The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1855-09-26

Nothing but the grossestignorance orutter
recklessness of these writer's, could have
caused them to make so absurd and ridicu-
lous charge. Why did they not exam
inc the figures during the Whig admins
tration and find the same discrepancy !?
"For want of time" says their article
How fortunate that want of time should
intervene, when to go a step further would
show the absurdity of their article. Want
of time and want of honesty would both
stop them at this point. Which it was
we pretend not to say.
We stated that over 5000, 900 had been
|expended on the Miami and Erie canal
for new structures to supply the place of
old wooden ones, which had nearly rotted
down. These writer's state that they have
examined the Report of the Auditor and
cannot find such an item in any one year
and, therefore, charge that we "put it
down to make the sum prore.", We did
not state that it was all expended In one
year, but it was distributed through the
fonr years. But this would make variety
of items, and whenever there was more
than a single plain item, it would be en-
tirely incomprehensible to them. They
examined the Auditors Report" and
could not find it. Their familiarity with
that Report is manifested by the woeful or
wilful blunder they made in their attempt
to state the amount of money collected
They ask triumphantly ain what Audstor
Of States Report is it shown that the locks
and other structures of the Miami and
Erie canal were made of wood, and nearly
all rotted down, and that the Democrats
had to rebuild them at a cost of $780,
OO0." In what "Auditor of States Re-
port" forsooth They seem to think that
if anything is notfound in the Auditor of
States Report, it is necessarily false If
this were true they would be in lamenta-
BILE condition, for they would not know any
thing. That Report might almost as well
be Greek for them. After failing in the
Auditors Report they should have exam
ined Jayne's Medical Almanac, and would
have been as likely to find it in one as the
other IF they had examined the Re-
ports of the Board of Public Works,
where any men of sense that know any
thing about the matter would have look
! Cd they would have found it. There are
specific and detailed accounts of the ex-
penditures, the purposes for which they
were made, and the past and present con-
dition of the Works. Perhaps they did
not know such thing existed.
After denying that this 5000, 0,0G0 was
paid out at all, they claim that it should
be added to the expenditures, and not
subtracted. Here is another exhibition
of their genius. That 100000 is al
ready added to the expenditures, yet they
would add it again. They are so well
satisfied of the correctness of this absurd
proposition that they /" would submit it to
any man." "Any man, saving the wri-
ters of that article, could sec that was al
ready included, and that we deducted it
merely to show the ordinary expenses.
We do not charge the writer's of that
article with designing to deceive, but are
charitable enough to believe that they
were stupid enough not to see that their
article is a series of unmitigated false
hoods. Now if the concoctors of those
charges are gentlemen, they will retract
them, whether they were made through
Ignorance or malice. Ignorance is nc
excuse if they refuse this act of justice
for if they persevere in them, after being
corrected, they are equally as culpable as
if they had been designedly false in the
beginning. We do not ask them TO take
as much pains to make amends as they
did to peddle their charges around through
the streets and barrooms, before we had
an opportunity to refute them; but simply
to retract their assertions, and save theil
names from being made public in connec.
ton with their falsehoods.
aB The Bell Air Times, a Know
Nothing paper, published in Belmont
county, has "Gzzled out" The editor, il
is said, disappeared about the same time.
Verify is Know Nothingism a hard road
to travel" ~ 1s7o 1l. s
I a#1 Don't neglect reading the articles
in this weeks paper from those leaving