Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-23
The Union as it Was and the Un.
ion as ID Is.

=
The Morning Journal has an editorial COM
pairing the Union as 1t was to the so-called
Union as 1t is, which the writer commences
in the Sophomore style, thus: M
THEN AND Now.-The Union of to-day,
bears no more resemblance to the Union OF
ten years ago than the soaring butterfly
does to the crawling eaterpiilar.. .henned
in the white heat of civil war, we are as
unlike our former self as the bright gold
is to the dull lump of ore slumbering in the
miue.S have been purged of many cru
dities, have cast off many superfiuities,
atoned for many Inisdeeds, and are almost
ready for the Great Refiner's stamp. The
nation is done with shams. The era of
humbugs is about at an end. The rule of
injustice is almost, ended. We stand on
the threshold Of new epoch.
We agree that "the Union of to-day
bears no comparison to the Union. of ten
years ago." and, as lover of our country,
we are sorry that truth compels the admis-
sion. Ten years ago, the Union was truly
q union-the term s,Uaited States" true
one, and the people therein prosperous and
happy, and, with, the exception of a few
fanatics in the North. and about an equal
number in the South, not a breath of dis.
cord was. heard. No taxes for national
purposes we're then levied or collected-the
laboring man conld then light his untaxed
pipe, filled with untaxed tobacco, with an
untaxed match, and smoke it between the
sips of his untaxed lager-his good wife
could sip her untaxed tea or coffee, and pui-
chase her calico dress for ten cents per
yard. The currency of the country was
then gold and silver, or bank notes worth
their face in money. +,
Now, the people are taxed on everything
they consume, eat, drink or wear. The
hated Stamp Act passed by England in
I'VE, and attempted to be enforced in the
Colonies, is revived and enforced in this
land of the free and is placed on the taxed
medicine the sick man takes, and on the
permit which authorizes his body to be
committed to his mother earth. England,
with her great re sources, pays much less
amount in interest on her public debt than
do our people, with a commerce crippled,
and industry failing to meet its proper re-
ward in consequence of a deprecated cur
rency. 70 t9lJ
The Union of ten years ago, was Union
in which all men of all sections had all the
rights which the Constitution guaranteed.
Each State exercised all the powers prop
erly belonging to States, which they had
not ceded to the Federal Government, and
their Senators and Representatives in Con-
gress were always present to protect the
interest and the honor of their States and
their constituents. gel ..a.s.e as. ist
The '.Union OF to-day is not the Union
of onr fathers. That Union, according to
the Radical programme, has been dissolved.
Ten StatesAsome of them part of the
"Old Thirteen n-are out of the Union.
The party now in power has done that
which hundreds of thousands of lives
were lost and thousands of millions of
money was spent, to prevent. 1t has dis
solved the Union, and in it's place has
erected despotism which treats ten States
as conquered provinces, and proposes to
hold them, not by the bonds of affection,
but by the fear of the bayonet.
Agreeing with the Journal that the Un-
ion of to-day bears but little resemblance
to that of the Union ten years ago, it will
be the duty, as we feel that it is the des-
tiny of the Democratic party, to bring it
back to the better days of the Republic.
This can only be done by driving the VAN
dals from the Capitol, and restoring the
Constitution and with it the rights of the
States and the people.