than to question the wisdom of measures taken for that purpose. Two
things are certain: first, that Mr. Cooper's motives in his later
political course were thoroughly pure and unselfish; and secondly, that
his utterances and publications in this connection show him to be
dealing with subjects which he did not understand. This statement is
made without regard to the merits of the controversy, or the strength of
the arguments contributed to it by others. The simple truth is that Mr.
Cooper was too old to make original investigation of such questions,
intelligently weighing all the modern conditions of industry and
commerce, in which he was no longer an active participant. He accepted
in 1876 the nomination of the Greenback party for the presidency; but
the issue was already practically dead, and he received but 81,740 votes
out of a total of 8,412,833 cast. Undaunted by this defeat, he continued
to utter his views. Those who wish to study them in detail may consult
the volume "Ideas for a Science of Good Government in Addresses,
Letters, and Articles on a Strictly National Currency, Tariff, and Civil
Service," which he issued at the age of ninety-two, in the last year of
his life. His own summary of his position, given on page 212 of this
book, shows that he desired a national legal-tender paper currency,
irredeemable in coin, but "interconvertible" with government bonds, and
regulated by law as to volume per capita; a "discriminating" protective
tariff, "helpful to all the industries of the country, where the raw
material and the labor can be furnished by our own people;" and a civil
service divorced from party politics, based on personal fitness, with
tenure of office during good behavior, moderate salaries, and pensions
for the aged and sick, and provision for widows and orphans.

IX

THE END

IN 1874, at the age of eighty-three, Mr. Cooper said at a reception
given in his honor:--

"When I was born, New York contained 27,000 inhabitants. The upper
limits of the city were at Chambers Street. Not a single free school,
either by day or night, existed. General Washington had just entered
upon his first term as President of the United States, the whole annual
expenditures of which did not exceed $2,500,000, being about sixty cents
per head of the population. Not a single steam engine had yet been built
or erected on the American continent; and the people were clad in
homespun, and were characterized by the sim