New-York tribune., 1873-09-03
A HARD ROW TO HOE.

| II is announced that distinguished company
of political orators are going into Iowa this
season to stump the State for the Republican
candidates. They will doubtless hare a re-
| freshing and exhilarating experience; for the
people of Iowa are deeply interested in great
many public questions just now, and will lis
| ten to them with sharp curiosity. The
| Farmers Movement has stirred up an excite
ment which is not confined to questions Of
| transportation and the price of wheat, but
extends to general politics also, and to per-
sonal politics most of all On the Back Pay
question especially the Republicans of Iowa
have very strong convictions. In their recent
State Convention they pledged the party to
| demand an immediate and unconditional re-
peal Of the bill, and declared "t that the act
"Of the majority of the members of the last
Congress in voting what is known as the
"Back Pay Steal, by which they voted into
their pockets thousands of dollars which
f" did not belong to them, was most 1agrantly
improper and infamous, and should secure
" the political condemnation of all who were
"parties to it," Now let us see who are their
orators.
Well, first we have Senator Logan, who
voted three times for the Back Pay bill, and
drew his share of the money. Then we have
Senator Wright, who voted against it, but did
not return the money to the Treasury, as he
knows he ought to have done, but left it on
deposit till the storm should blow over.
Then there is Mr. Harlan, who did the same; (;
and, coming down to the Lower House, we
have Mr.. Orr and Mr.. Palmer, both of Iowa,
who voted against the bill, but pocketed the
thousands which did not belong 20 them"
OF course these gentlemen will all have to
support the platform of the party for which
they are going to speak. They will denounce
the "fagrant Improperly" and "infamy" of
the Back Pay bill with all the eloquence of
which they are capable. They will insist upon
its immediate and unconditional repeal, and
call mankind to witness that the Republican
party is infexibly opposed to all questionable
transactions. This we take for granted; and
if any impertinent persons in the audience
ask them what they have done with their
portion of the grab, we suppose they will
initiate Gov. Norton and send o draft to the
Treasurer of the United States with all con-
venent speed.
Gov. Morton had only made beginning Of
his campaign when he was laid up with a sore
throat and report says that he Will speak no
more this Autumn. He made one mild sort of
defense of the Back Pay bill in Ohio, and,
considering that the Ohio Republican Conven-
ton had CONDEMNED it without reserven and
called for its repeal, this was as much as his
colleagues had right to expect of him. He
made an elaborate defense of the Louisiana
outrage; but when resolution of approval
was introduced few days afterward in the
Republican Convention of Mississippi, it was
received with such a storm of displeasure that
the mover hurriedly withdrew. it. Mr.. Car
penter defended the Back Pay bill in set
Grafton, and the Republican Convention in his
own State struck him square in the face with
an emphatic resolution of censure. For this
and other reasons Mr.. Carpenter may perhaps
be considered hOrs de combat
Upon the whole it seems to us that Repub-
lcan orators this season have hard job be-
fore them. There is scarcely one of the dis
tinguished men of the party who can stump
any State without running against an obstruc-
ton, and if this campaign is to be conducted
with any regard to personal comfort it will
be necessary either to dispense with platforms
altogether or to get new set of speakers.
--
TuY YNg1TJfTE MAPP ,JdNE.