New-York tribune., 1886-02-24
A F.iIAL DtIEN CE.

a RI LAD DFI I-NCf.
The President has advanced to lofty
position of nOn-partisan reform, and win some
difficulty mas dragged his party up after mm'
and now the Republican Senators demand thal
he shall descend to their low level, ana aGlnlt
that ne has made appointments Tor pOil'cdl
reasons, or they viii no. confirm the men ap
pointed This is the version OF the matter
gwen by lie Washington Post IN solemn
article which smells If the Nhlle House. MS
article begins by asserting that the Senate re-
mort bnngs To a square and tangible issue one
"of the most interesting, important and 1ai-
@reaching questions ever submitted to the
aiudgmeut of the American people" what Is
the question 50 solemnly introduced Whether
the President shall hide from the daylight the
dirty slauders which have been secretly used as
pretexts for turning Out publican OlilclalS ol
uuquestoned rit and integrity.
Why should he not make public any good
reasons that we've Known to HIM Tor removals
madef With all its inspired zeal, Inc HdSh-
iuGtOn OSt can give no excuse, nor can any
BODY else, except the obvious one that the re-
movas had been for partisan reasons. Every
one can see that the President would be III
haste to make public any other ju~ttcatl0n Tor
his action. Even The Washington Post, blinded
by its zeal to the effect of It's own admissions,
makes it clear that the President can give no
reason for his removals except a desire to make
places for Democrats, for ii the wicked ke-
publicans could compel hun TO give his reasons,
il admits. they would force HIN downward
and backward to the old plane Of the spolls
svstemn How on earth could he be forced to
that plane by avOwing his reasons, if those
reasons were not purely and grossly partisan
WHAT the Republicans are doing, and in II
great measure have Already uOne, is simply
stripping the mask from hypocrisy. The Presi-
dent could not he forced" back TO the old
spoils system in public estlm0tion II he had not
ii st gone back to the old spOiIs system IN his
action. He has made hundreds of removals and
suspensions purely for partisan reasons, and is
utterly unable tO give any otner. Because he
has acted as a spOs partisan, the exposure OF
his action does tend to place him on that low
level in public estimation. Naturally 1t is not
pleasant to him to have his acts contrasied with
his pledges Naturally his partisans dislike to
have tue mask of hypocrisy removed. They
would like to go ON indefinitely, getting re-
movas and appointments from the PRESIDENT
for partisan reasons only, ana yet pretending
that he is a lofty and pure reformer who never
does any such thing. But cant does not go
down long 10 this country, aud If there Is any
thing the people despse, it is a sham.
1t does not seem TO occur to the President or
his ap0logists, inspired OF uninspired, that his
predicament is exactly the same whether he
gives reasons or refuses All the world sees
that refusal is confession of the only reason
that he dares not give. IL would help him IN
finitey if he could say, Every removal was
justified by evidence that the person removed
was unit The President cannot say that; 1t
would cover him with disgrace. 1t would help
him much if he could say, "Such removals were
made upon charges affecting official charac-
ter, for which this or that Senator or Repre-
sentative is responsible" The President does
not dare to uncover the men at whose bidding
he has acted it would put an end to all pre-
tences of reform if he should show that he had
been a puppet in the hands OF such men as
Hubert o. Thompson and German. Every door
of excuse is closed to him he can only tell the
naked truth if he answers at all, namely, that
he has chosen to remove Republicans because
they were Republicans and to appoint Demo-
cratic party workers because they had been and
in future could be useful to the party. But the
country knows that is the truth If he does not
reply at all, because he has no other reply to
give. IL was not in the power OF anybody to
put him into this predicament. He is there be-
cause he chose to put himself there.