Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-05-05

i .N"N"N"H"N
ously directed 10 the tendencies
visible IN the pollticososia manage.
men, Of the country. We teach our
children that they have been born
under a tree Repuhlican government
and that MI have equal rights, and m
equal chance 70 acquire wealth, and
the honois Of the State. We hatlcr
the masses by continually telling
them that In them, and them alone,
resides tho sovereignty Of the govern.
menl, and that no matter what evil
may betide, they have Il In their
power TO APP " the immediate correc-
tive. We proclaim to the world that
this system of ours Is the best ever
devised By man, since II secures liber-
", happiness, and prosperity, IN
tranquility, and that, property ddmsa-
istered, II is the cheapest, as well as
the most perfectly balanced form Of
government. Property administered !
the proviso suggested IN the last
sentence applies TO all. That granted,
the rest is plainly matter Of course,
The excellence of our written system
cannot be contested, and the univer,
sal prosperity enjoyed until the period
OF our civil war was guarantee OF
what could have been perpetuated
by wise administration, conducted on
the principles that inspired and ami
mated the fathers OF the Republic.
But we have fallen upon evil days
in this respect Cliques, rings" knots
and select circles OF men BY the weight
Of capital, audacity, and what Is
termed "infiuence," (Which means
species of social and business terror
ism,) do as absolutely control the
country as ever did the combinations
Of feudal barons hold sway in the Old
World, during the growing years OF
the Middle Agos There is no intel
lieent observer who fails TO see, or
attempts seriously TO deny this; and,
more than that, the toiling masses
of the people focl 1t in overy loaf Of
bread, or oil of cloth they have To-
purchase. They are not, indeed, as,
crpte gleJe--bound over with the
soil-in parchment deeds, or royal re-
scripts, transferring small domains or
mighty provinces with equal GOODNESS,
but they are subjected by the circum,
stances of ife that assimilate the
necessities OF their condition TO the
serfdom of yore, and they know what
pinches them.
The community is not, then, una
ware of the bare-faced disregard of
every other consideration but self
interest, which is the animus OF trans
actions occurring daily before our
eyes. They know that offices and
privileges are bought and sold that
the popular preference and The public
welfare are denied; that even the sa-
credncss Of tho ballot box is shamefully
invaded, and that remonstrance is
treated with silent derision. The
consequences they have beheld in the
stagnation of trade, and the impover.
ishment of the multitude, in the midst
of smiling land. teeming with agri-
cultural and mineral wealth. The
future they forcsee like great black
cloud overspreading q fair horizon,
and slowly, but surely, creeping to
the zenith. Yet, by the effect Of a
moral phenomenon, peculiar and won
derfu in the history of the world, the
nation, like man drugged and stu
pefied, lies prone and motionless, an
unresisting, if not willing prey 10
those who dcspoil it.
And Is there to be no rescue from
This decline! We have been so won
derfully favored as n people, by Prov
idence; We have been 20 accustomed
in former periods Of our national life.
to see "things set themselves right !"
we have been, in fine, such petted
children Of fortune, that most of us
have wrapt the mantle of indifference
around us, and slept on, trusting TO
the good genius of America, or some
other vague abstraction not recognized
in the divine arrangement Of cause
and effect.
But, already has this dream of fnlse
security been rudcly broken Panic
and notification were the first shocks
il received, and, ut last, came the
tolling, long and loud, of that terrible
'firebel in the night" winch sum
moned the people Of the North and
the South to mutual slaughter.
Did our greatest dangers close here I,
Are they buried in the graves, still
green, that stretch from the Potomac
to the Cuff Have all the evil vapors
been dispclIcd by that long shower of
blood and fire
These are solemn questions for each
patriot citizen to ask himself, as well
as his neighbor, and the sooner they
are answered satisfactorily, the better
for our generation.
II is the high privilege Of the jour
nalist to stand on watch tower,
whence the fields Of opinion as well as
Of fact, are all open 10 his view and
il is his duty, with all the ability that
is in him, to give others the benefit OF
his information. With snch con-
seriousness upon us, to-day, we express
the firm conviction that. unless tho
year now passing be signalized by tho
dawnings Of new spirit of inquiry
on the part of the American people,
and widespread general agitation
Of opinion against the abuses that arc
clogging our whole machinery of
government, and thence descending
into all the details Of business life. we
have close before us a period of ma.
tional and individual trial, of which
no man can see the end d--N y. Mer-
canfiie Journal.