The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-09-28

The annexed extract from a lette
of Don Piatts is some weeks old, bu
AZ it was written specially for the ben
eft, information and delectation o
the Ohio State Journal we guess it hao
better start on its rounds, so that thu
Radicals may not have the excuse o
ignorance for perpetuating their mis-
deed. Read and ponder:
'If we are to take our Government
rs a failure. Itis corrupt job in tn.
hands of accumulated capital, control
led by a few designing men, for theiI
own advancement. Its officers arr
agents, and its powers are directed tc
n end, the robbery Of the many fol
the benefit of the few. Driven by
these convictions, and stimulated by
his fears, he has more than once broken
over the party lines, and made war
not on the rogues for that would
throw him entirely out of his political
organization-but on one process al
least, through which the law-making
power gives riches to the rich, and fur.
Their poverty to the poor.
sIet us see. 1t was the design OF
the fathers to so frame a government
that its powers should be few, and its
duties simple. Recognizing the great
truth, hal the object of the Govern
ment was to keep the peace, they
sought to so frame its organic law as
to have the powers intervene only
when the peace was broken. In a
word, their idea of self government
meant the intervention of the constable.
They sought 10 leave all the various
avocatlons and pursuit of humanity to
free individual effect, seeing only that
the strong should not impose upon the
weak. To the States they gave the
are ofthe local affairs, to the Gener-
q, Government all Il 9 du les requisite
to protection as a nation.
at seems a waste of time 10 repeat
these truisms, and yet who recognizes
or believes in them7 And turning
our backs on such great truths, where
are VIC? AT the risk of a tiresome re-
petition of all that / have beeu writing
for a year past let me say in brief.
"Under our present system the
local governments have lost all signifi-
canoe. Throughout the South, under
our so called acts of reconstruction, the
law of hate, the Legislatures have
come to be Congressional dependencies,
where ignorant negroes, under the
control of unprincipled demagogues,
are made to steal and plumber, until
the law-maker and the law-breaker diff
fer only in name. In the Northern
States seats in the Senate are put up
at auction, and knocked down to the
highest moneyed bidder, and into this
Senate are gradually gathered, through
usurpation, all the political powers of
Government.
ssTo the Government thus centraliz-
ed come all the business interests of
the people, save those of the farmer
and laborer, each striving to secure
laws that will enable it to ever-reach
the other. And to this usurped des-
potism come all the rogues to plum
der, through unjust legislation. 1t is
openly avowed and generally believed
that no law can pass to the signature
of the President, that has not, to use
the slang of the lobby, money in it.
eve once thought ourselves safe
from a privileged class, and the power
of money was not to be feared, because
the property accumulated by n man
would be expended by another
To-day we have corporations in the
shape of railroad companies, that COW
er the land like a network and setting
all Government control ut defiance.
They own States, control courts, make
Senators and dictate legislation. But
yesterday, a so-called law was passed
by the New York Legislature, and
approved by a corrupt Governor, that
took the control of a great railroad
from the hands of its stockholders,
and gave it to a man whose criminal
conduct is disgrace to our age and
country, because uupunished.
"The late Secretary of the Treas
ury, the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, in
the country that in u hour of
distress and peril he was forced to
purchase the bankers of the United
States. And, to get these capitalists
interested in the Government that pro-
tected them, he had to make most ex-
traordinary terms-I will not say that
they treated the Republic like a gang
Of Shylocks-but they were so treated
by the eminent financier who was then
1t the head of the Treasury, and they
accepted the terms and the character.
1t is no exaggeration to say, that for
the purpose of enriching and sustain
ing these money-changers we pay more
than our National Government costs
us. Any attempt TO amend, revise, or
these sterms-considered a war
necessity AMI temporary-is met by
the violent opposition of eighty ma
tional bankers on the floor of the
and enough in the Senate to
give the leeches a majority.
GAIL the corporations, firms and
persons interested in the iron business
are openly organized into a common
treasury a fund that may be called a
corruption fund, for it IS used to in
Auence Legislation. It's filthy agents,
not members. reside IN Wash
ington, and are supported handsomely
in their corrupt business.
tsThe same may be said of the salt
monopoly. Indeed, the same may be
said of every interest that has money
enough to use it.
Generally, your member of Con
press has his familiar, through whom
his vote is purchased. Sometimes or
exist wherein ten, twenty
or thirty votes are represented by one
agent, who sells out by direction of the
caucus the entire pen full.
ave have a corrupt Congress, a