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Lot 54
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Important James Garfield ALS re political survival after "Salary Grab " of 1873
Important James Garfield ALS re political survival after "Salary Grab " of 1873
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Description:

James Garfield instructs his aide to distribute pamphlets defending his vote to increase Congressional salaries in the face of enormous opposition

JAMES GARFIELD (1831-1881) Autograph Letter Signed, " J. A. Garfield," as United States Congressman, 1 page, 7.5" x 9.75", Cleveland, Ohio, April 18, 1873 to "Warren," concerning the publication of a pamphlet by the Congressional Globe. Expertly laid into a larger sheet, minor soiling, else fine.

"I have delayed my letter until I could see the friends in Warren in and Ravenna. I have now completed it, and this morning send a corrected copy to the Globe Office, and asked them to print it at once and send them to you. The moment they reach you, I want you to fold have one copy folded in with one copy of the pamphlet, and distributed to the leading citizens of the District — Save out a few hundred for use hereafter – I think the tide is very decidedly turning — One good result is apparent — it shows me who are my friends, and who are my Enemies — I shall remain here in Ohio, a week or ten days yet."

In the waning days of the forty-second Congress, Congressman Benjamin Butler proposed a 50 percent increase in Congressional salaries, to be effective retroactively to the start of the Congress which convened in 1871. The proposal, packaged as an amendment to the general appropriations bill, met with resistance from Garfield, who chaired the Appropriations Committee initially opposed the amendment but relented when he was able to persuade the committee to eliminate an allowance for travel. With nearly half of the House members lame ducks, the amendment, which raised congressional salaries from $5,000 to $7,500, easily passed—with the retroactive clause giving the members an additional $5,000 for "services rendered."

While the salary increase was long overdue, especially in light of growing corruption among some members which was blamed on low salaries and the high cost of living in Washington, the raise set off a firestorm in both the Democratic and Republican press. Garfield's constituents demanded his resignation, to which he replied, "If I ought to resign for casting this vote, every elective officer should resign whenever any of his official acts, done in good faith, are strongly disapproved by those who elected him. If the delegates believe that the retroactive close is so infamous that I ought to resign... will they follow our their logic and insist that he President ought to resign for signing it? My vote did not make it a law; but his signature did it." ("General Garfield and his Constituents," National Aegis, Worcester, Mass., May 3, 1873, 3).

Interestingly enough, President Grant received a one hundred percent increase in his salary, from $50,000 to $100,000—the first time the Chief Executive's salary had been raised since George Washington's Administration.

From the library of John Augustin Daly (1838-1899). Daly, one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American theater, worked as a critic, manager, playwright and stage director. At the time of his death, he owned two major theaters, one in New York and the other in London. Daly is considered personally responsible for the careers of such acting greats as John Drew Jr. Maurice Barrymore, Fanny Davenport, Maude Adams, Sara Jewett, Isadora Duncan, Tyrone Power, Sr. and many others.

Daly was also an avid book lover and collector, amassing an enormous library of books and original manuscripts. That collection was dispersed in an epic, two-week auction at the American Art Association in New York in March 1900. The present letter was part of an extra-illustrated volume, described in the catalog as a "Unique copy, with autograph letters of all the Presidents inserted..." Walter Benjamin, writing in The Collector, described the sale as a "blaze of glory, due to the total having reached nearly $200,000." Benjamin attributed the sale's incredible success to "a small bookseller on 42d street, who appeared at the sale with apparently unlimited cash, and was soon the master of the situation." That "small bookseller," was George D. Smith (d. 1920), who, up until that time, had been an obscure and unsuccessful book dealer who began his career in 1883 with Dodd & Mead. Smith would dominate the market for the next two decades, working as an agent for some of the wealthiest collectors in the country—most notably Henry E. Huntington, for whom Smith purchased a portion of the Duke of Devonshire Library in 1914 for $1.5 million (American Art Association, Catalogue of the Valuable Literary and Arty Property Gathered by the Late Augustin Daly, New York, 1900; The Collector, New York, May 1900, 1-2; Publisher's Weekly, March 13, 1920, 801; Ibid, March 21, 1914, 1008; "Geo. D. Smith Dies in HIs Book Store, New York Times, March 5, 1928, 13).

The extra-illustrated volume of presidents from which this piece derives fetched $850, nearly four times above the going rate for presidential sets at the time. According to Walter Benjamin, Smith quickly resold the volume for $1,000. The collection did not surface again until it appeared in a minor auction in early 2016. (The Collector, New York, May 1900, 1-2)

Provenance: John Augustin Daly; American Art Association, New York, March 19, 1900, Lot 3122; George D. Smith, New York.

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