National Republican., 1883-07-19
A nnisv ofn Roformer,

rcss. of reform as an industry know that
among its loudeSt champions none have
achieved creator ronown than Mr.. Wharton
Barker, of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia
Press of Tuesday contained some extracts
from letters written by Mr.. Barker, and by
him furnished for publication. Coming as
they do from Mr.. Barker himself, they must
bc accepted as exhibiting tho proper
spirit of reform. If thoy had been written
by Mr.. James Mchanos, the celebrated Phil
adclphia machine boss with whom, as will be
seen below, Mr.. Barker consortcd for brief
season in the interest of reform, they might
appear to be tainted the least bit with the
sordid ways Of tho mere politician ; butwhcn
Mr. Barker consents to daily with decoit,\and
to put up little iobs,wc know that he Is doing
evil that good may come, and we suppress ill
stantly the indignation which begins to rise
within us at the confessions he makes.
Mr.. Barker intiuatcs that he is writing a
book or pamphlet all about his connection
with Gen. Garfields nomination. He "ad-
mitted" in his interview with the Press that
he had the entire management of the Garfield
interest at Chicago before and after the NOM
ination. "Thc oft-repeated charges" ho
added, that the late President Garfield was
not true to the Hon. John Sherman know
to be absolutely false. But as | some day
propose to write a history of the movement
which led to Garfields nomination and cleo
tion, l can to-day only produce n copy of
connected memoranda prepared by me cigh-
teen months ago, but never published
The connected memoranda" being fur
nishcd tho Press that journal furnishes an
abstract, from which we make few extracts.
1t says:
The memoranda referrel 10 comprise batch of
correspondence, forming o complete narrative of
the events that occurred prior to June, 1850.
These indicate almost concluSivcly that the move
mcut to bring Gen. Garfield to the front as the re-
publican candidate for the presidency had its ori
ginin Philadelphia, and was brought about ut the
suggestion and through the influence of Wharton
Barker The movement first manifested itself MS
cary May, 1879, in the editorial columns of the
Penn Monthly, n periodical controlled by Mr.. Bar.
ker. 1t was not until Dec, 90, 1879, however that
Mr.. Barker directly Opeu0d the question of Gen.
Gar1eld's possible candidacy. ON that date he ad-
dressed letter TO the general himself, and after
a personal conference with him, early in January,
lSS0, uctve steps were taken for immediate organ
izatiOn.
As Mr.. Barker had at the outset declared,
"the oft-repeated charges that the late
President Garfield was not true to the Hon
John Sherman know to be absolutely false,
he must expect us to go little slow in be-
lieving his story that "early in January
1880, active steps were taken for immediate
organization in Gen. Garfed's interest
EATER personal conference with him."
Under date of Feb. 2, 1850, Mr.. Barker
wrote to Gen. Garfield, stating among Other
things:
The opp osition to you here year or two since
was very great under the belief that you were
flee trader; but your letter to me, called out by
short article in the Tenn Monthly giving reasons
why Gen. Grant would not do und why you woulC
do, has changed the opposition into support. II
a word that letter Of yours stating how you be
| came member of tho Golden club, in my hand
and in those of such men us l saw lit to place ii
has worked the change.
The letter of Gen. Garfield here referred t.
appears to have been used by Mr.. Barkc
somewhat against the interests of Gen. Gar
fields candidate, but there is no evidenc
that its author intended it for any such use
We now come to an interesting chapter il
the history of Mr. Barker's political life ant
services. As Satan to Michael, evil to good
and reform to mere ordinary politics. so ha
been "Jem " McManes to Wharton Barker
1t was deemed immoral by the Barker schoo
composed, as it was, of the better class" t
"Jem" But we find that Mr.. Barker, o
April 10. addressed letter to the late Presi
dent, in which he said
At my Office, this morning, had a couierenc
with the Hon. Wayne McVeagh and Mr. Jam'
Mechanics, which bulive will result in publ
declaration on the part OF Mr., McManes, the who
Philadelphia delegation, and OF many countr
delegates TO the Chicago convention.
This move l am quite sure Will end the Graz
movement tho country over, and SO far VIII be
great gain; the move will at first aid Mr.. Blain
but believe understand how 10 move SO as
kin him, and at the Chicago convention / hoI
the nomination will go as we want to have 1t.
Hero VIC find "Jem" transformed into IN
James," and, sandwiched between those tw
eminent reformers, Wharton Barker and tn
Hon. Wayne Mcveagh, getting up a diver
sion in favor of Mr.. Blaine, which Mr.. BarkC
was confident no understood "how to moN
so as to kill him." lie claims to have wri
ten this to Gen. Garfield, as above quote,
winding up with tho words, ''and at I'll
Chicago convention l hope the nominate
will 90 as zoe want to havo it," In reply
this Gen. Garfield said:
1t is becoming every day more apparent tn
the friends of the leading presidential candidat
ure becoming omblucred against each other
such an extent that, whichever OF the three mt
be nominated. there would be much hostility
eelimg in the conduct of the campaign. 1t win
most unfortunate If we go into the contest hand
capped by the animosities OF the leading poll
ciuns.
| From this some would infer that Gen. Ga
, field feared that tho good of the party mig
render the defeat of Blaine, Sherman, al
Grant necessary, and that in such an eve
, he might be persuaded to relent to the soliC
tatiops of Barker, McManes & Co. The boi
between Mr. James McManes and Mr. Wht
ton Barker became so strong that on May