Greenbacks rose at once to a level with gold and silver, and coin began to circulate freely.

1879

587. Prosperity. — This administration was marked by great

prosperity throughout the country. The crops of wheat and cotton were unusually large, and brought great wealth. Railroads were built through the South and West, thus opening to the world rich belts of country. Every branch of trade and

589. Death of President Garfield.

Early in July, President Garfield, on his way to New England, was shot at the Baltimore and Potomac depot in Washington, by a disappointed office seeker. The wounded President, accompanied by physicians, was taken back to the White

1881

1 James A. Garfield was born in Cayuga County, Ohio, in 1831. When only two years old, his mother was left a widow with four small children. They were living too far west to be within reach of good schools. James reached the age of fourteen with almost no education, and his help was necessary for the support of the family. He worked as a carpenter, a bookkeeper, and then as a boatman on a canal. He became ambitious to learn, and he worked early and late to pay for his tuition. He accepted the place of janitor in Hiram College in order to become a student there. In spite of the difficulties which he had to meet, he graduated with honor at Williams College, and afterwards became president of the institution in which he began as janitor. He also studied law and was admitted to the bar. When he joined the army he was colonel of an Ohio regiment. He had reached the rank of brevet major general, when he resigned his commission to take his seat as a representative in Congress, which position he filled until his election to the Senate in 1879.

House. After weeks of intense suffering he was removed to Elberon, on the coast of New Jersey. His friends hoped that he would be benefited by the change,

but he continued to grow weaker, and died September 19, 1881.

590. President Arthur inaugurated. - After the death of General Garfield, the oath of office was administered to the Vice President, Chester A. Arthur,' and he became the twenty-first President. David Davis, of Illinois, was elected president of the Senate, pro tempore, and became the acting Vice President.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR

591. Arctic Explorations. The steamer Jeannette, commanded by De Long, and owned by James Gordon Bennett of New York, on July 8, 1879, sailed from San Francisco to the Arctic Ocean, north of Bering Strait. Months and years went by, and nothing was heard of her. Another ship

1881

was sent to search for the missing steamer, and it was found that the crew had been compelled to leave the vessel, and had perished near the mouth of the Lena River, off the bleak coast of northern Siberia. In 1883 the only survivors, four in number, reached. New York.

592. Civil Service Reform Bill. -The custom which President Jackson had inaugurated, of rewarding his political friends by appointing them to public offices, had 1883

been continued by the Presidents who succeeded him; and clerks often received their appointment through the political influence of congressmen. But people were beginning to believe that men in the government service should be chosen for their fitness, and not merely because they might be

1 Chester Alan Arthur was born in Vermont in 1830. After leaving college he taught school and studied law. During Grant's administration he held the office of collector of the port of New York. His death occurred in New York in 1886, the year after the close of his presidential term.

Democrats or Republicans. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Bill was introduced in the Senate. It aimed to correct the evils in the civil service and to fill the offices with those who would perform their duties with "fidelity, capacity, and honesty." It authorized the President to appoint a commission to examine applicants for positions in the government offices in Washington, and in all post offices and custom

houses throughout the country employing more than fifty persons, and to recommend those found to be qualified for the duties of the offices. After much discussion, this bill was passed.

-The rate of postage for an ordinary letter was reduced the same year from three cents to two

cents.