St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-08-12
views OH Important Matters.

views Oh important MatteEss
Ex-President Woolsey, of Yale Col
lege, has been interviewed by Tri-
bune representative on public men and
affairs. He thinks Garfield will gain
much in popularity, not so much ''from
the fact of his suffering as from the
manner in which he bears it. Conf
dence in him will be great because he
has shown himself a man of great
worth" Mr.. Woolsey thinks, in COM
mon with a great many others, that
Conkling made a great blunder; then
he remarks that "nO one but man of
inflated vanity and supreme selfish
ness could have taken a step so unnec-
essary, and so opposite to the course
of true statesman, under such cir
cumstances." President Woolsey is of
the opinion that COnkling does not
possess such breadth of craftsmanship
as does President Garfield, and he
thinks that the ex-senator, since he
has cut his own head off, cannot very
well reappear. Mr.. WOOlsey is rather
anxious to have new party started III
1884 that will unite the best peO-
pie of the Union and give assurance
of continued good government; and he
wants to see General Garfield at the
head of the best element of the Repub-
Of nfh A.
has shown himself Il high-minded man
in whom the people of the South may
contide as much as those of the North.
He has a great opportunity to unite
the best elements of the country into
strong party, and | hope his life may
be spared and that he may succeed in
SO great work. If he is able to es-
tablish such new party, North and
East and West and South, the country
will soon be thoroughly united"
On the question of civil service re-
form President Woolsey has some
sound ideas, and seems hopeful that
reform is at hand. In this connection
of Guiteau has concentrated the
thought of the whole country upon the
evils of the spOils system. Then the
struggle of Mr.. Conkling has brought
this disgraceful system cOnspicuously
before the public. Some progress has
been made, too, in the introduction OF
reform into the civil service. The Ia
bors of Mr.. George William Curtis and
Mr.. Dorman b. Eaton have not been
without results in that direction. And,
best of all, President Garfield desires
such a reform, and having the conf
dence of the whole country, he has a
grand chance put into his hands, and
upon his recovery he can lead a reform
movement which can hardly fail of
success. If this favorable opportunity
is improved, the political parties will
discover in a few years that the new
system is as good for one as for anOth-
er, and of infinite worth to the nation"
Mr.. WoOlsey believes that suffrage
should be limited both by education
and by sex. He does not favor woman
suffrage, but says he hopes, 'for the
sake of women" that suffrage will be
limited to males. He believes there is
great work to be done among the
negroes at the South, in the way of
moral and intellectual education.
President Woolsey is a keen observ-
er of men and methods, and his opin-
ions are worth something. We give
these extracts from his views on pub
lie questions, that our readers may
take them for what they are worth.
This matter of civil service reform has
taken a deep hold on the people of
late, and the sentiments expressed
above are the sentiments of thousands
upon thousands of citizens that the
time is at hand when a move must be
made in this direction, and that Pres
ident Garfield, if his valuable life is
spared, will have it in his power to do
for the nation what no other President
has been as well able to accomplish.