The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-07-03
,rought to bear 10 a positive demand,

bears an appearance of ungraclousness to-
refuse to assist the very party which furn-
ishes the employment, and If an actual re-
fusaI is made the official or enploye knows
very we'll that sooner or later the time will
come when his place is likely to be given to
some one who would more willingly yield to
the demand-to whom hint would be as
potent as a positive request. 1t Is not 10
the nature of things, as parties are now
managed and political influence rewarded.
that an unwillingness to aceede to the de-
mands of party. though for appearance
sake couched in the mild form of a mere
request, should not be strictly noted and
10 due time be visited with party dis
cipIine. The inevitable consequence is
that so long as such system prevails,
whether the demand for party assistance
be made imperatively or sub rosa as a
voluntary contribution, those upon whom
the party can levy its acquisitions either
comply or stand ready to go-stand 10 con
tinued expectation of being asked to give
place to others more plant and accommo-
dating.
Nine out of ten, we doubt not, pay the
price in order to keep their place. Virtual
ly they become the paid retainers of the
party 10 power. Thus they are organized
into confraternity of partizans, with
interests in common and possessed OF in
fluence and ambition relatively in accor-
dance TO the station they occupy and the
emoluments received. The organization
permeates all classes and conditions Of
society and is able to make its influence
felt in all directions and substantially as a
unit. Theoretically their employment is
in the service and for the purposes OF
government, practically the whole corps Of
officeholders are simply a machine to sub
serve the interests and bebests of party
supremacy and power as against the oppo-
nents of the administration. The use oi
governmental patronage and the aggrega.
ton of official power to such ends is wrong
in principle and pernicious in practice. ano
quickly degenerates into corrupt combina
tons among the leaders and fraud in the
means employed to execute their designs
On the other hand, among the rank and
file, as the way to place and preferment i;
to be secured as a reward for services, theil
zeal and arder for the party'is proper
tionate to their desire and their expecta
ton of further and future advancement
No country with a representative form o
government can long sustain such a straiI
upon its purity aud integrity withou
essential deterioration in the spirit of thu
people, the decadence Of its institutions, o.
{ else bloodless if effected
through the ballot box a catastrophe an(
a natter to be shuddered at if complishet
by force and arms.
10 this very connection we add the fol
i lowing article from the New York Wolt
10 regard to the movement of the repuS
lican party to take up Grant for thir
term Of the presidency as the savior of th
! country-that is, stated in plain word.
the substitution of a strong militar
government for the present form TIL
alternatives intended to be presented, dis
guised under the plea of protection t
property and social order, is either ar
archy" or ''one man power"
! 1t can no longer be doubted that move
IS ment is really afoot to make GeneIi
It Grant the republican candidate for til
n presidency in 1880, with the Implied III
1t Outstanding that he shall remain in ofiC
+ for lie if he can then be elected. Nun
bers of excellent people, whose friends re
gard them as competent to make a wi
g which is to dispose of anything under
" million of doIla:s, really seem to beIieS
rs that the events which attended and 70
II lowed the presidential election Of l8i
have demonstrated tue iuadequacy of OF
Is present system of choosing a chief magi
" trate. The success of Kearneyism
California, aud the vagrant outbreaks
~ communistic philosophy in politics all owe
the country, have contributed too to brir
u about this curious phenomenon 10 our boz
,, polite. Those who think in this way a.
~ forced, OF course, to assume that for
o. million of Americans, certainly pot less il
telligent or industrious than the san
ess number Of any other race in the worl
have suddenly become unfit to manas
! their own political affairs. This ought
! be rather staggering assumption. b
: it brings with it another more staggerir
q STILL 1t must be also assumed that II
= only man among these forty millions wi
> can be trusted to administer their affai
: for them is d person still in middle ag
/ who twenty years ago was regarded as
2 man Of rather ENTHUSIASTICALLY habits, q
3 very creditable tastes. and but indiffere
= capacity. At the breaking out OF the CT,
81 war it would have been sheer nonsense
tic suppose that broken-down ex officer
the army engaged in cutting horns al
c tails from hides in cellar at Galeua won
become a military necessity to this cou
fCopaIudoJ ~ INST cooo