The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1879-11-07
zee 1--we SCRANTON cHAnDLER.

Methods and the character of his service
o the country, one of the remarkable
men of the times. While living, he ex-
lcied no favors from friends and asked |
10 quarter from enemies. Now that he |
s dead, there is little To be said for the |
friends that they viii not hasten 70 say |
and certainly no apology is |
Tue his enemies But there is, or should |
be, for this sturdy old stalwart, some |
thing more than the conventional gener- |
alities OF eulogy. The course of his pub |
lie life is so clean and consistent, and so |
Tree from turn or change, or compiled |
ton that Judgment may be rendered at |
once. Bitter partisan he may have been, |
but there lives no personal or political
enemy of his to say that ne was not so
from principle. There was in his parti
sanship no faint of trlckery, and none of
the spirit OF the demagogue, and as his
enemies respected it, his. friends may
well be proud of il. His life and work
do not call for the niceties of panegyric
so much as they invite the study and call
out the commentator of earnest and
practical men.
AIr. Chandler was n successful bust
ness man; but few outside OF his own
state knew much about this. He was
one of the wealthiest men IN the west.
and yet very few people knew il. With
his political life il was different The
people were familiar with il, and were
as much interested in the record as was
Mr.. Chandler himself, and many were as
proud of it. 1t is Chandler the senator
and radical Republican that the people
knew, and it requires no careful analv-
sis to understand why the sorrow over
his death is so widespread and the ex-
pressions of grief so sincere
MIR Chandler 0ptpVpH yoRlitiaal lifn u
pronounced Republican. He was never
called upon TO renew his faith, nor did
he ever need promise Of promotion, or
| whip or spur 10 keep him well TO the
front in the fight for Republican princi
plies. The impulse that caused him tu
enter politics, made him from the first
a hard hitter and q bold rider His
methods were his own, but they belong
ed to the aggressive school of warfare
The weapons at hand may not always
have suited him the line OF battle may
not have been always TO his liking, bu
he was always in the fight, and AWAY:
striking hard blows.
When Mr.. Chandler entered the Sen
ate, in 1857, there were only twenty Re
publican senators holding seats. Amons
these were Charles Sumner, William Ii
Seward, B. +. Wade, and John Il. Hale
Mr.. Chandler fell naturally into til,
j group with Wade and Hale There wa
need then for men like Seward and Sum
ner, but quite as much need for men lik
Wade and Chandler Great occasion
called Seward and Summer to the front
while Wade and Chandler did the rOugl
and tumble fighting on all occasions
Where Seward would hesitate on accoun
of diplomacy and Sumner would be he'll
back by dignity, Wade and Chandle
would plunge in regardless of appear
ances or consequences. These rough
bold, shrewd men, honest, earnest an,
loyal, were a puzzle to the aggressiv
men of the opposition, and thorn il
the side of the cOmpromisers. NatuI
ally, the hard, effective fighting that lCt
up to great parliamentary struggles Eel
upon them, and, without parade or flour
ish, they acquitted themselves well.
Then the war came III 1861. Men Xix
Wade and Chandler saw clearly and the
were ready for the struggle. In til
years that followed Mr.. Chandler wa
one of the clearest headed and most coul
ageous men in the Senate. He was a
originator as well as an adviser and
worker. He suggested the committe
on the conduct of the war. He advise,
the appointment of Edward NJ. Stanton
as Secretary of War. He was Away
|
and in so many ways was his shreW
business management made manifes
and his sterling honesty and untiinchin
courage illustrated, that he became POI
ular with tbs people, secured a nationa
reputation rs Il Republican leader, an
the eternal luminosity of the Democrat
and ConfederateS.
Mr.. Chandler was returned to the ser
ate in 1868, and again in 1869, but i
| 1915, when the people were in hail
splitting mood, he was defeated. I'll
circumstances Of the defeat were pccu
liarly aggTavating, but, unlike other ser
ators who stood with him in 1861, bn
who, when retired from the Senate, turn
ed against the party, Mr.. Chandler II
manned a Radical. Retired from tn
senate on the pretense that he was to-
much of a politician, Mr.. Chandler
when called to president Grants cabine
as Secretary of the Interior, gave the pee
pie the best illustration of practical anC
effective administrative reform tina
had been seen in any department
of the government, and putin!
to shame the caviIers and theOr
lists, compelled them to concede that h
practiced what they only preached
When he left the senate in 1915 it may b,
said that many Republicans were no
sorry. When lie returned to the senate
IN 1879 it can be truly said that there
were few earnest Republicans vino die
not rejoice.
! As the war demonstrated that Chand
Ter was right in 1860, so the events o
1878 had demonstrated that Chandler
was right in 1875, and had shown the
need for such man in the senate. He
returned the same stalwart Republican
and took up the fight just where he had
| left it, His first significant speech was
in repelling an attack, and was made
impromptu and with no thought of max
| ing political capital. The managers
may have thought it indiscreet, but from
| the people east and west came the ans
wer, chandler is right" His later ar
raignment of the eX-confederates struck
a popular chord, and voiced the senti
ment of Republicans who had become
disheartened over compromise and dis
gusted with Cancellation methods. hi.
reception in the recent political cam
paigns demonstrated what hold he iaC
upon the people; and his speeches show
ed that the old man of 66 was as earnest
as bold, and as hard hitter as was Zacl
| Chandler in his prime.
When old Ben Wade lay on his death
bed, he sent a message to the Republi
cans of the country, pointing out the
| dangers that threatened the nation, anC
asking Republicans, young and old, tC
stand true to the party. Old Zach Chan
dler, in speaking few hours before hi
death at meeting where his reception
had been like an ovation, pointed out til,
same dangers, and made substantial,
the same plea. There is little doubt tina
the appeal Of the one will be as effective
as was that of the other
In summing up the character of Sena
tor Chandler, men will remember, first
what his friends claim and what his en-
emies concede, that he was scrupulously
honest, courageously sincere, and un
questionably loyal 10 what he believed
were the best interests of his party anC
the country. Beyond this they will re
member that while he was not squeam
ish as to the use of weapons, he never re
sorted to mere trickery or to unclean
methods TO cary his point; that he was
| from the time of his first speech in Mich
igan to his last speech in Chicago, con
sistent, stalwart Republican and, remem
bering this, they will honor him as such
men should be honOred