The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-01-29
AN ECONOMICAL ADMIN
ISTRATIoN. m
Grants Policy FOreshadOWed.
Speech of Hon. q. =. Washburne, Of
Illinois, Delivered IN the House Of
Representatives, Jan. 6, 1869.

Nh. CHAIRNAE:-In proceeding L
! the consideration of the first in tht
!. series of regular appropriation bills K
be considered, it may not be deemed
inappropriate to submit to the House
! some observations on the character and
extent of the appropriations necessary
for the support Of the government fol
!, the fiscal year ending June 80, 1870,
and other cogBate matter. Il must be
/ a matter Of profound congratulations 10
all good citizens that the time is now
: come when the attention of the peopla
I can be given in greater degree 70 the
material and vital interests Of the eoun-
try. A gigantic rebellion suppressed
the curse Of human slavery abolished ;
the rebellioGs States reconstructed, or
in the process Of reconstruction, on The
basis of equal rights before the law TO
all !; loyal administration Of the codn-
try secured for the next four years; the
bitterness Of the party feeling assuaged,
the earnest attention of the American
people will now be turned 10 questions
Of the internal administration of the
country. The excitement and passions
growing out of the war and out Of the
contests connected Herewith viii die
away with the lapse Of time, and the
lpeople viii compel Congress to confront
other and different questions than those
which have for so many years oveFshad-
lowed and swallowed up everything else.
With the unreconstructed States admit
ted into the Union, with full and equal
protection for all men in all the States,
and with manhood suffrage secured by
legislation or constitutional amendment,
the minds of the people win turn to
questions of finance, of taxes, of econo-
my, Of decreased expenditures, and
honest and enlightened legislation, to
questions of tariffs, and to questions Of
railroad, telegraph, and express monopO-
lies, which are sucking the very life
blood Of the people, to the administers
ton Of the revenue laws and to the rob
berries and plunderiDgs of the Treasury
by dishonest Office holders. Already
the eyes of the people of this country
are upon Congress- / may say they
are upon the Republican majority in
Congress, for that majority is now re-
sponsible before the country for the
legislation of Congress- Il can make |
and unmake laws in defiance and con-
tempt Of Executive Vetoes. The Re
publican party triumphed in the last
election because it was pledged to hon
esty and economy, TO the upholdiDg Of |
public faith and public credit, and 10
the faithful execution of the laws. And |
those pledges can not now be ignored |
without subjecting that party to the
.censure Of the people. The condition
of the country, the vast public debt, |
the weight of taxation, the deprecated
and fuctusting currency, the enormous
expenditures Of public money, the nal
administration Of the government the
extortions Of monopolies, press upon
our attention with most crushing force. |
The people elected General Grant to the
Presidency not only on account of the1
great and inestimsble services he has
rendered the country in subduing the
rebellion; not only on account Of bis
devotion to the great principles of the
Republican party, but because they be-
ieVe him to be emphatically an honest
man and an enlightened statesman, who
would faithfully administer the laws
without fear, favor or affection. The |
time has come when we are imperative
ly called upon to take a new departure. |
Added to other terrible evils brought
upon the country by the war for the
suppression Of the rebellion, is the de- |
moralizstion incident to all great wars, |,
and to the expenditures of vast and un-
heard Of amounts Of public money; to
the giving out Of immense contracts by
which sudden and vast fortunes were
madei the imitation of the currency,
which engendered speculation, proaiga-
cy, extravaganza and corruption; ; by the
intense desire to get suddenly rich out
OF the government and without labor,
and the inventions and schemes gener- h
ally to get money out of the Treasury
for the benefit of individuals without
regard to the interests of the govern.
ment While the restless and unpsus-
ing energies Of a patriotic and iucoFrupt-
Ibie people we're devoted to the saliva
ion oftheir government and we're pour /
ing out their blood and treasure in its | ]
lefanse, there-was the vast army of the | !
base, the Venal and unpatriotie, who {
rushed in to take advantage Of the mis-
iortunes of the country and to plunder I
is treasury. The statute books are !
oaded with legislation which will i'm i
pose burdens on future generations. !
Public land enough to make empires
has been voted to private railroad cor
subsidies of untold millions
If bonds, for the same purposes, have (
become acharge upon the people, while }
he fetters of vast monopolies have been
astened still closer and closer upon the v
,ublic. 1t is time that the representa- o
ives Of the people were admonished o
hat they are the servants Of the people 9
md paid by the peoples that sheiF con d
tituents have confded to them the q
,reat trust of guarding their rights and o
their interests; that their po- g
itiOn and their power are to be used
Or the benefit Of the people whom they b
and not for their own benefit K
nd the benefit of the lobbyists, the j.
and the spectators who have c
ONE to Washington to make raid up u
n the Treasury. The time has also q
ONE, in my Judgment when public e.
len are to he held TO q more strict dis Il
barge Of their duty, and when their Al
ctions will be scanned by a more critic G
eye. 1t is no new lesson that the pub v
C men of this country must learn. It "
lesson which has been taught in Ii
ther countries and at times even when al
lefe was little. 10 boast Of in the way n
public virtue 1t is recorded in his tr
'ry that during the most terrible DAYS
the French Revolution, for it was on a,
le l4th day Of May, 1923, nineteen d;
ays before the passage of the celebra- h
d decree of the national convention N
q the I'd Of June, placing in accusation ca
Ie Girondists, that BuzOt, one of the W
lrest and most eminent of those gifted h,
Id brilliant men, pronounced these ac
emOrable words, which should be en- p
'ayed in letters of gold over the en- VI
ance Of every public Office and Of o,
cry ball Of legislation: Of
" No public man can be justified in th