Year: 1875




ever done in the same length OF fime' ne
naturally expected some slight acknowledge
ment of his services in the exchange or con-
gratulations which followed upon the victory
A man of more brittle temper would nave
been angry. but Mr.. Wilson was only mildly
astonished to discover that the obligation was
all on his side for the privilege he had en-
loved of running on the same ticket with
Gen. Grant and being carried into the vice.
Presidency by him. The Vice-President ven
tured. as he thought was his privilege, to
make some suggestions as to the policy OF the
party, and President Grant not only made MN
no reply, but has studiOusy relraned from
following his counsels or asking his advice
since that time. That was the recognition
which his associate on the ticket and MS
most energetic supporter in the canvass re-
ceivcd Mt the hands of President Grant.


The events following the election of 1872 are
well known. The public does not need to be
told how even before the Spring elections OF
1878 in ,New-Hampshire and Connecticut
growing dissatisfaction with the Administra-
ton had begun to show itself, and now
during the Summer and Fall OF that year
the Congressional investigations and the BACK
PAY inquty, which doubled the Presidents
salary while it increased the pay OF Congress
fifty per cent, deepened the feeling to disgust
The November elections of that year, though
they did not touch Congress, and related only
to State officers, went against the Admlnistra-
ton with whirl that made the party dizzy,
but was only premOnitOry OF the hvcier Whlrl
of 1874 that would take them Off their feet.
Following the elections OF 1873 the President
was delivered of Delphic utterance III inter
pretation of the results; and the men who
kow tow around him fastened to give it to the
country. He said it was time for the party
"to unload" Unload whati Unload whom
To any clear-sighted person the AdmniStra-
ton defeat was attributable to the corruptiOns
which the Administration itself had fostered and
the dishonesty OF its professions with reference
to the Civil Service Reform to the Credit Mo-
bier transactions and the Bacll-Pay Grab.
Most prominent, undoubtedly, Of these was
the Back-Pay Grab, which put 100000 into
Gen. Grants pocket and appropriated small
individual "stcal" TO each member OF Con-
gress. 1t never occurred to him that popular
dissatisfaction with his share in that transac-
ton was possible, neither at that ilme g?r
afterward, when the SHINING Congressman
sidled up to the Treasury and restored their
share of the ill-gotten plunder. He Only saw
in the election results signs of dscOntent-not
with him or his actsIimpossible-but with the
party and he remembered that some Of the
party had differed with hin Of iate. His con-
clusion was swift. The people hld said it was
time to unload. Whom Why the persons
who differed with the President, Of course.


Since that time there has been much I'M
loading. Not by any means, Of conspicuous
persons who hold Offices. Not, so far as we
can learn Of any Cabinet officers, Senators,
or Representatives. Some Of them are
changing as Mr.. Andrew Johnson used TO
say, "on the vcrgen OF the load but for the
most part they cling. The unloading has
been of the people who do the voting, rather
than OF men who do the governing and Office
holding They have been unloaded by the
thousands and tens of thousands and humid
reds of thousands They have been unloaded
in every State in the Union in most whole
sale, sweeping fashion. And ts unloading
from the party has also unloadcd both Houses
of Congress OF various prominent persons who
had no desire to step down. Mr.. Butler leads
out motley following of them from the
House, and Mr.. Carpenter and Mr Chandler,
with locked arms, precGde a charming little
procession from the other end OF the Capitol.
And STILL we presume, the President continues
in the belief that what the parry needs is to
unload" That seems to be his fixed policy.
Never was party so rapidly and successfully
nnloaded rs the party of the Administration
during the past two years, and never IN the
history of any party was there such dis
charge of voters and retention of Ofiice-hOlders.
Let us give the Administration Senators and
Representatives credit at least Tor loyalty,
unwavering and unquestoning loyalty, to
their chief In whatever direction he points
they 60. Forward and back, zigzag and cross
legged, whichever way he takes they follow,
with hardly a protest against the wild tangle
OF paths in which lie leads them. His first
public act as Executive was to ask the repeal
of an express statute, to crafty his personal
wish in the selection of a Cabinet; his last,
up to the time of this writing, was to inform
Congress that unless a law is passed permit
tinc him to override the Constitution and set
I'D Government to his own liking in the
State of Arkansas he will Go it of his own
motion and without authority. Between these
two public acts there has been not much that
was inconsistent with either.


The unloading goes on. President Grant,
under his own construction OF the COnstitu-
ton and the laws, Is the State. And he bids
fair to unload everything else.


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