Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-05-25
Fiue Minutes A Day
With Dur Presidents

BY JAMES MORGAN

- AAAaA A&Nl ~ E11NN IlN
to the spirit OF faction and of tn,
spoils system. Although this gentle
kindly man was not of the herof,
stun that martyrs are made of. hi
blood became the seed of better
things In u politics.
Rarely II ever has a president taker
up the burden of the Office with 8
larger measure of good will from tn,
people. regardless of party and O
faction. than flowed out to Garfield
as he stood on the steps of the CAPT
toll in the sunshine of his inaugura
day. the picture of robust American
manhood in its prime. His first kiss
after kissing the Bible in the pres
ence of a multitude Of witnesses, wa.
for the aged mother, who, in q foresr
hut, had started him on his way Il
the White House and who held
place OF honor beside the schoolmats
sweetheart who had been his faithful.
companion all along the road.
"'One thing thou iackest yet and
that Is a slight ~ossification of the
heart" John Hay had written to the
president-elect. This lack was fatal
Had his heart been harder, Garfield
would have made his administration
wholly his wi lifting II above fac
tions. and he might have lived
through a prosperous term. Instead.
he remained his few months In the
White House what he had been in
congress-. a lieutenant of Blaine,
whom he appointed to the secretary
ship of state-"with the love of q
comradeship of eighteen years"-and
who became at once the power be-
hind the throne.
It was a saying of Emerson that
White House." Garfield quickly found
1t a purchase of repentance and
doubtless longed for the seat in the
senate, to which he had been elected
only a few months before his nomi-
nation for the presidency.
: The only president to step directly
from the capitol toihe White House,
he was without executive experience
or tastes. His whole training had
been to debate and compromise. not
to act or decide on his sole response
bility.
A lover of poetry and of all things
beautiful and q constant student of
he groaned under the rude
of a sordid mob of office
Can assassin among them). A
genial soul who hated to say no, he
found himself saying yes when he
not. My God!" he exclaimed
in bitterness of spirit, what Is there
in this place hat a man should ever
want to get into it?"
Garfield himself was rather indif-
ferent to factions. liking TO get along
with all men. He appreciated Conk-
lings' reluctant but timely support In
the campaign and invited him out to
Mentor in the winter to talk over the
New York patronage. He thought of
inviting him Into the cabinet itself,
until Blaine whispered no.
Less than three weeks after he
took his scat. Garfield told the sena-
tor that he was not yet ready to con-
slider the question of filling the New
afterward he filled them, nominating
for the highest of those Offices
Blaine's best friend and Conkling's
worst enemy in New York.
With Garield's hand, Blaine had
thrown down the gauntlet to the
naughty chieftain of the "Stalwart"
clan and a duel of factions was on in
blind fury the administration sue
in beating Conkling in the
where he opposed the o n
of the offensive nominee.
But the senator and his colleague,
G. Plat, resigned their seats
and appealed to the New York legis-
lature to reflect Them as q vindica-
tion of their course This sensational
Vice President Arthur Joined
two resigned "Stalwarts" and the
Half Breeds"
When the conflict was bitterest and
the "Stalwarts' were losing at
Albany. a disappointed place hunter
ut Washington, Charles j. Giteau,
conceived the mad idea of saving the
situation with g. pistol shot, and he
posted himself at the railway station
where his victim was to take a train
Tor Massachusetts,. The President was
going back to Williams College. the
goal of his struggling youth. and lay
honors at the feet of his alma
At a dare from one of his
sons that morning he had leaped over
bed in the White House, and was
still smiling like a boy off for a vaca-
at the railway station. with Blaine at
his side. In two flashes of a revolver
he fell forward on the floor.
With q shout Of triumph the as
sassln proclaimed the wild motive of
his deed: II am a Stalwart! Arthur
is now PRESIDENT 1t is unnecessary
to say that the Stalwarts had no
poses han the Confederates had of
Booths. But just as the conflict of
sections had crazed the one, the
other had e craze by the fren-
zied quarrels of the factions over q
of spoils.
me country was not only shocked
but Inundated to see this genial,
sunny-hearted President of the Re-
public shot down. as Henry Waiter
son said, like a dog or a car.
Through more than eleven weeks, for
seventy-nine days. a whole people,
made kin by a ouch of nature, anx-
iously watched by his bedside. When,
at last. the long, unequal fight was
lost. sympathetic hearts followed the
wasted body to its native soil by the
shore of Lake Erie.
After twenty years in our meagerly
paid public service, Garfield had left
his wife and children hardly better
off than his mother and her little
family had been left at the untimely
death of his father. A grateful peo-
pie eagerly welcomed the opportuni-
ty to pay tribute to his memory by
providing a fund for the good woman
who was to continue ia bear his
name through nearly forty years of
widowhood and for the education of
sons who were TO wear 1t worthily in
high places.