The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1867-11-08
CRES(CO HOWARD co, IOWA. NOVEMBER, g. 1867. WHOLE
From the World.
MIR. and MRS. Lincoln.

MIR. and MRS. Lincoln.
There are certain newspapers of
the Republican persuasion--the
"moral idea" type-wbo protest
with great vehemcnce against pop
ular subscriptions of money to aid
Mrs. Lincoln. Many, indeed most
of them, start out with the propo-
sition that Mr.. Lincoln was mod
ell of pecuniary and political virtue,
while his wife is and was quite the
opposite. The arguments Of these
journals are of three classes. One
is that Mr.. Lincoln, before his elec-
tion to be President, had next to no
property whatever, and his wife had
thus been accustomed to a life of
simple small expenditure, so that it
ought not to be a hardship to her to
now live WITH economy, as it would
to a woman rearedin luxury. An
other is that she lived vicious life
at the White House, obtaining din
ners, dresses, and personal orna-
ments by improper practices, for
which if she cow suffers it is no more
than she deserves. Others saying
that Mr.. and Mrs. Lincoln, both
going to the White House poor,
Mr.. Lincoln on his death left hand
some estate, amounting to some
eighty or ninety thousand dollars,
the income of which Mrs. Lincoln
shares with her children and that is
enough for her.
Now, it seems to us that none of
these stories are at all creditable
to the public or private career of
Mr. Lincoln in Washington, and
that the Republican journals refer
red to, while striking at the wife are
really hitting at the husband.
In the first place, why was Mrs.
Lincoln compelled TO resort to the
out-of the-way contrivances related
by Mr.. Thurlow Weed, to pay for
dinners given to distinguished for
cjgncls! Why was she driven to
procure dresses and jcwelry from Of
icc hunters and others? Did Mr..
Lincoln. cxpcnd his salary in whole
or in chief part, while in Office? If
he did, where did it go? Nobody
ever heard of gifts from him TO
charitable objects, Why was his
wife left to "'browsc around" for
food and clothes, annoying Secrota-
ries Smith and Seward! This is up
on the theory that he spent his in
come literally. ..
If Mr.. Lincoln was poor when he
entered and rich when be left the
White House, then, out of mere de-
sire Of accumulation, he must have
withheld from bis wife money to en-
able her to support herself as be-
comes the wife of the President, and
thus driven her to a life of shame.
More than that, he must have given
entertainments such as they were,
for which he not onl y did not intend
to pay out Of his own pocket, but the
expense of which he expected his
wife to dcfray by unlawful and in
decent centrivances.
These Republican journals charge
that even prior to MIR. Lincoln S
death, his wife sold the White
House furniture. If this be So,
Mr.. Lincoln must have known Of
the transaction.
Mr.. Lincoln certainly knew that
HE appointed Watt, laborcr in the
White House grounds, to be lieu
tenant in the army, and that the
latter was then kept in the Exccu-
tive Mansion as steward, drawing
army pay all the time.
If Mr.. Lincoln saved as much of
his salary as these Republicans
claim, he surely knew all the time
that his household expenses were
being paid by somebody else in an
illcgitimate way
In a word, if what these "moral
idea' patriots say is true, Mr.. Lin
coin must have been knave or a
fool
How strange it is that when one
sinks the probe deep into the doings
of the Republican party in power,
something is inevitably struck
which emits frightful stencil