The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-10-16


James A Garfield fell a sacrifice to |
the spirit of faction and of the spolls |
system. Although this gentle, kindly /
man was not of the heroic stuff that !
martyrs are made of. his blood became
the seed of better things in our poll
tics.
Rarely, if ever, has a president tak
en- up the burden of the office with a
larger measure of good will from the
people, regardless of party and of fac
ton, than flowed out to Garfield as
he stood on the steps of the capitol
in the sunshine of his inaugural day,
the picture of robust American man
hood in it's prime. His first kiss, offer
kissing the Bible in the presence Of
a multitude of witnesses, was fer
his aged mother, who in a forest hut
had started him on his way to the
White House, and who held place
of honor beside the schoolmate sweet
heart who had been his faithful com
panion all along the road.
lone thing thou lackest yet anu
that is a slight Justification Of the
heart" John Hay had written to the
president-elect This lack was fatal.
lllS Iedl DStl lufl, bdl lleltt
would have made his administration
wholly his own, lifting it above fac.
tons, and he might have lived through
manned his few months in the White
House what he had been in congress
a lieutenant of Blaine, whom he ap-
pointed to the secretaryship of state
with the love of comradeShip OF
eighteen years"-and who had become
at once the power behind the throne.
1t was a saying of Emerson that
"the president pays dear for his white
| house. Garfield quickly found it d
purchase of repentance and doubtless
| longed for the seat in the senate, TO
which he had been elected only few
months before his nomination for the
presidency.
! The only president to step directly
| from the Capitol to the 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 respOD-
sibility.
A lover of poetry and of all things
beautiful and a constant student of
! literature, he groaned under the rude
jostling of a sordid mob of office seek
ers. Can assassin among them). A
genial soul, who hated to say no, he
found himself saying yes, when he
should not. My Cod" he exclaimed
in bitterness of spirit, what is there
in this place that a man should ever
want TO get into it,"
| Garfield himself was rather indiffe:
ent to factions, liking to get along
with all men. He appreciated Conk-
ling's 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 until
Blaine whispered no.
! Less than three weeks after he took
his seat, Garfield told the senator that
he was not yet ready to consider the
| question of filling the New York OF,
fees. Only forty-eight hours after
ward he filled them. nominating for
! the highest of these offices Blaines
| best friend and Conkling's worst en-
envy in New York.
! With Garfield's hand. Blaine haG
| thrown down the gauntlet to tn"
| naughty chieftan of the "Stalwart"
clan and a duel of factions was OF:
in blind fury. The administration
succeeded in beating Conkling in the
senate, whore he opposed the con
! firmation of the offensive nominee.
but the senator and his colleague,
| Thomas c. Plat, resigned their seats
and appealed to the New York legis
lature to re-elect them as a vindica.
ton of their course. This sensational
act shifted the battle to Albany, where
! Vice President Arthur joined the two
resigned "Stalwarts" and the Hail
/ Breeds"
! When the conflict was bitterest and
when the 'Stalwarts' were losing at
Albany, disappointed place hunter
at Washington, Charles G.. Guiteau,
| conceived the mad idea of saving the
situation with a pistol shot, and he
posted himself at the railway station,
where his victim was to take a train
| for Massachusetts. The president was
| going back to Williams college, the
goal of his struggling youth, and lay
his honors at the feet of his alma
mater At dare from one of his
sons that morning he had leaped over
his bed at the White House, and was
still smiling like a boy off for a Va
cation as he entered the waiting room
at the railway station, with Blaine at
his side. In two flashes of revolver,
he fell forward on the floor
With a shout of triumph, the assas-
sin proclaimed the wild motive of his
deed Il am a Stalwart. Arthur is
now president!'
1t is unnecessary to say that the
StalwartS had no more knowledge Of
INTEREST 5