Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-09-06
Nd more ABUSE
Of PRESIDENTS
THAT is THE coUNTRY's RIGHT
EoUs RESOLVE, BUT THE MOOD
WILL NOT BE LASTING.
HUMAN NATURE NOT CHANGED
Coolidge Undoubtedly Will Come In
for Harsh Criticism, Whatever He
May Do-Arthur the Only One Who
Nearly Escaped It.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK

INV0IIy @oOdSSNt
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK
Washington. Washington and
when one writes the name of the city
he includes all the inhabitants thereof,
politicians, nonpoliticians, office hold
ers and all others seemingly is re-
solved that in the future it will not
harshly criticize the President of the
United States without definite knowl-
edge that he has done something or
intends to do something which should
be criticized
Now when one writes Washington
in this sense, he might just as well
have writt41 the United States, for
from every quarter of the country
have come newspapers which edito-
rally declare that President Harding IS
death was FASTENED by harsh words
from those who did not understand
his motives. Man always is going to
be good, but he seldom entirely
accomplishes his purpose. In a
month, If the records of the past go
for anything, good resolutions will be
forgotten and If rumOr shall come,
no matter how slim it may be, that
President Coolidge intends to do some
thing which a part Of his fellow coun-
trymen do not approve, the foodgates
of fault finding and, mayhap, of abuse,
will swing open and the torrent will
come down upon the offender who
probably had no intention of offend
ing.
Politics is politics and party feeling
is party feeling, and human nature is
human natuge. They must, be re-
formed, regGnerated in fact, before
any President of the United States,
Democrat or Republican, can hope to
escape that abuse which more than
occasionally amounts to vilifcation.
Trouble in Store for Coolidge.
AS has been said many times within
the last few weeks, President Coolidge
intends to carry out the Harding pol
icies If he shall carry them out in
the spirit in which his predecessor. in
tended to carry them out, he probably
will be abused by those who abused the
dead President; and If he does not
carry them out strictly in letter, he
will be abused by those quick to de-
clare him pledge breaker.
Every president who succeeded to
Office on the death Of his predecessor
has had his troubles when it came to
the matter of satisfying men who be-
lieved thoroughly in the policies of the
man who had gone. During his first
hewed close to the Mckinley policy
lines, but he did not altogether escape
calumny. When he was chosen by the
people as president and entered on a
term ION his own" he met with more
criticism, perhaps, than most other
presidents, but it was not because OF
failure to carry out his predecessors
policies. He had attended to that in
his first term
There was one president. years ago
who escaped harshness of criticism
and yet he was the one who everybody
believed at the time was most likely
to get 1t. Chester A. Arthur as vice
president was at outs personally and
factionally with his chief, President
James A. Garfield. Then came Gar
fields assassination. The people were
bitter against Arthur because at the
time Garfield was killed Arthur was
said to be engaged in an attempt to
circumvent some of his policies.
How Arthur Avoided Abuse.
Chester A. Arthur came into Office
knowing what the conditions were and
he went through his term without ex-
citing the public feeling against him
in any way. He refused in almost
every instance to interfere with the
appointments to Office made by his
predecessor and he refrained from
making appointments and from en-
gaging in policies of which the Garfield
partisans could not approve.
Roscoe CoEkling, who had a bitter
quarrel with Garfield and who had re-
signed from the United States senate
in fit of pique, was the closest polit-
ical friend of Chester A. Arthur.
Everybody expected Arthur. to heed
the requests of Conkling in the mat
ter of appointments to Office; but so
far as could be determined Arthur
paid nc heed to Conkling except in one
case and in this one Conkling. it is
said, insisted, saying he would ask
nothing further. Arthur removed one
of the most capable postmasters in the
state Of New York, a postmaster of a
large city, at Conkling's request. The
senate refused to confirm the man
whom the president named to succeed
the removed postmaster, but later he
was given a recess appointment and a
long time afterward was confirmed.
This is supposed to be the only case
in which President Arthur ran counter
to the general Garfield policies, either
in appointments to off7e or in any
thing else. Roscoe Conkling had a
personal grievance, it is said, against
the postmaster who was removed. and
allowed his personal feeling to rule in
the matt r, but it ruled in nothing
else,
Harshness of criticism of the presi-