The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1867-10-01

As q reason for this subversion of
Republican Government charges are made
that on occasions Of great excitement,
| speakers at public meetings were dis
turbed at Mobile-a Convention to amend
the Constellation, which had declared its
labors terminated, had not been permitted
to assemble in New Orleans-and at
Memphis difficulty and fight had oc-
Cured between the blacks and whites
These facts, it is said, showed that the
South was insnbordinate-that the peoz
pie were not fit for self government, and
hence. there was necessity for the mil
itary interference Of tbe government, and
the utter subyersion Of az the Constit1s
tional rights Of all the States, except
Tennessee, lately IN rebellion. The men
who charge this remember but to forget,
that in Ohio and i1.every Northern State
similar and greater routrages were com
mitted--tEat not q city, county or town
in Ohio, during the reign Of terror
from 1861 to 1S65-but had its mob
that Democratic meetings were disturbed
or broken up-that men as pure, as pat
riotic, and as law abiding as any in the
Union, were mobbed for holding that the
| Union, founded upon compromise and
kindness, could not be cemented in bonds
of love and unity by men who boldly
and with ruthless hands, struck down the
Constitution, and denied to their fellow
citizens the rights, to secure which the
Republic was formed. Similar scenes to
those enacted at Mobile, at Memphis, and
at New Orleans were common in the
North during the war; yet no one dream
ed Of ousting Brough, Morton, Yates,
and other loyal Governors, and giving
their power and that of the Legislatures
of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to an army
officer to be governed, not by the Gonsti-
tuition adopted by their people, or the
laws passed by their Legislatures, but
by the mere whim and caprice of the
military ruler placed over them.
The subject of State finances is one of
deep interest to all classes of our citi-
zens, whether their names appear upon
the tax duplicate or not. 1t is great
mistake to suppose, as many do, that be-
cause the tax eatherer collects no taxes
from portion of the community that
therefore they bear no part of the bur-
tkens of government. The tax paid to
the National and State governments is
charged on the house that the laborer Of
small means rents-on the clothes and
on the provisions he purchases. The
boarding house keeper increases his price
of boarding as taxes increase, for other-
wise he would fail to make both ends
meet, and in most of the business trans
actions of life it enters and bears its due
part.
In 1776, the Colonies, now forming a
part of the United States, re7olted against
English dominion because of the attempt
of the English Parliament to tax the peo-
Iple residing therein, who had no repre-
sentatiyes Of. their interests in the Par
lament that thus claimed the right to tax
them at pleasure, The overt acts which
lied to the outbreak which made the Uni.
ted States free, and independent, was a
small tax upon tea and the interdietlon
of the use, in instruments of writing, OF
paper that bore no stamp upon its face.
The people of. ten, States of the Re-
public; four of them, viz: North and
South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, a
/ part of the original thirteen colonies, are
now taxed without any representation in
Congress-and the tax upon tea and the
duty levied by the revival of the Stamp
Act, extends to nearly all the business
transactions Of life. The entire duty on
tea, if submitted to by our patriot fathers
/ in the whole of the thirteen colonies
would not have been as great as thatgnoV
paid by the people Of this Senatorial Dis,
trict, and the Stamp duty of 17T6 would
4 not have cost the Colonists as much as is
Inow paid in the Counties Of Monroe and
Guernsey for the same purpose.
4 In addition to the large and still IN.
creasing, Federal tax, those of our owr
State have largely increased, and certain
revelations, not denied by those charged
with the NAL administration of the State
Finances, made by the press Of the State
Eshow that no man, when he pays his
school and other taxes, can know to .
certainty where it goes, or for what pur
pose: it is tofbe used. M al s. sso !.
i During the war, the large number ot
citizens enlisted or drafted, Of the poorer
class, whose families were left without ad.
'Iequate support. enlisted public sympathy
and tax, was levied for their support
Fosa time, the presumption is, that this
money was applied to the purpose fol-
which it was collected. Early in the irsi
session Of the Legislature which passed
j the negro suffrage resolution, this money
4 then in the Treasury of the State, and OF
the eve of being distributed to the differ
ent counties 20 be used for the noble pur'
pose of clothing, feeding and comforting
the widows and orphans of the, dead sol
! diers, in necessitous circumstances, excl
ted the cupidity of the. Fund Commits
sioners. They appealed to the Legisla
ture first to allow them to seize and di
/ vert eight hundred thousand dollars o
] the fund TO other purposes. The Demo
cratic members, in speeches and by theil
votes, opposed this, and by the aid OF :
sufficient number. of votes from the Re
publican organization, defeated it. Th'
next attempt was to borrow it, to pc re
paid in, two years, and in this shape the.
succeeded in getting possession OF tn
money. AT the very next session, having
educated the majority up to the point Q
stealing it outright, a law was passed t
transfer the sum named. without even I