Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-05-26
Fiue Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents
The Man Who Found Himself
BY JAMES MORGAN

The public anxiety loT NaiiSi"
through his long battle with dean
was deepened by a general dread OF
the yiee-President succeeding to the
! Presidency. The people as g. whole
| knew nothing of Chester Ala AT
thur. except hat he had been ohiy
lately removed from the collectorsnlp
! nj the mort of New York as a machine
politician. and tina he had been nom
| mated for the Vice Presidency as u
| henehman of Roscoe Conkllng.
He had practiced law in New YORK
city for a quarter of a century win
ont winning distinction at the par
Even in the upheaval of the Civil war
he remained in comparative oDscurlty
as the QuartermaSter General OF ths
| State.
After the war he rose to the ne
| publican boss of New York Clty, Win
| his Headquarters in the Custom House.
, True TO the type. he preferred TO re
main always the mar behind the
| Genes, making few speeches ana never
| becoming a candidate for an elective
| Office until his nomination Tor Inc
second highest office in the n j,
If Arthur had not been put IA OF
the Custom House he never Mouio
have got into the White House. When
Garfield was nominated in the Chicago
2 ~ III
Breeds" Offered the second place on
| the ticket TO the disgruntled 'Stai-
| warts" like a bone thrown TO a groWl-
ing dog. Arthur whispered to Conk-
ling that he would like 1T, and MS
| chief carelessly tossed 1t to him. me
| ex-collector wanted the nomination as
a vfndication for his removal by
| President Hayes.
After Arthur had been sitting in the
| Vice-President's chair only a little
more than two weeks, he opened a Dig
White House envelope n day n
flushed as he glanced at the unex-
pected contents-the nomination or a
| hated Hall Breed" to the collector
ship of the port of New York. Win
an excited gesture, he summoned sen
ators Cankling and Platt, and the
three "Stalwarts' famed up with rage
at the challenge to them from the
new Administration. When the New
York senator's resigned their seats
and appeared to the Legislature or
their State to reflect them as a pro-
test against the Administration. the
spectacle of the Vice-President $
cending to the melee lent color to the
already unfavorable impression Oh
| him in the public mind. d,
When in the midst of the fight and
A losing fight, Garfield was shot, the
American people revolted at the
thought that Arthur and the "Stal-
warts should profit by the aSSasslna-
ton. The public mind revolted also
at the prospect of a political boss
enthroned in the White House, with
his motley following about him.
That popular picture of Arthur. as
a city politician out Of the pages or
Puck. was distorted and untrue, sim
ply because the background was omit
ted from it. The real, the native
character of the mar had been SNAPPED
in surroundings very different from
those in which the country found nun
when he first came under its attentlon
Born in Vermont to a Baptist minister,
a man of education and high prin-
ciples. who had come over from Ire
and and who soon afterward settled
In New York State. Arthur had grown
up in village ~parsonages. where the
living was plain and the thinking
high.
The father belonged to that moral
and intellectual ~aristocracy of Adolf
| tionists. who braved the contempt OF
wealth and the persecution or tht
~thoughtless for the sake OF an ideal
The son had received an education IN
a good rural college n had plodded
his way to the bar by teaching coun-
try schools. That was the good Amer
lean mould in which the man had
l DOC-II 1dHL n AAE1 " AAeAA ~
political experience had been only ar
incident of his environment in New
York City.
When the great test came and h'
stood silently for three months in this
shadow OF the high Office, Arthur
found himself, and he left petty pol
tiles and factions behind him as M
entered the White House. The public
was i~ncredulous at first, but was con
WINGED at last that lie honestly mean
TO be President of all the people.
4 Some of his old associates in ma
chine politics were as astonished a
the change thai had come over thei
'Chet' as Falstaff and his cronie
were when Prince Hal became kins
Henry v. Not that the new Presiden
coldly repealed the claims of friend
ship. He simply put first his obltga
lions to the whole country. though
cost him dear in regard of men lux
Grant and Conkling, who set hin
down as an migrate.
why. General. If you were stu
president of the New York Count.
Republican Committee you would b.
here right now asking for this yer.
thing?" protested the head of tina
organization.
/, "As president of the New Yorl
ii County Republican Committee" Ar
thur frankly admitted-with a smile
~ certainly would: but since l cam
here / have learned that Chester A
Arthur IS one man n the Presl
dent OF the United States Is another.