New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-02
NO ROOM FOR TRAITOPS

A single sentence would have sufficed
straightforward and honest man TO answer Mr..
Cuttings letter so that no fusonist could have
had any reason 10 doubt his absolute loyalty.
Mr. Grout had only to say unreservedly that. in
spite of a Tammany nomination, all his energies
would he given TO the election of the entire
fusion ticket completely as if he were run
ming on that ticket alone Nothing more than
that was asked. Anything less than that is
treason.
Instead Of giving such an answer to a fair
question, Mr.. Grout writes long letter of in
direction and sophistry. He protests that he s
still true to the cause of good government but
he carefully avoids any word which promises
effective opposition 10 the enemies of good gov
eminent The whole letter is a tissue of eva
sionS and special pleadinCs which reveal q cal
culating, treacherOus purpose more clearly than
q frank declaration of neutrality would have
done There is not one line in which speaks
the trustworthy and manly adherent of the
fusion cause. The contrast is so wide between
ii and the outspoken utterances of Mr. Grout in
the past that nobody can doubt the new qualifi-
cation Of his loyalty. The man who bubbles
and evades the plain moral question Of his good
faith 10 his fellow soldiers in a campaign and
refuses TO declare his enmity TO their enemy
cannot be trusted Nothing is left but to drum
him out of camp.
Asked if he will work for Mr.. Low, Mr. Grout
answers that his own election is important and
that those who object to his alliance with Tam
many TO get votes for himself. at the possible
expense of Mr.. Low. are ready 10 see him de-
feated. Asked if he is still aggressively anti
Tammany. he replies that he will not enter into
ANY denuncation Of measures and men not Gi-
rectly at issue" Yet both the Republican ard
Citizens Union platforms on which he main
tains his right TO stand are full of denuncia-
tons of Tammany. He threatens to cling to the
Republican nomination. In face of the Re-
publican platform declaration-"In this hour,
when the common safety is threatened, we call
upon all good citizens to unite with us in pre-
venting the return Of Tammany Hall TO power"
how can he take the position that Tammanys
past record and present character are not an
issue? How can anybody but a trickster talk
about the sins Of men who two years ago were
active in that CTammanyl organization, but
now are gone" when Murphy. the Van Wyck
Dock Commissioner. and Sullivan, whom Mr..
Grout denounced as one of the gambling syndi-
cate. are to-day the high powers In Tammany
Hall? Ar Grout attacked Mr. SheI ard in these
words at Cooper Union on October 81. 1901:
shepard himself said that when a man is nom
mated 10y a machine he becomes subservient
Ito that power. Abram :. Hewitt himself
said that Tammany made his life miserable.
although be was not nominated solely by that
Organization; and at the Grand Central Pal
ace on October 10 1901, he asked whether In
dependent Democrats are going to see that
this man who has turned deliberately in the
face Of the public toward Tammany Hall is the
man whom they want TO finish the task OF
tearing it down" How can he now say that
there is DO need of tearing it down and that
ne may with propriety turn his face toward II?
How can he. who used the most violent Ian
Euage against Tammany two years ago. now
deprecate bitter words and appeals to mems
PASSIONS? Only by turning traitor. Fusionists
have no room for traitors. and we doubt if
Tammany men VIII have anything but contempt
for the traitor whom they employ.
Mr.. Grout plainly ntimates that he will resist
all efforts TO dispace him from the ticket of the
organizations which he has betrayed. Be that
as it may. the duty Of the fusionstS is clear. If
Mr.. CIRCUITS sense OF honor is so duh that he
can 20 to court in efforts to hold the nomination
of the Republican PARTY after telling Mr. Cutting
that this fight Ought to be aggressively antiRe-
publican. he VIII create q situation which may
indeed cause some trouble TO fusionists at the
ballot box but which will arouse every right
thinking man to take triple pains If need be, to
blot out the political life of such an indecent
and unprincipled self-seeker. The thought OF
Mr. Grout mandamusing his name on to the
ticket which he has betrayed suggests that II
Mr. Grout had been practising law here in 1880 |
after the capture OF Andre. Benedict Arnold. in
stead Of fleeing 10 the British ship. would have |
secured writ of mandamus keeping him in
command Of West Point. It must be Mr. Grout's |
opinion that Arnold was not alive to his rights |
that the office legally belonged to him. and that |
he should have refused to be kicked ont.