The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-09-07

CRY our civil service has be ONE as foul
and fetuIent system of official huck-
stering and political prostitution as our
thoroughly debauched party politics can
make it. But he is not blind, like Sena.
tor Morton, to the need Of reforM, and
he tells us in Harper's Weekly that the
only hope ofthe party lies in the power
to persuade the people that it is not hope
lessly corrupt, He frankly confesses the
only reform possible is to throw over
board the Grant leaders and trained cor
ruptonists who have brought the party
into disgrace. Ii all soberness ask, is
this possibe2 Have the Republican
masses, after their long and patie.t ser
vice under the party yoke, the courage
and virtue to take their old leaders by
the throat2 Will the party chiefs that
have med nicely and penitentlally take
back seats while honest and stainless
men come TO the frontP The man who
believes all this must have allowed his
common sense to pack its baggage. The
Grant leaders would reign in any c)n
ceivable political hell, rather than serve
in the heaven of honest government. In
the manipulation of Caucusses and con-
ventions they have long been masters -
They are iourneymen and experts in the
work of politics as trade, They have
reduced plunder and pelf to science,
and the greed of clutch TO a fine art
Nothing can be more certain thar that
such reform as would completely dis
lodge these leaders and put such hen as
Bristow and Adams in their places would
be, in fact, the creation of a new party
1t would have to be preceded by gen.
eral disintegration, and it would be quite
as absurd to consider it the same party
which ruled the country since Grant
came into power, as it would have been
to treat the Republican party of 1876 as
identical with the old Whig party, that
had gone down to dishonored grave
The idea, therefore of making the Re-
publican party the instrument OF self |
publication is not only morally, but log |
ically absurd A party once thoroughly |
corrupt has lost the power to reform it.
self. Devils are not inclined to cast out |
devils and could scarcely be trusted with |
the business if they should offer their
services; and it is because l entertain |
these views, and can not escape their |
force, that / sincerely desire to see the |
machinery of the Republican party bat
tered into fragments, and the way thus
opened for reformation of parties on
the living questions of the hour, unem'
barrassed by the memories the past,
THE POWER OF ONE MANTLE CHARACTER |
AND TRAITS OF GOVERNOR HAYES.
But let me not be misunderstood. ] !
desire to meet the question | am consd-
ering in its complete length and breadth
| do not deny the exceptional power of
one strong man, thoroughly in earnest,
and thoroughly armed with the courage
of his opinions. A single-hearted, strong
willed character may control a mob or
quell riot With fertile brain, perfect |
courage absolute devotion to duty and
a genius for the work of reform, he may
scatter renovating ideas, redeem a State
from misrule and radically change the
| the face of society. The country has
seen what one man can do in the stamp |
ing out of the Tammany and Canal rings
of New York. If man no larger than
Grant, can. in few years, drag down |
into disgrace a grand and powerful party,
really great man, with rare force of
character, passonately welded to his
work, and desperately resolved to submit
to no defeat, might so inspire the people |
with his own spirit of courage and faith
that revolution in the administration of |
affairs would be the result. 1t is folly
and nonsense to pretend that Governor
Hayes is such man. Neither in Con-
gress nor as Governor of Ohio, nor in his
military service, has he given the least
evidence of such remarkable traits of
character. In 1872, when the fer nent of
reform was threatening to rend the old |
parties, and so many Republicans were
turning away from Grantism in disgust,
Governor Hayes kept the quiet and even
tenor of his ways, uttering no rebuke,
and giving no sign of discomfort with the
reigning order of things. During the
past four years of maladministraton and
corruption, no word of sympathy escaped
his lips for the men who have demanded
reform. If at any time he has discover
ed demoralizing and downward tendency
of the Administration and felt the neCes-
sity of bravely withstanding them, he
has never told the public of the fact. He
bas given the country no guarantee, save
his letter of acceptance, either by word
or deed, that he would manfully wrestle
with the political rings that are laboring
for his election. The country is without
any proof at all that he possesses "the
moral courage and sturdy resolution to
grapple with abuses which have acquir-
ed thestrength established custom, and
to this end firmly resist the pressure of
his party friends" He has not in any
way earned the fear and hatred Of the
thieves" The Boston Advertiser, one of
the leading Republican organs in New
England, and now his warm supporter,
said of him last year, that che is man
of fair ability, correct in his personal
habits honest, sound in the Republican
faith, but without much force or indie
pendence" This is the exact truth
Parke Goodwin is perfectly right in say
ing that he was nominated because it |
was believed chs neutrality of tint
would harmonize the most pronounced |
colors." He was nominated by con-
vention majority of which favored |
Blaine, Notwithstanding his remarkable |
record as a reformer, and who was only |
defeated by blunder of his friends His |
real strength in the convention, in the
absence of combinations, was only sixty.
eight votes. Brstow, the only candidate
who had an unmistakable record as a re-
former, received only 1875 votes out of
1855, while Governor Hayes was nomina-
ted at the instance of political trader
from Pennsylvania, who seldom blunders
in his party movements. Gentlemen,
do not utter conjecture, but express
perfectly evident fact, when l say that,
if elected, he will be the instrument of
of his active and influential friends, and
the servant of that mischievous party
machinery against which he has never
yet made any public protest. That l am
right in this ] stand ready to prove by
the autocrat of the Republican party in
Indiana, whose testimony will be accept
ed as conclusive. "The administration
of any President" says our distinguished
Senator, twill be in the main what the
| marty which elected il makes it, If he