Rutherford Birchard Hayes, by Paul Raymond Audibert, Paris.

Additional information on Audibert pending.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Nineteenth President of the United States, (1977-1881). Born Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822, died Fremont, Ohion, January 17, 1893. The following is quoted from the coverleaf of the engraving:

"The administration of President Hayes, although much attacked by politicians of both parties, was on the whole very satisfactory to the people at large. By withdrawing the Federal troops from the Southern state-houses, and restoring to the people of those States practical self-government, it prepared the way for that revival of patriotism among those lately estranged from the Union, that fraternal feeling between the two sections of the country, and the wonderful material advancement of the South which we now witness. It conducted with wisdom and firmness the preparations for the resumption of specie payments, as well as the funding of the public debt at lower rates of interest, and thus facilitated the development of the remarkable business prosperity that continued to its close. While in its endeavors to effect a thorough and permanent reform of the civil service there were conspicuous lapses and inconsistencies, it accomplished important and lasting results.*** The removal by President Hayes of some of the most powerful party managers from their offices, avowedly on the ground that the offices had been used as part of the political machinery, was an act of high courage, and during his administration there was far less meddling with party politics on the part of officers of the government than at any period since Andrew Jackson's time. The success of the Republican party in the election of 1880 was largely due to the general satisfaction among the people with the Hayes administration."

"On the occasion of a meeting of the National Prison-Reform Association, held at Atlanta, Ga., in November, 1886, he was received with much popular enthusiasm, and greeted by an ex-governor of Georgia as one to whom, more than any other, the people were indebted for the era of peace and union which they now enjoyed, and by the governor, Gen. John B. Gordon, as the man who had "made a true and noble effort to complete the restoration of the Union by restoring fraternal feeling between the estranged sections." Thus he devoted the last years of his life to dignified occupations and endeavors, mostly of a philanthropic character, which were congenial to his nature and kept him in actual contact with public-spirited men, by whom he was highly esteemed."--CARL SCHURZ, in The Presidents of the United States, D. Appleton & Company. Effective published copyright, ©Mickey Cox 2002, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.