Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-30
LOOKING ueL1ER.

fact that the Washington Republican,
which is edited by Gorham and said to be
owned by Brady, has already entered upon
this course, as shown in the article init.
mating that the President allowed himself
to be helped in the late campaign with
money derived from the star route con.
tractors, is the most damaging indication
yet given on the part of the ring. The
presumption that this ring is afraid Of ex.
.posure, and that it is resolved to threaten
the Administration with implication in its
dishonesties as alast resort, is,unavoidably
drawn from this proceeding. 1t must also
be admitted that the connection of Cor.
ham with the Brady party as its champion
and defender is suspicious, and that in
fact the actions of the ring up to the pres
ent time have been such as to strengthen
instead of weakening the impression that
a great scandal is about to be laid b4re.
The course of the Republican in the matter
is not that of journal firm in the consci-
BUSINESS of good cause, but it is rather
that of brazen criminal caught in the act,
who turns round and threatens his captors
with SANDER unless they abandon the pro-
secution. 1t is also particularly foolish
course, since it is clear that in the face of
these impudent menaces the President has
no alternative but to press the investiga-
ton, no matter what the consequences
may be.
Should II result in such disclosures as
will compel the Senate to drop Gorham
suddenly and finally, this contamination
will be gladly welcomed all over the Pacific
coast, and wherever else that persons an
tecedents are known. It is now said that
during the late campaign Brady wrote to
General Garfield and proposed to raise
S25, coo from the star route contractors for
campaign purposes, but that General Gar
field declined to accept the proposition,
and that its character caused him to en-
terrain the suspicion which led him,
after his election, to order the present in
vestigation 1t is not at all probable that
the President did anything to put himself
in the power of men whom he believed
then to be dishonest, and whose practices
he was determined to uncover, He is far
too mature politician to be caught in any
such trap as that, and the very fact that
he is urging the inquiry, and that he has
declared his intention to push it until all
the circumstances are known, must be re-
garded as disproving any story OF the kind
limited at by Gorham and his paper.
If Brady and the star mail contractors
have nothing to be ashamed or afraid of
they would, as matter of course, not en-
deavor to prevent this inquiry from being
made. But they are acting in such way
as to almost necessitate the assumption of
their guilt, and it is plain that they
are alarmed. The report that Gorham is
personally involved in the rogueries of the
ring derives some support from his present
attitude. A man in his peculiar position
ought to remain as quiet as possible. Ger
tainly it is his interest to do 80. But he
has thrown himself into battle with the
Administration, and he has thus made it
evident that the attack upon Brady signi-
fes even more to him than the Secretary
ship of the Senate. Gorham has never
shown any real tact or Judgment in his
political course, He has never been able
to achieve anything that could not be ac-
complished by the familiar and hackneyed
devices of the commonest wire-puller.
At packing conventions he has shown some
skill, but when it comes to adopting
policy or organizing an intelligent line
of action, based upon reasoning. he has
always failed conspicuously.
The indications are that another Water.
loo is in store for him and his last batch of
ring associates. OF course the Admins
tration is not to be terrified by mysterious
and half-veiled intimations. 1t has en-
listed for the war, and it will fight it out
to the end. Messrs. Brady, Gorham &
Co. have begun with disastrous blunder,
and if they do not mend their policy they
will come to grief speedily. The ring may
be very compact and very stubborn, as
has been intimated, but the main facts of
the star route contracts cannot be con-
cealed, and even if the evidence is not
quite sufficient to send the treasury robbers
to the Penitentiary, it may easily be enough
to disgrace them effectually. President
Garfield is said to have plenty of staying
power, and this is an occasion on which
he will have to exhibit it. He has shown
no signs of weakness yet in his contest
with the Republican Senators, and there
fore there is reason to anticipate that he
will hold out against the mail contractors
and their tools as determinedly. At
present the main requirement of the case
is more facts, and it is to be hoped that
the officers who have the investigation in
their hands will shortly be in a position
to tell enough Of what they know to guide
the public to an approximately just con-
clusion.
PROHIBITION IN KANSAS.
The temperance movement in Kansas
will be watched with keen interest by the
rest of the country, but it ought to be
clearly understood at the outset that it is
not in any sense an attempt to coerce a
large number of dissentient people INTO
abandoning drink, but is little more than a
general ratification by the Kansas people