National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-10-07
A SECRET ENEMY 10 THE DISTRICT AND
uTnAnYn

A SECRET ENEMY TO THE DISTRICT AND
A"T0ADY."
During the late political campaign in
California, which resulted in the defeat oil
Juan Bidwell, the Dolly Warden candidate
for Governor, his battles were fought from
Washington by correspondent of the San
Francisco Chronicle " it'll kind of earnest
ness that attracted some attention. Under
or over the signature of Griffith, this
correspondent praised Bidwell and defended
him without stint, which was well enough,
because Bidwell needed both praise and
defense from any source. In truth, Bid
wells record, including his forfeiture OF
American citizenship, was so black that 1t
required the most copious coats OF white
wash to make it presentable, and "Griffith"
was the man to attempt to do 1t. But he
did not stop at this In order to bolster up
his rotten candidate he resorted to the
doubtful policy of besmirching the charac-
ter of those who attempted to expose his
rottenness. In doing this Griffith" took
occasion to say many mean, contemplate
and untruthful things about Senator Sar-
gent and Secretary Gorham, who, it Will
be remembered, were Bidwelrs most prom
inent assailants. These two gentlemen, it
will also be remembered, have always been
counted among the truest friends of prog
ress in the District of Columbia. They
caught the spirit of improvement from
the beginning of the attempt to
rescue the Capital city of the nation from
its neglected and disgraceful condition,
and being progressive men themselves
were naturally allied with the friends Of
the new order of affairs. This "Griffith"
knew, and without regard for results he
proceeded to describe them as the corrupt
agents of the 'District Ring" Seeking
only to destroy the ASSISTANTS of his candi-
date, he repeated many of the ISLANDERS
which had been exploded by close investi-
CATION, and charged that Mr.. Sargent had
legislated ''city lots in Washington into his
possession" But Sargent had told the
people of California that the stories about
the character of the improvements in the
District had been exaggerated, and had de-
Tended the management of affairs here
wherever and whenever he thought de-
tense was justifable. Thereupon Griffith
wrote to the Chronicle letter, in which
he made the following remarkable state
ments:
"He (sargent) tells the people of California
of our scores of miles of finely paved Streets
and what are they! Pine blocks, put down at
a cost of millions of dollars, miles already re-
placed by other material or removed, and
other miles so impossible as to deter travel
and bring ruin on business. Not block OF
his scores of miles will exist three years
hence. If he included the so-called concrete
much of that, too, has been renewed, and
clouds of smoke from boiling tar in all direc-
lions both speak and smell of repairs. In
some places the heat of the sun has started 1t
to running so that the cutters are filled and
the concrete overlapping the curbstones.
Our floors are covered with tar, and but a few
days since fire engine called out at midday
became fast stuck on one Of the finely paved
Streets within stones throw of the Treas
ury, in q worse 'quagmire' than he (falsely)
represents the city to have been half dozen
years ago.
1t will be admitted that it required some
ingenuity to group together SO many mis-
representations in so small space, as well
as some ability as a romancer, for no sane
man has ever dreamed Of concrete being
melted by the heat of the sun so that 1t
would overtop the curbstones, and GER
tainly no one ever saw, except in dream,
re-engine stuck in one Of our "fnely-
paved streets" since the days when the
Treasury Department was really surrounded
by quagmire. But the truth would not
suffice "Grfith's purpose, and we SUBJ
NIT that we have exposed enough of his
untruths to enlist a general curiosity regard
ing his real personal identity. The average
reader will at once expect to be informed
in qualification of this curiosity that "Grif-
fifth" is or was some penny-a-liner of the
Detective press, or some unprincipled scrib-
bier whose precarious bread and butter de-
pended upon the amount of space he could
fill in the columns of his journal, and will be
astonished to learn that he assumes to be a
gentleman of veracity, of high social stand
ing and of that kind of elegant leisure which
your highly and widely-trusted
confidential agent enjoys. 1t is neverthe-
less true that Griffith assumes all this,
and supports his assumption by pointing
back to the time when he served the Gen.
eral Government as chief of the Census
Bureau, and explaining that at present he
is J. c. G. Kennedy, Real Estate Agent,
&C., &c.
We regret that sense of duty compels
US to allude to this matter, but so much in.
jury has been done to the District by the
practices of which we accuse Mr.. Kennedy
that we cannot avoid it. Here we have q
man engaged ostensibly in the business of
selling real estate who, for some reason best
known to himself, not only does all that he
can to injure the character of good and
earnest friends of the District, but to de.
stroy the value of real property within its
limits. Can inconsistency go further than
this? Is it any wonder that Senator Sar-
gent and others of his class have persist
emily refused to invest their capital here
when such men, who are supposed, as Mr..
Kennedy Is, to represent large permanent
investments, voluntarily seek opportunities
TO utter ibels against them? The explana-
ton that Mr.. Kennedy does not and did not
represent the sentiment of majority of
our citizens will not suffice even in this
case, when we may feel confident that the
enmity of Senator Sargent has not been in
CURED against the District by his indiscre-
lions. He therefore owes it to himself and
his neighbors, if not to his business asso-
ciates, to make some amends for his error.
He is well known as persistent place
hunter, and his experience as such will en-
able him to creep out of the dilemma in
which he now finds himself even if in so
doing he exposes himself to the suspicion
of playing the toady to men in power whom
he has failed to injure. To those who re-
member his psrtinacious efforts to be ap-
pointed chief of the Census Bureau in 1870
this suspicion will not be new, and 10 those
who understand his true character in the
light of the facts we have set forth in this
article it will not be unexpected.
Phillips Avn aCuURZ