The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1872-03-28
PURIFICAfI0y.


Tho Republican party has ever been
the dominat party in Kansas, and its vic
tories have always been decisive, unless,
indeed, independent tickets have Ovid
ed the strict party vote. As might be
expected, bitter feuds h.vc existed be-
tween the prominent actors Of this pc
litical organization, which have caused
strifes rs acrid for place as if it were q
contention for supremacy between two
distinct and in no wise similar political
parties. As tho convention has boon the
arbiter to whose will aspirants for Office
have almost universally submitted, it il
there that struggles have been as ami.
mated, If not more animated, than is an
election campaign in Connecticut or New
Hampshire. At such time the question
has not been put What has been this
mans record as Republican, or What
have been his services for the party but
How much has he stolen, What was
his connection with. certain land steals,
sndquestions of this kind. Furthermore,
disgraceful personalities have been drag
god in, and mems private histories have
been the absorbing topic of the convcn-
ton. Instead Of a manly, open one, the
warfare has been of the guerrilla order,
which has resulted in bringing the name
of our State into much disrcputc. AT
times prominent men have been cried
down for their political corruption; At
other times laudcl tor their purity AMI
good deeds.
Not long ago a terrible onslaught was
made by n sect of men, under the name
OF purifiers" upon class of men s,ig-
matized by them as "corruptionists."
1t was fierce and overwhelming. After
the smoke Of the battle had cleared away,
there came up shout from the v;ctors
that Jehovah had triumphed and his poo
pie were free. Beautiful homilics were
read to us how tho State had redeemed
itself; that the people had at last risen
with one accord and burst asunder the
chains that hitherto had rivctcd them to
. mass Of seething corruption; that -
faircr day had dawncd and there was no
longer anything rotten in Denmark."
The vanguishcd were no longer to fill
high places, for an eJict went out that
d" The upright shall dwell in the land,
and he perfelo shall remain in it. But
the wicked shall be cut from the earth,
and the transgressors shall be rooted
out of it.
Then followed wide spread adula-
ton among the victors, and over the
spoils fierccr fight arose. Theirs was
not patriotism, like that Of Cincinna-
tus, which would after the close of the
battle. bring them back to peaceful avo-
cations. Nay! Time disclosed that these
valiant chieftains, who had cried out so
bitterly, labored SO zealously, and shout
ed so loudly against the "engulphing"
were not the cmbodiments
of what is pure in politics, Gf there is
any purity therein), but rather were the
first to step forward and offer to fill the
choes but SO lately filled by the corrupt.
Then it was found that the prime movers
and leaders of this furious attack wero
not so much cmbued with desire to do
away with corruption in high places"
as to be benefited by the emolumcnts Of
those high places. 1t had been, intact,
. war Of the "outs" against the " ins."
We now hear of many OF these pure
and indebted characters daily being con-
firmcd, Governors of territories, Recciv-
ers and registers of U. S. land Offices, post
masters, &c; and though most damna-
bly,. corrupt men have succeeded to the
places against whom SO much hue and
cry was formerly raised, many who were
went to curse and revilc, now laud and
applaud. Another class who participant
ed in the cleansing movement" signally
failed to make that movement rebound
to their benefit and have gone off on a
foot race to the new party experiment.
Another class still arc those who honest
~ and conscientiously fought for the
publication of Kansas politics, and who,
even now, Arc manfully found battling
for their cause. They arc not engaged
in defaming committees of investigation,
covering the tracks OF tho guilty, or spir-
iting away important witnesses against
wicked men. Such men arc tae legiti-
mate champions of purity. They are
the men to assist in cleansing the Augcan
stables of Kansas politics.
If the Republican party would live in
Kansas, let the State rid itself at once
of this mass of publication. Let no
ones political acts be shielded from
searching criticism or Investigation, be
no friend or a foe. Spectators, not in
in sympathy with our party, IN delight
look upon the fight now going On as in