Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-10-14


! character and every arrest and prosecution
has been al men be- OF the party in opposition
Ito the Administration. IL has not been JUS
i tee. but party success, which has been
! sought. go .l - -''.-' ~ .}+.tttz' q
Fellow cit items, one of the inevitable re-
/ suits of long continuance of power in the
/ hands of one man or a set of men, is that they
come to believe and to act on the belief that
/ they constitute the body polite, and that the
ffJowers delegated to them for pubic use and
1 safety are Virtually given them tor their own
Il perpetaation i'll power
| h.s TIE CANDIDATES. 80 iIsS
| And now of the representative men who
| have been chosen TO lead the party organiza-
tions. often. Garfield the Republican can
didate, ] wish to speak justly; but viii not.
He was Chairman Of the Committee on APP
gance ran riot in Washington City; when Boss
Shepherd and his crew were drawing tens of
millions to lay rotten pavements in those
streets, with false measurements and double
prices. And in all the carnival Of roguery from
1863 until 1875, when a Democratic majority
put an end to the lobby and Congressional!
pln1ider, where was the voice and the vote of
Mr.. Garfield? If he sought reform he did it so
quietly as never to be heard: leave the re-
ports Of committees, controlled by men OF his
sonaI CONNIE ction with discreditable transac-
tions. '5t- 80 .'''fFfN go 'ltr .
of his associate upon the ticket, Gen. Ar
thur, it is not needful for me to speak in New
York. for the merchants in this city have rea-
son TO know him. III 1872 came over here, a
member of a committee OF the senate to in
vestigate the affairs of the New York Custom
House, which was alleged to be a mere politi-
cal machine, Mr. Arthur then being the Col.
lector. Despite every effort to conceal them
the grossest abuses and cOrruptiOns were laid
bare. When recall the cases of insulting, ty-
rannical treatment Of wealthy and honorable
citizens here by the brood of special Treasury
agents aud official harpies andrufiians, won-
der that public revolt did not occur. - -s
Under the infamous moiety system no mer-
chant was secure against the seizure OF his
books and most private papers. Such men as
Jayne and Frank E. Howe terrOriZed the mer-
camille community and plundered the mer-
chants at will Custom House bribery was
the regular practice, and Custom House APP
point1nents were mere counters in exchange
tor political influence, fa -Zf
All this was proven; was published In the
Tribune. for Horace Greeley then controlled
it; and in the Sun, and partly in the Herald.
The COMMITTEES went back to Washington,
the majority to send in whitewaShing report
and the minority to tell facts. as they found
them. Gen. Grant, then President, who win
never and can never see any thing wrong in
one of his party subordinates, took no other
action than through Williams, his Attorney
General, to order the merchants to be prose
cuted for paying brides to his officials. But
no changes were made. Public sentiment
however, was aroused; and, finally, when
Dodge Il Co. were robbed under the forms of
law of $267 600 in one amount. and when it was
shown, and can to day be proven, that In hon
esty and equity they had over paid more du-
ties than they ever under paid, still no repa-
ration was made. A reform in the laws that
permitted such outrages was accomplished,
but it was done against the strongest efforts
of the Administration and their leading men,
bers in both Houses.
and Mr.. Sherman, the Secretary of the Treas
ury, communicated to the Senate, and it was
House, tor a long period of time, had been
used to manage and control political affairs
That the duties of the officials were regarded
as subordinate to their partisan work, and
they had made the Custom House a center of
political management. That under the con-
troll of Messrs. Arthur and Con nell, the Custom
HOuap would I nrIncInal nnIItic1l
agencies of New York, and g in order to have
the important office of Collector efficiently
and honestly admnistered,' the President
suspended Mr.. arthur and nominated Gen.
Merritt in his place. Mr.. Sherman formally
claimed that he had established by proof the
existence of gross abuses in Mr.. Arthur's adj
ministration, and DECLARED, in his letter of
Jan. Is, 1879. that the "restoration of Messrs
injury to the public service, involving a loss
of revenue and an increased expenditure"
That is to say, President Hayes and secre-
tary Sherman, in 1879, fully iDdorsed in the
strongest language the report of Messrs. Bay
ard and Casserly, made to the Senate in 1872.
1t is plain that Garfield and Arthur will be a
weak repetition of Grant and Colfax. To hope
for reform from men of such antecedents is
unreasonable. l have said nothing OF either
of them except to cite the statements of their
own party associates, and they should stand
OF fall on such showing.
And now of the Democratic standard bear
err. Events Of an important political nature
caused public attention to be drawn to Win
field Scott Hancock in 1867, when he was in
west. Up to that time hiSspendld bearingas
a soldier mad won admiration for his gallant
ry and skill; but a brighter glory settled on
his crest when Ito use the words of Senator
David Davis, the cherished friend and cuost
counselor of Abraham LincOln). "the soldier,
clothed with extraordinary power, volume ai1-
ly uncovered before civil AUTHORITY, shcathed
his sword, testified his fidelity to the Consti-
tuition, and set an example of obedience TO
law which will pass into history as his sound /
est claim distinction" -..
The bright light of public scrutiny, the hos
of
upon the spotleSs armOr of his private and
public character and no flaw or stain has been
disclosed. Indeed, the hostile suspicious and
charges of his foes caused his private CORE
spondence in 1876 to be developed, and in
what glorious attitude does his letter to
gen. Sherman, in the critical period of the 1
fraudulent perversion of the results of the
Presidential election, exhibit him. Well may
Judge Davis say: cit marks him as one of the
wisest of his time, with statesmans grasp
of mind, and the integrity of Il patriot
= Nor is his associate upon the ticket less
legislator in Congress, as a leading fnancier
and manager of important interests in his
own State, his .unblemished character a
man and statesman are all in accord with the
of reform which our success will
accomplish.
Before the American people to-day l ar
raign the Republican party as it is now led
and organized, as obstructive to the welfare.
and wise government of the coun-
try. t. -.
In the present contest they base their hopes
on the passions of u war long since ended,
and the fruits of whose success being unity,
peace and concord, the American people are
entitled to enjoy, and in the coming triumph
of the conservative and National Democracy
will do so.
80