The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-01-12
THE CAMPAIGN OF ISLANDER.

THE CAMPAIGN OF ISLANDER.
1t is unfortunate that there should
have been an impression, not jasti-
fed by the facts, that any Republi-
can senators wished to hide corrup-
ton or prevent investigations of the
methods and expenses of the gov
| eminent. There is no such DISPOSE
ton in the party. There was none
such upon the part of the senator's
who opposed Mr.. Trumbulfs reso-
| luton. That there is none upon the
part of the president is shown by
the fact that he has put himself at
the head of the movement for civil
service reform. 1t is, however, the
policy Of those who are opposed to
him to make it appear that in some
mysterious way he connives at
fraud. Mr.. SchurZ said, as we stat
ed last week, that no evidence inn
plicated the president in the alleged
abuses of the general order system.
But he also said, and repeated, and
the remark has been diligently ech-
Oed, that there was some mysterious
power higher than the secretary of
the treasury which sustained these
| abuses. Yet what power in that
sense is higher than the secretary,
except that of the president? Did
Mr.. Schurz mean him? We gave
him credit for plainly declaring that
the president was not implicated by
any evidence. But if the senator
had no proof, were not his words
an unjustifiable i2sinnation2
If the opposition to the president
hopes to brand him before the coun-#
try IS dishonest man, it will fail.
There is in politics legitimate and
an illegitimate method of opposi-
ton; one which honorable men
adopt and one which they reject;
and the policy of personal defama-
alton of the president is not honor
able. But the personal campaign
was never conducted with such rig
or before. Indeed, the inuendoes
at the little details of the presidents
life are SO incessant that it is evident
that the great measures of his adj
ministration are not supposed to be
very vulnerable.
If he were surrounded by a
cabinet like that of the last Demo-
cratic president, for instance, it
might be wisely feared that he was
either coerced by it or in collision
with it. But the charaster of the
cabinet is the pledge to the country
of the patriotism and pure purposes
of the administration. Or, if the
administration in details were prov
ed to be generally eXtrayagant or
corrupt, there would jus thy be deep
distrust upon the part of the coun-
try. But while there has been-as
under the old systenfof civil SER
vice is Observation-Disclosures ap-
pointments and defalcations, they
are in no sense the rule of the adj
ministration and it would be found
upon inquiry that many of the in
stances of this kind are due to the
characters of the persons whom the
president did not pers onally know,
but who were pressed upon hin for
the appointment by some eff the
very gentlemen who now urge
against him the character of some
appointments that he has made.
We shall be very much mistaken if
the, same gentlemen do not receive
the preeidents project of reform of
the civil service with a smile Of ut
ter incredulity, not because they
think the scheme Objectionable, but
because they do not believe that he
will put it into execution. When
he does that it will be remarkable
if the presidents action, however
sincere and b honorable, is not derid-
ed as intentionally inefficient. In
deed, those who have declared that
they think the president unfit for
denomination are not likely to own
that they were mistaken as the day
for the cow ention draws near.
If before the convention meets it
can be shown that he is directly or
indirectly responsible for the abuses
which may occur in any of the Of
fees, those who wish his renomina-
ton will not be very large num-
Der. But if the attempt fails, they
will be the entire convention. For
an effort to discredit the chief mag
istrate of this country does not end
with its success or it's failure. If it
succeeds, he is utterly disgraced.
If it fails, those who attempt it.lose
the respect of honorable men. We
must not be understood as charging
malignant motives upon those who
sincerely move for investigations
into alleged abuses. But the char
acter of the president belongs to
the country, and when that charac-
ter is stained the country is sullicd.
Therefore the investigation of the
be thorough and unsparing. The
general-order system must be and
will be completely exposed. If
abuses are discovered, and the
blame can be justly laid upon the
president, there will be reason to
denounce him. The noble warfare
upon his cigars and his horses will
then end, and we may all we'll
be aghast at real reasons of opposi-
ton.
But meanwhile the president is
not harmed in the judgment of can
did men--and they are the great
majority-by SANDER and misrepre-
sentation. Although he smokes
cigars, and likes q fine horse, and
owns stock in Seneca stone from
| which he has no dividends, and a
house was presented to him as to-
ken Of patriotic gratitude, and there
are dozen of his relatives in Office,
some of them not appointed, but
merely not removed, by him-al-
though these things are true, it is
also true that the great results of his
| administration are such as the coun-
try contemplates with pride and
satisfaction. 1t sees its wise and
humane Indian policy, its reduction
of taxation, and the diminution of
the debt; its peaceful and honor
able settlement of foreign questions,
| its protection of all good citizens
everywhere, its amnesty, and its re-
form of the civil service; and the
country forgives the president his
occasional drives and his daily cigar.
Indeed, when the real services OF
General Grant to the country are
considered, the pitiful character of
the vitnperaticn to which he is con-
stantly exposed becomes still more
despicable. And if any republican
who unwillingly believes that there
mnst be serious reason for such
insinuation and Islander will only
trouble himself to analyze the stor-
les, and to reflect upon the immense
Misrepresentation to which every
4 conspicuous public man Is subject
ed, he will be rejoiced by discover
ing that If the falsehood and the
exaggeration are removed, the per-
senaI gossip about the pI esident Is
as causeless as it is contemplate
Harper's Weekly.
I