Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-09-23
THE EXTENT OF ouR LOSS.

pride, they are not less evidences OF tne
extent of the loss America has sustained in
the death of President Garfield. It is cer-
tainly true that the protracted suferings
of the victim of assassination, and the
fluctuations in his condition which so NV
eted public attention upon his case, have
tended to intensity the general feeling of
sorrow at the melancholy end of such a
terrible trial. But it must be realized
that what above all else fascinated the
better nature of the world, as it watched
that sick-bed, was the noble patience and
pathetic endurance Of the sufferer. Per.
haps it has been given to all of US to know
more of James Garfeld's true character
during this period of painful suspense and
fear than we should ever have learned in
any other way and the revelation has
been of kind to confirm the assurance
that he was one of those rare characters
which are distinguished as great men. And
it is the realization of his worth and excel
lence-the feeling that mankind have suf-
fered distinct bereavement in his death
which has added so much warmth and en-
phasis to the expressions of regret and
sympathy SO generously poured upon us
from the Old World.
1t is customary, when such misfortunes
befall country, to seek consolation in the
conventional assertion that no individual is
necessary to nation. This has already
been said Of President Garfield. There is
certain amount of truth in it. It is true,
for example, that the death of no man,
however great or useful, can stop the
wheels OF government constituted as ours
is. Nor can it check the operations of COM
merce, or the ordinary transactions Of
everyday life. We eat and drink, and buy
and sell, and marry and bury, no matter
what happens. II half the existing popu-
lation of the globe were TO be destroyed to-
day by some tremendous cataclysm, the
other half would need and seek their
breakfasts tomorrow notwithstanding.
Viewed in this light it is therefore true that
the death of President Garfield cannot ma
terially affect the country. But when this
is said very little is said For if this dead
ruler was what all the world declares him
to have been; if he was man of excep-
tional nobility, force, and power; if he
was statesman and a patriot, man of
genius and born leader of his people !;
then assuredly the country has suffered in
his death not alone a positive and profound
loss, but loss which cannot in the nature
of the case be compensated.
The grief of the world when such man
is taken away in the fullness OF his power
and usefulness denotes consciousness of
the reality and extent of the disaster which
utterly bellies the cheap and delusive con.
ISOLATION sought in such half-truths as we
have been examining, The solemn and
sad fact is that for such loss there exists
no redress. The death of q man like Pres
ident Garfield is not in any true sense a
matter of small moment or passing signif.
canoe. 1t is not possible to supply his
place. 1t is not possible for any other man
to take up the policy which he has laid
down, and carry it ont as he would have
done. We shall get on somehow. no
doubt, because We must get on. We shall
make use of such substitutes az we can
utilize. because we cannot pause. But
we shall feel the loss Of Garfield not only
to day, but for years to come, and gener-
alton hence those who remain will be able
to look back and estimate with some ap-
prosch to precision the extent of the in
jury done to the nation by his violent tax
ing of.
Rage against the thought as we may, the
wretched Guiteau has by his puny finger
changed the course of American history,
and entailed upon this great Republic evils
whose full scope we cannot now realize.
We may attempt to deceive ourselves by
imagining that in some vague way that
which we desire will come to pass. But
we have before US sad illustration of the
futility of mere desires. Surely there never
was case in which more general and
sustained solicitation assembled to Heaven
than in this of President Garfield. Yet
there he lies under the rotunda of the Cap.
itol silent witness to the passionless in.
exorability of Nature. The instinct which
taught us that if he lived he would protect
us from many evil things, and procure for
US many good things, was after all true
one. Whatever he would have done has
gone with his life. 1t stands no longer be.
tween those who believed in him and the
objects of their apprehension. The great
and beneficent influence which he welded,
and which was increasing steadily to the
last, has vanished. That potent factor in
cur politics, in our national morals and our
national life, has been eliminated. And
this is in effect destruction of moral capt.
tai which can only be characterized as an
absolute and irreparable loss.
Let no man, therefore, pretend that we
shall soon recover from this afiiictiou, or
that we shall soon cease to feel the i'll
effects of the bereavement. The United
States have lost one of their most power
full benefcent influences. They are de.
prived Of leader of reform at most
critical juncture. The army whose CON-
mander is stricken down on the eve of battle
may still meet the enemy, but it will feel
the absence of the skilled brain, the
experienced judgment, the electric In
sight, the inspiring enthusiasm of its lost
leader, and its efforts will be the more ar
duous and its achievements theA more pain
ful and slow, because of this loss. Presi-
dent Garfield is dead, and we have no
other Garfield.
TIE MEDICAL Aspects OF THE GASP.
The relations of medical science to dis
ease were teEsely illustrated by cynical
writer as follows mature and Disease
''are struggling for the mastery, when
"along comes Blind Man with Club.
ssThe Blind Man is the Doctor" He may