Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-07-22
General Arthur. the -. OF Mr..
a., Hayes Ciyil.Service Refcxn.


The Republican nominee for the yice-Pfesi;
dency is one of the best salmon-ishers in the
country. He may be said to incarnate the
| great idea of Flanagan that the object of poll
] tics is to .get the Offices for he is the most
conspicuous victim in the country of " .
Hayes doctrine of Civil-service reform. He
first became conspicuous in New York City
politics in 1861 under the auspices of Governor
Edwin d. Morgan. Mr.. Arthur was then about
firm firm Of e Arthur / Gariiner and had been
known along with George Bliss, Jr., Elliott +.
Sheppard and other young lawyers as active
mont campaign. Governor Morgan first ap-
pointed him January l, 1861, as Engineering
Chief, and April IA, 1S6., as Inspector-General
on his staff. In the following July he ex-
changed places with Cuyler Van Vechten,
another member of the staff, who was then
General, General Arthur made his mark in
this city during the early period of the civil
war when regiments were raised, equipped
ernor Fenton was elected General Arthur's old
place was taken by General Merritt, who sue,
Years afterward President HAYES cut OF his lis
official head. During the years when General
Arthur was out of Office, from lse5 to ISL; he
was busily employed in local politics and in
bounty and riot claims and railway
business CONNECTED with Albany and
ISL sasnt Grants favorite " and 'f friend,
Mr.: Thomas Murphy, having been badly
of that period, was compelled to resign his
post as Collector of the Port of New York.
The post was offered to encouragement John
the late William Orion, who also declined IL.
They both united in recommending General
Arthur was appointed Collector November 20,
1871. The Uorjd of the following morning
published the following under the heading
Long Live the King"
'.The reporter visited the newly appointed
Collector, General Chester A. Arthur, at his
residence, No. 123 Lexington avenue. last
iunuiripS made
new Collector said in substance as follows: Il
was born in Vermont and studied at Union
College,: was graduated when L was eighteen
years of age in the class of '4s, and am about
forty years old: Immediately after graduating
L came to this Cit and studied law; am a law
yer, and have resided in this city ever since
came here; am an American. of coul Sc: dur
ing the late war held the position of Quar-
termaster-General, but have never hcld any
political Office of any consequence, for, al
though have been actively engaged In pOlit-
ical matters have never sought, but rather
avoided. holding any political office. did not
expect this appoint mcnt ut this time. and in
fact knew nothing about it until some friends
called upon me and informed me that IL was
published in the evening papers,"
In reply to a remark made by the reporter
that the appointment wouldn't cause him any
discomfort though coming unexpectedly, Mr..
Arthur said:
al don't know about that: the duties Of the
Office are rather hard to perform in a satisfac-
tory manner, but of course it is AN office which
no man need be ashamed to aspire TO. IL IL
well known that hold the Office of Chairman
don't know when shall assume the duties of
the office. As told you, did not know of my
appointment until after reaching home this
.'The new Collector is a very pleasant. agree
able gentleman to meet, and appeared the
Committee of Seventy forced the President To
agree several weeks ago that he would remove
Murphy. He said he would do il after election.
Meantime he compromised with Murphy to ap-
point his best friend Chester a. Arthur, who
is as thoroughly hater OF Horace Greeley
slW
the control of Conkling rs Murphy was. The
peculiar aspect presented 10y this change IL the
fact that Grant rcsis;s all of the appeals that
have been made to him To appoint man out
side of the present Custom-Ifouse Ring, who
possesses capacity, honesty and commercial
experience, to the end that harmony might
come to the party i'm this State. The announce
ment that the appointment Is satisfactory to
Senator Fenton and his friends Is scarcely pos
sibe, as that gentleman s friends dcnounce IL
in unqualified terms. The appointment of Ar
thur was agreed upon at a dinner-party given
President Grant when he was last here, mt the
residence of Mr.. John Hoey. Tom Murphy and
General Arthur were present. An Anti-Grant
man. described the change from. Murphy
to Arthur as equivalent to substituting
Tweed for Connolly or vice versa. 1t
was Murphy and Arthur in the lobby
at Albany and Arthur and Murphy i'm the
division of the Offices and sinecurcs with Tam
many for service rendered mt the former place.
The Siamcse twins were never more closely
allied in transactions of every Kind than Muir
ply and Arthur have been. Tom Murphy
and the Conklng ring still control the Gus
tOn-tDuSe. IDcy were tne f1ltn Avenue
Hotel last night some of them i'm consultation
with the Senator. and the leaders were crow
ing over their triumph. The distinguished
George Bliss, jr., remarked to n friend that IL
was all right; that the Custom-House had only
passed ont of one hand into the other Of the
same control. There are many of the rank
and file in the Custom-House who are surprised
to hear of the change last night. Of course
they are alarmed about their own safety. They
say the heavy tax which was so recently cx-
acted from them, to be appropriated to- pO-
litical purposes, will probably not save them;
1t is likely that before the Senate of the United
States acts upon the nomination of Mr.. Arthur
1t will hear from the importers and merchants
of New York on the subject"
The Republicans at Chicago now propose to
seat Mr. Arthur i'm the presiding chair of the
Senate. Perhaps the importers and merchants
of New York will have something to say, how !
ever, on the subject.
General Arthur i'm private life is much liked
and esteemed. He is q man of fine personal
appearance and excellent address, fond, as we
have already intimated of field sports and OF
literature. He is a widower, having lost his
wife, a lady of qualities of mind and |
character, little more than year ago.-N. Y. |
World.