lish and American history, that
resolve difficulties, when a rigid adherence to logic would tend to
foment trouble.

The inaugural address and the distinctively reform Cabinet did not suit
the party workers, and when the President declined to sustain the
Packard government in Louisiana, disapproval was succeeded by rage. In
six weeks after his inauguration Hayes was without a party; that is to
say, the men who carried on the organization were bitterly opposed to
his policy, and they made much more noise than the independent thinking
voters who believed that a man had arisen after their own hearts. Except
from the Southern wing, he received little sympathy from the Democratic
party. In their parlance, fraud was written on his brow. He had the
honor and perquisites of office which were rightfully theirs.

Once the troops were withdrawn from South Carolina and Louisiana, no
backward step was possible, and although Hayes would have liked
congressional support and sympathy for his act, this was not necessary.
The next most important question of his administration related to
finance. He and his Secretary of the Treasury would have been gratified
by an obedient majority in Congress at their back. Presidents before and
after Hayes have made a greater or less employment of their patronage to
secure the passage of their favorite measures, but Hayes immediately
relinquished that power by taking a decided position for a civil service
based on merit. In a little over a month after the withdrawal of the
troops from the immediate vicinity of the State House in Louisiana, he
announced his policy in a letter to his Secretary of the Treasury. "It
is my wish," he wrote, "that the collection of the revenues should be
free from partisan control, and organized on a strictly business basis,
with the same guaranties for efficiency and fidelity in the selection of
the chief and subordinate officers that would be required by a prudent
merchant. Party leaders should have no more influence in appointments
than other equally respectable citizens. No assessments for political
purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed. No useless
officer or employee should be retained. No officer should be required or
permitted to take part in the management of political organizations,
caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns." The mandatory parts of
this letter he incorporated in an order to Federal office-holders,
adding: "This rule is applicable