The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1879-09-23
THE GRANT BOON.

When the wire gets in working order again
we shall probably hear Of the arrival of Grant,
whose coming was hourly expected at San
Francisco OF the 10Th. The people of the
city, and not only of the city but of the cir
tire State as well have made extensive prep
~arations to give the returning soldier q fitting
welcome home. They are evidently deter
mined to make the ceremonies attending his
homecoming expressive of the gratitude felt
by the people of the Golden State towards the
citizen to whom the nation will ever rest un-
der the heaviest Of obligations. And it is
right, it is eminently proper that they should
do so. Grant will be welcomed by reunited
nation; by a nation whose reunion was due
In a great measure to the victories planned
and won by his military genius, and it would
be in the highest degree disgraceful for that
nation, now, that the peace won by his sword
is firmly established, and the sword itself
sheathed, to manifest towards him the pro-
verbal ingratitude of Republics. The conse-
quences of his victories promise to be as ell
during as time; their benefits are still enjoyed,
and it is in every way fitting that the nation
should gracefully and becomingly express its
good will and gratitude. Blu: while a%pplauding
the magnanimitY which leads the Californians
to overlook the fact that Grant after being a
national chieftain became a party standard
bearer-whilc admiring the political liberality
of opinion which leads Democrats to vie with
Republicansin bidding a hearty welcome to the
returning wanderer, we are quite well
aware that this enthusiasm may be seized
upon by an Objectionable element in the Re-
publican party and turned to account as a
political weapon. This was only to be looked
for. 1t was only tie be expected that a revival
Of the "Grant boom " would closely follow
the return to our shores of the idol of the
boomers. And III this expectation we have
not been disappointed. Very few political
bodies happen to be in session just now to
give voice to the sentiment of the Grant wing,
but it is certain that the Colorado Republican
Convention, summoned to nominate a Judge
of the Supreme Court, gave exact utterance
to it when Grant was re-nominated amid pro-
longed cheers for another term of the Presi-
dency SHOULD he want it,
1t is not at all St." '1ge that Grant should be
the nominee of the Republican Conventions.
Those Conventions are manipulated by pro-
fessional politicians. They represent the
Belknaps, Chambers, Cornells and Conklinss
of the party; the men who believe civil SER
vice reform to be either a vicious illusion or
the dream of a N impractical visionary, and
who look upon public Offices not as the
means adopted for the sake of services to be
performed for the people, but rather as the
means OF bestowing official patronage,
a patronage openly and shamelessly used by
them as all instrument for keeping themselves
in power. 1t was those men who fought four
years to keep the South in the Union, and |
who iow are almost ready to fight again be- |
cause the South is back in the Union; to |
whom the sight of a Confederate Office. in |
Congress Is like scarlet to a mad bull, al
though his election took place legally and
resulted naturally from the operations of laws
themselves helped establish. Men of this
class would like to see the South governed as
a conquered nation or as a subject race, an
arrangement that would be sure to place any
number of fat Offices at the disposition of
their party. The making of as many offices
as possible, and the holding OH to them as |
long as possible is their idea of statesman
ship, and hence it is that Grant is so great a
favorite with the average machine politician.
Grant, a brave, skilful soldier, was a wretched
politician. Honest himself and too unsuspi-
cious to suspect dishonesty in others, he stood
by his friends when "under fire. the leader
of all others yearned for by the dishonest,
wire pulling statesman - the leader who
cannot be made To see corruption though it |
exists open as the day before his eyes.
The Republican party has been so long in Of
fee that its party machinery has slipped into
the management of politicians by trade, of its
worst element. 1t remains for us to see
whether that element is strong enough to
nominate Grant for the Presidency in defiance
to the opinions Of the more respectable wing
Of the party. They have the power, but dare
they do it?
The Utah & Northern.