Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-05-03
VIII Garfield Prove Partisan or q
Presidentg

AAC6AUCMUs
The star route frauds will, it is prob
able, make 1t more urgent upon MIR
Garfield to display backbone than will
the Robertson nomination or anything
else which has transpired or is likely to
transpire during his administration.
The investigations of Postmaster Gen.
eral James have startled the country, by
the magnitude of the frauds developed,
more than anything since the Belknap
sensation, and already the stalwart press
of the country are beginning to urge Mr..
Garfield to suppress further exposures.
as they have tendency to injure "some
of the best men in the country" and to
seriously damage the Republican party.
The Chicago Tribune has been prompt to
call halt, and it goes SO far as to warn
Mr.. James that he may even bring Re-
publican members of Congress, and per-
haps other persons, "who have done good
service to the party" into disgrace.
These star route swindles, therefore,
will very decidedly establish the fact
whether Mr.. Garfield intends to
be President of the whole country,
as he declared in his inaugural that he
would be, or whether he will, like
Grant, simply be partisan tool, and
work only for the advantage of the
Republican party. If he is the former,
he will pursue these star route scandals
to the bitter end, no matter who may be
hurt and upon whose head shall fall
merited shame and disgrace. If the lat
ter, he will, like Grant, in the Belknap,
whlskeY-ring and other cases, speedily
do all he can to smother the investiga-
ton, and shield from the merited con-
sequence of their crimes, the delin
quents.
The general impression is that the
President will do all he can in this affair
to prove that he is at heart an honest
man, and that he fully intends to live up
to the virtuous utterances of his inau-
gural. He has in the past, it is true, by
his jealous support of his party, given
countenance to the legion of frauds
which, under Grant, not only made the
Republican party odious IN the estima-
ton of all right thinking men. but rem
dered the title, American citizen" IN
famous in the eyes of the civilized world.
Still, he was then only member of
Congress- but an avowed par
tisan, working according to the dictates
and wishes of his immediate constituents.
But now he is the President of the United
States; the world and the whole country
look to him to Sustain the national
honor, and if he falters in his duty
he will be in far worse condition than
Grant will ever be. Grant had the
glamour of having saved the Union to
prevent the infamies of his administra-
ton from being seen in their real and
naked hideousness. OF all that Garfield
will be deprived, and if he attempts to
smother the present scandals, or white
wash" the criminals, he will be in GER
tain sense pdrticeps crinainis, and will so
be recorded by the impartial historian of
the future Discussing the subject our
Mobile contemporary, the Register,
well says "The only question is, has he
(Garfeld) the moral courage to allow this
fostering wound to be probed thorough
"? Will he yield to the solicitations of
the partlsans who are hanging around
him? There is no doubt as to what his
duty is; the question is sin ply one as to
his backbone Thes pos i irregulari-
ties began in Grants adm .stration, OF
odorous memory, and continued through
the skinned milk administration of
Hayes. If the President wishes to re-
fleet credit upon his own administration,
which has by no means, as yet, drawn
forth much admiration from the coun-
try, he should allow the investigation to
be full and complete, not drawing the
line at some particular point, beyond
which it shall not 60 This is a good
time for a spring cleaning of the public
departments. He should subordinate
the party spirit which he SO largely pos
sesses to the dictates of duty"