The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-07-03
From tho st. Paul Pioneerl
Grants Acceptance Of Presents Il ons
Rverybody-A Dangerous Position
for fhe Preaident 10 be in '.f.

for the President 10 be in. O..
There is one feature of Genera
Grants character-or, rather one of hit
practices-that has not been made the
subject of comment; becNse rs long as
he KEEP, out OF the political ring every
body was disposed to treat hm with
great consideration, OIL account
of his position and assumed ser.
vices. But in choosing President all
the weaknesses Of candidates are
scanned with critical, if not with jcai-
Gus eyes, and every mark of unitness
for the high office becomes conspicuous.
His easy practice of putting himself in
the way where presents are offered, anu
his free habit of accepting them, is now
attracting abundant comment. 1t is a
scandalous habit. 1t places an officer
under too many obligations to private
individuals. 1t creates strange and
dangerous fellowships for one who
should be in a position free from cor
rupt approach. There is not public
man in the country who has ever
placed himself in this situation, aside
from General Grant, five except the cor.
rupt Radicals about Washington, and
some who were in the army. A truth
ful writer, j. C.. X. Forest, former
editor of the c Chicago Tribune, describes
tho practice of Grants as follows:
Grant is known to he very self-ab-
sorbed, selfish, and grasping man. lie
takes everything that is presented to
kim, rs matter by whom, or what the
supposed consideration. Rich men Of
the national bank and bondholder
stripe have presented him with houses,
bonds, and stocks. Sporting men have
presented him with horses. Gamblers
have presented him with billiard tables.
Dog fanciers have presented him with
pups. Theatremauagers constantly
present him with dead head tickets.
Harness makers have presented him
with saddles and harness. Carriage max
ers have presented him with carriages.
Russell Jones. and Washburne knew his
weak point when they presented him
with $4,000 of stock in the Chicago
Horse Railway Company. Even poor
card writers present him with all the
visiting cards he. uses-for which they
get in return letters of thanks in very
Indifferent English. In fine, "all is fish
that comes to Grants net"
When some wealthy men in New
York, shortly after President Johnson's
accession to office, rendered him a val
liable carriage, tho President declined
the present, because it would be an
impropriety for him to accept private
gifts. Gen. Grant has no such nice
sense of propriety. He has received
presents of all sorts, in every variety of
property, and he saves them we'll.
Bonds, money, libraries, houses and lots,
horses, carriages, billiard tables, and
many smaller things, amounting in their
total value to hundreds of thousands Of
dollars, are the evidences that he has
preserved of his want of delicacy, and
of nice sense of what is becoming in q
man high i'll station, with iavors to
grant and power to exercise This
is Hot the worst of it. These gifts are
the actual fruit of corruption aud un-
lawful practices, or of business specula-
tions that nearly approach such things.
The money with which they were pur-
chased came from the contractors and
shOddy thieves, the cotton thieves, the
army and navy thieves; the men who fur
nished the soldiers with mouldy hard
bread and maggotty bacon to eat, and
with paper soled shoes to wear; the
bond thieves, who lent the Government
greenbacks when gold was 293 and de-
mand their pay in gold when it was
10; the tariff, the iron, and the whis-
key rings, and the scoundrels generally
who have amassed vast wealth by plum
dering the treasury of the people.
II is this sort of folks to whom, by
accepting their presents, General Grant
has bound himself iucxtricably. How
can he, for shame, choke off from the
treasury q robbcr whose arm is in the
vault up to the elbow, and who has just
presented him with span of horses or
a package of greenbacks.
The worst men in the country-the
spodnters of the treasury-the robbers
OF the peoples taxcs-thc corruption of
public morality-havc already propri-
tiated his favor bJ gifts; and by his ac-
ceptance of what they gave him, he had
disarmed himself Of all the power he
might have possessed to thwart their
schemes ofplnnder. Let this be thought
of when taxpayers are asked to "vote
for Grant"