Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/291

Rh deal in all the Federal offices—consequences which I by no means admit as probable with such a President as the Democrats have nominated, at the head of affairs—but admit for argument's sake that all these things would follow; yet all the evils thus predicted—business confusion and financial loss, violence in the South and another carnival of spoils in the Federal offices—would only be of a temporary nature. The energy of our business community and the resources of the country would quickly help us over our financial embarrassments, and bad laws can be changed by amendment and repeal. New disorder in the South and a spoils carnival would quickly provoke an overwhelming reaction, and the guilty party would soon lose power again. All these apprehended results of a Democratic victory, if they really did occur, would, therefore, be only temporary. Subsequent action would obliterate them to the last trace. They would be like flesh wounds, painful enough at the time, but capable of easy and permanent healing. But you let the American people declare that in the bestowal of their highest trusts and distinctions they care nothing for official honor; that gross and systematic prostitution of official power for private gain, even in the most important positions in the Government, is not regarded by the people as an offense disqualifying a public man for the most exalted honor in the land, the Presidency of the United States—let the American people declare that, and you have injected into our system the virus of a disease which is not of a mere passing nature, which will not be easily and permanently cured by a mere reaction, but which will fester on and on, attacking the very fountain of our vitality. This is not a mere flesh wound—this is poisoning of the blood.

Therefore I repeat that nothing a Democratic success can bring with it will be as bad in its nature and as dangerous in its consequences to the future of the Republic as