The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-03-11
"Time to Unload"

"Time to Unload"
President Grant has said several things
in the course of his public career which his
admirers have snatched up with great
eagerness and quoted upon all occasions as
evidences of great wisdom. His fighting it
out on that line" his ''let us have peace,
and more recently his let no guilty man
escape" have become, if not classic, the
catch-words of politicians at least, and
there has been no end Of the changes rung
upon them by the presidents personal
adherents and political friends. But we
think not enough stress has been laid upon
the wise and pointed utterance in the title
of this article, which is also one of the
presidents, and one of his pithiest and
best 1t was delivered, if we remember
rightly, somewhere about the time the
Republican party began to stagger under
the weight of the Credit Mobiler dis
closures, and the election returns were be-
ginning to shIw the popular feeling upon
the subject. There has been great deal
of unloading since that time. Many dis
tinguished statesmen have stepped down,
but there has been larger and not less
significant unloading of votes and voters.
1t is due the truth to say, moreover, that
the president, notwithstanding his saga
cious observation, has done nothing him.
self to forward the process. The unload
ing has been done by the people and not
by the president, nor yet by the party
leaders. If the party has lighter load to
carry than it had year ago. il is not be-
cause the managers asked Mr.. Benjamin
f. Butler, Mr.. Matt FL. Carpenter, Mr..
Zach Chandler, Mr.. Alexander R. Shep-
herd, and other heavy weights to get off,
but because the people in one way and
another said to the party which persisted
In keeping them on the load that they
were not only tired of carrying them, but
that they would not under any circum-
stances continue to do it. And so far
from the presidents having aided these
gentlemen down or advised them to aight,
he has constantly and persistently lifted
them back. When in response to his
suggestion that it was time for the party
to unload the people invited Mr.. Chandler
down, the president Immediately put him
back by taking him into the cabinet
When congress assisted Mr.. Shepherd of,
the president fairly pitched him back
When Richardson went out of the treasury
be was led directly to the bench of the
court of claims When Delano retired,
he went with the presidents Endorsement
and certificate Of character. And when
everybody knew that the third-term bus
mess was the heayest part of the load, he
waited till the people took it out of his
hands and lifted off so much of it as they
could.
1t has been time to unload any day these
five or six years. 1t is now But the
trouble is, the president himself and the
dead weights he has upon the party are
the things to be unloaded, and he either
does not or will not see it. The sober
sense of the masses in the party has been
convinced of this long time, but the
strange infatuation of the men who are
active and influential in the organization,
and the zeal of the Office holders who di-
rect the movements of the party, have
stood in the way of a frank and free avow-
al upon the subject Subserviency and
timidity have governed the counsels of the
party, and the consequence has been a
constant increasing instead of Tightening
of the load. President Grant, with his
materialistic views of politics, his system
of personal government, his use of patron
age to reward family relations and person
al friends, his stubborn disregard of the
public welfare in his devotion to private
friends and the advancement of their in
terests, his misconception of his duty. has
been the partys constant weakness and
WEAKNESS. He is the Old Man of the Sea
Until the party shall pluck up the courage
to throw him off, to disclaim all RESPONSE
bility for his acts and appointments, his
policies and his views, his associations and
all his belongings, it must stagger under a
load too great for any party to bear, ano
stagger to early and inevitable defeat and
ruin. For the past three years he has
kept the party in hot water" It hac
always to be on the defensive on his &C
count. His appointments have never ris
en- above mediocrity, and his associations
and surroundings have been such even as
the average politician-to say nothing o.
statesmen-would have never dared in
dulge in from fear of public opinion. And
yet no president has ever received such
consideration from his party. At his com
mand the best and purest statesmen in the
party or in the country have been ostra
cised and driven from public life, and al
the same tune some of the most disrepu
table political adventures and 'bummers'
have upon his appointment been advanced
to political positions of honor and profit.
The people have held ON to belief il
his personal honesty, notwithstanding ALL
Out of the wreck of his administration
that may yet be saved. But it is too plair
that he is unfit for the station he fills. De
voted as the Republican party has beet
to his personal fortunes, it can no longer
refuse to see that his administration has
been, in every important feature, very
bad sickening failure. 1t cannot afford
to carry him any longer. 1t IS time to un
load. He ought to get off. 1t may be tor
late to save the party even then, but it il
the only hope. In no other way can utter
shipWreck be avoided IN Y Trahalne