The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-07-25
The John Roach Failure.

There can be very little doubt that
the action of the Navy Department
in the matter of the Dolphin has
caused the failure of the firm of Roach
G. Son, and has thereby dealt a stag
gering blow to this branch Of the iron
trade. 1t should be a matter Of re-
gret to all right thinking people that
the shipping interests of the country
should have been so fatally damaged
Just at the time when the hopes of all
were turned toward the creation OF a
navy worthy of this republic, and
worthy to bear its flag upon the seas.
But the administration seems to have
gone into this question with its mind
already made up to crush the John
Roach shipyard. The rejection Of the
Dolphin was a foregOne conclusion.
1t mattered not what might have
been the performances of that ship,
severer tests would constantly have
been demanded. John Roach has
been the chosen target of all the abuse
and YillificatiOn Of the Democratic
mud-slingers. He has been lampoon-
ed and caricatured, and assaulted with
coarse brutality and bitter innuS ndO,
until there are many Democrats who
consider that no treatment can be too
cruel for him. The administration
has fostered this feeling, Its every
action in its relations to this ship
builder has been covert of open aC-
cusation. Its object has been to dis
grace the preceding Republican adj
ministration by assailing it through
John Roach. Its Naval Board was
organized to reject the Dolphin, not
to test her. 1t is not to be understood
by this that any instructions were
given, nor that any corrupt motive is
ascribed to any member of the board.
But we do mean to be understood
that the members of that board knew
that the rejection Of the Dolphin
would be more agreeable to the Sec
rotary Of the Navy than her accept
ance; and rejected she accordingly
was, and rejected she would have
been if the objections they made to
her had been removed.
What now is the outcome of this
insidiOus attack upon the Republican
administration over the shoulders of
John Roach? 1t is this; The giving
out of contract work by the govern
ment has become SO unsafe to the con-
tractors that hereafter the govern
ment will be the loser, as bidders will
since the opinion Of Attorney Gen.
eral Garland has become the law of
the administration-be very wary of
placing their business under the
blighting hand of the government.
That is serious loss to the whole
people. Contract work will, at least,
be more expensive, for contractors
will have to indemnify themselves
against government tyranny, and
make their bids prOportionately high
er. A second loss is that the business
of iron ship building has been seri-
0usly damaged and will not recover
for years. A third loss is that the
government has broken the heart of
an old man and driven him into ruin.
This is loss not to John Roach alone,
but to the country. Our republic cam
not afford to be unjust and despotic
in its cruelty to an aged mechanic
who had built up a great business
that employed twenty, eight hundred
men. John Roach is oyer seventy
years old. He began life as a COM
mon laborer. He worked his way
up in life by his intelligence, his force
of will and his solidity Of character
He is one of the proofs of the worth
of our political Institutions. Amer
leans have reason to be proud Of a
civilization in which such a career as
his has been should be possible, and
they have reason to blush for those
of this administration who could
make the ruin of such a man a di.
rect and immediate object. BoHO
american.