Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-03-08

Mr. Blaine, after speaking at length
of the ancestry and youth of Garfield,
went on to describe his military career
and services in congress. He claimed
for him that he was successful soldier
and a brilliant parliamentary orator
though not political leader. He then
spoke briefly of his candidacy for the
Presidency, and concluded by review
ing his policy as President with an al
lusion to his religious belief and the
closing scenes of his life. The follow
ing is verbatim report of the con-
Guiding portion of the address:
".'In the beginning of his Presidential
life Garfeld's experience did not yield
him pleasure or satisfaction. The
duties that engross so large a portion
of the Presidents time were distaste-
full to him, and were unfavorably con-
trasted with his legislative work. Il
have been dealing all these years with
ideas he impatiently exclaimed one
day, and here am dealing only with
persons. l have been heretofore treat
ing of the fundamental principles of
government and here l am considering
all day whether A or B shall be ap-
pointed to this or that Office He was
earnestly seeking some practical way
of correcting the evils arising from the
distribution of overgrown and un-
wieldly patronage-evils always ap-
preciated and often discussed by him,
but whose magnitude had been more
deeply impressed upon his mind since
his accession to the Presidency. Had
he lived a comprehensive improvement
in the mode of appointment and in the
tenure of Office would have been pro-
posed by him, and with the aid of con-
gress no doubt perfected.
But, while many of the executive
duties were not grateful to him, he
was assiduous and conscientious in
their discharge From the very out
set he exhibited administrative talent
of high order. He grasped the helm
of Office with the hand of master. In
this respect indeed he constantly sur
prised many who were most intimately
associated with him in the government,
and especially those who feared that
he might be lacking in the executive
faculty. His disposition of business
was orderly and rapid His power of
analysis, and his skill in classification,
enabled him to dispatch vast mass of
detail with singular promptness and
ease. His cabinet meetings were ad-
mirably conducted. His clear presen-
tation of official subjects, his well con-
sidered suggestion of topics on which
discussion was invited, his quick de-
cision when all had been heard, COM
bined to show thoroughness of men,
tai training as rare as his natural abili-
ty and his facile adaptation to a new
and enlarged field of labor.
With perfect comprehension of all
the inheriiances of the war, with a
cool calculation of the obstacles in his
way, impelled always by generous
enthusiasm, Garfield conceived that
much might be done by his admins
tration towards restoring harmony be-
tween the different sections of the
Union. He was anxious to go south
and speak to the people. AS early as
April he had Intellectually endeavored
to arrange for trip to Nashville,
whittier he had been cordially invited,
and he was again disappointed few
weeks later to find that he could not
go TO South Carolina to attend the
centennial celebration of the victory of
the Cowpens. But for the autumn he
definitely counted On being present at
the three memorable assemblies in the
south, the celebration at Yorktown,
the opening of the cotton exposition at
Atlanta, and the meeting of the army
of the Cumberland at Chattanooga.
He was already turning over in his mind
his address for each occasion, and the
three taken together, he said to a
friend, gave him the exact scope and
verge which he needed. At York
town he would have before him the
associations of one hundred years ago
that bound the south and the north in
the sacred memory ofa common danger
and common victory. At Atlanta
he would present the material interests
and the industrial development which
appealed to the thrift and the independ-
ence of every househonld, and which
should unite the two sections by the
instinct of self-interest and self-defense
At Chattanooga he would revive
memories of the war only to show that
after all its disaster and all its suffer-
ing, the country was stronger and
greater, the Union rendered indissolu-
BILE, and the future, through the agony
and blood of one generation, made
brighter and better for all.
Gar6eld's ambition for the success
of his administration was high. With
strong caution and conservatism in his
nature, he was in no danger ofattempt-
ing rash experiments or of resorting to
the empiricism of craftsmanship. But
he believed that renewed and closer at
tention should be given to questions
affecting the material interests and
commercial prospects of fifty millions
of people He believed that our con-
tinental relations, extensive and unde-
veloped as they are, involved respon-
sibility, and could be cultivated into
profitable friendship or be abandoned
to harmful indifference or lasting en-
nifty. He believed with equal conf
dence that an essential forerunner to q
new era of national progress must be q
feeling of contentment in every Sec
tion Of the Union, and generous be-
lief that the benefits and burdens of
government would be common to all.
Himself conspicuous illustration of
what ability and ambition may do un-
der republican institutions, he loved
his country with passion of patriotic
devotion, and every waking thought
was given to her advancement. He
was an American in all his aspirations,
and he looked to the destiny and in
fluence of the United States with the
philosOphic cOmDOSure of Jefferson and