458. Withdrawal of the Soldiers from the South.--The People of the North were weary of the ceaseless political agitation in the South. The old Southern leaders had regained control of nearly all the Southern states. They could not be turned out except by a new civil war, and the Northern people were not willing to go to war again. The only other thing that could be done was to withdraw the Federal soldiers and let the Southern people work out their own salvation as well as they could. President Hayes recalled the troops, and all the Southern states at once passed into the control of the Democrats. [Illustration: THE RUINS AFTER THE PITTSBURGH RIOTS.] [Sidenote: Panic and hard times.] [Sidenote: The Pittsburgh riots, 1877.] 459. Strikes and Riots, 1877.--The extravagance and speculation of the Civil War, and the years following its close, ended in a great panic in 1873. After the panic came the "hard times." Production fell off. The demand for labor diminished. Wages were everywhere reduced. Strikes became frequent, and riots followed the strikes. At Pittsburg, in western Pennsylvania, the rioters seized the railroad. They burned hundreds of railroad cars and locomotives. They destroyed the railroad buildings. At last the riot came to an end, but not until millions of dollars' worth of property had been destroyed. [Sidenote: The Stalwart Republicans.] [Sidenote: Garfield elected President, 1880.] 460. Election of 1880.--At the beginning of his administration Hayes had declared that he would not be a candidate for reëlection. Who should be the Republican standard bearer? Grant's friends proposed to nominate him for a third term. The politicians who advocated a third term for Grant were opposed to the candidacy of James G. Blaine. They were called the Stalwart Republicans. In the convention they voted steadily and solidly for Grant. Finally their opponents, with the cry of "Anything to beat Grant," suddenly turned to an entirely new man, whose name had been little mentioned. This was James A. Garfield of Ohio. He had won distinction in the Civil War and had served with credit in Congress. For Vice-President the Republicans nominated Chester A. Arthur, a New York banker. The Democrats, on their part, nominated one of the most brilliant and popular soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, General Winfield Scott Hancock. The campaign was very hotly contested. In the end Garfield won. [Sidenote: Garfield murdered, 1881.] [Sidenote: President Arthur.] [Sidenote: Civil Service Reform. _Source-Book_, 363-365.]