San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1880-09-11
PROPRIEToR.Yis
NO..43.

johnson call loudly tor reform"
These were timely words The
responsibility. laid st the door btltAS Ib
President was exaggerated. but the
hand OF reform was urgently invoked
by the situation. All the great jp.
dustries OF the country demanded Az
thorough reorganization. Our tariff
legislation called tor a thorough re-
vision. Our finances invited q prompt
and complete 'overhaulinE, Our civil
service was, becoming D. shameless
system Of political prostitution.-
Roguery and plunder, born of the
multiplied temptations which thei war
furnished, had Jstaalthilxi etspt into
.hS management St RgSiS ettsiEs, and
search. What the county needed
was not strioter enforoemsnt[of par
ty discipline, not military methods and
the fostering OF sectional bitterness
and hate, but Oblivion Of the past,
both North aud South, aud IN earnest.
gtapple with the problems Of practical
administration'ij + i Il 2 n
But what did the leaders Of tho
party do !? After thb freedom, 'a1den-
franchisemente OF the negro had boon
established by constitutional amend.
ments IN which all parties acquiesced,
they, seemed utterly incapable. of rsalsy
izing the iact. They were not Wiling
for single moment, to relax their ~ ~
hold upon the party machinery. The sll
animosities engendered by the war '''
were to be lhursed and coddled as the'
appointed means Of party unity, while a
the party itself was regarded asa perpoo
manent establishment, like the ohFis1uoo
tian religion, diyinely appointed aud
necessary to salvation gllt vas potpItoi
be maintained for the Legitimate, ppgs,on
pose of embodying certain, doctrines az
and policies in legislation but chiefly d {
on the score Of it's general blessedpess.
and its immense usefulness ip holding i.
in check q purely satantic oppositi0n,'. I
This view was openly avowed BY some. !;
Of its great champions, who, declared =. :.
as they do to-day, that the party is no -
more responsible for the corruptions
and defafcations Of its leaders than
the Church for the individual sins Of
its priests and prelstos Off, course,
the continued existence Of such au Or. Id
ganization1wAs indispensable, not on-lab
ly to the welfare, but the life of .the,op
Republic, against which the Rebels"
were Il sill plotting, while il, was
strangely taken for granted that ,its W
disruption would immediately be fol-, = !,
lowed by the translation Of the hons,
est men who belonged to it to another ~
and better world, instead Of leaving =
them among us to serve the country y
under some other banner and bet.
ter leadership. This ooncubinaee toe
politics and theology swast b isett u
tempting contrivance. since it would "a
place the administration Of the Gov.
ernment in the hands Of the Repub-,
)ioans forever 1t is true that the cor-, q
rupt and venal elements Of society t"
would inevitably gravitate into such 3 !. !.
party through it's prolonged hold op, g
power, and fually form, a. pctfact
hierarchy iof khaves and reprobates,
while the good men in it's ranks would
be obliged to keep their places iny
stead Of joining the bther side or be-
coming the nucleus Of new partys
but this would be- less dreadful than Z
the ruin Of the. oountrya in jtbe hands,.
Of an organization hopelsPsly adHloyal
The management Of public s6siss,
during Gen. Grants first terh ,wss, ID al
accord with this new theory OF politics. s1
The mercenary and trading element of ~
the party naturally came to the 'front.',
and tbecaine d regular purgatory '0f
poIitioak uncleanhes ,Iheed .uotiore~3
cite the story Of its shameful psrfotm-s.
ances. You know it by heart, The,
people will not. SOON forget the ex-
ploits, OF Tom Murphy in the, New
York custom House. aud the plunder:
ing of New York merchants BY Leet's'
and stocking; the sanctioned srascalises
ties of Casey in. New 0rlsaps ;si Ahssis
executive assumption Of the war max.
ing power in the affair OF San poppis
20 the violation of the .President's
oath Of Office in the appoiht intent. TO ~
civil places Of men in the military ser1gY
vice; the official corruptionof lOrvilledi
Grant. Powell Clayton, General Bah q
cock, Boss Sheppard and kindred spir:
It's, who shsred the smiles OF the Pref.
ident the party expulsion of CharlesoA
Sumner from the oharmanship Of tho
committee on Foreign Relations, and
the installation OF Simon Cameron inas.
his stead the action Of the famous
Senatorial group" in denoupcing
query proposition lookirg to the. reform
Of administrative abuses, and brandt
ing ssg,epemies ofItbe Republican q
party, the Distinguished members of it,
who demanded such reform !. and the ~
,pep and systematic repudiatiop OF all
litcuipis TO purify the civil service, =
while falsely pnltcndiug 70 espsuse 70
hem. All thi. has become n part OF 70
he history of-ihe Govvrn,pept. and
Iorms the first half OF that "moyl in
in our politics, which is
best indics,ed by The word '-Grsntisar.f .f1i
md fairly entities il ~ a place in our
Dictionary Of Amsricsnisms.
Indeed, 70 fagrsntly did the prophets
of this new dispensstian belle sll their
professions. that nearly yesr before y
he end Of GeDersl Grants frat tera,n
he chief founders and pre-eminent
OF the party. were
.tr:..t q 1..c~f ~ .s n ooiv WA. N -