Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-01-12
A ISLANDER REFUTED.

] O0lO,Inl
successor Of JOSHUA r. GIDDINGs, appearl
10 be the leader of the bondholding and Ma
tional bank forces in that body. Who anC
what is GARFIELD? He arose to be Briga
dier General during the early part of the late
civil war We have heard that previous &c
IL he was protested minister of the Gospel
l At any rate he was worth nothing pecuIffari
". speaking after the iSss5 isShion 10 and manner
Congress, and since then during the past
seven years, he has managed, ON s, 900 pei
year, TO acquire large fortune. His estate
and his monetary resources are said to be
| worth hundreds OF thousands of dollars
This increase in property was simultaneou.
/ with his advocacy of the monetary monopO-
ly- interests in the House. OF course we
make no charges. But at the late election II
was so well understood among his Radical
| friends Of the Western Reserve that he was
/ intimate with New York capitalists, that II
] there had been a reasonable chance they
would have brought out an independent can
didate and defeated him. Even in the Radi-
cal district which he represents, his unds.
guised employ by the bondholders has Great
! ed unusual disgust and dissatisfaction
| Cincinnati Enquirer, Dec. l5th.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer takes
up the refrain, saying:
The Leader saws that "BEN wADE's re.
ceipts as Senator for eighteen years amount
/ to SlS9, so. That is n very moderate sum IA
/ little over seven thousand dollars a year
compared TO other members OF Congress-
! GARFIELD has not been in Congress hall
! that length of time, and Is said to be worth
half a million of dollars" Won't the LeddeI
| please figure up GARFIELD'S receipts. as there
| are quite number Of his old pariShionerS
who would like to know where the money
came from to build forty thousand dollar
house in Washington.
It is easy to understand why the
! Cincinnati Enquirer should be politi-
cally hostile to Gen. GARFIELD, or in
deed any other prominent and infiu-
| ential Republican-but that it should
make its attacks in the form given
surprises only those who do not un-
| derstand the character and propensi-
ties of "Mack, !" the Washington cor
respondent of the Enquirer, who in
his first letter from Washington this
winter commenced his gossip about
Republican Congressman, and at last
the Enquirer gives editorial promi-
nence to the spirit of the productions
of its Washington fiction-writer.
The Plain Dealer having read the
! fictions.of "MACK" and noticed the
editorial conspicuity given to them by
the Enquirer, enlarges and improves
the story, and with slice of malice
too, developing fine capability in the
line of its prototype "MACK."
Now perhaps most people would say
let these fellows fire their small squibs,
they hurt no one, and while we believe
in a great measure this is q proper po-
sition we propose to be a little person
al in this case and present a state
ment of facts that it is not at all i'm
proper for the constituents of Gener-
al GARFIELD to be possessed of.
Txu0 anrn nap,oorofin "a
stumper thought he made point by
saying that Garfield had got to be
worth 100000 since he went to Con-
greSs"-and now Democratic authori-
ty gives him half million of dollars
and other things in proportion. Now
the actual value of this great property,
so cheerfully placed at General GAR
FIELDS disposal by the Enquirer and
Plain Dealer, is, to him, of the same
value that the currency of the country
would possess if the Enquirer-Pen-
dletOnian plan was adopted of issuing
a few hundred millions more of green
backs"-and that is nothing at ALL
The financial theory of the Enquirer
and its disciples is rotten, and more
base, and equally false is its manner
of treating those whom the mutations
of events have made the instruments
of exposing its falacies.
General GARFIELD, as all are aware
commenced life with the humblest
pecuniary resources. When he had
finished up his army life, and was
about to take his seat in Congress his
property consisted of a house and lot
in Hiram village, worth perhaps,
50, 900 land paid for) and 81 800 in
money. The house and lot in Hiram
is still his and is the home to which
he loves to retreat as often and when
ever the duties of official life will per-
NIT. At the outset of his congression-
al life he made the resolve to save at
least 81 900 a year of his congressional
salary. To do this, and meet the nee
essary expenses of the position he has
so well filled, has required of himself
and family. a strict economy. So
zealously has he devoted himself TO
his official duties and so wholly has
he been at the service of the Republi-
can party that other accumulation
than the saving up of a portion of
a fixed salary have been impossible.
Once or twice it is true, he was indue-
ed to take an interest in business en-
terprises, but these he had no time to
devote TO and they languished and
come to nothing. So the years have
run from 1862 to 1870, and in this pc
riOd of time, the accumulation of a
81 900 a year has run his fortune up to
something like dozen thousand dol
lars.
The sagaciOus Enquirer says, 1--WE
make no charges" :" and then utters a
mean insinuation about resources. -
Another newspaper malignity, who
wants to do as unmanly and disrepu-
table things as its model, enquires
about "forty thousand dollar house"
Well, the fact is, General GARFIELD
has built house and in Washington,
during the year 1869. 1t was ready
for his reception and that of his fami- |
~ at the commencement of the second |
session of the forty-first Congress-
Now, then, how much did the proper |
ty cost, and where did he get the mon |
ey. In two words the answer is, the !
cost $4,000 and General |
borrowed the money for |
5he investment That's the whole, |
rue story.
If it is anybody's business why he !
lid this thing, land it seems it islthat |
ooks so CHASTITY to the pure-minded |
Enquirer and is so affecting to the |
1irtuous Plain Dealer, it is quite worth |
while to have the truth in the case,
md not any guess work, and WASH
ngton guess work at that. Since
Ieneral GARFIELD has been in Con-
,ress, he has, with one exception,
Doarded with his family. For one
ession he rented and occupied a fur
lished house, not in q fashionable or
quarter of the city, but in
and modest locality. Last
winter he-had rooms on G.. street, and
ived in style of unpretending sim
'licity. These two rooms cost more
'er month than the annual rent of the
'est house that can be rented in Ra-
emma, and yet the best of these rooms
lad In 1t nothing better than a cane
eat chair, (neither divan, sofa or
Ounge) and had in it for the use of
he family, a wardrobe, bureau, wash
tand, DC. In this room General
FAIRFIELD received the calls of Gov
rnor Hayes, Secretary Cox, Speaker
Slaine, Senator Sumner, General
and all other friends who
ad occasion to call on him. Is it to
e supposed that if his "estate and
his monetary resources were worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars"
hat his style of living would have
cen that described. How easy for. [
ne man Of wealth to surround him j
elf with the luXuries wealth only j
Ipplies, instead of living as humbly V {
4 fact as does anV nrOSDerOIIS I