Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-08-25


rying the eleetionl on this new
departure platform we would
have first corrupted the whole conn
try. A creed would be sold for power,
and1when we had gained it, and filled
the country,a offices with our adher-
ents, there would be left nc principle
of cohesion. and the party would in.
stantly go TO pieces. On such a basis
no statesman, however endowed with
heaven-deseended genius, could sue
cessfully conduct an administration.
His party would be dissolved the very
moment the spells were distributed.
No, no, continued Mr.. johnson, it
were infinitely better that Radicalism
should still riot in plumber and power,
through another four years, than that
the Democratic party should triumph
by base abandonment of honesty and
principle. The whole population of
the country would be as thoroughly
corrupt as those leaders who de-
fined q plan so shameless for the ac-
QUESTION Of spoils and power. We
would be left a dismasted ship with
out q flag or rudder or compass in an
unknown sea-. These amendments to
the constitution as almost plainly con-
fessed in Mr.. Stewards proclamation
announcing the adoption of one Of
them, were, to saythe least, irregu-
larly adopted, so much SO that Con-
gres5 Itself resorted to legislation to.
amend the action of the Secretary of
State. But what judges have we that
would dare even to criticise, still less
TO annul. The Supreme Court con
fesseS its subOrdination to an imperial
Congress and the only remedy is in
the hands of the people. He is the
worst Of his country's enemies who
advocates a partisan creed which, APP
proved, would make the people as
corrupt as those who accept this hid
eous New Departure. No III pro-
poses to interfere with the freedom of
the negro. The several States have
cOnformed their codes and constitu-
tons to this amendment, but the rest
of this constitutional patch-workis rev.
| dictionary, destruction of popular and
states rights and should be annuIIed.
Not the less obligatory are they while
they subsist as GddendG to the Consti-
tuition.
TAXATION.
Such substantially were Mr.. John
sons expressions of opinion evoked
by reference to the Kentucky cleo
tions. He said that the present sys-
tenn of taxation was founded in wrong
| and in palpable injustice. Under the
operation of the tariff, gold was gath
cred from the rich and poor alike.
The men who fought the country's
battles were consumers of every arti-
cle'On which enormous duties were
levied. The b~ondholders have already
been paid all that the bonds cost them
and should be content if in future they
received their face value. 1t is all
bOsh, this assertion made at Washing
ton, that the public debt is so rapidly
reduced. The rapid accumulation of in
terest on the two Observation-Disclosures
millions of bonds and recklessly ex-
travagant public expenditures, TO say
nothing of millions stolen and other
millions sgSIandered upon p~laee-hOId-
ing parasites under any present di-
intuition of public burdens, wholly
impossible. 1t is enough for the Gov
eminent to eXtinguish the principal
Of its Indebtedness, and they should
pay whose property rights were Sc
cured by the successful conduct of the
war. The tax to pay the public debt
should be imposed directly upon the
real property of the country. Soldiers
the poor who dug bitches and bore
muskets and were dragged down to |
the utmost poverty, they and their
widows aud children should be eX-l
empt from burdens imposed by bond
holders whom the war enriched. Let
the b~OndhOlders pay their own debt.
The cOuntry's wealth amounts TO
twenty-one billions. Deduct from
this the public debt Of two billions
five hundred millions and there are
left about nineteen billions. But the
sum deducted is not lot. 1t is only
distributed among these property and
b0ndhOlders. Now we take one hum
dred and fifty millions in gold annu-
from the custOm-hOuse, and dis
tribute it in the payment Of interest
among the richest men of the country
among those who were benefieiaries
of a great public calamity. The whole
is radically wrong, and this
grievous burden should rest upon
those able to bear it and for whose
advantage the Var was Waged and the
1ebt created. II this one hundred
and fifty millions were no longer re-
to be collected, and interest on
public debt suspended, the annu-
Il saving would be three hundred
millions, and within ten years the !
UNI saved would equal the Govern i
nent's present Indebtedness. Indus {
ry would be stimulated and the pros {
of the people would be without I
parallel in any age OF country. Just
the system of management Of /
public finances is utterly ruinOus. l !
zee its disastrous results, even in this !
Ilace. A carpenter, whom l have
Employed for some time past, came to !
yesterday, and asked if / could G
for him a thousand dollar United !
states bond. He said it would give :
lin a sure income without annoyance c
r trouble, and he, like the rest of +
southern people, instead Of building 4
Iouses, opening farms, and construct \
ngshighWays, was sending his money
broad to beso invested that the prov
noes are impoverished, while the
reat cities gather in the cOuntry's
old and rule it by systematized agen- G
les Of corruption. After all, said Mr..
ohnson, gold clone is money. For =
thousands of years, and everywhere
n the globe, alike among civilized
nd savage people, gold is, and has -
yer been, recognized as the only
medium of exchange. We
legislate as we will, and resort to
ny ingenious device to which COM
lercial tact or craftsmanship NAV =
I'VE paternity, but it comes to this at
st, that gold Is and will ever remain
le standard of commercial values;
Id however we use paper notes and
iper bonds, or have one substituted
r the other TO prevent plethora of ri
ther, the shallow trick will fail of u
) purpose, and gold will assert its
dominion. The sooner
e return to its use, and evoke il
lm its places OF concealment, the
liter for the morals and prosperity
American States. The growing A
lity OF nations demands it. The ~
ign OF paper, in any country, and ui
any form Of government, has tic
'er been the reign of vice, of baseless, cesS,
azed speculation, and of that wide. hs
read immortality which renders or REL
r and good government and solid en-
Osperity unattainable. CHI
WHAT HE PROPOSES TO DO.
The ex-President, of whose declara-
ms / have given a very imperfect
time, two days after their utteranee an
d without memoranda made at any adj,
ne, spoke with great earnestness, Gu
SAID he never gave expression to Off
Unions for the purpose of having for
published; that he was rarely or :
presented properly by those with for
Ln - 1 Inn