The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-21
THURSDAY, JANUARY q, 1869.
ILL., nnorri1ins aud their Prey.

N, FIIsgA w. DAVIS, a so.called Repuoll-
can member of the state Legislature from 'h'S
o;tv saw fit yesterday afternoon to denounce
THE EVENING TELEGRAPH, in common WIN 'no
Evening Bulletin, the Morning Post, ana Tue
Synday Dispatch, as a guerrilla Sheet Dc,
osuse thew have been insisting that an emu
shor no mt TO the dirty work" which mas SO
1oro noIIuted the halls Of legislation az HAT
risbnrr For our part, we accept the Term
which MIR. Davis has applied to us, ana ASK
wba, he has done, either for the hePupl'c"n
nartv or for the people of the city, that ne Is
.ot orr legitimate prey As far as we have
boor able TO learn from the reports OF the
5oipps at Harrisburg which have reached
Ma MIR. Davis has thus far
during the present session lent
his voice and his vote to every vllIalnous
scheme Of plunder, favoritism, and serylll'y
which has been brought before the body oil
vbicb be is q member. Unhappily for the
interests of the people and the future success
of the Republican party in this city and state,
MIR. Davis is not the only man OF his CLASS IN
the Legislature. For the most part 1t IS made
np. as it has been made up in the past, OF
cot ot men TO whom we can apply no milder
tern than that OF leeches--men who, as
yenersl thing, are without visible means OF
support; who 90 to Harrisburg year after
wear, and there plunder the public purse and
pervert the will Of ths people, with an amount
Of brazen assurance that fairly takes
sWav our breath as We contem'
plate il. II is notoriously the fact
that any measure of simple public justice or
Of paramount public necessity, which, to use
the slang term employed at Harrisburg, "hss
nothing in it," will either be pushed through
in the orudest and most unsatisfactory shape,
or crowded out altogether by the great pres
sure of sleek legislative jobs. Such hold
upon the machinery OF both the great political
parties of the State and country have these
men obtained, that the people would appear
TO be almost powegless in their grasp-cer-
tsinly powerless to prevent them from re-
ceiving the formal nominations for the offices
which they invsriable disgrace.
In this lamentable state of affairs, the only
refuge Of the people and the parties is in the
give true and faithful expression to public
sentiment 10y hunting down these political
leeobes, as the genuine gorilla hunts down
his prey. The EVENING TELEGRAPH processes
10 be liberal and Independent Republican
journal; and we fiatter ourselves that we have
heretofore lived up to our professions
as closely as honesty and common de-
cency would permit. To continue in this
course is our present intention, and when we
have resolved upon abandoning it, Mr.. Davis
will receive due notice in the shape Of our
advocacy of all the outrageous schemes which
he proposes or defends in the Legislature. In
he past we have ventured to protest against
some of the more reprehensible schemes OF the
political tricksters, both in this city and at
Harrisburg, ana our protest has not always
been without effect. Recognizing the
true claims of the Republican party Oh
our support, we shall, in the future, support
its principles with all earnestness, and 1t;
candidates and the measures of its so.oalleo
adherents, whenever they commend them
selves to the mass Of the party as decent anC
expedient in the one case, and capable, honest
and deserving in the other. Our desire II
contribute to the success Of the party in tht
future, and to promote the best interests
the whole community, without regard tt
party lines, prevents us from going one stel
further.
If this platform makes THE EVENING TILE
GRAPH guerrilla Sheet" write us down
guerrilla by all means, Mr.. Davis. But we d.
not desire, like "Dogberry," to be writer
down an ass. In this respect we are perhap
trife more sensitive than some Republican
members of the legislature.