The Portland daily press., 1878-09-10
Our New York Letter.
Greenbackism I'm New Y Yerk-Kearney and
his Crswd-MassacbuseIts Republicans
and Butlerism-A Tree and It's Fruit
The Issue before the People.
NEW YORK, Sept. Z, 1873.


There was an exhibition of genuine green
backism In New York last night, and its great
apostle, the sand lot ranter from Ireland-via
Californis, s,-rehearsed his TRADE of blasphemy
to piebald multitude numbering ten thousand
or so. II was disgracaul exhibition, but not
without its moral. 1t is as well perhaps to let
people see exactly what sort of creatures are
banding, themselves together for the purpose
of razing the found ations Of society. II Kear-
ney were at all decent he might be more dan
gerous; but it is an aront to the intelligence of
the meanest community in the Republic to
suppose that his rawlings can produce any other
effect than to dissuade all well disposed citizens
from lending any countenance to the schemes
of spoliation and outrage of which he Is the
brutal advocate. The universal opinion is that
the best thing that can happen is to let such o
fellow have unbridled license OF tongue. He
threatens to go to stumpiug Massachusetts, as
the champion of Butler. 1t Is to be hoped he
will 60 there and stay there until after the cleo
ton. If he doesn't work thorough and final
cure OF that disease in our political system,
which is most fifty described under the generic
title of Butlerism, the memory of the Pilgrim
fathers may as we'll be forgotten, and Ply
mouth Rock washed into the sea- Talk about
the ravagss of yellow fever in the SOUTH
Sad as they are, how much less disastrous are
their consequences than those that will grow
out of the epidemic of dishonesty that Is
now raging in portions Of New England, unless
1t can be promptly and effectively checked.
Massachusetts is the most advantageous field
that could possibly be selected for great bat
tie between right and wrong. The old COM
monwealth has lost good deal Of its prestige
of late years through too much dnlity In
accepting shams for realities. Her voters have
Suffered themselves to be deluded into the sup
port of public men who were most vociferous
in their professions of superior purity and have
turned their backs upon eminent statesmen
who were never wanting in the practice Of good
works but didn't make any noise about it nor
invite attention to themselves as prodigies Of
political virtue. In this way the influence Of
the state has been essentially weakened. The
majorities of the party, which has ever since ID
came into existence, represented the highest
type of loyalty, the absolute equality of citizen
ship, and most scrupulous maintenance Of the
national honor have been greatly reduced. Il
has been the fashion there rather to commend
than to condemn men who for slight caus- s or
none at all have played fast and loose with the
organizationi to which their fidelity was
plighted. Treachery has been exalted into
merit and called independence. The faithful
adherents of their order, who have stood BY 10
and worked for it manfully and with.unselish
zeal have been subjected to reproachful criti-
cism, and their constancy has been derided as
an exhibition of intense partisanship. On the
whole il has been considered as rather the cor
rect style of thing to bolt the ticket whenever
1t didn't perfectly suit the bolter, and to 20
against the party on the most trivial provoca-
ton.
Now this equivocal method of reasoning and
acting has brought forth precisely the kind of
fruits that might have been expected. From
being the strongest Republican state in the
Union, Massachusetts, has grown so weak that
the Democrats seriously contend for the mas
terry in it. They actually elected Governor in
1874 instead of an unbroken delegation in the
lower house of Congress, one districs seems to
have been lost irrecoverably, another is so
close that little fraudulent weight thrown
into the scale, teeters it over to the Democrats,
and in several others the groul in considered
debatable, as well it may be, when three Of
them at one time have been capriciousy thrown
away.
The fact is the Massachusetts, Republicans
need something to stun them into soberness
and unity. AS long as Butler pretended to be-
long to the party he was dead weight upon il.
His restless activity, his audscty. his power of
artifce always made him count for more than
there was of him. He actually contrived to
impress three quarters of the respectable peo-
pie of the State with the belief that during
Gen. Grants administration he possessed more
influence at Washington than any other man
in the country. Many of them cherish that
hallucination to this hour and will never be
persuaded to the contrary. If the matter were
worth arguing at this late day, the contrary
could be..shown to be the fact. but it has ceased
to be point Of any importance Mr.. Butler
has at last thrown off his disguise Of Republi-
canism, and he cannot possibly do the party as