Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-07-20
The Garfield Fund.

l
planning the object of the proposed $3.50, :
900 fund which it is contemplated to raise
for the benefit of Mrs. Garfield. He says it
was the spontaneous impulse of few individ-
uals who desired in this way to express their
own personal regard for the heroic wife Of
the president. But those individuals have
no desire TO limit the movement to the few
who conceived it. The impulse to contrib
ute is universal, and they will be pleased to
receive contributions from all who are dis
posed to join them. As to the need or pro-
priety of making some such provision for
the presidents family instead of leaving the
matter to the government, which, in the
event of the presidents death, should make
ample provision for Mrs. Garfield and her
children, Mr.. Field cites the case of Mrs.
Lincoln, and says: AFTER the assassina-
tion of President Lincoln, his widow had to
suffer the modification of having her case
discussed in congress and in the papers,
coupled with the paltry calculation how
much-or rather how little-the nation
Ouknb w give utI-bnO WhOiS phuluB Wlph
merely the allowance of the rest of that one
years salary and-the franking privilege !
This was all that congress which voted
100000 for Lincoln's funeral expenses could
give to the support of his widow. This
small provision was soon exhausted, and five
years after his death, as if from very shame,
congress voted her pension of $4,000 a
year. Thus slowly and grudgingly did the
nation provide for the widow of its mar
tyred president. If this is the way the
government treats the family Of chief mag
istrate who has died in its servic e. it is well
that individuals have the public spirit to
step forward to save their country from such
humiliation"
The generous feelings which prompted
this movement are worthy of all praise, and
in the event of President Garfield's DEATH
the propriety of the gift would be so clear
that if the proposed amount were doubled,
it would doubtless be easily and joyfully
contributed, by an intensely sympathetic
and patriotic people. But with the recovery
of the president and the resumption of the
duties of his office both the necessity and
the propriety of making his wife a present
of the income on sum of money, which
sum shall eventually descend to her children,
disappears entirely. The presidents great
calamity has softened the bitterness of polit-
ical antagonism. His misfortune has
bridged the chasms of sectional and per-
sonal political animosities and brought all
hearts together at his bedside. If his life
is spared, he will rise from the couch around
which has centered the prayers of fifty mil
lions of people with high resolves and fix
edness of purpose that should give almost
an ideal perfection to his administration of
the government. No true wel-wisher of
the president would see the bright prospects
of his administration marred by such an
untoward circumstance as the presentation
of S250,000 to his wife. The gift is prac-
tically the same as if made directly to the
president. With hundreds of thousands of
candid impartial citizens it would carry no
sinister Specification. With Others it would
breed that feeling of distrust which inevita-
bly, arises from the giving of valuable pres
ents to persons high in authority. Let the
president, in Mrs. Garfeld's name, respect
fully and courteously decline the gift ad-
minister the government in accordance with
those high dictates of justice and statesman
ship which constitute the natural bent of
his heart and his mind, and the millions of
grateful citizens who are now breathing out
their sympathies with him and hailing his
possible recovery with thanksgiving that
come hot from their hearts will look out for
his family and for him too. Clad in the ar
NOR in which the refusal of this gift will
encase him, the shafts of political envy and
opposition will "pass by him like the idle
wind" and the people will not fail to show
their appreciation of his virtues and of his
suffering by preferments that will be more
grateful to his heart than heaps Of shining
gold. The jingle of gold, too, is discord-
ant note in the grand refrain of worldwide
sympathy which has been poured into Wash
ington since July 2. Aside from its moral
aspect, in purely sentimental view of the
matter, it seems rude and undignifed at
this early day to associate money with the
danger of the president and as reward for
the wifely qualities so splendidly displayed
by Mrs. Garfield. The sober second thought
in this matter will be wiser than the first
generous impulse.