In his initial chapter the author sketches new economic conditions, which he continues in chapter III, on organized labor, which for the first time becomes a political force. Chapter II, on the civil service, describes the progress of administrative reform in the Federal government. Chapters IV, V and VI deal with three different economic questions, the tariff, silver, and railroads. Chapter VII is on the foreign relations of Cleveland's administration. Chapters VIII to X describe the reorganization of the Republican party from 1888 to 1890, and its practical abandonment of black suffrage in the South. Chapter XIII is on Harrison's foreign policy. Following chapters are on various phases of the questions of the tariff, commercial organization, currency, and labor, culminating in the free coinage campaign of 1896. It was a period of confused and struggling interests... The real contest was between the powers of vested interests, of capital and accumulated savings, as against the pressure of producers of farm staples and of the organization of workmen in trades and manufactures. The real issue in this period comes from the conviction of large classes of the community, including most of the western farmers, that the process of distribution was such that they got less than their fair share of the nation's annual product. To this prime division may be referred most of the political and party controversies of the time, out-of-doors, and in Congress...
Contents: Growth and Development (1880-1897). The Civil Service (1885-1888). Organized Labor (1884-1888). Tariff Agitation (1885-1889). Silver and Expenditures (1885-1889). National Supervision of Railroads (1886-1896). Fisheries and Isthmian Canal (1885-1889). Campaign of 1888 (1887-1888). Solidifying the Republican Party (1888-1892). The Negro Vote (1890). McKinley Tariff and Billion-Dollar Congress (1889-1893). Trusts (1882-1897). Foreign Affairs under Harrison (1889-1893). Silver Agitation (1889-1893). Presidential Election of 1892 (1892). Maintenance of the Gold Standard (1893-1896). Democratic Tariff Legislation (1893-1895). Labor Disturbances (1894). Hawaii and Venezuela (1894-1895). Campaign for Free Coinage (1896).
Contents: Growth and Development (1880-1897). The Civil Service (1885-1888). Organized Labor (1884-1888). Tariff Agitation (1885-1889). Silver and Expenditures (1885-1889). National Supervision of Railroads (1886-1896). Fisheries and Isthmian Canal (1885-1889). Campaign of 1888 (1887-1888). Solidifying the Republican Party (1888-1892). The Negro Vote (1890). McKinley Tariff and Billion-Dollar Congress (1889-1893). Trusts (1882-1897). Foreign Affairs under Harrison (1889-1893). Silver Agitation (1889-1893). Presidential Election of 1892 (1892). Maintenance of the Gold Standard (1893-1896). Democratic Tariff Legislation (1893-1895). Labor Disturbances (1894). Hawaii and Venezuela (1894-1895). Campaign for Free Coinage (1896).
