The citizen., 1899-03-10
The Retirement Of German,


day, March 4th, says: There will
be a vacancy i'll the United States
Senate after to-day that at tbo
present offers no promise of heinS
filled, when eX- chow unusual +
will seem to him to hear that
term) Senator Arthur Pue Gorman
retireS from the official arena
Ex, Senator German, of MARYLAND
has thousands Of friends and adj
mirerS. and thousands Ofenemips
but his detractOrS are notahlr
few. Thousands in state and ns
tional politics thoroughly. cor
diallv and bitterly hate the man
who for years held the Democratic,
party in the hollow of his hand
but even the majority of his bit'
tereSt foes never diSparaged his
clear intellect, force of claracter
and almost marvellous executive
ability. They never said that
Arthur Pue German was ever
backward in rewarding a service
or forgetting an injury.
These who damned him for his
methods never either accused him
Of being a poser or a demagogue.
lie, himself, never claimed that
he was III politics to better the
world. Never egotistical, except
in the imperial sense, in that he
put German in the van. to leceiye
the fortunes of politics that
brought either rewards or loss
and bitter criticism. He never
claimed the title that belonged to
him, of being the Marylander
who kept the State prominent
and was ever vigilant in her in.
tercstS. Whether he performed
these services from purely selfish
motives or not has nothing to do
with the effect.
One family of Baltimoreans,
whom Senator German, it is said,
offended because he refused to
make a greatly sought-lor and
important appointment among
them, emptied the gorged venom
of their malice and diSappoint
ment on his head. 1t was not
sufficient that the newspaper
owned and controlled by this
family, a concern which had
reaped thousands of dollars from
Gorman's patronage, like the
daughters of the Horse leech,
cried for ''mOre," and when it
was not thrown to them, turned
on the hand whose bounty they
had received. The torrent of
mud ami slime, of personal abuse
and misrepresentation which they
vomited in their editorial and
news columns was one of the
filthy features of several political
campaigns. The man who de.
feated the outrageous "FOrce
BILL" whom they had eXtolle0 for
that one public service to tkI
whole South. was villified witt
BillinGSgate. The Senator, whose
struggle for hay and harbor apprO
priations had brought commerce
to BaltimOre's doors, was Missed
and derided because of n personal
malice. Yet, in the face of this,
even his enemies admit, German
bore himself with manly dignity.
The World, opposed to Senator
German and the methods by
which he controlled his political
machinery, never tried to helittle
his ability or detract from his aC.
knowledged greatness. 1t never
intimated that a creature of luck
from the Alleghenies or a force.
less McComas rOuld fill the place
vacated by Golman's towering
political and intellectual stature
Politically, he was a foeman
worthy of any steel, a leader
whose Just dues were the faithful
partiSanship of his followers.
1t is not likely that he can OF
will be able to retire from the
arena that rang with his many
triumphs and knelled his one
great defeat, for men like Arthur
p. German do not fade from the
public mind into fat and vacuous
nothingneSs like the duck hunter
of BuZZard'S Bay.