The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-07-27
A Quiet Campaign.

If it were possible for the most sanguint
observer to delude himself with the belle
that he saw any unusual evidences of an &C
tive and enthusiasts campaign on the part o
the republicans, the deluSion would be quick
ly dispelled by the frequent reminders iron
Washington that the president and cahine
are prepared to administer soothing syrup /
sufficient, and chloroform if necessary, tt
drug the party into that condition OF polItlca
stupor which accords with the admlHlstratlv
idea of reform. According to recent advices
all hands and the cook have turnedinto WORK
at the eongenial task of paralyzins the party
to whose energy they W their present posi-,
ton and while every democrat in the land is
booming tor Hancock with all the concen,
trated energy of twenty years, those republl-
cans who can do most to help or hurt Garfield
are determined that if he is not beaten 1t shall
be no fault OF theirs.
Amouth ago John Sherman was paying of
the national debt at the rate OF a quarter OF a
million dollars a day he hardly ever bought
less than three millions OF bonds a week; he
steadied the money market, increased the I'M
ports, collected Incredible internal revenue
receipts. and really left very little for the rest
OF tie country to do iii the way of running
the finances. Yet as soon as an ungriteful
party prefers another man for the presidency,
Sherman ceases his public benetactlons. Al
though the internal revenue returns are on
the increase, and the imports larger than They
were ever known to be in the history of
the country. Sherman refuses to reduce the
debt, refuses TO buy up any bonds, declares
that we have no surplus to speak of, and al
together takes a gloomy and disheartening
view of the country.
If this were the worst, the republican party
.--ll a. -. $500 Ala. ,-a an, rf NI,n~
man in the sulks, but it is not the worst. He
is not content with a negative vengeance.
He has s]harpened his tomahawk, aud has
started out for scalps. Already his girdlc is
decked with the tresses of the slain, and va
cant chairs in the custom house ut Little Rock
tell the bereared family of officials that the
chief OF the treasury is on the war-path. Bul
he is Il big chief, and while he decks his
plume with the feathers of Arkansas eagles,
he coyets the glory of a collar of claws OF the
grizzly bear. He wants the scalp ot no less
4 warrior than the commissioner of internal
revenue himself. He has his enemy down.
his knee on his chest. his fingers in his hair.
he only waits the signal from tie White Clief
in the White House, and Green Is. Haum Will
walk around without his head, a warning to
all republicans not to mix in politics.
SchurZ has served notice on the interior
department that, Though he ant keep the
Indians from plumber and massacre, he can
keep his clerks from helping the republican
party. Every clerk in the department is a
republican. Every one of them, down to The
last door-keeper and fioor-sweeper, knows
that if Hancock < is elected he will be bounced
within sixty days. Every one Of them would
be willing to give 4 little and work a little to
help the party, but Sclurz says that if they
do they will be bounced in July, 1880, instead
of March, 1881. The requirements of reform
do not permit the interior department to EN-
gage in politics. That is to say, the secretary
may stump the country for 5000 a speech and
a contingent cabinet office, but it would be
very wicked for any OF his subordinates to
do, through patriotism, what he does for
hire.
All this may be fun for Hayes, who has fire.
quently reminded us that he has nothing
more to expect. and it may be fun for Schurz,
who has had 10 years of pretty good living in
one capacity or another of the republican
party, but it is death to the republican party,
which needs all the help it can get and all the
strength it can claim, and which is in a con
test in which every energy must be devoted
to securing a victory. If, instead of having
the help of the administration, the republican
party had to drag the administration as a
dead weight, the case would be bad enough;
but the administration is not a dead weight,
it is the ~livellest kind of a hindrance, and
while its best assistance might be powerful
weak, its determined opposition would be
quite enough to settle the business. If the
sham and fraud Of civil service reform is to be
played on us at this critical time, if the ad-
m;nistralion is going TO gag and hobble every
staunch and earnest republican in office, the
campaign will be a quiet one, but the conclu-
sion will be still more quiet, it will be the
sublime and boundless quiet of death. And
if the Office-holders are wholly shut out,
silenced and put under bond, with penal y of
decapitation, the best consolation we can offer
them IS to hedge, by occupying the pool
rooms and giving any odds that anybody
wants against Hancock.-Globe- Democrat.