Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-03-03
NUMBER 80.

great lawyers 1iase neen aum1Jreo to
practice in that court, for great many
of them live at great distances and can
afford to practice in that court only in
cases involving very large interests,
but Attorney General Griggs lives and
all his life has lived within seven hours
ride of Washington and yet had never
been employed in case of sufficient
magnitude to necessitate his admission
to the bar Of the supreme courtl | IN.
dertake to say without fear of successful
contradiction that there is not lawyer
fit to be attorney general residing with
in seven hours ride Of Washington who
has not been admitted to practice in the
supreme court; no, not one. On the
roll of attorneys Of that court there are
scores of Republican lawyers who pos
sess the necessary qualifications for the
attorney generalship-great lawyers,
stanch Republicans, men whose brain
and law learning would honor the po-
sition.
A Tool of PIutOcrats.
Why were these passed over and Gen.
eral Griggs chosen, man who never
had case in the supreme courtP That
multimillionaire banquet explains the
mystery He was chosen because he
could be depended on to act as the sup
pie tool of the plutocrats who are at
this very moment engaged in plundering
both the government and the people at
large. They have now in process of ac-
complishment the theft of some 81, 0OO,-
600 in the Kansas Pacific railroad deal,
and they needed a friendly attorney
general, and they got him.
Since the far famed exploit by which
Cleopatra astonished Mark Antony by
gulping down costly pearl dissolved
in wine no such caper in gastronomics
has been performed as the Griggs 500
q plate banquet. Belshazzar's feast
wasn't in it for one minute. But from
Belshazzar to Griggs Belshazzar feasts
have been ruinous to the participants
Belshazzar's S death warrant was served
on him at his own table by the King Of
kings. At another Belshazzar feast at
Delmonico's Chester A. Arthur, vice
president elect, made that disgraceful
''soap" speech which aided materially
in driving the Republican party from
power. Still another Belshazzar feast
knocked James Gillespie Blaine out Of
the presidency, and now comes General
Griggs with his plutocratic feast, which
beats Belshazzar hollow at his own
game. One hundred dollars a plate
Shades of Lucullus and Epicurus, think
of that Equal to 100 bushels of wheat,
or 400 bushels of corn, or 2, 900 pounds
Of fresh pork, or FIVE bales of cotton, or
span of mules, or four horse team,
or New England farm
Edmund Randolph, John Breckin-
ridge, William Writ, John ]. Critten-
den, William Pinckney, Roger B. Ia
ney, Jere Black, Edward Bates, William
M. Evarts, Augustus H. Garland and
other great attorneys general who have
shed imperishable luster upon Amer
ican jurisprudence knew good deal Of
law, no doubt; but, poor things. they
never rose to the distinction of eating a
dinner at $100a plate. They discharged
their high duties here with consummate
ability and then Joined the great ma
jority, never dreaming that such an
amazing thing could happen. That SUI
preme honor-that conclusive proof Of
fitness for the highest law Office in the
world-was reserved for Mr.. Attorney
General Griggs.
On the Road to the Deuce.
The party which began with Abra-
ham Lincoln, ''the immortal rail split
ter" who once pathetically declared
that the entire history Of his ancestors
might be condensed into Gray's phrase,
''The short and simple annals of the
poor, " and which in SS years has reach
ed Griggs with his 500 plate. is travel
ing at the pace that kills-dead sure
pop.
Lincoln's happy Characterization OF
ours as "a government of the people by
the people and for the people, " at the
present rate of evolution, must soon be
changed into ''a government of pluto
Gratis by plutocrats and for plutocrats
CHAMP CLARK.