Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-08-22
A SCORCHER.
The Massachusetts, Indepen-
dents Roast Mr.. Blaine
On The Gridir0n of MercileSS
Logic and Fact.

The approaching presidential cleo
tlon presents an issue which cannot
be evaded. For the first time in the
history of our country we are brought
face to face with the question whether
the president of the United States shall
oe an honest man. The character of
the contest was understood clearly by
Henry Cabot Lodge, when he said to
the Massachusetts, republican conven-
ton in May last:
The people will look above the platform at the
candidate whom we place upon it. The character
of our candidate is the only sure pledge we can
give Of the sincerity and rectitude OF eur iuteu-
tons. The political condition of the country is
such that the character of the candidates will
have more To do with the result of the election
than has been the case for many years The
people demand only that we shall nominate a
candidate OF unblemiShed character, sound and
honest principles, and one capable Of cordially
uniting all republicans in earnest support Of the
common cause.
The man whom the people demand
ed, and had right to demand, was
we'll described when John D. Long,
Massachusetts, delegate, said at Chi
cago:
He must be a man whose tried incorruptibity,
whose walk through the storms and fires OF public
life whose recognized capacity TO put
firm and safe hand upon the helm, have hold
upon the public confidence. He must be one wha
will stand for whatever has been honest and of
good report i'll our national history, and,
above all, he must be one whose name will carry
i'll the coming canvass that sense Of security 10
which at each presidential election the country
turns, as TO a very rock of salvation.
We say that the candidate of the
republican party is not such a man,
and that we will not vote for him.
We are told that the past of that
party is glorious, and that we are
therefore bound to support its candi-
date to day. We yield to none in our
pride at its great achievements or in
our devotion toits principles, but when
the lesson of its past is forgotten and
is principles are abandoned, its name
alone cannot command our allegiance.
The question is not what the repub
lican party has done, but what 1t will
do; not what it was, but what it is;
not whether Lincoln, and Seward,
and Sumner, and Andrew, and Stan
ton, and Fessenden were great men
and great leaders. but whether Blaine,
and Keifer, and Elkins, and Kellogg
are men to whom we can safely con-
fide the future of our country,
For many years corruption IN high
office has been conspicuous. 1t has
shown itself in every department OF
the public service. We have seen a
vice president driven into private life
by proved personal dishonesty: a sec
retary of war impeached for participa
ton in felony; a secretary of the navy
charged with corrupt practices, and
leaving office under cloud of suspl-
clon, only to appear as republican
leader in the house of representatives;
a secretary of the interior forced from
his office by charges affecting his per-
sonal and official character; an att0r-
ney general compromised by
evidence of petty fraud.
We have not forgotten Colfax
and Belknap and Robson and
Delano and Williams. In the treas
ury department we have seen promi
nent officers implicated in "Sanborn
contracts" and suspected of compile
ity in the gigantic conspiracy to de-
fraud the revenue, known as the
"whiskey ring" and the private sec
retary of the president indicted as
conspirator, while the minister who
sought to punish the criminals was
dismissed from office. In the pOstof-
fee department, we have Seen an as
sistart secretary conspiring with sea-
ators of the United States in star
route" frauds, and the conspirators
boldly defying the government, which
was powerless to secure justice in its
own capital city. We have seen the
prosecution of these offenders de-
noupced with unsparing abuse by the
man whom the republican party sought
for six weeks to make secretary of the
senate, while the national republican
committee retained as its secretary the
most conspicuous of the accused, and
the counsel of the United States con-
suited cabinet ministers as to the effect
on the party of indicting senator.
We have seen the last republican
speaker disgraced by proof that he
had shamcfully abused his appointing
power, and in face of this evidence,
which has destroyed the confidence of
his constituents, again the chosen can
didate of the republican party for the
same high office. In the signal ser
vice we have seen a superintendent,
in the treasury department chief
clerk. and IN other departments trust
ed officers guilty of stealing the pub
lie money. We have seen the guilty
protected, but we have yet to see them
punished.
We have seen the whole patronage
of the federal government used openly
to support a leader in Virginia whose
principle is reputation, and whose
methods violate every rule of political
morality. We have seen the public
business neglected. the reform of the
civil service sneered at, and political
assessments levied in defiance of party
promises and public opinion, until the
wave of popular Indignation forced a
reluctant congress to inaugurate re-
form. The evils of debased currency
have been disregarded; our navy is
monument of maladministration; and
the surplus. with all its temptations to
extravaganza, remains substantially
undiminished.
Finally, we have seen the republican
party relying for its continuance In
power not on It's own achievements,
but on the mistakes of its opponents,
and we have seeU its leaders not seek
ing to prevent, but to encourage
the mistakes, in order that thereby,
at their country's expense, they might
be furnished with arguments for their
own continuance in power.
We have seen all these things, and
have been told that the party must be
reformed from within; that our rem
edy lay IN Its caucuscs and conven-
tions. For years we have yielded TO
this advice, and have struggled against
the men who have sought to use the
party for base personal ends. At
times we have thought them beaten.
and hoped that the party which was
once so great might emancipate itself
from the control Of the men who had
degraded it and assert its original
character. Instead. We now see these
men promoted and their influence in
creased, while, under their inspiration,
the party turns its back upon its prin-
ciples, and In place Of declaring in
clear words its policy on questions of
the day. by equivoca1 declarations and
unmanly appeals to pr juIice seeks TO