New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-26
THE MOREY LETTER.


The death the other day OF the publisher OF
the newspaper which printed the campaign
forgery known as the 'Morey letter has re-
vived interest in the story of that once famous
document. 1t was a communication alleged to
have been sent by James A Garfield to one II.
i. Mercy. Of Lynn Mass. in which the writer
seemed 10 favor the general Introduction OF
Chinese labor into this country. The letter was
published in the fall of 1850 when General
Garfield making his campaign the Re
publican party's candidate for President IL
was dated January -, 1880, and read as fol-
lows:
Dear SiA Yours in relation TO the Chinese
problem CAME duly to hand. | take il that the
question of employees is only question 90 pri-
vate and corporate economy. and individuals or
companies have the right to buy labor where
they can get II cheapest. We have "A treaty with
the Chinese government which should be relig
iously kept until its provisions are abTogated by
the action Of the general government and am
not prepared TO say that it should be abrosated
until our great manufacturing and corporate in
terests are conserved in the matter of labor
The forgery was daring one, for the dating
of the letter only few months back made the
disclosure of It's spuriOusness easy and inevi-
table General Garfield, of course, repudiated
it, and no trace of any such person as Ii. L..
Morey could be found in Lynn. Yet, IN spite
of the obviousness of the fraud. facsimile OF
the letter in an imitation of Garfield's hand
writing was widely circulated by the Demo-
cratic campaign managers, and. no Doubt. in
fiuenced many voters whom the proof OF its
desplcabe origin never reached.
We believe that the spirit of blind aud mali
ciOus partisanship has now so moderated that
10 responsible political manager would think of
touching a fabrication like the Morey letter. He
would get a reasonable guarantee Of the au-
IL, ha
fore he circulated it. 1t may be said that the
appearance i'm the last campaign of a magazine
article wrongly attributed 10 ex-President
Cleveland constitutes a parallel to the Morey
forgery Yet the conditions under which this
latter publication was made were really very
different Air. Cleveland was dead. and the
article credited 10 him was sold and used on the
assurance from an executor of the Cleveland
estate that he believed the matter TO he genu-
inc If he had not considered the article anthem
tic the executor would not have agreed to ac-
cept for the estate part of the price paid for
ii. If there was an imposition the public it
was because confusion existed in the minds of
those who were in position to head off the
imposture and had fair opportunity 10 do so.
Instead of questioning the authenticity of the
article they at least indirectly contributed 10
establish 1t.
The public's attitude toward the Cleveland
letter and It's attitude toward the Morey letter
were also in striking contrast. When doubt was
cast on the former it ceased TO figure in the
campaign. When General Garfield denounced
the latter a rank forgery his word was dis
puted by Democrats who had associated with
him in Congress- and the fabrication was scat
tered broadcast TO do what harm it could in
poisoning the public mind and turning the labor
vote against him. Party managers have learned
10 be fairer and more scrupulous i'm their meth
DDS OF political warfare. The base invention of
former days good enough until after election
is now the rare exception IN national politics