The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-04-03
The President ant Has WjckeJ
Partners"

who in the light of the events OF the
,.st wear, will now deny that with the
| apuointfnent of Tom Murphy as Col
hector of this port the President en-
tered on a new line Of policy, by put
tinU himself into the hands OF 4 new
/ class of men, and adopting new set
! of methods for maintaining hls rela-
tious with the managers of the party.
: That appointment, however. ana the
/ testimonial which was bestowed on
/ Mr.. Murphy when he withdrew from
! the office, were very skilfully prevent
! ed from having their due influence on
] the public mind by the attempt to re-
/ form this civil service, whi2A was most
adroitIv begun about a haif-year be-
| fore the meeting of the nominating
convention: and the interval was tilled
up in the happiest way with the draft
/ ino of rules. which. it was announced,
would effect a revolution III the char
acter Of the administrative machinery.
/ More adroitly still, at the head OF the
! Commission was put Mr. George VIII
! liam Curtis, whose character seemed
the best possible guarantee OF the SIN
ceritv with which the new movement
was undertaken, and who had extra
ordinary facilities in the press and on
the platform for explaining and de
Tending it.
In the meantime, however, no real
reform was begun in practice ap-
pointments of the worst kind contln-
ued to be made and even for consplcu-
ous positions but the Presidents
friends defended them all stoutly on
two Jrounds-one was that he was
waiting to begin until the rules" were
ready: and the other, that he had
under the old system to take the ad-
vice Of the political leaders IN Con
gress. What can he know himself, 1t
was said. about all the candidates for
office? His supporters presented HIM
/ to the public in the character, now so
/ we'll known in the low comedy OF our
day, Of "the truly good man beSet
/ by wicked partners" and whom 1t IS
/ the duty Of the public to support anu
encourage in his struggle with evil
( Our one hope Of reform, it was said,
/ Law in Gen. Grant He was represent
/ ed as carrying on q deadly struggle
wish Conkling, and Morton, and Bout
we'll, and Butler, and the other bad
men of the party: and our trne policy
was TO stand bv him, bear with him,
and finally to re-elect him, which we
did. The finishing touch was given
TO the farce-fOr farce We low see it
to have bcen-by putting rong
civil service reform plank in the Phila-
I delphIa PLATFORM The fact was that
T ConkIing, Boutwell, & Co, were all
/ the while having private lEughs at our
expense. Boutwell, was indeed so full
Of humorous contempt that he calmly
told us that he wished the Treasury
to be let alone. as he was training up
in it young men to be doctors Of medi-
cine and ministers Of the Gospel
That the President had been badly
advised" IS, under the American sys-
TEN Of government, not n defense but
a charge. 1t is his business to avoid
bad advice, or not to heed il. 1t is
for this he is chosen and paid TO
say that he is in the hands of bad men,
and acts under their instigatiOn, is to
accuse him of a grave misdemeanor
to say that he does not know 4 good
adviser from bad one, is to accuse
him Of gross incOmpetency. fcOurse,
allowance has to be made in every
case for the inevitable weakness of
human nature, and Gen Grant was
certainly entitled to a very large share
of it, not because he was feeble man,
but because be did not seek the office,
which was in measure forced upon
him, and because he had in the mill
tary field rendered the country extra
ordinary service He had a right to
ample time in which to learn his new
business, and he gotit All the errors
and shortcomings of his first term
were condoued. At the end of four
wears he was thanked and told to try
again, and we ourselves were of the
number of those who fattered them
selves that his evident capacity for
learning would save his second term
from the faults of the first one But
we would ask those good men in Bos-
ton who went back the other day with
the news that their mple-minded
President" had been imposed upon by
Butler, whether they do not think
that, on any rational view Of human
fallibility this plea has been thoroughly
, exhausted?
i If there ever was time wien it was
necessary to apply the strictest rules
of discipline to public servants, when
it was dangerous to listen to any ex-
cuse for negligence or sloth, it is the
time in which we live. And we would
! ask our Boston friends to observe as
, a final illustration of the inexpediency
! of the rule by which they are Judging
Gen Grants conduct, that his simple
= mlndedness grows on him instead of
! improving under the influence of eX-
perience. Instead of getting sharper
under our indulgence, he grows duller.
His advisers, instead of growing bet
ter, get worse. His unfortunate capa-
/. city for being influenced by those
around him, of which we hear so much.