The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-11-14

hcansf communication on the Political Atti
tude of Prohibitionists in Maine an interest
ing letter from our Lewiston correspondent; :
report of the Democratic Celebration at tht
City Hall last week; Senator Wade's recent
manifesto; the monthly statement of the Tub
lie Debt; an abstract of the reports of tiie Nj
lonal Banksuf Maine; an abstract of the Oc
tober report OF the Agricultural Bureau; de.
tails of the st. Thomas Disaster; interesting
news from Italy and England; good story by
John G. Whittier; shipping news of the week
careful review of the Portland markets, re-
ports of Cambridge and Brighton cattle mar
kets; &c, Sc
Democratic Principles mud RepubIicnn
| Duties:
Saturday evening, November Q, the Demoe-
raey assembled at the City Hall, to glory over
the late reverses Of the Republicans. A large
audience was present. The shining lights
OF the Democracy in the State were there,
among them several candidates for the euber-
material and other high Offices MANY of the
opposite party, allured by curiosity or some
similar motives, lent their ears to what the
Democratic oracles had to cay. The occasion
was an auspcious one for the enunciation of
| the " great principles" of Democracy, and the
| PRONUNCIATION of that hitherto unknown pol
| icy through which peace, harmony ard pros
| perity are TO smile upon the coantry and heal
| its gaping wounds. Those who attended in
| expectation of gaining some information on
these topics must have been disappointed.
| The Democratic oracles were as ambiguous as
| that at Delphi. Their declarations, so far as
they consisted Of anything except faultfind-
ing, were "glittering generaities' which
might mean one thing as well as another.
There was no comprehensive scheme of f.
nance by which specie payments may be Ie-
sumed, taxation simpified, trade released
from the letters that bind it, public credit re-
stored and the States dsorganized by the re-
bellion, restored.
Though the mist of such eeneralities. how
| ever, two beacon lights of the Democracy
were visible. One of these was the repeal of
all prohibitory laws SO that the traffic in whis-
key might be uninterrupted. The other was
the principle of white mans government"
or both these principles, the Democratic
party can claim undisputed possession. The
trite maxim that the rebelous States are
States still and have all the rights OF States,
was also reiterated But as this principle is
fully recognized by the Republican party
and is entirely compatible with the propos:-
tion that these States have nc present eapaei-
ty of exercising their rights, it cannot be con-
sidered as any peculiar feature of the Demo-
cratic platform. With these exceptions the
speeches were wholly negative. All the er-
rors and ioiies OF the Republican party from
little extrayagancies in pincushions and pen
knives, up to the great evils of an irredeen-
able currency and a complicated and burden
some system of revenue, were fully explained
and denounced
Mr.. Pillsbuiy was particularly generous
with his compassion for the "toiing millions"
who have to pay taxes. He had not word
oil commendation for the men who in the ma
tion's hour of need supplied the sinews of
war in exchange for government bonds, thus
making it possible to preserve that govern
ment, upon the safety of which the lives, the
liberty and the earnings of the toiling mil
lions depen1. Is it the spirit of the patriot
or OF the demagogue, to disparage the mon
who by their money aided in preserving the
only government which the '.toiling millions,
can justly call their own? Does such course
indicate sincere regard for the laboring
class9 Is it fair to try to persuade the people
that they ought moi to contribute toward pay
ing the price of their liberties? Or has Mr..
Pillsbury discovered some way of paying the
debt without taking the money out OF any
body's pocket? If $50, he ought to have an
nounced so important discovery. But he
did no such thing. His whole speech was oe-
cupied with complaints about the Republi-
cans. lie charged them not only with awk-
wardness in collecting, but with extravagande
in expepding The peoples money. And Tire
conclusion which was evidently what he wish
ed chiefly to impress upon his hearers, was
that, il people wanted change OF measures,
they must change their votes, and give them
to the Democratic party.
Mr.. Pillsbury assured his hearers that url-
der Democratic management all these things
| would be changed. He did not tell them
achat changes he proposed. Like tho reme-
diesnow universally current with the Democ-
racy those which he proposed were wholly
negative. 1t was Simply a change that he
wanted, whether for better or worse was left
in the dark. The policy OF Democracy, accor-
ding to Mr. Pillsbury, is simply not to DO
what the Republican party does:
Probably the people desire to see some
things changed, but they wish them to be
| changed for the better, and since the Democ-
cracy do not tell what changes they propose,
their record is the only means for ascertain
| ing whether those changes will be likely TO
prove such IS the people want. No party has
been more constant in preaching economy or
more negligent in practicing it. Mr.. Jefer~
sons administration was the first and most
economical Democratic administration Since
his day one expense af.er another has been
added, some necessary, others useless. Alike
under Democratic or Whig administrations
| (under the former most Of the time) the ex-
penses kept swelling till in Mr. Van Buren's
time they reached point that would have
startled the statesmen of the days of Jeifer-
son. In the next twenty years they increas-
ed more than In the preceding forty Mr..
Benton while he was in public life thought
| the expenses of the army enormous, thou9b
considerably less thar five hundred dollars
year perman. But before he died. in spite of
Democratic economy, he saw the expendl-
tnres for the army averaging about one thou
sand dollars per man, and still going up.
There has probably never been time in the
history of the country when some money has
not been wasted. These facts show that the
tendency of this waste to grow in constant
| ly accelerating ratio is not counteracted by the
| accession of one administration in place of
| another Administrations have been very
much alike in this respect. No government
is conducted with perfect economy. The ex-
| pectation of such perfection in any human
| contrivance is as groundless as would be the
hope of inventing machinery that would work
without friction. Thedifferences between dif-
erent administrations in respect to economy
are differences only in degree
The Republican party has not vet had a
fair trial in respect to public economy. For
more than four years after it came into pow
er the imperative necessities of war compel-
ed the party to employ those means oil filling
the Treasury which were most immediately
available, whether those means would under
other circumstances have been the most econ