North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-08-04
WHOLE No. 668.

ders the following "honestEconfession' OF
the Chicago Daily Republican. People
who can see and know all that is said by
the Republican, and yet, as if proud of
being "hewers Of wood and drawers of
water,' mary are so abased as to sustain
the robbers of their money and the inso-
lencc of official intolerants. A brave man
dies but once, a cringing, cowardly span-
iel of man is daily suffering on earth
the tortures Of the damned.
'Real danger besets the country. Cor.
ruption in the government has become the
rule, not the exception. This political
debauchery in our capital city has existed
so long, and become so stereotyped, that
State legislatures, municipal corporations,
banking institutions, railroad companies,
and even courts Of justice, have been in
fected with the same general demoraliza-
ton. No law-making body now assemblies
without a confident expectation on the
part Of community that some ''steal,"
under the shadowy pretense of conserving
the public good, will be committed. To
such an extent has this conviction become
current in New York and Pennsy lvania,
that the coming together of the General
Assemblies in those States is viewed with
positive apprehension by the people, and
the day of adjournment is an occasion for
almost universal rejoicing. The same
feelings, in less degree, are already find
ing their wav into other sections of the
UHion. What is true of the Legislatures
is equally true of municipal boards. Office
of every description is made the instru-
ment by which the wealth of the country
is placed under selfaggrandizing schemes
which possess all the attributes of down.
right larceny, excepting only the legal
definition and limitations of that crime.
Banks are plundered by dishonest cashiers,
tellers and presidents and the offenders
compound the felonies, and are received
back into society with applauding COM
ments at the ingenuity, talent, audacity
and magnitude of their thefts. Railroad
officials employ the funds Of their com-
panies in private speculations, water stock,
combine to bull or bear Wall street fer
individual advantage, and are in turn
swindled by conductors, contractors, and
underlings Of every degree. Judges stain
the purity of their robes with bribes, and
juries sell verdiets to the highest bidder.
Manufacturers, many of them, adulterate
their commodities. Misrepresentation is
one Of the commonest tools of trade.
Successful dishonesty is regarded as an
excellent joke. To take advantage of
ignorance is considered legitimate dealing.
Never in this country has there been such
reign of unsound morality. Every part
of the Union abounds with it conspicuous.
ly. The ish-brand business in Chicago is
prsof Of our allegation. The sugar
frauds in New Orleans offer new testimony
as to its truth. The conviction of two of
the weaithiest distiilers at Williamsport,
Pa, and their sentence to two years
imprisonment for violation of the revenue
laws, affords further evidence in support
of our proposition. The issuance of capi-
ases on Monday for the arrest of four mem
bers of the Board of Aldermen in Mem
phis, charged with ,nalfcasance in Office, is
additional confirmation of our statement.
So are the recent defaulting in the
Ocean Bank, in New York the appoints
ment lately of receiver for the city of
Nashville, in consequence Of notorious
mal-administration by the elected authori'
ties; and the habit of Chicago jurors in
blackmailing the winning side. We cam
not look any where without finding num-
erous evidences Of corruption.
No philosophical observer can have any
difficulty in arriving at thorough COM
prehension of the tendency of the facts.
Unless some corrective can be applied, our
boasted free institutions must prove fail
ure, adding another to the long list of de-
funct republics, and reinforcing the prin-
cipal Of monarchy. Distasteful as this
reflection may be, its truth cannot be
reasonably denied. The corruption
abroad in community cannot be expected
to stop at its present growth. 1t will and
must spread its decentralization until it
shall become, as it were, disreputable to
be an honest man, and they who shall
adopt as a rule of conduct the golden
rule-''do unto others as you would have
them do unto you"-will be regarded
with contempt as impracticable fools who
do not know their own interests. 1t is
the theorism of our political system that it
rests upon the virtue of the masses of the
people. If so, and no one doubts the
proposition, then whenever the masses of
the people shall become utterly demoral-
lied, the props which uphold democratic
institutions will be practically gone.
Nothing is surer than the fact that our
present Governmental organism calls for
and fosters, not virtue, integrity, morality,
.urity, intelligence, capacity, talent and
patriotism, but their opposites. This
proves that our political structure needs
rc-modeling. We must institute new
elective system, more in accord with the
demands of the age. The doctrine of the
numerical majority is not broad and COM
prehensive enough to cover present COM
plications. Hitherto the idea of repre-
sentation of interests,ss contra-distinguish
ed from government Of mere numbers,
has not been put into practice, except in
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