Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-09-05


criminal grace which rObs criticism Of
Its sharpest arrows, and brings tears
from good men oftener than blows. But
let US assume that those who present
the case i'm this milder form are mis-
taken, and that Senator Payne is just as
guilty, morally, as even Mr.. Halstead
his nomination from the legislative
caucus and paid for 1t with his own
money.
Then, in that case. how much worse
is he than Gov. Foraker, who. under
his official oath, permits men in the
public service to abandon their regular
duties and, while drawing salaries from
the public treasury, devote sixteen
hours out of the twenty-four to run
ming the party machine! Whose mon
ey Is spent in this case? The states.
Is 1t worse to spend ones own money
to secure an Office than that Of Others?
think not.
BUTT may be asked, does Foraker
permit this? answer he not only per-
mits II, but directs II. Cappeller, the
railroad commissioner; Doane, state
librarian; KurtZ, private secretary, all
appointees of the governor, aud all
charged by law with the performance
OF important duties, for months at a
stretch have done little else than labor
to perpetuate their superior and them
selves In Office, and they have done 1t
at the expense of the Taxpayers of the
state. KS t.t I
When, under Governor Hayes, Cap.
tain Wikoff was selected as the chair
man Of the Republican state executive
committee, his resignation as adjutant
general was Immediately rendered, ac-
cepted. and his name stricken from the
states payroll. Hayes had his faults
bu. he knew what honesty and decent
respect for the opinions of mankind re-
quired. He would neither steal him
self nor appoint his appointees to do so
by taking pay from the whole people
while rendering party service, and seek
ing tn promote their own private in
terest.
But, is this all? No, 1t is not even a
suggestion of the extent to which all
recognized rules of the civil service |
have been trampled under foot in Ohio.
An army of appointees have been Sc
lected by Foraker, not for the public |
good, but for personal ends. Cox, who |
holds the richest office the governor has |
to bestow, Gravdon and others come
marching up to the state convention at |
the head of q delegation of ringsters to |
make payment for their offices in per-
sonal service. Grosvenor and Lloyd,
good men and gallant soldiers, are driv-
en- from the board of charitable insti-
tuition, not because they had been neg
lectful of duty, but because they could
not be used to advance the governors
political schemes. But this even fails
to suggest the extent to which execu-
tive patronage has been used to SUBJ
serve personal ends. The asylums, the
penal and correctional institutions, the
election boards and boards of public af-
fairs and scores of other places, honor
ary and otherwise, have been prosti-
tuted to the same base end.
But to go back to the proposition
from which started, let me ask how
much worse is Payne who, If allcga-
tions be true, spent his money to secure
an office, than Foraker who peddled
out the patronage of the executive Of
flee for the same purpose? The one
used his own money; the other, indi-
rectly, but no less certainly, used the
money of the people. As to which
mans nomination cost the larger sum
it would be difficult and perhaps i'm
possible to determine; but the difference
between them is certainly one of meth
DDS and amounts, and not of morals.
2. Is it true that every man who re-
fuses to laud the candidate of packed
the leader of q conspiracy
and the prostitutor of high public
trust, must, of necessity, be actuated by |
envy, jealousy, neglect or disappoint-
ment? If so, God save the country!
Who has indulged in sharper criti-
cism of his own party and party leaders
than Murat Halstead? Was he dis
appointed man? Had he grievance?
Was he suffering from the failure of
his countrymen to recognize genius and
appreciate merit? If not, and he is
sincere, it should at least be possible for
him, if for no one else, to conceive of
the existence of class of plain, out
spoken, independent men, who, scorn-
ing pretense add all the various forms
of political and social hypocrisy, chose
to do their duty and preserve their self
respect rather than to trample upon
both in pursuit of office.
AhO oIupluCoL iloil Sbh oCci CFclI SOOl-
er, perhaps, than one of the quicker
wit, that to succeed in the party he
must run with it, let its tendencies be
what they may, and that he must cur
ry favor with its leaders, let them be
never so corrupt. He knows, in short,
If he has any discernment at all that
there is nothing more arbitrary. unre-
lenting, merciless and intolerant than
party. The men who seek Office in it
or seek to be continued in Office by it,
are often compelled to give expression
to their honest sentiments in whispers
under the seal of confidence, and on the
stump advocate principles they know
to be false, and eulogize men whom they
know to be corrupt.
Not many year ago, when Louisiana
and South Carolina were surrendered to
the democratic Ku-Klux of those states
q man who subsequently held high Of
flee said to me in an undertone, at the
Neil house: "You are right in condemn
ing this thing, but you are imprudent.
I tried to prevent it, but couldn't; the
party is committed to it now, and we
must defend it," give the substance,
not the words. He was wise man who
said this. He had 8 great career open
ing up before him, and could not, per-
haps, afford to lessen his chances of
success by giving public expression to
his honest views. He knew how intol-
Grant party is; how imperative its de-
mandS, and how imDatient IL ia with |