Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-27

acter OF General dsncock and the great services
which he has rendered to the country But the
question is not whether shall honor deserving
General. The question is whether that deserving
General would be the kind of a President the coun
try needs, President who can be depended upon to
successfully solve the problems of statesu,anshp
which are now before us to preserve the GOOD
things already done aud improve upon them To
lead battalions Of brave against fortified posi-
ton or to WIN campaign bya dashing manelver is
one thing; TO regulate the finances of the country
in such q way that the blessings of o sound eur.
rency may be permanently secured to US to deyelop
our commercial opportunities to organize the civil
service in such manner that it may conduct the
public bus ness upon sound business principles is
another and, in the latter case, the brave spirit
which storms hostile batteries and lays low invading
hosts does not appear in the first line of Importance
cannot impress it too strongly on your minds that
there can be no greater difference than that between
the handling OF troops in a campaign and the hand
ling Of the political forces of great people and tae
handling of the political affairs of great govern.
ment
IT MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN
That this Government is no longer the simple ma
chinery it was in the early days of the Republic.
The bueoc age of America is over. The interests
the Government has to deal with are no longer those
OF small number Of agricultural communities,
with here and there commercial town. They are
the interests of nearly so 600 600 of people spread
an immense surface, with occupations pursuits
and industries Of endless variety ami great mapni
tude; large cities with elements of population
scarcely known here i'll the early days and all these
producing aspirations and interests so pushing pow
erful and complicated in their nature, and so con-
stantly appealing to the Government rightfuy or
wropgtully, that the requirements of craftsmanship
demanded in this age far different from those
which suffced century ago.
PRESIDENTIAL DUTIES.
II all the President had to do to select seven
men who agree with him to the principal objects
to be accomplished. and then consult and agree
with them about the means to DE used, undisturbed
by the pressure of outside forces it would indeed
be comparatively easy and comfortable thing.
But the fact is that the President of the United
States by the very nature of his position is obliged
to spend far time in listening to the advice and
the wishes and the urgency of men outside of his
Cabinet than 20 his consultations with Cabinet min
listers themselves. The opposition he may encounter
from the opposing party in Congress and in the
press is in most cases the least of the difficulties he
has contend with. The greatest puzzles that are
apt to perplex and sometimes overwhelm his mind
come from his own party, who have claim upon
his attention and insist to that claim respected
Not only upon the great measures OF his adnlnstra
ton, but upon every detail the advice of the men,
ber5 OF his party, especially those IT, Congress, is
urged upol him with all imaginable sorts of motive
There is scarcely an appointment he has to make
there is certainly not reform he wants to execute,
that he will not have to carry through siege and
storm Of opposing wishes and interests Every OBJ
ject lie puEsues will counter to the wishes not
only of his opponents, but Of mis- friends every
reform, the execution OF which may appear TO him
desirable, will
TREAD UPON THE TOES
OF somebody whose interests lie in the abuse to be
reforrnsd who has friend to pro ect who is con-
nected with it; and all these pleas, representations
remonstrances, urgences and pressures go to the
President, not through the members of his Cabinet
but behind their backs and it is matter of long
and varied experience that unless the President him
self has sufficient knowledge Of affairs, clear eye
to see through arguments and motives. and that
temper and skill which are necessary to resist with
out offending, and to conciiate without giving up
his objects, he viii inevitably be run over and la
mentally fail l speak from experience when say
that most Of the good things that have been done
under this Administration whatever merit the re-
spectiye Cabinet ministers may deserve for them,
are no less due to the clearheaded and faithful SUD.
port, frequently called the 'amiable obstinaey,"
with which President Hayes stood behind them by
wardlDg off the opposition 1t is for such reasons of
inestimable benefit to administration that the
President himself should have had the experience of
work in legislative bodies, and especially in
the Congress OF the United States.
HE BELONGS IN THE ARMY.
Now put, for the sake of argument in that most
trying position, General Hancock or any man trained
exclusively IN the walks of army life, Of which he is
so conspicuous an ornament mean a man not
dowed with that intuitive genius which I have
spoken of, and which even most ardent friends
as understand, do not claim for General Hancock.
What has there been in the school of his past life to
fit him for it? AS boy he accepted by the
Government a cadet at West Point, and that was
his college and university. have high respect for
that military school. Every branch OF military sci
ence is taught there, have no doubt, with knowl-
edge skill and success. The principles OF military
honor and the great law OF command and obedience
are nculcated the guiding OF the future life
OF the student. The affairs of ordinary human ex-
isteuce outside of the military profession and the
problems it has to deal with, necessarily treated
as matters Of only secondary moment. Our military
school at West Point has given US many glorious
soldiers who have adorned the history of the coun-
hut has bpep prptpuiad hot
meant to be, or was, a school of craftsmanship
That school absolved, the young man entered into
the regular army service. vi ali classes of soci
ETY. it may be said that regular army is the most
exclusive, the most widely separated from the Ordi-
nary business life OF the people in point of sympathy,
duty and habit 1t may be said, therefore, without
exaggeratioD, that In q hundred cases to one, by
taking an old regular army officer, who has never
been anything else and putting him into the highest
and most difficult political position, you may spoil
an excellent General in making
POOR PRESIDENT.
There he is, with an honest intention to do right
and to serve his country. Problems OF fnancisl
policy suddenly rise up before him-questlons OF
revenue, of commercial policy, not in the way OF
general maXlns and vague principles, but in the
mysterious shape OF practical problems to be applied
to given state OF circumstances questions of
party politics. where the interests of he public and
Of the party curiously mixed together in bewild
erng confusion. The man at the head OF affairs
to 10 right let us assume his Cabinet officers
mean the same. But now a host OF senators, Rep
resentatiyes, prominent leaders from all parts
OF the country swarm in upon him. Having
never had any practical contact with the work.
ngs Of financial or commercial systems, having
stood aloof from the intreacies OF political manage
ment the at the head of the Government is tine
objective point of all their efforts He has to meet
multitude of arguments put at him by multitude
of n, Il ON hundred different motives, all SEEM
ing to him i'm ortant, because all are to him new;
not few among the most prominent of those who
urge their opinions most strongly upon his mind,
trained and skilled by long practical schooling in all
arts of covering up the weak points Of their cases
and concealing their motives by specious argument
and of making private interests appear those of the
public. They have all contributed to his election
and success they all entitled to his regard he
has heard of them all as prominent men entitled to
respect he has considered them all as men entitled
to credit; and now he discovers that
THEIR OPINIONS CLASH,
And that their aims different and contradictory
Scores Of them beseeching him with their urgency
to make him believe that the Cabinet minister he
trusts by the things he attempts carry out is ia
juring the party upon whose permanence the ife or
at least the welfare, of the republic depends He has
vet to learn that the Senator in his State, or the
Congressman in his district has interests of his own
peculiar to himself; that those interests some
times not exactly those OF the country those
Of the party at large; that the who is recon-
mended to him for high official position, model
citizen Of the republic, has attained that position in
the opinion OF his backer less by services rendered
to the commonwealth Oy o
person that the same man will be represented to
him by others, not the model Citizen but viii
| lain who cannot be trusted q moment. He will be
told that those who judge of political objects and the
means by which to attain them from higher stand
point than mere personal partisan interest, are
| amiable theorists, who are well enough in their
way but useless in the practical conduct of poll
tics that the practical politician who cares less for
public questions, but is skilled in the management
OF men, is after all the man who alone be count
| ed upon to preserve the power of his party, and
| thereby the salvation OF the republic, And when
he has gone through this for weeks and months, and
HIS HEAD BEGINs TO SWIM
In the confusing contest OF interests and ambitions
entirely new to him. and he feels himself in many
things he has done OF left undone under pressure
giving him no rest of mind helpless tool of for
eign wills instead Of being the director of things
he will then conclude that the repuse OF the fierces
onset at the battle of Gettysburg and the taking Of
the angle of intr nchments In the Wilderness
glorious feats OF arms, were after all very simple
things compared with this. And as he goes on and
gradually the light of experience dawns upon him
aud he discovers glimmers Of truth and finds him
self unable to correct mistakes irre' revably made
and to redress ncries irremedably inflicted and t.
recover failures which have then become part OF thl
history of the country, be finally will see reason t.
wish that his friends had permitted him to enjoy hi
military renowl in peace stead OF casting over i
cloud OF civil failure. But what is likely to hap
pen to such elevated to the Presidency Will
such motley host upon his back as the Democrats
party is to-day?
DEMOCRACY OF THE SOUTH.
I