A great contribution to the understanding of Hayes's administration was made by the publication of C.R. Williams, _Life of Rutherford B. Hayes_ (2 vols., 1914). It is complete and contains copious extracts from Hayes's diary, but is written with less of the critical spirit than is desirable; J.F. Rhodes has a valuable chapter in his _Historical Essays_ (1909); J.W. Burgess, _Administration of R.B. Hayes_ (1916), is a eulogy; V.L. Shores, _Hayes-Conkling Controversy_ (1919), describes the civil service quarrel; J.R. Commons and others, _History of Labor in the United States_ (2 vols., 1918), describes the strike of 1877; so also does J.F. Rhodes, _History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley_ (1919), with full references. On the Chinese affair, consult Mrs. M.E. B.S. Coolidge, _Chinese Immigration_ (1909). Most of the general histories already mentioned dwell at length on the Hayes administration. For the official messages of this and succeeding administrations, the most convenient source is J.D. Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the Presidents_ (10 vols., 1903). * * * * * [1] For a time public interest was absorbed by the determination of President and Mrs. Hayes to serve no wines of any kind in the White House. Finally a delicious frozen punch was served at about the middle of the state dinners, known to the thirsty as "the Life-saving Station." It was popularly understood to be liberally strengthened with old Santa Croix rum, but the President later asserted that he had caused the punch to be sharpened with the flavor of Jamaica rum and that no drop of spirits was inserted. What the _chef_ really did, perhaps nobody knows. At any rate, both sides were satisfied. Williams, _R.B. Hayes_, II; 312 note. [2] Because March 4 fell on Sunday, the oath of office was privately administered to Hayes on Saturday evening, March 3. Williams, _Hayes_, II, 5. [3] George W. McCrary was Secretary of War; Richard W. Thompson, Secretary of the Navy; Charles Devens, Attorney-General. [4] Chamberlain, the Republican claimant in South Carolina, wrote in 1901 that he was "quite ready now to say that he feels sure that there was no possibility of securing permanent good government in South Carolina through Republican influences." _Atlantic Monthly_, LXXXVII, 482. [5] Many of the dispatches were in a complicated cipher which resisted all attempts at solution. The _Tribune_ published samples from time to time, keeping interest alive in the hope that somebody might solve the riddle. Finally two members of the _Tribune_ staff were successful in discovering the key to the cipher in a way that recalls the paper-covered detective story. The newspaper aroused and excited public interest by publishing specimens and eventually achieved a sensation by putting the most damaging material into print on October 16, 1878. One of the telegrams, with its translation, ran as follows: