Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 3.djvu/352

326 induce Congress to perpetuate this reform by legislation in whatever way it may be possible and necessary.

This is what I am sincerely convinced Governor Hayes will do if elected to the Presidency.

I do not pretend to call Governor Hayes, as Mr. Tilden is called by some of his over-poetic friends, “the wisest man in the world.” I do not put him in point of courage above all the heroes of antiquity and modern times. I do not predict that, if elected President, he will cure in three months all the ills human society is heir to, and plunge us straight into the millennium of ideal existence. But he is a man who has nobody to fear, because he has nothing to cover up. He has nobody to reward, because he did not seek the Presidency, and promised nothing. And he has no future favors to ask for, because he has no ambition to serve except to make, as President, his one Administration a blessing to the country and an honor to himself. His reform plan is the product of experience wisely turned to account, of mature reflection and of an unselfish desire to benefit the people. Behind that plan stands a clear, solid, cultivated intellect, the unostentatious but firm force of quiet, persistent energy and the inviolable pledge of a born gentleman. And I repeat, that plan, as far as the power of the Presidential office goes, he will carry out. I speak with confidence, for that confidence I possess. I have his word for it, you have his word for it, the whole American people have his word for it, and, as Governor Hayes is a man of honor, that word will be kept.

But you may say, “Granting all this, will he be able to carry out his good intentions, in the face of the adverse interests and influences in the Republican party which will combine to defeat the contemplated reform?” This also is a legitimate question. Let us fairly examine it.

All those who understand our Constitutional system will