The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-11-12
The Truth About Mr.. Hayes Administration


and his departure from the White House
will be an event remarkable only because it
lurge- the place OF atenanl who has occu-
Pied it for four years without IA tile
Yet once in while we find in our repub-
lican contemporaries paragraphs like the
following:
"If the administration of President Hayes
had not been clean and upright, if it had
not managed the finances we'll, if it had not
conducted oar forei n airs with ability, if
it had not maintained the laws with yigor,
the republican party would have gone down
at the polls before a storm Of popular indig
nation. In reckoning he force which won
the battle, no statement will be complete
which does not place in the forefront the
the administration of Rutherford B..
Hayes"
This is taken from the Utica Hera1d, a
newspaper edited 10y Mr.. Ellis II. Roberts.
The Washington correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial writes in the same
straiu
Friends cf the President say but for his
clear and honest administration in every
branch Of public aff,irs, which gave the re-
publican party respectability once more,
that party could not have su cceeded, and
they claim with much show Of reason, that
the party is more indebted to r.. b. Hayes
for its triumph than any one man"
This sort OF talk passes current simply
because nobody takes the trJuble to csntra-
dict it. The facts are accessible.
Under Mr.. Hayes, corruption in the Post
Office department has reached degree of
audacity unknown since the days of Cres.
well. For the greater part of his fraudu-
lent term Mr.. Hayes maintained at the head
OF the Post Office an incompetent, an ex-
rebel General, whose presence there was the
direct result of the scandalous political bar
gain by which Mr.. Hayes himself ca g in'o
power. Key was the tigurchead Tyner
welded the political Influence of the depart
ment; while Brady aud his crew had full
swing in the financial management Of at
fairs They have not neglected their op-
portunites. Jobbers outside the walls OF
the general Post Office have combined and
cInspired with dish NEST officials iusde, aid
the people have been pluudered of nj llon-
of dollars. The star route sy stem, and the
looseness of the laws governing oontrec $
for that service, afforded the Ring all the
chance they wanted. Under pretencr VI
"expediting service" the cost of running
in eighteen months from S6lS,000 t.
s., 240, 504. the increase tor expe clifton
meanwhile, on all the 9th er star routes in
the United States, more than ten thousand
in number, did not amount to $50, 1000. Fa
vored contractors and dist onest officials
have profited under Hayes as they did moi
profit in the worst days of Grantism. The
star route scandals have grown more fla
grant each year of HAYES, and the spoils tC
| be divided larger. The report submitted
last month by Brady shows that fer tht
! wear ending June 80, 1880, the expenditure
on star routes was million dollars in eX
cess of that for the year previous, and t
million and half in excess Of the estimates
Brady and his Ring have been investigate,
| by Congress. The facts have all been brough
out, and the evidence is ON record. Th,
guilty ones escaped punishment only throuet
| treacbery in the Senate and House of Rep
resentatives. Brady anu the Il ng have beer
exposed and denounced by the Neao lorl
Times and other honest Republican newspa
pers Mr.. Hayes has never raj cd hand tt
prevent or stop the scandal.
Under Hayes aud Schurz, The mango
ment Of Indian sffAis has been infamous il
its perfidity to the tribes and its disregard o
treaty obligations. The treatment of til,
| Utes, to name one case out of many, ha
been shamelessly dishonest In dealing
| with this and other tribes the Fraudulen
| Administration has made Itself party tC
the plans of adventures and jobbors for tnC
spolistion Of the Indians. Upright, clean
and honest are not the proper adjectives t
| use here.
Under Hayes and Evarts, the foreign af
fairs of the United States have been con
| Quoted with indifference to the rights o
American citizens abroad and apparcn
contempt for the honor of the nation. Gu
| flag has been insulted, our ships have beer
boarded and outraged on the high sea
again and again. Whatever ability ha
been displayed in the foreign policy of Mr.
Hayes and Mr.. Evarts must be sought il
the efforts of the Department of State t,
avoid trouble.
Under Hayes and Sherman, the admins
| tration of the national finances has brel
managed largely for the tcneft of Frl>at
interests. john ohtrnan's friends hav
pockeled mi lions OF dollars which other
wise would have gone to reduce the debt .
to tighten taxation. The refundns u tou
per cent. bonds was made sandal b.
Shermsns relations to the First Nation
Bank of this city There is not persnl
familiar with the finance VINO does not know
that the people haYe been iefrau led on
gigantic scale in the operations OF the Gov
ernment during he past three years. Ther
is not banker in Wall street, K pub.ca
or Democrat, VIII, ,uld not give the -peci
| ticatious.
| II is better to consider the facts b ,!or
| giving a clean bill of health to the c,ncer
that was born If fraud for year, ago.--N J
Sun.