The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-06-19
4ARRiSON'S BAD BARGAIN.

and relentless PlutOcrscy.- Louis
Republic
HARRisON's BAD BARGAIN.
The HumniatIon or the Nominal Head OF
the Republican Party.
It is proverbial that crowns make
poor nightcaps, but we of the demo
cratic faith are apt to imagine that our
presidents, who scOra crowns and
would thrice put the gilded bauble
from them We're It thrice offered, are
exempted from the curse which lies on
mOnarchs- Yet look upon Benjamin
Harrison and his woes, and who for ali
the pleasures of the white house and
the plaudits OF postmasters would ex-
change peace in privacy for his pub
licity? Mr.. Harrison was never
suspected of greatness, physical or
mental, and when he carried out
the bargain by virtue OF whicl. he
was made president and made James
&. Blaine his secretary OF state, it was
plain what would happen His friends
boosted that he alone would be presi-
dent, and in minor matters pointed out
the fact that ne had apparently run
counter to the wishes of the Maine
man as proof OF his ability to shape his
own administration Yet to-day there
IS no prominent feature of state policy
that is not attributed to Blaine, and
the smaller man is overshadowed by
the greater man behind it. The presi-
dent is accredited with a desire to be
his own successor, and it is the COM
mon gossip Of the country that the re-
alizatiOn of his ambition Is conditioned
wholly upon the consent Of his master
and the ratification of the people.
This is humiliation enough, but it is
not the only one which the nominal
chief of the republican party suffers
If he were not suspected or broad
craftsmanship, Mr.. Harrison was never
smirched with scandal. His skirts were
cleaner than those of most of the lead
ers of the party. He even pretended to
austerity of life, and his church con
nectiOn was made prominent during his
canvass and in the cabinet forming
days Good people who accept church
connections as a guaranty of an honor
able life had a right to expect from the
Presbyterian elder a decOrOus if not q
brilliant administration. A promise Of
moral one was taken from the selec-
ton of Sunday-schOO1 superintendent
to direct the postal department, in
which arose the scandals of the
| last previous republican administration,
not Notwithstanding the charge openly
made that the sanity Wanamaker
/ bought his portfolio by raising a great
sum of money with which to corrupt
/ the suffrage. Yet from the very begin
| ming of the rule OF the elders and dea-
/ cons scandals have logged the heels of
/ the president and kept him awake
/ nights. First Dudley with his blocks
of five, q scandal so undeniable that
/ the president was compelled to admit
( its truth by openly rePudiatinR the In
diana preSident-malSer in order to clear
his own skirts of suspected knowledge
! of the hagitiOus scheme Then began
/ the raid upon the pension department
| by the pension ring and the scandal
| which resulted in the displacement of
| one commissioner by another so much
worse that the stencil of thu
the stencil which surrounds the
unspealzable Raum- Then came
Reeds congress with its Hobbies,
| who left to the administration an
! empty treasury and the task of CON
| verting a deficit into a surplus by lay
| ing hands upon trust funds which the
| grand old party had always declared
sacred. A silver-ring scandal surged
up even to the feet of the cabinet, but
was Gained by the judiciOus use of oil.
An Indian war was openly attri buted
to the malign influence of the Indian
ring over the interior department,
| Scandal has attended the Behring sea
negotiations, and to-day the comp
! troller of the treasury and the sanctl-
mOnious WanamalSer are under a cloud
It is intimated that the retirement -
the secretary of state to Bar HarbOr is
not unconnected with strange dOinga
in the state department, and the reia-
| tions of the president and his secretary
of the interior are not pleasant, owing
to the scandals in the interior depart
| ment bureaus
For ali these tn 'ngs the nominal head
/ of the administration is held RESPONSE
BILE, while the man from Maine whose
| record is tattOOed, is the idol OF his
party, and, whether firing paper sslvOs
at crowned heads from Washington or
listening 20 the murmur of the waves
at Bar Harbor, is its recognized chief.
It was a bad bargain which benjamin
Harrison made with Steve El<ins at
Indianapolis just before the national
rep1b lican convention met in Chicago
in 1855. Chicago Times
NEW POLITICAL NOTES.
Reform seems 20 be heavy-1ooted,