Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-19
TILE nIAN ON rFORSERACK.

THE MAN On HOESEBACkAs
Some of Gen. Grants admirers are
very busy getting up the means to have
cast an equestrian statue of the General,
which when completed is to ornament the
front of the Treasury building in Wash
ingtcn. Congress is to donate captured
cannon and the funds are 10 be or have
been raised by private subscription. His
Excellency has been consulted, even the
horse selected from which to model the
animal, and the artist is at work. Don
Piatt, who is a Radical in good standing,
writes TO the Cincinnati Commercial
CRadicaI) that there is a little inner his
tory connected with this equestrian statue
worth giving to the public. He says:
''The work originates in Philadelphia,
under the direct supervision of Pig-irOn
Kelley. And this accounts for certain
tactical fluids in the cocoanut. Up to a
certain time it was believed, if not known,
that the President sympathized with West
ern interest. Our Gov. Hayes, for ex-
ample, had o very satisfactory talk on that
subject with the General, and said his
views sounded as if based On the statistics
of David 4. Wells When, however, his
message made its appearance there was
found total revolution, and all the might
of the administration was brought to bear
in favor Ofthe present Infamous inequality
of taxation under which Western interests
are being buried. And soon it was wills
pered about that that part of the message
had been prepared and put in by old Pig
iron Kelley himself. The bronze horse
had proved more fatal to us than the
wooden steed of Troy. How could his
Excellency resist the soft persuasion of a
gentleman who was doing such a gand
thing for him. An equestrian statue
how far ahead of the other heroes of the
war he would be. Where is your old Pap
Thomas now2 What are Western inter
ests to this? Let Us have infamous tariffs;
let them be augmented. Ulysses will sit
for ages IN immortal bronze, long after
these transient measures have passed away
and we small men forgotten.
''Well, as the statue is to be erected, we
must have an appropriate inscription, and
l humbly suggest the following:
Erected to the Honor
OF Ulysses 8. Grant General,
And President.
OF obscure origin and questionable training,
lie held himself alOOf from parties,
And periodically
Had no principles.
Entering the army
He fought bravely and won reDOwn,
By making the road to Richmond
4 highway of human bones;
Happening to be the first in command,
When the Confederacy fell,
From sheer exhaustion,
grateful people made him President.
He proved his science
BY reaching into the unknown
For his Cabinet.
He was generous,
Aud. to those who brought him gifts,
He gave fat Office;
And charitable,
For he fed his family at the public crib;
And lives immortal as the only ma1
Who ever helped
brother-in-law.
This monument
Is built
Of protected copper and
Monopolized pig iron,
By grateful few
Who fattened famOusly
While the people starved
''Some may question the good taste OF
this, but l submit that it is quite in keep
ing with the monument itself. If the
President canaffordthat equestrian statue,
can stand the inscription"
1t having been rumOred that one
Reader ". Clarke, Federal appointee,
would be removed, Don don't believe it.
He writes to the Commercial
'eYou were telegraphed that Readers
place was shaky. Don't believe it. 1t
has transpired' that Reader is a rela-
tive. 1t seems that Reader was uncle to
Oily Ross, and Oily Ross father is
brother to Lysus' mother. Shaky.
Thunder! He's as firm as a rock"