The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-09-04
The Record Of Four Years.

and versatile man, but he has done
nothing in the course of a long public
service TO establish a claim TO states
manShip. He is believed 10 be dishon-
est, he is known to be tricky, and there
is every reason to fear that he would
| prove whimsical and uncertain, if not
corrupt President Logan was good
| soldier, but he has been very poor Sen
ator. The Republicans, there. ore, must
make their canvass on the record of
their party, and the most important
part of that record for the purposes of
the present campaign should be the last
| four years. The organization has no
right to appeal to the people for approx
al unless it has done well since they last
approved of it. What are the facts?
The Secretary of the Republican Nation
al Committee has virtually confessed
! that the State of Indiana, the pivotal
| point in the Presidential canvass of
1880, was carried by the corrupt ue of
money in that year. At banquet in
| honor Of that gentleman in New York,
where the chief men of the party were
assembled, he was praisel for the skill
which he had displayed in bringing to
pass the unexpected in In LLAMA. and
/ the fact that he had won success by
bribery was openly acknowledged
and treated as matter of
| gloufication. Vice-President Arthur
himself made a speech in which he
! TESTED about Dorsey's achievements
through the liberal use of soap" No
sooner was President Garfield inaugu-
rated than it was discovered that huge
| Of fraud bod ~,
| during the previous Republican Admin
istration, and measures were taken to
bring the rogues who were responsible
| for it to Justice. Chief among them
was the Secretary Of the Republican
/ National committee, who had been
| feted as the savior of the party. and
! he not unnaturally looked for immunity
/ for himself and his associates from the
/ officials who were the beneliciaries of
I these frauds. Even long before Gar
/ field entered upon his duties as Prasi-
dent fierce quarrel had broken out
/ over the distribution OF the spoils, and
a.ter his Inauguration the quarrel grew
more bitter day by day. One faction
/ OF Repu rlicans, the leader of which
was the present Republican candidate
/ for the Presidency. claimed the CON
: troll of the Federal patronage as their
/ prerogative; the other faction, at the
; head of which was Roscoe CUnklng,
/ claimed a right to a share OF the Fed
/ eral patronage on the ground that it
/ had been solemnly promised to them to
! secure their active support during the
Presidential canvass. The quarrel grew
/ 50 fast and furious that Conkling and
: hiS ,.ntiao 10 IT,,ito1
I ate resigned and appealed to the Legis-
! lature of New York for an approval of
/ their course Ivy reelection. The most
/ shameless contest in the annals of our
! State enSued. The Fice-President ap-
! peared in the lobby of the Capitol;
there were scar ely concealed attempts
! at bribery; and 10 crown all the defeat
of one of the candidates was brought
1 about by one of those scandalouS de-
vices to which Republican politicians
/ generally resort as desperate remedy.
/ Before the contest was brought To Il
/ close the evil excitement which it kin
/ died had prompted disappo nted Of
( fice-seeker to murder President Garfield.
/ His Administration had been marked
/ by a series of disgraceful appoint
ments, some Of which were clearly the
/ result of pre- election bargains. Among
/ the worst of these was the selection OF
! Stanley Matthews for the Supreme
! Court. OF two serious tasks which de-
vOlved upon Garfield and his Cabinet,
one, the punishment OF the Star-route
thieves, was begun with zeal but carried
on colby; the other, the vindication of
the rights of American citizens impris-
oned without trial in ireland, was
/ Shamefully neglected. In eNtenuation
it may be said that the wounding of
! President Garfield and his long and
lingering illness prevented any serious
devotion to public business for time
/ on the part of Federal officials. The
J Administration of President Arthur took
/ up the task of furnishing the Star-route
( thieves and make a costly and ignomini-
/ Gus failure; it took up the task of pro-
/ tectinG American citizens abroad and
/ achieved at least measurable success.
/ Those imprisoned under the Coercion act
of March. 1881, were liberated a short
| time before the act expired by l.mita-
/ ton. So far as known the Administra-
! ton has been honest and decent in the
conduct of ordinary official business,
/ and the appointments under it have
been in the main crediAlbie. The great
/ est scandal outside of the failure OF the
prosecution of Dorsey and his comrades
was the attempt TO secure polical con-
troll of this State for the Admin ,Stra-
/ ton by the election of a Cabinet officer
as Governor. In that scheme the Stall
/ warts Got possession of the Republican
State Convention at Saratoga by fraud
and nominated Folger. The result was
a salutary defeat of the Republican
party all along the line, which brought
about 4 revision of the tariff that the
Republicans in 1880 had declared it
sacrilege to NEEDLE with, and the pass
age of the Civil service law which is
now happily in operation. We say
confidently that it would be diff
cult to find anywhere so disgraccful
a record for the space of four years. 1t
covers bribery at the ballot-boX, bribery
in the Legislature, boasting openly of
corruption, bargains in regard TO the
spoilS, quarrelS about the fultillment of
these bargains, employment of feminine
decoys ami spying through hotel iran
SONS, neglect of public duty, misman-
agement, collision with criminals, for
gerry for political ends and assassina-
ton. We say that on such record it
is shameless impudence for the Repub-
lican party to ask the people to elect
its candidates. Some little conscious
ness of the weakness of their case is
manifest in the fact that the Republic
an leaders did not dare to put forward
tie head of the Adm nistratiOn for cleo
ton, though he is a purer man than
Blaine and less responsible Tor the