The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-04-08
The One Great Question.

THE recent speeches of Senator Sprsgue
concerning corruption in the United
States Senate, and the situation of the
country as regards morals and finances
have affected the Republican press very
much as the valedictOry of ex-President
Johnson did. The facts stated by the ex
President and the Senator cannot be shorn
of their power to influence public opinion
by attempts to ridicule the men who have
in clear and graphic language, presented
them to the people.
The question is not whether Sprague
and Johnson be good men or bad men.
They are not on trial. They have charged
the Congress of the nation with crimes OF
such magnitude, and with being controlled
by motives so venal and wicked, that, il
the charges be true, every interest of the
country is in peril every day that Con-
gress remains in session.
We have much of political issue and of
questions Of the hour, and there are many
and important ones before the country,
but they all dwindle into insignifcance In
comparison with the one that Senator
Sprague has lately pressed upon the at
tention of the Senate and the country,
and that is the prevailing official corrup-
ton.
We say the attention of the Senate, be-
cause he has repeatedly, within the last
three weeks, stood up before that body
and told it that its corruption was so great
that it ought to have no voice in the ap-
pOintment of civil officers, and that all its
legislation originated in selfshness and
partisanship, and that from its doors there
went contagion which had not only in.
tested all the departments of the Govern
ment, and made them a stencil in the nos
trils of honest men, but had spread from
official to private circles, and corrupted
the morals of the people.
He said he knew, of himself and by his
own experience and observation in the
Senate, that this was true, and that he
could present the proofs to sustain his
charges in such a manner rs to compel q
conviction in the mind of every man ca
pable of understanding them, and who
would consider them
The attempts of the Radical press to
ridicule Senator Sprague fail, because, in
the speeches which have brought upon
him the maledictions of the party in
power, he has proved himself to be man
of courage, an intelligent observer, and
one who thinks clearly, unbiased by
party trammels. He is assailed because
be has, in more impressive manner than
some other Republicans who have pre-
sumed to denounce the corruption of their
party, shown its wickedness, and the lit
tleness of the men who are highest in it.
His charges are sustained by the Repub-
lican press, although it is careful to make
its censures in a manner so mild as not to
alarm the great mass of Republican voters,
and drive them from the party. 1t would
be as absurd to ask proofs of the cor
rrption and wickedness of Congress, as it
could be to ask proof that Grant is Pres
ident, or Palmer Governor of Illinois. If
the testimony of Republicans and Mem
bers of Congress will be accepted, it can
as easily be proven that our National
Legislature is intent only upon defrauding
the people and perpetuating its power, as
it can be that "thcre is ne'er villain in
all Denmark but is an arrant knave." 10
Unless the people can be brought to the
conviction that rottenness is in everything
connected with the public service, and
made to feel the necessity of instant and
thorough reform, it is labor lost to discuss
other political questions. Official prosti-
tuition is the crying evil, and the country
must be made to face the fact-U Chicago
Times, 9TH