Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-06-02

tlemAn was cheated In buying pack.
age Of .ea, and advertised that be
would publish the name Of the dealrr
who had cheated him unless genuine
restitution was made. He received
seven fine packages from as many
shops, each dealer supposing that llo
was the party suspected. A guilty
conscience needs no accuser On y
similar principle, when we speak OF
fthe corruption Of party politics, eac.
and every party man imagines that
he and bis are the men we are driving
at, and not unfrequently they send US
letters accusing us OF seeking 10 injure
them for tho sake OF helping their
opponents. Such letters prove two
things-that wounded birds futter,
and that in both iiocks or parties there
are birds TO be wounded. We have
no political party associations and
have no reference, remote or immedi-
ate, to one more than to another,
when we cry aloud for political re-
form, when we declare our conviction
that our National and our State Legis-
latures are largely under the control
of corrupt men, so that legislation is
not now the fruit of intelligent politi.
cal wisdom, but is secured in the
interest Of corporations, cliques, rings,
and individuals, Tor private vs5- aa
not for the public good Therefore
our personal rights of property, our
liberties and our happiness, are all in
danger. If our system of railroads
and canals, our educational, temper
ance, and Sabbath laws, our courts,
our elections, appointments to Office,
contracts-all gifts in the hands OF
government-are at the mercy of cor
rupt men, the entire political fabric is
in danger, and the time has fully come
when the moral, honest, Christian por-
tion Of the community should awake
to the necessity Of a new Political
Reformation.
Extracts which we viii make TO
illustrate the necessity Of party Of
reform, will come from moderate pa
pers belonging to the Republican par
ty; and the statements bear upon the
general corruption of politics, and not
upon any section or organization.
The n. Y. Daily Times says: "The
politicians of the country, the men
T" who control it's conduct by filling it's
offices of power and profit, are self
8 ish, venal and corrupt; and as a
/" class they are growing more selfish
[" and more corrupt every year The
government of our great cities has
{" become by.word Of reproach and
just contempt. Our State Legisla-
lures are equally bad there are not
half a dozen in the ,oh9le Union ichich
+" are not HotoriouS'g open 10 the bdSest
and most degrading Influences BY
+" Uhich human action can teconfroiled.
And Congress Is rapidly falling into
the same false and fatal course The
politicians Of the countryside CON-
pact, active, organized army by
g which the whole civil administra-
i" ton is guided and governed-have
{" become utterly demoralizcd-have
4" thrown away regard for principle
and for honor, and look upon gov
erninent only as an agency for plum
dering the country for their own
/" beneft-and its Offices, not as
I" means of rendering it honorable SER
vice, but Of enriching themselves at
its expense" r
The n. Y. EUening Post opens an
able article on the subject with these
anxious words:
"How shall we purify our legisla-
turesy many anxious persons cry
out in these days. The increasing
q corruption Of public virtue is viewed
g with alarm by large part of the
community-by all, in fact, who pay
attention TO public affairs. The city
councils, the STATE Legislatures and
Congress, are all tainted The ex-
posure of fragrant instances of cor
ruption produces little effect. In
dignation lasts day or two, and
then new wonder attracts the
"publc ear Well-meaning but weak
men have spent years in the contri-
vance of laws tor the detection and
punishment of bribery and corrup-
]
A man who takes a bribe will not
hesitate to pcrjure himself; man
who gives q bribe is not likely to
make himself publicly infamous by
confessingit; and his unsupported
evidence would not be trusted by
jury if he did. What, then, can we
F" do to save the country from vice
which is spreading, and threatening
"to cxtinguish public morality"
These are general principles and
remarks which command the general
assent of all honest men, but the mo-
ment we apply them to any particular
case, the politician, though Christian
citizen, bows to the dcspotism of party
and votes with his friends, though he
sells his soul. This has been illustrated
at Albany in the passage of the Excise
and School Bills. Men knew that
they were voting against God and
right, and intelligence and morals, but
they voted TO help their political par
ty. And we have recently had q
practical illustration of the power Of
"s''ey " " EWty Fvtttto W SO"oSi
the votes Of Senators of the United
States We can 20 no higher than
the Senate, with our illustrations, and
our argument is, that if the Senate
will not rebuke corruption and cast
out from their presence as an unclean
thing corrupt man, who asks their
seal Of confirmation, then the last hope
of salvation from the politicians has
persisted The facts have been widely
spread before the country, but more
infinitely in the ~ y Timcs of April
18th under the significant head, "Ofii-
cial Dishonesty no Bar to Promotion
in Office"
We repeat the sentiment that there
is no hope from the politicians Of the
day. Statesmen, Christians, men of
character and intelligence, who have
long ago retired from political circles
in disgust, if not in despair, must como
+ forth from their seclusion and save the
country. An honest mans party must