Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-03-15
Three Years.

General Grant became President Grant. |
BY these three years he will be judged at |
the bar of public opinion on the next
national election day, The Presidential
office has, therefore, triennial period as
distinct as its quadrennial, and it is more
important to estimate it correctly. After
q President has retired from public life,
or entered upon his final term, IL is not of
much practical consequence whether he
is appreciated or not, but when the peo-
pile are about to decide upon his retention
in office, an examination into his record
is intensely practical.
AT the time U. S. Grant took the Presi
Dental oath, he had never, we believe,
held any civil office. 1t would seem as if
nature said to herself at his creation
America shall have at least one citizen
entirely free from the national mania for
ofHce-holding." The graduate of one of
the best schools of the land, an institu-
tion for mental discipline quite the peer
of Harvard and Yale, and having mill
tary record which would have made him
an available" candidate, had he chosen
to enter that field, Captain Grant never
had anything to do with politics. Under
these circumstances, his elevation to the
Presidency was an experiment All that
could he said in his favor was that good
Commander-in-C Chief ought to make a
good Chief Magistrate But reasoning
from analogy is never entirely satisfact-
ory. In the general feeling of anxiety
no one shared so deeply as General Grant
himself.
The period of faith has lost itself In the
epoch of absolute knowledge. The ex-
pertinent has been tried. The military
| record of General Grant has been eclipsed
by his civil record. This is not random
claim made in the interest of party, but
truth from which there Is no intelligent
escape. The chief points of the record
are as follows:
/. President Grant broke up the whisky
| ring. That was his first triumph. He
laid the foundation for that in the ap-
| pointment of George S. Boutwell, to the
Secretaryship of the Treasury No man
in the country understood more thorough.
! ly the system of internal taxation than
MIR. BOUTWELL, He organized that Bu-
reau, and had been In position to under
stand all its ins and outs, from first to
last. Coupling honesty with intelligence,
he brought to the initial work Of reform
the qualifications of success. Incompe-
tent and rascally officials were weeded
out as fast as possible, and every man
| connected with the assessment and col.
!
connivance at thievery We're over 1t
was not three months after the present
Administration came into power before
the whisky ring, and every other ring for
defrauding the Government out of inter
nal revenue, had been broken up. The
proof of this is found in the increased
revenue derived from internal taxation.
The Government has derived more reve-
nue. from spirits at fifty cents per gallon
under Grant than it did from the two dol
lar tax under Johnson. The amount dis
titled is no greater, if as great, From the
logic of such fact there is no escape.
2. The next monster to fall dead was
the Indian ring. That was as old as the
Democratic party. When the motto, 'to
the victor belong the spoils," was made
the cornerstone of the party in power,
this. ring began to form. For twelve
years the Democrats held undisputed
sway at Washington. The Wings won a
barren victory in 1s40, Tyler going over
to the enemy. Eight years more were
added to the ring; The Whig party either
did not attempt its overthrow, or utterly
failed to accomplish it during the Taylor
Fillmore Administration. The Demo
Gratis found their pet in the full vigor of
early manhood in 1859. No attempt was
made at reform during the next eight
years. Then came the rebellion, during
which the Government was so busy at
the front that the thieves on the frontier
had full swing, or nearly So Under
President Johnson the height of corrup-
ton was reached. President Grant found
a ring in power which was nearly as old
as himself Having in his youth been
stationed on the Plains, he understood the
Indian ring as no other President ever
had. Through Indian Commissioner
Parker, and special commission com.
posed of such men as John " Farwell
and w. E. Dodge, he commenced raid
on the ring. He also summoned to his
aid the Quakers. With them friendship
to the Indians is enloined as a special re-
ligiOus duty. Their ecclesiastical ma.
chinery is eccentric on this point. With
this three-fold alliance, the Administra.
ton set about the work of Indian reform
So complete has been its success that
Congressman Beck, of Kentucky, leader
OF the Democracy, has recently publicly
testified to its thoroughness.
3. The next great reform is still incom-
plete. Our Civil Service system was de-
bauched into party hack at the same
time that the Indian ring was born. After
considerable preliminary work, the ma
chinery of reform was set in motion with
the last new year. 1t will require time to
carry out what has been begun. The ini-
tial steps were taken against the protests
of professional politicians, and could the
inner workings of events be laid bare,
we should see that the Administration
had harder work to inaugurate this reform
than to carry out the other two-so stub
born is patronage, and so hard is it to lose
that layer of golden eggs What this
Presidential term began, the next Will
have to finish.
H. The reduction of the debt, coupled
as it has been with a corresponding re-
duction of taxes, is the most conspicuous
merit of these three years. The reduc-
ton has been, in round numbers, at the
rate of $100, 100000 per annum. Not
only has this been coupled with reduced
taxation, but with marked general thrift
! There has been no financial crisis; times
are by no means hard" All sections
and classes are very prosperous. The
| people have bettered their condition dur
ing the last three years as much as the
Government has.
There are other points that might be
mentioned, but these four will stand out
in history with special prominence, and
win for the present Administration the
proud distinction of having wrought
more reforms, and more important ones,
than any two of it's predecessors. Chjcd9O
Journal, March 4.
Yice-PresIdent COlfax on the COntrO-
Versy Between England and the