[1] After the discovery of gold in California, Chinamen, called coolies, came to that state in considerable numbers. But they attracted little attention till 1852, when the governor complained that they were sent out by Chinese capitalists under contract, that the gold they dug was sent to China, and that they worked for wages so low that no American could compete with them. Attempts were then made to stop their importation, especially by heavy taxes laid on them. But the courts declared such taxation illegal, and appeals were then made to Congress for relief. No action was taken; but in 1868 an old treaty with China was amended, and to import Chinamen without their free consent was made a penal offense. This did not prevent their coming, so the demand was made for their exclusion by act of Congress. [2] In the early years of the nineteenth century liquor was a part of the workingman's wages. Every laborer on the farm, in the harvest field, every sailor, and men employed in many of the trades, as carpenters and masons, demanded daily grog at the cost of the employer. About 1810 a temperance movement put an end to much of this. But intemperance remained the curse of the workingman down to the days of Van Buren and Tyler, when a greater temperance movement began. [3] Horace Greeley was born in New Hampshire in 1811, and while still a lad learned the trade of printer. When he went to New York in 1831, he was so poor that he walked the streets in search of work. During the Harrison campaign in 1840 he edited the Log Cabin, a Whig newspaper, and soon after the election founded the New York Tribune. In 1848 he was elected a member of Congress. He was one of the signers of the bond which released Jefferson Davis from imprisonment after the Civil War. Greeley overexerted himself in the campaign of 1872, and died a few weeks after the election. [4] The fire is said to have been started by a cow kicking over a lamp in a small barn. Nearly 2200 acres were burned over, some 17,450 buildings consumed, 200 lives were lost, and 98,000 people made homeless. [5] The close of the first century of our national independence was the occasion of a great exposition in Philadelphia--the first of many that have been held in our country on centennial anniversaries of great events in our history. The Philadelphia exposition was first planned as a mammoth fair for the display of the industries and arts of the United States; but Congress having approved the idea, all foreign nations were invited to take part, and thirty-three did so. The main building covered some twenty acres and was devoted to the display of manufactures. The exposition occupied also four other large buildings devoted to machinery, agriculture, etc., of which Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall are still standing.