urned. Then as the
rioters were satiated and too drunk to be longer dangerous, the riot
died out: it was not checked. On Monday, through the action of the
authorities, armed companies of law-abiding citizens, and some faithful
companies of the militia, order was restored. But meanwhile the strike
had spread to a large number of other railroads between the seaboard and
Chicago and St. Louis. Freight traffic was entirely suspended, and
passenger trains were run only on sufferance of the strikers. Business
was paralyzed, and the condition of disorganization and unrest continued
throughout the month of July. The governors of West Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and Illinois called upon the President for United States
troops, which were promptly sent, and in Indiana and Missouri they were
employed on the demand of the United States marshals. Where the regular
soldiers appeared order was at once restored without bloodshed, and it
was said that the rioters feared one Federal bayonet more than a whole
company of militia. The gravity of the situation is attested by three
proclamations of warning from President Hayes.

Strikes had been common in our country, and, while serious enough in
certain localities, had aroused no general concern, but the action of
the mob in Baltimore, Pittsburg, and Chicago seemed like an attack on
society itself, and it came like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky,
startling Americans, who had hugged the delusion that such social
uprisings belonged to Europe, and had no reason of being in a great,
free republic where all men had an equal chance. The railroad managers
had no idea that they were letting loose a slumbering giant when their
edict of a ten per cent reduction went forth. It was due to the prompt
and efficient action of the President that order was ultimately
restored. In the profound and earnest thinking and discussion that went
on during the rest of the year, whenever thoughtful men gathered
together, many a grateful word was said of the quiet, unassuming man in
the White House who saw clearly his duty and never faltered in pursuing
it. It was seen that the Federal government, with a resolute President
at its head, was a tower of strength in the event of a social uprising.

In the reform of the civil service Hayes proceeded from words to action.
He reappointed Thomas L. James as postmaster of New York City, who had
conducted his office on a thorough business basis, and gave him
sympathetic