had voted for the bill and declared that, had the recommendations
of the tariff commission been adopted, "the tariff would have
been settled for many years," but "many persons wishing to
advance their particular industries appeared before the committee
and succeeded in having their views adopted." In his annual
message, December 4, 1883, President Arthur accepted the act as a
response to the demand for a reduction of taxation, which was
sufficiently tolerable to make further effort inexpedient until
its effects could be definitely ascertained; but he remarked that
he had "no doubt that still further reductions may be wisely
made."

In general, President Arthur's administration may therefore be
accurately described as a period of political groping and party
fluctuation. In neither of the great national parties was there a
sincere and definite attitude on the new issues which were
clamorous for attention, and the public discontent was reflected
in abrupt changes of political support. There was a general
feeling of distrust regarding the character and capacity of the
politicians at Washington, and election results were apparently
dictated more by fear than by hope. One party would be raised up
and the other party cast down, not because the one was trusted
more than the other, but because it was for a while less odious.
Thus a party success might well be a prelude to a party disaster
because neither party knew how to improve its political
opportunity. The record of party fluctuation in Congress during
this period is almost unparalleled in sharpness.*

* In 1875, at the opening of the Forty-fourth Congress, the House
stood 110 Republicans and 182 Democrats. In 1881, the House stood