Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-02-01
Republicans and the Spells.

Many Republican Civil-Service re-
formers who are Republicans first and
Civil-Service reformers afterwards have
tried to persuade themselves and other
people that if President Garfield had
lived fatal blow would somehow have
been struck at the spoils system. In
point of fact, there never was a Presi-
dent who took office. not even except
ing Mr.. Rutherford Hayes who was not
elected President, who was more COM
pletely incapacitated than Garfield from
attacking the spoils system or reform
ing anything. Hayes paid the people
who helped thimblerig him intothe pos
session of an Office to which he was not
chosen by giving them offices. But Car
field would have had to do and did do
precisely the same thing by the people
who gave time or money to elect him.
1t is as much an axiom in economic
''politics" as in political economy that
man can only pay with what he has,
And Garfield had only the appointing
power and the pardoning power with
which to pay his political debts. Gar
fields letter to ''dear Hubbelr' about
Brady was as distinct pledge as the
nature of the case admitted, that if
Brady subscribed literally of money
pected that Brady had stolen from the
Treasury, Garfield would see that he was
not molested on account of the stealing.
And the whole tenor of Garfield's COR
respondence with Dorsey. who was SIM
iiarly under suspicion. shows, now that
the Hortd has brought it into the day
light, how perfectly preposterous would
have been the subsequent appear
ance of Garfield as the prosecutor
of Dorsey or as a director of the
prosecution. Garfield in fact gave GER
tificates of honesty to Dorsey and Brady
before he was inaugurated in return for
their contributions to his election. Paint
an inch thick and you will not cover this
fact. Throughout the whole cores
pondence this notion of the relation of
the victors to the spoils is always as
sumed as fact not to be questioned,
except by the persons whom Garfield
describes as ''our Independent allies"
and whom he did not wish to ALLEVIATE
by com NO on openly to New York to
arrange the trading of the reversion of
public offices for money to be used in
his canvass. Mr.. L. p. Morton appears
as one of the chief contributors to the
Garfield canvass. He was entitled
under the spoils system to a reward,
anu he SOt IL. MT MORTON mas maze u
a very good Minister to France. though
Blaine, whom he helped in his dis
tress,' did turn upon and try to snub
him. But the readers of the Garfield
correspondence will be inclined to be-
lieve that Mr. Morton paid more for the
French mission than the French mission
was worth. Still, if Mr.. Morton was
willing to pay a fancy price for the
French mission, he had, under the spoils
system, as good a right to 1t as to any
other piece of bric-a-brac to which he
had taken a fancy and for which he
it must not Re e. pretended pet i That a Presi.
dent who dealt in blank pardons and
foreign missions for money advanced to
elect him was engaged in '.crusade'
against the spoils system. or that il he
had lived he would have done anything
whatever except to utter generalities in
behalf of Civil-service Relorm.-M. I.
World.