Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1880 — THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR AND WM. H. ENGLISH. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR AND WM. H. ENGLISH.

THE FIRST KICKED OUT OF OFFICE BY HIS OWN PARTY “ THAT IT MIGHT BE HONESTLY ADMINISTERED.” THE OTHER FULLY AND ALWAYS ENDORSED THROUGH MANY YEARS OF SERVICE. “LOOK ON THIS PICTURE, AND THEN ON THIS.” “By Their Fruits Shall Ye Know Them.” It is well that the people should be kept in mind of the difference that exists between the public records of the candidates upon the Democratic and Republican Presidential tickets. The corrupt public record of Garfield and the pure and blameless record of General Hancock are known of all men. Nor is the contrast between the public record of Chester A. Arthur and Hon. William H. English any the less marked, as we propose to show in this article. Let us first examine as to the OFFICIAL RECORD OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR VICE PRESIDENT. Arthur, through the grace of Senator Conkling, was appointed Collector of the Port of New York, one of the most important posts in the governmental service. After remaining in office several years, during which sime he drew §155,860 36, as compensation for his services, he was removed by President Hayes in 1879, and the following reasons given by the President and Secretary of the Treasury to the United States Senate in official letters. Upon the strength of these charges of corruption and dishonesty in his administration of the office, the Senate assented to his removal: With a deep sense of my obligations under the Constitution, I regard it as my plain duty to suspend you, in order that the office may be honestly administered.—R. B. Hayes to Collector Arthur, Jan. 31,1879. You have made the Custom House a center of partisan political management.—R. B. Hayes to Collector Arthur, Jan. 31,1879. “If it be held that, to procure the removal of Mr. Arthur, it is sufficient to reasonably establish that gross abuses of administration have continueu and increased during his incumbency; that many persons have been regularly paid on his rolls who rendered little or no service; that the expenses of his office have increased, while collections have been diminishing; that bribes, or gratuities in the nature of bribes, have been received by his subordinates in several branches of the Custom house, that efforts to correct these abuses have not met his support, and that ne has not given to the duties of his office the requisite dilligeuce and attention, then it is submitted that the case is made out.—John Sherman. In a letter to Mr. Hayes, Secretary Sherman said: “In a case which has come to light since the retirement of Mr. Arthur it has been shown that goods upon which the duties amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars were delivered to the parties without the payment of any duties to the Government. The amount of the bribe in this case does not appear.” It is impossible to tell how much the Government was robbed of in that way; and that was done with the indifference or the connivance of Mr. Arthur, for, said Mr. Sherman in his letter to him, “You have in no case supported the effort to correct these abuses.” Now could anything be more damning dhan this undisputed and indisputable Re-

publican evidence of Arthur's unfitness to hold office? And now contrast Arthur’s corrupt and inefficient political career with, the OFFICIAL RECORD OF WILLIAM H. ENGLISH, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR VICE PRESIDENT. He was postmaster in his native town, Lexington, Scott county, Ind., when barely 21 years of age. He was Principal Clerk of the Indiana House of Representatives at the age of 22. He was four years an officer in the United States Treasury Department under James K. Polk. He was a clerk in the United States Senate during the memorable session of 1850. He was principal secretary of the convention which formed the Constitution of Indiana, and that instrument bears his honored name. He was a member of the first Legislature held under the present Constitution. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives during the longest session ever held in the State, and no appeal was ever taken from any of his decisions. He was elected to the Congress of the United States in a doubtful district in the 30th year of his age. He was elected four successive terms, in the same district, by increasing majorities. He was prominently and honorably identified with the most important legislation of his time. He was one of the chief instruments in overthrowing the tyrannical and proscriptive Know-Nothing party. He was eight years a Regent of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington City,

He was 14 years president of one of the largest and most important financial institutions in the West—the First National Bank of Indianapolis—which he founded.* He was a firm and constant friend of the Union cause during the war. His loyalty was never even questioned. Arthur was kicked out of office by the President of his party so that the office, as President Hayes said, might be honestly administered. Let us see how it was with Mr. English. President Buchanan wrote to Mr. English as follows: “It was your fate to end a dangerous agitation, to confer lasting benefits upon your country, and to make your character historical. I shall remain always your friend. If I had a thousand votes you should have them all with a hearty good will.” And now let us see what his constituents said when he retired from office. The Convention which nominated his successor adopted unanimously the following resolution: Resolved, That in selecting a candidate to represent this District in the Thirty-seventh Congress, we deem it a proper occasion to express the respect and esteem we entertain for our present member, Hon. W. H. English, and our confidence in him as a public officer. In his retirement, in accordance with his well-known wishes, from the position of Representative, which he has so long filled with credit to himself and benefit to the country, we heartily trreet him with the plaudit, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” Nor was he less emphatically endorsed when he retired from the Presidency of the bank, as will be seen by the following resolutions offered by John C. New, now Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, and unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the Directors and Stockholders of this Bank sincerely regret the causes which impel the

resignation of the Hon. William H. English, so long President of this institution, and that, on accepting the same, they desire to express their thanks to him for the very great financial ability with which he has managed it from its organization to the present time. Resolved, That the Executive Committee of the board be directed to have prepared and presen t to him a suitable testimonial as a memento of our personal regard and esteem, and that he carry with him our most sincere wishes for a long life of usefulness and happiness. In pursuance of the latter resolution there was presented to Mr. English a magnificent gold medal, with profuse symbolical ornaments in the highest style of art, bearing on the one side the words, “Fortitude, Strength, Fidelity,” and on the other reverse the following inscription: — • Presented to : • Hon. WILLIAM H. ENGLISH, : • founder and over fourteen years President of : • the First National Bank of Indianapolis, : • as a memento of the personal esteem'of the : : Stockholders and Directors, : • and their high appreciation of his verj great : financial ability, constant watchfulness • : and perfect fidelity. : : July 23, 1877. j In all this long and honorable service it will be seen that he has been faithful to every trust, and rendered entire satisfaction to those who employed him. He has never been defeated before the people, and he will be the next Vice President of the United States. Even the Republicans are on the record endorsing him, for only a few months ago the Indianapolis Journal, then as now owned by John C. New, chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, said: There is not iu the Democratic party in Indiana a better politician, a better organizer or a man possessing more of the qualities of real statesmanship than William H. English. And the Terre Haute Courier (Rep.) said: We warn our Republican friends now, that if the Democratic party puts Mr. English in the position to make a leader of him in this State next year, there are breakers ahead for us. He is one of the strongest meniu that party.

THE DIFFERENCE. The difference between the records of Arthur and English shows up clearly and strikingly. On the one hand Arthur, as a public servant, is denounced by President Hayes and Secretary Sherman, acting as agents of the people of the United States. He is denounced and kicked out of office in disgrace for winking at the rascality of his subordinates and for criminal carelessness in the administration of his office. On the other hand, Mr. English, in a long and active career, has never held a position of trust from which, on retiring, he did not receive the enthusiastic commendations of those whom he served. Can the intelligent and honest voters of Indiana find any difficulty in deciding which is the better man and which is the more entitled to their confidence and suffrages? Besides, Mr. English is a native Indianian, and thoroughly identified with the interests of the people of his native State. No man can doubt that he would, in the future, as the past, be faithful to any public trust committed to him, and especially would all business men feel that the great material interests of the country would be entirely safe under his management Offices should be bestowed for the benefit of the public, and not as a mere reward for partisan services. Mr. English is a plain, practical business man of undoubted integrity, who would transact the public business as he does his own, on strictly business principles. No danger of his ever being kicked out of office, like Arthur was, in order, as President Hayes said, that the office might be honestly administered,

HARRISON REPLYING TO HENDRICES’S IMPALEMENT OF GARFIELD.