The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-04-09
THE PREsIDENr AND HIs
WICKED PARTNERs.1
Absurdity OF Putting tho Responstbi /.
hty for bad Appointments upon any
one Except Grant.
From thsN. =. Nation. /.

one Except Grant
From them. = NatiOnl -,
We suppose there are few persons who.
IN the light ol the events of the past wear
Will now deny that with the appointment
OF Tom Murphy as Collector of this mort
the President entered on a new line of
policy BY putting bimselfinto the hands
OF new class Of men, aud adoptinga a new
set oi methods Tor maintaining hIs rela-
lions with the managers Of the party.
That appointment however, and the testi-
monlal which was bestowed on Mr.. Mur-
ply when be withdrew from the Office.
were very skillfully prevented from, hav-
ing their due influence on the public mind
0y the attempt TO reform the civil service.
which was most adroitfy begun about1half
year before the mesting OF the r1lominat-
ing convention and this interval was FILL
ed up IN the haPPiest way with the draft
ing OF rules. which. it Wss announced.
would effect q revolution in the character
Of the administrative machinery. More
adroitly stills a. the head of the commis-
ion was put MIR. George William Curtis,
whose character seemed the best possible
guarantees Of the sincerity with which the
new movement was undertaken, and who
IL
and on the platform for explaining and de-
tending 1t. PICS ~
In tie mean time however. no rsai rs-
form was begun in practice; apDoinfments
Of the worst kind continued to be made.
and even for conspicuous positions; but the
Presidents friends defended them all
stoutly on two grounds-one was that he
was waiting TO begin until f'ths rules"
were ready; and the other, that he had
under the old system 10 take the advice Of
the political leaders in Congress. What
can he know himself, il was said, about
all the candidates for Office 2 His suppor-,
ters presented him TO the public in the
character, now 80 well known in the low
comedy Of our day, OF "the truly good
man" beset by wicked partners" /" and
whom it is the duty of the public to sup
port and encourage in his struggle with
evil.
Our one hope Of reform, it was said. Law
In Gen. Grant. He was represented as
carrying on deadly struggle With Con-
king, and Morton, and Boutwell,, and
Butler, and the other bad men of the par
ty; and our true policy was to stand by
hlm, bear with him, and finally to re-elect
him, which We did The finishing touch
was given TO the farce-fer farce We now
see It TO have Gsen--by putting strong
elvil-selv vice-l eform plank in the Philadel-
pnla platform. The fact was that Con-
king, Boutwell, q Co. were all the while
having private laughs at our expense.
Boutwell, was indeed go full Of humorous
contempt that he calmly told US that he
wished the Treasury TO be lett alone. as
he was training up in it younQ men to be
doctors OF medicine and ministers of the
Gospel
That the President has been "badlv ad-
vised" ia, under the American system of
government, not defense but a charge.
1t Is his business to avoid bad advice or
not to heed 1t. 1t is for this he is chosen
ana paid. To say that he is in the hands
Of bad men, and acts under their instiaa-
toni rs TO accuse him Of q grave misde-
meanor, to say that he does not know a
good adviser from . bad one, is to accuse
MN Of gross incompetency. OF course,
allowance has to be made in every case tor
the inevitable weakness Of human nature
and Zen. Grant was certainly entitled to
very large share Of it, not because he
was feeble man, but because he did not
seek the ONCE, which was in a measure
forced upon him, and because he had in
the military field rendered the country ex-
traordlnary service. He had a right To
ample time IN which to learn his new bn-
slness, and he got it. All the erroru and
shortcomings of his first term were cor
dened. At the end of four years he was
thanked and told to try again, and we
ourselves were of the number of those who
hattered themselves that his evident ca.
pAc,SJ TOR learning would save his second
term from the faults Of the frstOne But
We would ask those good men in Boston
VINO went back the other day with
the news that their simple minded Presi-
dent had been imposed on by Butter.
whether they do not think that, on any
rational view of human falhbllity, this
plea has been thororgAIy exhausled7
II there ever was = time when il was
necessary 10 apply the s'rictest rules OF
,lseiPline 10 public servents, Wnea u was
Dangerous to listen 10 any exeu for neg
llgence or sioth. It is The Time IN which we
Ilve. And we wodlo ak our BJston
friends to observe, as final illustration of
The lnexpediencV OF ihe rule by which
they are judging Gen. Grants. conduct,
that his simple -mindedness grows on him
instead of improving under the Influence
OF experiences. Instead Of getting sharper
under our indulgence, be grows duller.
hls advisers, instead Of growing better,
get worse. r.f.. -
His unfortunate capacity for being in.
hueneed by those around him, of which
we hear so much, ought surely to put him
now and then in the hands Of good men
instead of which, the. bad men seem to
have 1T all their own way with him, until
finally he has, in defiance of ell the usa-
ges Of the Government and the traditions
Of party politics, and in yiolation of one
OF his own pretended, reforms, taken. the
greatest rascal in thu country as his prin-
cipal counsellor. The American peeple
ought not TO be asked TO stultify Itself to
the point of treating these thines as. the
acts of a simpleton, and ne warn all con-
cerned that no such folly can in our day
be psrpetrated with impunity.