, 1881-09-24
Anxiety for the Future.

larly, persons who give more thought to
the business Of getting and holding pub
lie offices than tn any other human pur
suit-are discomposed by grave apprchea-
sions of serious complications which, they
believe, are likely to be brought upon the
country By the death of the president.
They do not doubt that the vice president
will succeed TO the presidency without
opposition; bat what If he, too, should
be suddenly made a case Of inability ty
some member of the tribe of assaSsius
Is it more unlikely event in his case
than it was in Garieldsl The profess
sinnsl politician thinks IL is not and
perhaps he is right. No one could have
unprecedented that Garfield would be shot
But the mere fact that the violent death
Of Arthur has br.' l1ugyraicd put
IL INTO the nlinds et aihousand Guiteaus,"
it is said, so do the dob at the right
time. The statement implies belief
hat the eouHtry contains moro than n
thousand persons as capable and rs likely
as Guiteau 10 assassinate president.
Ii this be a fact, certainly it furnishes
some ground for apprehension. Among
the politicians and officeholders at Wash
ington, At any rate it is believed to be
fact. ''You cannot comprehend the dan
ger as We do here, one of them writes,
because the horde Of political 'cranks' is
more tangible to us. A dozen men like
Guiteau have been arrested here since
Garfield was shot They are all great
theologians and political reformers 1t
is unquestionably true that Arthurs life,
should he succeed Garfield, would be in
infinitely More danger than was ever Gar
Fields, Heneu the uneasincss of tho poll
3ticians IS 70 the future For, they say,
1 'Arthur's life alone would stand between
us and anarchy"
1t would be the success
sion of democrat president, and i com
plete transfer Of political power.
;would be that Of bloodshed- perhaps
both" Ii would precipitate contest
that ''would paralyze government seeuri-
les, produce a business panic, and possi-
|oly ''overturn the government
Are there any good ur even plausible
grounds for these dismal forebodings II
|su. then. plainly there il something fun
lamentally bad in our political constitu-
ton which the nation can hardly make
90 much haste in expelling from it. All
the conditions stated are such as are
liable to appear at any time, even with
out the help of political assassin. The
senate has frequently contained an oppo-
ation majority, when the death of both
president and vice-president would have
involved the revolution which the poll
ticians nos apprehend Three presidents,
lying, have been succeeded by vice-pres-
dents. Had it happened that there was
no temporary president of the senate. or
speaker Of the house, there would have
been but one life, it seems, between us
md anarchy, III each of these instances
-Four yice-presidents have died in the
periods for which they were chosen-cas-
ualities that produce the same conditions
In seven presideneies, or during a period
pf something less than twenty-eight years,
the conditions have appeared which it Is
now said place but a single life between
he country and a revolution, or, If there
had not been a president pro temPorc Of
the senate, between the country and an
irchy- Indeed, a revolution, in the sense
of present fears. did occur upon the death
III Harrison, AMI another upon tlie
! ieath of Taylor, and third upon the
4 heath Of Lincoln. Had John Aaans died.
the accession of Jefferson would have
brought III revolution Had Jefferson
died in his first term, il Is fair opinion
that the accession Of Aaron Burr would
have brought IN revolution Had Jack
son died Iii his first term, the accession of
calhoun would have brought in a revolu-
ION. Both our past experience and his.
tory 60 to convince us that the succession
pf vice-presideut to the presidency rs
Extremely liable to be the initiative Of an
administrative revolution There is some
reason to think that the succession Of Mr..
Arthur would not constitute an exception
2 20 the rule.
3 But the evil now fureb0ded IS eontin-
gent not on the death Of Garfield, bat ON
4 che death Of Arthur Though the senate
rs ditided exactly in the middle, 1t seems
TO be Anticipated that the senators called
democrats would be able 10 name the sue
'essnr, and so efiec; q Complete transfer
Epf political power" TO themselves. at
would be that or bloodshed- perhaps
ooth"-because nobody believes the
republicans would not .fyht before they
,ro'dd yield to their opponents Every
ecdy, then, must believe that the repub-
leans would do nov what the democrats
I'D twenty years aso-nameIy, preeipitate
civil war against the constitutional au-
hority before they would submit to a
Transfer of the executive Gneluding about
10000 fat ofioes) to their opponents It
would be republican party rebellion,
Ifferent from the democratic party rebel
ION IN this-that, instead of fight TO
keep the "nigsers' in slavery, it would
'e hight to keep the Offices in the party
family.
RAILROAD. We learn that the rAiIs are
icing laid to within abou. l2 miles of Crane
c:ty. There are about 60 men engaged on
bridge bniIding. and about 800 Chiaamen
md SIX white men on the Grange City rosd
allasting up the track Tie SIX white men
are oyerseefs. 1t takes II teams to cary
the necessary supplies to furnish the bridge
builders alone. The bridge on whieh they
are now at work Is ~ feet high asd 500 tees
long This bridge IS at the crossing OF
" hststone Hollow. Il Is reported tiiSt 1T
VII take al least three weeks 70 eonIlle5s
The SHINE There are 9 bridges and trestle