Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-05-30
TIE PRESIDENT AID TEE THIEVES
So far it must be said that the new AID.
ministration has manifested what appears


other directions vigorous action IS being
had to Eecure the conviction of less daring
peculators. The public are not yet in
position to appreciate fully the amount of
courage and firnuess demanded by the
policy which has been adopted by the
President. bat when all the facts are de-
veloped it will be realized that no man
who did not possess very unusual amount
OF determination could have pushed these
prosecutions TO the end. There is one sig
nifcant fact connected with the star
route swindles which may serve to indl-
cate the nature and extent of the OBJ
stacles the President has to overcome.
That fact is the inexplieable neglect OF Con-
gress to follow up these frauds when they
were first revealed. 1t is now made clear
that they were permitted to go on for at
least three years after they had been dis
covered, and that the only result OF the
first revelations was to secure the dis
migsal from the postal service of all those
honest officials who had been imprudent
enough to notify the Department Of what
was being done to defraud the Govern.
ment.
Now it is not possible to believe that the
scandal was thus covered up without the
active assistance of members OF Congress.
The connection of such persons with the
frauds has been vaguely limited at several
times, but for obvious reasons no particu-
lar members have been named. It is evi.
dent, however, from the very nature of the
frauds, that their successful accomplish
ment after the exposure of 1876 required
the conformation, if not the active partici-
patton, of members of one or both houses
of Congress. 1t is equally apparent that
powerful lobby was engaged in covering
up the tracks of the thieves, and that Of
ficials high in the Government were leading
members of the ring In fact all the testi-
mony points to the conclusion that the star
route frauds were legacies from the Grant
regime, and that the men principally con-
cerned in them were men who had figured
as I" stalwarts when they were not occu.
pied in stealing 1t is sinister fact that
nearly all whose names have been men
toned in prominent connection with these
frauds belong to the class of politicians re-
ferred to above, and it will give the clue to
other developments which in the moment.
airy absence of fuller information may seem
to have no connection with the present in
vestigation.
In fact it is beginning to dawn upon the
country that there is class of SOC called
stalwarts whose interest In maintaining
the supremacy of that faction is not at all
sentimental interest, but a very practical
one that these called "stalwarts re-
ally belong in the category of political
freebooters who only employ party catch
words to disguise their dishonest pur-
poses that they have in the past used
their stalwart" professions successfully
to cover up their raids on the treasury !;
and that the main reason why they are SO
desperately anxious to have " stalwartisun"
recognized anew, is that they fear the
exposure and punishment of their rascal
ity. It is well known that General Grant
was during his second administration sur
rounded by men of this stamp, and that
as their audacity increased it became i'm
possible to conceal their true character.
Hence it resulted that Grants second ad-
ministration bristied with scandalous reve-
lationS, and that these so disguised the
Republican masses as to cause a reaction
which narrowly escaped being fatal to the
party. During the administration of Mr..
Hayes the stalwarts failed to make SO
much Roadway as before, but they were
not entirely discarded, and wherever they
held on they pursued their old methods.
President Garfield's Congressional ex-
perience had acquainted him with all the
facts, and when lie went into office he
made up his mind that the Dugald Dll
getLys of Republican politics should not
smirch his administration. In order to
attack them in the only way that could be
successful, however, he had TO encounter a
pres sure which no weak executive could
withstand. For it is disgraceful fact that
the "stalwart rogues have so entwined
themselves with the party machinery, and
have SO compromised leading politicians in
their villanies, as to render it impossible TO
expose their frauds without compromising
or even running many reputation which
has stood high in the past. 1t is needless
to say that all the pressure possible has
been brought to bear upon the President
to make him stay bis hand, and it is more
than conjecture tina. all the deadly
hostility SO suddenly manifest against him
in those quarters whence Grant drew his
friendship of old has an intimate connec.
ton with the heroic remedies applied by
the new Administration.
The country must therefore be prepared
for the most desperate resistance on the
part OF the thieves, aad for astounding
disclosures when their struggle to escape
proves Intellectual. 1t is quite possible
that they may endeavor to destroy the
Administration in the last resort. They
have already made vain attempt to spill.
the party, and TO array public opinion
against the President. There are too many
heads at stake for the application OF the
Presidents policy TO be submitted to pa
tiently, and considering the strength of the
rogues who are fighting him, he ought to
be supported heartily by the people. We
are in fact only at the Threshold of great
and comprehensive exposure, and ali the
elements which are in opposition to honest
government will necessarily range them
selves in the coming struggle against the
Administration. Under the circumstances
upright men will do we'll to challenge all
pretenses for warfare against the Presi-
dent, and to insist on their Justification be-
fore accepting them