The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-08-24
FOOLISH PEARS.

III view Vi tBo pOooiOiO H1nN PAO
able death of Precedent Garfield somf
of the newspapers are predicting dire
things wien Mr. Arthur become
President. They say he ia nothing
bus poiticiau, and that he will bt
merely the tool of Roscoe ConkIipe,
who will be the rea! ruler oftbe coun-
try. L would De serving both polili-
cal parties right, and might prove a
most valuable lesson u them, if Ar
thur were TO develop into chief
executive Of whom everybody would
be Ashamed. In that case it nigh
teach the parties to nominate no more
men for Vice-President who could 10.
safely be trusted with the presidency.
It is almost invarisbly the Gaze that
the Vice. President ia net chosen be-
cause of any special fitness Cor Office,
bnt merely on account of his money
or ability to carry bis state at the
polls. Il is bad practice,
and always fraught with danger
to the party and the country. Had
Bill English gone into the presidential
Office "a Arthur ia likely to do. what
democrat would have failed to hang
his head for shame? But in the case
of Arthur We believe the country will
be most agreesbly disappointed. He
ia not the nincompoop that some
newspapers would infer, nor is he a
oorruptionist in any sense of the term.
It is true he is trained politician,
but not q dishonest one. nor by any
neans shallow-brained. He ia q
successful business man, and when.
ever he has held Office be has per-
formed his duties faithfully, in.
diligently and honestly. The intima-
ton that Oonkling will be the power
behind the throne is not reflection
upon the character OF Arthur, nor is
such a hint Indicative oidanger 20 the
country. What ADLER or better adviser
could President have than one Of
the sblest and most honest statesmen
Of the nation, as Conkling unques-
tionably is? Where is his peer in the
republican party? Mr.. GarfieId's
constitutional advisers may all be
honest and faithful, but they are po
liticsl AID intellectual pigmies as
compared with the imperious gisnt OF
New York If Mr. Arthur should
place himself 10 the hands OF Conk-
ling, doing as the latter says, Prssi-
dent Arthur would come uut of the
White House at the close OF his term
With 8 record and reputation Tor
craftsmanship that it would be djfh-
cult to surpass by shy republican.
The greatest danger from Arthur
becoming President is not that he
will lessen the dignity of the Office
or do anything that will bring
the country into contempt,
but that he will not be
permitted to serve during the term.
There are more crazy men in this
country than are confined in the
Washington jail, and there are some
Of them who are not stslwsr:s. The
danger lies in the fact that the assas-
sinstion OF presidents will prove
disease that ia Catching" Ii Quit
tesu thought be was doing good ser
vice for the political faction to which
he belonged, it is highly probable
there will arise other assassins who
think they can best serve party and
country by killing Arthur. La this
there will be danger, but in no other
way. Personally, Mr.. Arthur will be
placed in position where no man
who values his life can possibly envy
him. Politically. mis- path is marked
out more clearly than that of any
previous President has been.