Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-12-16
p,seRAcEFuL CONDUCT.

DiSGRACEFUI CONDUCT.
a Newspaper Organ Twists the Presi-
dents Kindly Tribute to the Memory
of His Predecessor in Once Into an
Unconscious Endorsement OF the Re-
publican Party.
The warm expressions of esteem and
admiration for the late President Ar
thur which have appeared in Demo
cratic and Republican newspapers
alike, or have fallen from the lips of
preachers and statesmen, without re-
gard to politics, testify to the broad,
generous, kindly spirit that fills the
American heart In the presence of
death. There Is not public man
around whose bier words might not
be dropped or memories evoked that
would jar ON the hearts of the
mourners- There is not even D per-
sonal friend or relative at whose death
some unpleasant Renaissance might
not be recalled from the past. Bat, by
common consent. all such unpleasant
thoughts are banished on the day of
mourning, and only the virtues and
noble qualities of the deceased are re-
membered. When General Grant died
and from every Democratic paper
throughout the land came the most
touching and beautiful tributes, when
the Nation was in mourning and the
South seemed to be as deeply affected
as the North, did any of those papers
recall the days of reconstruction and
the saturnalia of peculation in Wash
ington during the Presidential Admin
istrations of the great soldier? No;
they spoke only of that part of his
career that will shine with undimin-
ished luster on the pages of history.
when the Shepherds, Beiknaps, Bah
cocks and Robesons will be forgotten.
In the same manner the many grand
and ennobling traits of President Ar
thurs character have been put forward
in bold relief, as they deserved, and no
illusions were made to any political
episodes which might disturb the har-
mony of grief 1t remained for the
New York Tribune, a paper TO whose
blind, stupid partisanship nothing is
sacred, to profane the occasion of the
funeral of President Arthur, and desc
crate the sanctity of the especial day of
mourning, by a fling at President
Cleveland and the Democratic party
over the remains of the lamented Re-
publican leader 1t would seem as if
The term ''ghoulish glee" was partic-
ularly adapted to this case. The elo-
quent tribute paid by President Cleve-
land to the memory of the deceased in
his admirable proclamation is eagerly
seized by the ghoulish Tribune for the
purpose of partisan capital. 1t seeks
to distort the expression The performed
the duties of his Office with dignity and
ability so as to make a certificate of
character for the Republican party in
general and to cloak the rascalities of
Republican officials for years past. 1t
has the hardihood to say the following:
But since this is the truth, what were Pres-
asserted. in 1854, that the public service was
honeycombed with fraud and rotten from
end to endr We're they telling the truth
when they declared that President Arthur
suffered the Government to be robbed bv
Secretary Chandler in the conduct of the
Navy Department. and by Secretary Teller
in the conduct of the Interior Department?
Were they telling the truth when they charged
that the Treasury Department was admins
tered for the benefit of bankers and rich OPP
orators, and that the people were swindied
out of millions through its management?
We're they telling the truth when they affirmed
that these and other departments at Wash.
Ington were crowded with worthless pen
that the rascals filed public places and that
the rights and interests of the people were
not regarded? 1t comes to this. that they
were living, or else President Cleveland has
uttered complimentary words which he knew
to be untrue
According to the Tribune's code of
ethics. no expression of esteem for the
dead is permissible without being at
tended with plain, unvarnished state
ment of the shortcomings of every one |
officially connected with the person to
whose memory the expression is Of |
fered as tribute. Pursuing this theory, |
it would have been necessary for Pres |
Tinra1oYd hn nft bnl
death of General Grant, to have quail |
fed his remarks by illusions to the |
carpet-bag governments of the South |
during the days of reconstruction. to |
Babcock, Belknap and Robson. to the |
Credit Mobilier and District of Column |
bia frauds, and other subjects of like |
unpleasant nature. What would the |
American people have thought of the |
application of the I5ibune's theory? |
Such despieable attempt on |
the part of the Tribune to |
whitewash the rascals of its party |
at the grave of an illustrious citizen |
must cause a feeling of disgust and |
contempt in the breast of every Amer |
lean. What President CIeveland's |
supporters asserted in 1884 has been |
found not only true, but only a faint |
estimate of to real condition of affairs. |
The opening of the books has opened |
the eyes of the American people to the
shameless character of Republican |
government The books showed that |
when the present Administration went |
into power there were nearly 0,000,- |
600 deficiencies due the. Government |
under Republican rule, that millions |
were squandered in. the Navy Depart |
ment without giving the country a |
navy. that the, public domain was
wasted on corporations and favorites, |
that the treasury was being drained by
all sorts of raseals. from deputy mar
shals to colossal rings. and that the |
Pension Office was made an election |
eering bureau. The shameful story has |
been told before in those columns how |
the public service, under Republican |
administration, was honeycombed with |
fraud and rotten from end to end.
But because President Cleveland |
paid a graceful tribute to the memory |
of his immediate predecessor, the Iri- |
bune would have Ii that he testified to |
the purity of the entire Republican |
party. What must the friends of Pres |
ident Arthur. and, indeed, all fair |
minded people, think of this exhibition /
of .-ghoulish glee" on the part of Mr.. |
BIaine's organa Perhaps the Tribune |
forgets the savage and brutal attacks /
it made ON the dead President at. the |
time of the Garfield tragedy. when. it |
classed him with Guiteau. The Ameri- I
can people do not forgot them. 1t |
NAV apfeayor In nae the kindly words [