Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1870-07-08
The Democratic Congressional Ad'
dress.

The Democratic Senators and
| Representatives in Congress have
issued an address to the "friends OF
constituniat, economical and honest
government" in the United States.
signed by eleven Senators and sixty
three Representatives in Congress.
1t is on the whole a tissue Of glitter
ing generalitles, so vague in its eX-
pressions as to be almost unmeaning
For instance,le us take the following g
sentence from the opening para
graph Of the address
Upon the coming elections,then.
depends the question whether tile
Democratic and Conservative 'ele
ment in the S. nate snail be increas-
ed, and whether that element shall
have Il majority in the House ofrep.
resentatives, and, as a consequence,
whether we shall have a constitu
tional ,econmical and honest govern
ment, or Il continuance of revolu-
tionary, extravagant. and wasteful
and partisan rule; whether we shah
have general, uniform, just and cons
titutional legislation, with -reasona-
ble taxation and frugal expenditure,
or unconstitutional, partial, unjust
class legislation, with oppressive and
unequal taxation and wastful expend
iture"
The meaning of this, if it means
ything-for whatever OF meaning
there is in it is inferential-is that
the Republican party has been gull ty
Of unconstitutional, partial, unjust,
class legislation, with oppressive and
unequal taxation and wasre full expen-
diture," and that it has indulgeli HI
4 government which has been ''rev-
clutionarv .extravagant. waistful and
partisan, while the Democrats ), If
power is given them, would give us
golden age Of honesty, puritp and
bipartisan justice. We modestly
submit that this is all assumption,
not only unsupported by proof, but
in the face of the most direct and
answerable evidence. The ia t that
under tho administration of Presi-
dent Grant the national debt is being
paid at the rate of one hundred mil
lions Of dollars year, in the face
of a very heavy, and beneticent re
ductiou Of taxation, is sufficient
answer to the charge against the
party in power while the character
Of the Democrats who are now iii
Congress, and of their constituent
cies, make their calm for purity and
honesty absolutely laugtiabie.
There is no need to waste further
time over this grand flourish OF
Democratic bugles.
The address. however, regarded
as one of practical advice to tile
Democracy OF the country,is shfewd
and sensible. Whether the wall eyed
and hidebound Dem cracv will
learn anything from the good couna
sci thus given them is doubtful. 1t
urges that "there be no discussions
about minor matters. no time lost
in the discussion Of dead issue, no
manifestation Of narrow or proscrip
tive feeling" In other words. the
Democrats in Congress urge the
abandonment of the whole negro
question and the acceptance of the
vital questions whice are left in our
politics They further urge their
allies in the South not to ''risk the
lost Of Senators or Representatives,
by electing mea who cannot take
the test oath, Or who are under the
disability imposed by the forteenth
amendment Good advice again,
which shows that there are among
the Democracy some few who, Unlike
the Bourbons, have learned some
thing and forgotten something. II
the Democratic party is wise enough
to take this advica there may be
hope for it in the future. But it is
not. 1t is given over to blindness
and hardness of hear. that it may be
damned! The Democracy cannot
give over the nigger any more than
the topper his whisky. 1t can never
wake from It's Rip Van Winkle sluIn
bers. but will always maunder on its
same old cries, already a generation
out of date,