Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/122

88 the Democracy is reunited. Only your Administration can save New York and States similarly situated, by being and offering that which boss-rule is not. I trust you do not think of putting at the head of the Treasury a Wall street banker. It would be fatal. If you deem it necessary to give a place in your Cabinet to the Conkling-Grant wing of the party, no fairminded man in the country will find fault with you for selecting the person and the place yourself. If Conkling then quarrels with you, he will soon discover that he cannot afford to quarrel with two Republican Administrations in succession. It will be likely to prove a fatal blow to his influence even among the followers who so far have stood by him. You are entirely master of the situation. Only let your Administration be clean in character and able in its management of the public business, and the rest will in a great measure take care of itself. There are certain antagonisms which, I think, you cannot avoid. You will easily pass through them if the cleanness of your Administration in point of character and its ability secures the confidence of the country. Failure in that respect will be the only really dangerous thing.

P. S. The enclosed may amuse you as a specimen of the tricks of a shrewd wirepuller who wants to appear as a great man and to become your Postmaster-General. 

 &emsp; Dear General: Your letter of the 20th inst. seems to indicate that you do not desire to give your assent in any manner that might be considered binding, to the appointment of Inspector Pollock as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the understanding that he should remain in place under your Administration. In suggesting his