Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-04
MONDAY, MAY 4, 1891.
AN INTERESTING REPUBLICAN TRIO,

Every American who is in the habit
of reading the newspapers remembers
that disgraceful and dramatic incident
in the last presidential campaign in
which Postmaster General Wanamaker
and Senator Matthew Stanley Quay put
their heads together and conjured up a
Republican corruption fund of $400, 900.
But for that fund, employed in an inde-
fensible manner-in the purchase of
votes for Harrison in the lower wards OF
New York City-Mr. Cleveland would
have been elected president. But for
that $400, ,000,w which Quay only consented
to receive on condition that he was to
be asked no questions as to
how it should be used - in
itself a confession of guilt - Mr..
Harrison would not have been able to
carry his own state of Indiana. Butsfor
that colossal corruption fund, Dudley
would not have been able to buy his
"foaters'' in "blocks of five," thus en-
abling Mr.. Harrison to slip through into
the white house by the skin of his teeth.
As it was, his majority was not half that
received by w. w. Bowers in the Sixth
Congressional district.
All intelligent men know that the
presidency was actually bought for Mr..
Harrison. There were other causes that
contributed to the defeat of Mr.. Cleve-
land but without this $400, 900 of polit-
ical blood money, he would have been
elected.
This circumstance marks with the
stigma of execrable taste the bringing of
Wanamaker out to the Pacific coast in
the presidential train. Everybody
knows that Wanamaker received cabi-
net appointment because he collected
this large sum Of money for disreputable
campaign uses, and because he put
large sum of money in the pot himself.
Mr.. Harrison is by birth and associa-
tions gentleman, and he ought to have
been above forcing this man upon
masses of people of all parties, who
turned out to do honor to the presiden-
tial office. For this gross blunder there
was positively no excuse.
Wanamaker's vulgar guilt is intensi-
fed by his canting and hypocritical
ways. All men respect genuine religion,
of whatsoever denomination, but to have
a man eternally preaching at one who
ought to be behind prison bars is an inhic-
ton that no one is called upon to endure
with patience. His glib audacity does
the cause of religion irreparable dam
age, and recalls the scriptural maledic-
ton, "Woe unto him by whom scandal
cometh."
Pat upon the oily speeches of this
"cheap John" Postmaster-General comes
the news that one of his gang, and per-
haps the best of the lot, Delamater, the
late Republican candidate for governor
Of Pennsylvania, has barely escaped
going to jail for certain fshy personal
transactions. The great head OF the
crowd, Senator Matthew Stanley Quay,
during the past yea, was subjected
to the most merciless scoring
any public man ever received,
at the hands of the New York World.
That great journal charged, and it
proved its charge, that Quay, when
acting as state treasurer of Pennsyl-
yania, took large sum of the public
money, which he used in private specu-
lations, and which he lost. This was
felony. The whole press of the country
took up the cry, and after months OF
silence Quay was at last stung to an at
tempted vindication of himself in the
senate OF the United States. He ad-
mitted that the money was taken, as
described, and that he borrowed one
hundred thousand dollars from Senator
Don Cameron to replace it, but that it was
really used by dead friend, whom he
desired to protect. This tenderness to
man who could not get up out of the
grave to call his maligner liar prob
ably failed to impress Quay's brother
senators as very magnanimous. The
newspaper correspondents telegraphed
the statement throughout the country
that the explanation was received in
dead silence in the senate, and the
World and the press of Pennsylvania
and of the rest of the country proceeded
to pull it to pieces. 1t was greeted with
universal derision.
There is no doubt that the Republican
party would be very glad to get rid of
Quay, Wanamaker, Delamater and the
rest. The same set of tools can scarcely
be used second time, even if that
party desires to continue in the busi-
ness of buying presidencies. Dorsey
was obliged to give way to Dudley.
Dorsey's legend of "crisp new two and
three dollar bills" gave way to Dudley's
'sfloaters' in "5locks of fve." Quay
will have to step down and out, and if
he would only take the pious Pecksniff
Wanamaker with him the people would
breathe more freely.