Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-08-23
The Origin Of the Republican Scandals

dals which have made the Republican
party both odorous and odious. owe
their exposure to Republican jealousies
and quarrels. Usually it is the opposing
| party that does the exposing, but in this
| instance the Democrats have been
| spared the trouble, their antagonists
taking it upon themselves, and display
| ing the soiled linen of the family to an
astonished and disguised public with as
much nonchalance as if it were white as
| the driven snow and sweet as the bed of
roses. All that Democrats have had
| to do has been to hold their noses, open
| their eyes. and make the most of the
| political advantage thus gratuitously
| bestowed. As far back as 1861. when
the war had just begun, Secretary Cam
eron was suddenly invited to leave the
Lincoln Cabinet, for reasons not then
! specified. But it soon leaked out that
| the veteran Pennsylvania statesman had
been improving his opportunities
rather more vigorously and exclusively
than other statesmen of his party,
| equally hungry for spoils, thought fair,
and that in his greed for, contracts he
| had omitted to grease" those who
needed greasing in order to stop
their mouths. So the Cameronian
| scandal crept into the light of day,
| the first in a long line of such, but
considerably smaller and less infamous
| than the ma Ority of its notorious sue
ccsSors. The systematic stealing which
was a familiar feature in military and
| naval affairs from 1861 to 1866 seldom
escaped the eternal vigilance of Repub-
licans who failed to get their share, and
the would-be thieves, unless meanwhile
silenced by judicious application of
hush-money, fastened to expose the
| real thieves and demand their punish
ment And so it has been ever since.
Take the immortal whisky ring as an
illustration. If the ringsters, who were
all Republicans, of course. had not in
sisted upon making their conspiracy to
rob the Government a very close cor
poration, it might have remained unre,
vealed much longer than it did. But
Republican outsiders. no more honest
than the insiders, determined that if
they could not have cash they would
have revenge, and SO gave Bristow the
points he worked up-not as they ought
to have been, but as well as he could
with the combined forces of the ring
and a Republican acknowledgements
him. Belknap's dealings in Indian agen-
| cies and traderships, which hustled
him out of Grants Cabinet, and
came near bringing his impeachment,
were first proclaimed by certain Repub
licans who wanted agencies or trader
ships for themselves or their friends
and did not get them, therefore pro-
ceeded to ''get even by denouncing
the too monopolizing Belknap. "Laun-
delet'' Williams was slaughtered in the
same way and for the same reason, and
if Robson had been as generous in his
division of the plumber as he was i'm
pudent in acquiring it half his doings
might have gone down to posterity IN
much better shape. The ineffable in
famies of Republican reconstruction
would not have been fixed in history
half as firmly as they are if the white
and black Republican rogues in the
South had not quarrelled over the pro-
ceeds of their roguery and told on each
other. fevery carpet-bagger could have
been United States Senator, Governor,
or State Treasurer, and every negro
could have had all the land and
mules he wanted, the Republican per-
formances in Southern States during
that dismal period would not be as well
and widely known as they are. And if
tHt flSlllit2 SbdtCSIlItII
and returning who cheated the
American people out of their fairly elect
ed President. had not been emhittered by
browning Republican crime would not
be as clearly set forth as it is for the
eXecration of future ages. If there had
been enough of the Star-route ''slush
to 90 round the circle of Republican
politicians the -Star-route swindle might
still be on its legs, and if Dorsey and
Brady had not been dragged into court
by disappointed Republicans we might
never have known how Garfield obtained
the Republican nomination, how the
100000 Republican campaign fund
was raised, and how the Republicans
carried Indiana in 1880. And if Repub-
lican Malone had admitted Republican
Dezendorf to an equal partnership in
the distribution of Federal offices, does
anybody suppose that Dezendorf would !
have told how Republican voters were |
manufactured at the Norfolk Navy Yard,
and how much it cost to repair" the
Pinta?
The cases we have presented, though |
not one-tenth of the whole number, are
sufficient to show that Republican ras-
calities have been proved by the testi-
mony of Republican witnesses-the wit
nesses being, SO far as intention is con-
cerned, as bad as the criminals and I
that in no instance does the proof of |
these rascalities depend upon Demo-
cratic testimony. We may, therefore, /
with utmost propriety call the Repubh-
can party a self-conyicted party: and
if, with such self-convction before
them, the people do not furnish proper
condemnation at the polls next year
then they deserve to be saddled, bridled |
and ridden by Republican rascals to
the end of time.-St. Louis Republican.
s - G. = ~ i
Out With the Rascals!
There are thousands of honorable
Renuhlicans in New York and other