rom the Nineteenth Ohio district
rose in his seat and earnestly opposed it. He objected that the policy
was ruinous, involving immense expense, while effecting little good. He
claimed that the country had a right to the service of every one of its
children at such a crisis, without hire and without reward.

But one man stood with him, so unpopular was the stand he had taken; but
it was not long before the bounty system broke down, and Garfield's
views were adopted.

Later on he had another chance to show his independence. President
Lincoln, foreseeing that at a certain date not far ahead the time of
enlistment of nearly half the army would expire, came before Congress
and asked for power to draft men into service. It met with great
opposition. "What! force men into the field! Why, we might as well live
under a despotism!" exclaimed many; and the members of Congress, who
knew how unpopular the measure would be among their constituents,
defeated it by a two-thirds vote.

It was a critical juncture. As Lincoln had said in substance, all
military operations would be checked. Not only could not the war be
pushed, but the Government could not stand where it did. Sherman would
have to come back from Atlanta, Grant from the Peninsula.

The voting was over, and the Government was despondent. Then it was that
Garfield rose, and moving a reconsideration, made a speech full of fire
and earnestness, and the House, carried by storm, passed the bill, and
President Lincoln made a draft for half a million men.

Garfield knew that this action would be unpopular in his district. It
might defeat his re-election; but that mattered not. The President had
been assailed by the same argument, and had answered, "Gentlemen, it is
not necessary that I should be reelected, but it is necessary that I
should put down this rebellion." With this declaration the young
Congressman heartily sympathized.

Remonstrances did come from his district. Several of his prominent
supporters addressed him a letter, demanding his resignation. He wrote
them that he had acted according to his views of the needs of the
country; that he was sorry his judgment did not agree with theirs, but
that he must follow his own. He expected to live long enough to have
them all confess that he was right.

It was about this time that he made his celebrated reply to Mr.
Alexander Long, of Ohio, a fellow Congressman, who proposed to yield
everything and to recognize the Souther